text:
Last month I traveled to Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Libya, and the Greek island of Lesbos. There were also two storm-tossed sea voyages as well. And it all took place over 2¾ hours on a Thursday evening—and I never left Brooklyn. It was all a little breathless . . . but exhilarating—and quite enchanting (in a literal sense), too.
Okay, you probably guessed (the headline above kinda gives it away, doesn't it?) that I didn't really go anywhere other than the Theatre for a New Audience's new home in Fort Greene, the Polonsky Shakespeare Center (right near BAM). My frequent theater companion, Diana, and I drove over on 24 February to see TFANA's marvelous production of William Shakespeare's Pericles, imaginatively staged by Sir Trevor Nunn. The production started previews on 14 February and opened on the 25th; it's currently scheduled to close on 10 April (extended from 27 March).
Theatre for a New Audience was founded in 1979 by its current artistic director, native New Yorker Jeffrey Horowitz, 67, as a home of classical theater to present the works of William Shakespeare—the company's produced 28 of the Bard's plays—beside those of other playwrights, including moderns like Edward Bond and Adrienne Kennedy. (In June, Diana and I'll be going over again to see the two-play rep of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House and August Strindberg's The Father.) The theater's purpose, they state, is to create "a dialogue over centuries between Shakespeare and other authors about our contemporary world." In its history, TFANA has mounted many acclaimed productions, several of which have traveled across the country and even abroad. In 2001, TFANA became the first U.S. troupe to be invited to bring a Shakespeare production, Cymbeline directed by Bartlett Sher, to the Royal Shakespeare Company. (The company returned to the RSC in 2007 with its production of The Merchant of Venice directed by Darko Tresnjak with F. Murray Abraham as Shylock, a production I saw here in rep with Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta in which Abraham played Barabas. My blog report on Merchant was posted on 28 February 2011 when TFANA revived it in New York City.) Among the company's programs are the Actors and Directors Project, a training program for theater artists, and a program for introducing Shakespeare to New York City public school children, the World Theatre Project launched in 1984. The theater's New Deal program offers $20 tickets to students and theatergoers 30 and under.
Until 2013, TFANA was an itinerant troupe, renting space in theaters all over Manhattan for its productions. In the fall of that year, however, the company opened its first permanent home on Ashland Place in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, a burgeoning performing arts center in the borough known as the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District (anchored by the Brooklyn Academy of Music's three venues). The Polonsky Shakespeare Center, named in recognition of a gift from the Polonsky Foundation, contains the 299-seat Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage, a state-of-the-art, variable-space black box (35 feet tall with traps and a flexible platform system that permits seven stage and seating configurations); the Theodore C. Rogers Studio, which can accommodate 50 spectators; administrative offices and production support spaces; and facilities such as a lobby café and book kiosk. The $47.4 million, 27,500-square-foot building was designed by architect Hugh Hardy of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture. The 2015-16 season will be TFANA's third in its new home.
With this production of Pericles, Trevor Nunn has checked off three entries on his bucket list: it's one of three Shakespeare plays he hadn't directed (the other two are A Midsummer Night's Dream and King John, which Nunn's slated to direct in London shortly), and it's the first Shakespearean production he's originated with an American cast and the first to début in the U.S. Now 76, Nunn was born in Ipswich in Sussex, England, and began his theater life at Downing College, Cambridge University, where he met contemporaries Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. Having been introduced to Shakespeare and theater as a schoolboy, he appeared in plays at Downing and in 1962 directed Macbeth at the college. He joined the RSC in 1964 and four years later was appointed artistic director, the youngest to hold that post. He remained in that post until 1986, the longest tenure of any RSC director, and in 1997 became artistic director of the National Theatre, where he remained until 2003. Nunn became known for his innovative staging of Shakespeare's plays, and later as a successful director of popular musicals.
By the 1970s, Nunn had become one of the leading figures in British and the English-speaking theater. He staged many premières, including several important productions, such as 1980's 8½-hour The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (co-directed with John Caird) which starred Roger Rees in the title role; Nunn dedicated his production of Pericles at TFANA to Rees, who died last July at 71. (A Broadway production opened in 1981 and won two Tonys: Best Play and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Rees. In 1983, a televised version was broadcast in the U.S. on the Public Broadcasting System.) He became a successful director of musicals in the commercial sector, including Cats in 1981 and Les Misérables (also with Caird) in 1985, among many others. In 2002, Nunn was made Commander of the British Empire in recognition for his services to theater in the U.K. In 2007, he directed Ian McKellen as King Lear for the RSC, taking the show on a world tour—including a stop at BAM, where I saw the production (see my report posted on ROT on 28 March 2009, when the play was broadcast on public television). He became resident artistic director of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, for the 2011-12 season, and returned there to direct the play Fatal Attraction in 2014. Nunn has also directed for opera, film, and television.
The world of Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre, as it's formally entitled (TFANA uses the one-word title), is the Mediterranean basin in what appears to be around 200 BCE. (Isaac Asimov apparently chose that date because one of the play's characters is King Antiochus of Antioch, referred to elsewhere as Antiochus the Great, who reigned from 222 to 187 BCE. Frequent ROT contributor Kirk Woodward's forthcoming article, to be published on this blog later this month, is a report on Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare, a 1970 reference work.) All of the places Pericles visits in the play were real cities in the Hellenistic world of antiquity: Antioch, a city in ancient Syria (now in modern Turkey); Tyre, in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon); Tarsus, in Cilicia (part of modern Turkey); Pentapolis (literally, 'five cities,' referring to a group of five cities that are politically, commercially, and militarily linked), in Cyrenaica (the coast of modern Libya); Ephasus, in Anatolia (modern Turkey); and Mytilene, the largest town on Lesbos, the Greek island in the Aegean Sea.
Prince Pericles of Tyre (Christian Camargo) has traveled to Antioch where he's the latest in a line of suitors for the hand of the beautiful daughter (Sam Morales) of King Antiochus (Earl Baker, Jr.), who's told all suitors that they have to decipher a riddle to win her; if they fail, they're executed. (On Robert Jones's set, this fate is signaled by the skulls and decomposing heads of failed princes mounted on pikes upstage.) When the princess recites the riddle, Pericles sees the answer, but realizes that it reveals the incestuous relationship between the king and his daughter. Fearing for his life whether he reveals the secret by answering the riddle correctly or refuses and thus fails the challenge, Pericles flees for home. Realizing that Antiochus's will send assassins after him even in Tyre, Pericles appoints his counselor Helicanus (Philip Casnoff) to rule as regent and then sets sail from Tyre.
Landing at Tarsus, Pericles learns that it's stricken by famine. (We see this in a pantomime of the people of Tarsus depicting starvation. In these large group scenes, the ensemble is composed of members of the PigPen Theatre Co.—Alex Falberg, Ben Ferguson, Curtis Gillen, Ryan Melia, Matt Nuernberger, Arya Shahi, Dan Weschler—who do multiple duties and show up as needed.) The prince generously gives his shipload of corn to Cleon, the Governor of Tarsus (Will Swenson) and his wife, Dionyza (Nina Hellman) to feed their citizens, to the eternal gratitude of the governor and his lady (just wait!). A messenger from Helicanus informs the prince that Antiochus' assassin, Thailard (Oberon K. A. Adjepong), has come to Tyre hunting him so he takes to the sea once more. A violent storm wrecks his ship, however, and Pericles is the sole survivor. He washes up on the shore of Pentapolis.
Coming upon a trio of fishermen (John Keating, Zachary Infante, Ian Lassiter), the bereft prince learns that King Simonides (John Rothman) is going to hold a joust the next day in honor of the birthday of Thaisa (Gia Crovatin), his beautiful daughter. By chance, one of the fishermen enters with a net in which a rusty set of armor has been entangled—and it turns out to have belonged to Pericles' father! Clad in the old armor, Pericles enters the tournament and, out-jousting the other knights, wins the admiration of Simonides and the love of the princess. She swears that she'll marry no one else and her father heartily approves. Pericles, who hasn't told Simonides or his daughter who he really is, and Thaisa are married and take up residence in Pentapolis—until they get word from Tyre.
Helicanus, who's been ruling wisely in Tyre in the absence of Pericles, sends word that Antiochus and his daughter have both died, dissolving the threat to the prince, but that the Tyrians are anxious for the return of their ruler. Finally revealing his identity to his now-pregnant wife and her father, much to their delight, Pericles sets sail at once for Tyre. As a violent storm hits, however, Thaisa begins to give birth and is taken below, where she seems to die bearing their daughter. The superstitious sailors demand that the grieving prince cast his wife's body overboard. Thaisa's coffin floats ashore in Ephesus, right near the home of a physician, Cerimon (Baker), who opens it and declares that the woman within isn't dead at all and, with the help of his servant, Philomen (Morales), brings her around. Thinking her husband and child have drowned in the storm, Thais becomes a votress of the goddess Diana, whose temple is nearby.
Meanwhile, Pericles' ship, having survived the squall, makes for Tarsus with the prince and his infant daughter, whom he's named Marina because she was born at sea. Afraid of encountering another storm, Pericles entrusts Marina to Governor Cleon and Dionyza, to be raised alongside their daughter, Philoten, and continues to Tyre.
Sixteen years pass during which Marina has lived as the adopted daughter of Cleon and Dionyza and she grows into a beautiful and accomplished young woman. In fact, Marina is so superlative that everyone speaks of her and ignores Philoten (Morales in an uncredited silent role), arousing the jealousy of Dionyza, who arranges for her servant Leonine (Infante) to murder her. Just as the killer's about to execute his assignment, Marina is grabbed by pirates who carry her off. Leonine reports to Dionyza that he completed his dastardly task, but the pirates have born Marina off to Mytilene where they sell her to a brothel-keeper (Adjepong) and his bawd (Patrice Johnson Chevannes) who plan to offer her virginity to the highest bidder. Not only does the chaste Marina refuse to behave like an obedient prostitute, but she succeeds in converting her would-be customers, among whom is Lysimachus, the Governor of Mytilene, to her virtuous ways. Marina is so bad for the brothel's business that the pandar and the bawd are glad to have her off their hands, so they agree to sell her services to Lysimachus, who's so taken with her wisdom and virtue that she convinces him to hire her out as a tutor of music, weaving, and dancing to the young girls of Mytilene.
Wishing to be reunited with his daughter, Pericles visits Tarsus, only to learn that Marina has died while they were separated. So grief-stricken is the prince at the news that he dons sackcloth and swears not to bathe or cut his hair ever again. Refusing to speak to anyone, the heartbroken Pericles sets sail for Tyre.
Once again, Pericles' ship is struck by fate, blown by the wind to Mytilene, where his ship docks, although Pericles remains on board in a rude tent on deck, speaking to no one. Governor Lysimachus pays a call on the ship to learn who's aboard and welcome them. Helicanus explains that their passenger is the King of Tyre but that he won't speak to anyone out of grief. The beautiful Marina, whose history no one in Mytilene knows of course, is nearby delighting the city with her dancing and singing, and Lysimachus has the brilliant idea—remembering her magical powers of gentle persuasion—to have her brought aboard to cheer the dejected king. Marina manages to get Pericles to talk a little and bit by bit, they find their stories fit together and with great joy father and daughter, who had each thought the other dead, reunite. Soon after, to obey a vision of the goddess Diana (Hellman, raised up high behind a scrim and intoning in an otherworldly voice in an honest-to-goodness deus . . . er dea ex machina), Pericles and Marina sail for Ephesus to make a pilgrimage to the Temple of Diana. There he finds his long lost wife, Thais, and the whole family is reunited—with the addition of Lysimachus, who'd asked for Marina's hand and been accepted by both daughter and father.
Note that all Pericles' destinations are on or near the coasts of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Phoenicians were renowned sailors of the ancient world and Tyrians were famous for their navigational skills. It's not surprising, then, that Shakespeare's Pericles is a sea voyager and that his story is that of a wanderer. (Another rationale critics like to point out is that the early 17th century in England, not to mention across Europe, was a time of exploration, discovery, and colonization so the parallel with Phoenicia would have rung invitingly familiar to the Globe's audience.)
Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a late play, written about 1607 or '08 and was one of the King's Men's most popular productions during Shakespeare's lifetime. The text (in an unreliable version) was first published in 1609, attributed solely to William Shakespeare (1564-1616), but it's more than likely that the Bard only wrote the second half of the play (the story of Pericles and Marina). The first part is generally believed to have been written by George Wilkins (c. 1576-1618), an inn-keeper who was a pamphleteer and a second-rate playwright on the side (as well as a participant in possible criminal activities).
Pericles was probably first staged in 1608 or '09, very likely at the Globe. It was frequently revived during the 17th century, but conflicted with the Neoclassical standards of the 18th and disappeared from stages for almost two centuries. It returned to performances in the middle of the 19th century, but, in keeping with Victorian tastes, was much bowdlerized (all that incest and brothel stuff offended Victorian sensitivities!). The play wasn't as popular as it had been two hundred years earlier, but its profile rose again after World War II. It's considered a difficult play to stage, but many of the English-speaking theater's most renowned directors (Terry Hands, Peter Sellars, Adrian Noble, Joseph Haj, Dominic Dromgoole—and now Trevor Nunn) have mounted the play with different innovative staging ideas—not to mention adjustments to the "unreliable" and unruly text. In the current century, there have been stagings, often vastly different from one another in style and focus, in London (RSC at the Roundhouse, 2002; Shakespeare's Globe in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, 2015); Stratford, Ontario, Canada (Stratford Festival, 2003 and 2015); Washington, D.C. (Shakespeare Theatre Company at the Lansburg Theatre, 2004; Taffety Punk Theatre Company at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, 2014; Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Folger Theatre, 2015); Jersey City, New Jersey (Hudson Shakespeare Company, 2006 and 2014); Chapel Hill, North Carolina (PlayMakers Repertory Company, 2008); Staunton, Virginia (American Shakespeare Center, Blackfriars Playhouse, 2014); Minneapolis, Minnesota (Guthrie Theater, 2016).
I'm not thoroughly conversant with all 37-or-so plays attributed to Shakespeare, but it's my guess that Pericles has more settings and covers more ground than any of the others by far. There are six towns across the Hellenistic world (some visited twice) and two shipboard scenes (complete with storms in both!). It's also loaded to the gunnels with plot, unlike any other Shakespearean play of which I can think. Pericles may be the first picaresque play; I got the feeling that Voltaire or Jonathan Swift may have borrowed the idea for Candide or Gulliver's Travels. It may also be the only Shakespeare play with an actual deus ex machina. (If any reader can think of a Shakespeare play with more settings or another one with a true deus ex machina, please leave me a Comment.)
The TFANA production of Pericles is terrific. Not the play itself, of course, which, as you can probably see, is a mediocre mess. But Trevor Nunn's staging, from the design concept to the (original, live) music, to the script-trimming (a must), to the acting (not to mention the singing, dancing, and pantomime), all work to make a magnificent piece of theater. (The director rearranges scenes and cuts others, edits long speeches to turn them into dialogue passages, and sets other speeches to music.) Christian Camargo is good, but Pericles is pretty much the string that connects the episodes; it's all the members of the ensemble, most of whom take on several roles, who are the pearls. They make this production really worth watching, playing the hell out of the script and creating some wonderful characterizations. The production runs two hours and 45 minutes with one intermission, and, despite the absurdly incredible plot, I was absorbed from opening prologue to closing reunion scene. I wonder if this is a 21st-century version of how these plays worked as audience pleasers and popular entertainments in Shakespeare's lifetime. (In the New York Times, Christopher Isherwood called Pericles "the equivalent in the Shakespeare canon of a popcorn picture"!)
Nunn comments in the program, "The text repeatedly asks for music, dance, the mime of musically accompanied 'dumb show' and then a strong indication that some passages should be sung. . . . Shakespeare seems to be intent on providing opportunity for what can only be described as 'total theatre.'" From the evidence on TFANA's Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage, the director means that quite literally; this production is really Pericles: The Musical. Not only does Nunn incorporate music composed for the show by Shaun Davey that sounds like a mash-up of Elizabethan/Jacobean folk tunes and 21st-century pop (but not quite either so it comes out totally sui generis), but choreographer Brian Brooks inserts dance and panto scenes that seem as if Shakespeare had, indeed, mandated them in the script. The Scripps stage is a modern evocation of an Elizabethan courtyard theater, as TFANA characterizes it, and as such is a thrust with spectators around three sides. Nunn and Brooks keeps the cast in motion to play to the entire house, making Pericles a swirl of action and color (from the costumes, which I'll get to shortly); when the musicians play, they swell the company so that it fills the stage with movement, often weaving around itself in a series of serpentine streams. The dumb shows, such as the starving citizens of Tarsus, the jousting tournament in Pentapolis, and the one illustrating Marina's matchless accomplishments overshadowing the awkward efforts of her adoptive sister, Philoten, are delightful—both amusing and illustrative.
What I didn't include in the narrative description, but which is integral to Nunn's production concept, is that Shakespeare (or Wilkins) provides a narrator, a kind of one-man Greek chorus, in the person of Gower (named for an actual English poet, John Gower, c. 1330-1408, a friend of Geoffrey Chaucer who wrote an early version of the story), commandingly played here by Raphael Nash Thompson in a persona that exuded great dignity and candor. Opening the production atop a flight of steps upstage, standing as if framed in a celestial moongate, Thompson's Gower intones his preamble to the play to the accompaniment of a group of musicians (Haley Bennett, John Blevins, Philip Varricchio, Jessica Wang, augmented by members of PigPen), garbed as itinerant minstrels and seated on the steps at Gower's feet. Gower returns regularly, with or without the retinue (the musicians are mostly ensconced in a box above stage right), to fill in gaps in the story and move things along—a sort of Jacobean version of Our Town's Stage Manager. (Nunn, who cut the Shakespeare/Wilkins text, used some of Wilkins's The Painful Adventures of Pericles, his 1608 novelization of the play, to fill in storylines.) I'm not usually enamored of narrators on stage—they're generally anti-theatrical—but the technique works here excellently, replacing windy passages and digressions to keep the cumbersome original somewhat streamlined. Furthermore, Nunn's concept of Gower and Thompson's performance made him more like a charming, trusty tour guide than a mere narrator. He knows what's going to happen and keeps us in the picture with charm and gravitas. Besides, Thompson has the perfect voice for this persona: a deep, clear, steady baritone that says, 'You can rely on this guy—he won't mislead you.'
Robert Jones's unit set starts with a black platform, the Scripps's thrust, with the steps rising at the rear to a wall with a large round hole which can be closed or opened to reveal a backdrop that sets the scene—the rigging of a ship, the skulls and heads I mentioned above, the Temple of Diana, and so on. Nunn uses this bit of the set to great effect, particularly with Jones's designs to enhance the visuals of the production. The hole, which I likened to a moongate (in fact, one of the backdrops is, indeed, the silvery moon, craters and all, filling the entire opening), sometimes doubles as an entrance and exit—but, except Diana's soliloquy, no action takes place within the gate. The complex lighting scheme was designed by Stephen Strawbridge, creating a kind of circus dynamic on stage that fits well with the constant movement and the kaleidoscope of colors. Like a circus, Strawbridge uses follow spots in a number of scenes. As Nunn said: "total theatre."
That upstage wall and the backdrops within the moongate opening have color, of course, but otherwise the Scripps is a 299-seat black box. But the panoply of color that helped hugely to make Nunn's Pericles a spectacle was supplied by Constance Hoffman's costumes. Not only were the actors dressed in all the colors of the rainbow (and then some), but to add a big helping of exoticism, each city had its own distinctive—and fantastical—style. I'm sure Hoffman based her designs at least partly on actual cultures from around the world, but its hardly significant whether the clothes were founded in historical reality; Nunn and Hoffman invented their own cultures of the Hellentistic diaspora for TFANA's Pericles and the actors became part of it and invited the spectators in with them. And since the costumes were largely based on gowns, tunics, and robes, any time Nunn and Brooks staged one of the movement scenes, the costumes beautifully produced that kaleidoscope with elegance and grace. (I need to add a complimentary word here, too, about the stunning hair styles and wigs of Mareike Mohmand. I particularly liked the matching blond tresses of Simonides and Thaisa.)
The most marvelous thing about the physical production is that all the disparate aspects function together as a unified whole (the definition of total theater)—certainly the work of director Nunn. Each element fed from and informed the others, making the result so much more than the mere sum of the parts. The same, as I hinted earlier, is true of the acting. Pericles is the title role, of course, and the play is his journey—it's what holds the play together. But at least in this production, he's just the catalyst for an ensemble show that's truly a magnificent theatrical achievement. Even though each of the scenes is a self-contained episode with only the merest cause-and-effect relationship with the others, Nunn and his cast create a single universe in which all these places and all these people exist simultaneously. This ensemble also handles the doubling and even tripling excellently, differentiating among the several roles each plays strongly enough that, disguised by the costume changes, it's not always easy to see that later characters are played by actors seen earlier in other roles; if I didn't recognize the player, I had to consult the program—and I still missed some.
Adding the PigPen Theatre members as the utility players to cover the servants, messengers, lords, knights, sailors, gentlemen, citizens, and pirates, not to mention the additional musicians, was inspired. I'm not familiar with the company, formed at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh in 2007, but they proved themselves to be a versatile and multi-talented troupe. (According to their program listing, they produce original plays, appear in films, and record folk music.)
It's difficult to single out individual performances from this cast of 22 for special praise, but a few of the company do distinguish themselves. I've already expressed my admiration for Thompson's narrator-cum-guide, Gower. John Rothman as King Simonides, who becomes Pericles' father-in-law, exudes an air of kindness and gentle authority; Rothman was positively avuncular. And wouldn't you know it, but the villains get the most attention: Nina Hellman's switch-hitting Dionyza, wife of the Tarsus governor, who goes from eternally grateful foster mom to evil stepmother from hell in a blink—Isherwood called her a "junior-league Lady Macbeth")—and the sex-trafficking trio, Oberon K. A. Adjepong, Patrice Johnson Chevannes, and John Keating as the Pandar, the Bawd, and their servant, Boult; the last has the soul of Gollum as well as some of his moves while his master and mistress apparently have no souls at all, gleeful as they are to debase and degrade the hapless Marina—until she defeats them at every turn. At the pinnacle, of course, is Camargo's prince. He's stalwart and noble even as he flees Antiochus' revenge, until the tragedies start piling up and then Camargo shows Pericles descending into despair until he climbs into that abyss of grief upon his return to Tarsus—only to rocket up again in two stages when he rediscovers his lost family. In fact, Camargo's somewhat sober rendition of Shakespeare's action hero grounds this hyperactive play so that it doesn't quite spin apart from sheer entropy. Like all the Pericles company, Camargo handles the Jacobean verse smoothly and with authority—though there's precious little notable poetry in this text.
Look, Pericles isn't a deep play and it'll never be mistaken for great drama. Ben Jonson called it a "mouldy Tale" in 1631 and poet John Dryden lambasted all of the Bard's works, calling on audiences to "witness the lameness of their Plots: many of which . . . were made up of some ridiculous, incoherent story, which, in one Play many times took up the business of an Age. I suppose I need not name Pericles Prince of Tyre." One of the 20th century's most esteemed Shakespearean critics, G. Wilson Knight, deemed Pericles "merely a succession of happenings linked by sea-journeys." We'll soon find that some of our local critics had much the same opinion of this version, but Nunn and his creative and performing company have assembled a raucous and entertaining, not to mention well-executed, evening of theater. It sure beats all hell out of bear-baiting, bull-baiting, and cock-fighting!
Elisabeth Vincentelli put TFANA's Pericles under the heading "Skip It" in the New York Post, explaining: "It was exciting to see what legendary director Trevor Nunn . . . would do with it, but his production for Theater for a New Audience is just as scattered as the play." Vincentelli continued: "This is especially true of the acting, which is all over the map"; some of the cast, she reported, "are embarrassingly awful." The Post reviewer added that the costumes "run the gamut from inspired to whaaaa?" In the Times, Christopher Isherwood, describing Pericles as a "complicated romance" with a "tumultuous story line," names "a few of the woollier elements." Nunn's production at TFANA, however, is "largely well acted and vividly staged," continued the Timesman. He dubbed the production "sleek-looking" and the costumes "extravagant." The New York Daily News's Joe Dziemianowicz, noting that "poetics take a backseat—way back—to plot" in Pericles, asserted, "To counteract the story bloat, [Nunn's] production is sleek and spare—less can be more."
Alexis Soloski of the U.S. edition of The Guardian, declaring, "To suspend one's disbelief in regards to" the events recounted in Pericles "requires some pretty fancy rigging," asserted, "Luckily Trevor Nunn . . . has it." Soloski described the TFANA presentation as "a sumptuous and frequently spectacular production, enriched by setting, lighting, staging and music," but remarked, "Other elements, like the wigs and headdresses . . . are frankly peculiar." She found that "there is nearly always something lovely to look at or listen to," including the "array of fabulous costumes and lavish props," even though she felt that "[c]uts to the scripts, which sprawls to nearly three hours, could easily have been made and some of the more filmic elements, like the recurrent underscoring, are used profligately." In sum, concluded Soloski, the director, cast, and design team "take 'a song that old was sung' and make it fresh and tuneful." In amNewYork, Matt Windman called the play "a turbulent, often incoherent fantasy drama" which "is hardly in the same league as Shakespeare's best work" and the production is "an unusually lavish affair," including "rich, exotic-looking costumes." "Alas," continued Windman, "'Pericles' is not worthy of such large-scale production values." The production "comes off as bloated and tiresome" even though it's "visually sleek and persuasively acted"; even "Nunn's edits to the text do not add much clarity." Nevertheless, the ensemble is "fine" and Camargo "gives an unexpectedly poignant and vulnerable performance."
The reviewer for the Brooklyn Paper reported, "'Pericles' is pretty much bonkers, and this new production leans right into it" and "feels . . . like [a] forerunner of an action movie." It "fills every inch of the stage with vivid colors and original music," continued the BP reviewer; the "narration and the music give the evening an archetypal, folk-tale feel." The cast has "a fine sense of when to keep it simple and when to indulge in a little scenery-chewing for comic or melodramatic effect," wrote the journalist, singling out Baker's Antiochus and Hellman's Dionyza for special notice. "The boldly colored costumes, live music, and clever design give the piece a bright freshness," BP reported. "But there is so much journeying hither and yon, and so much parallel action in different locations, that any deeper themes get obscured," though "there are plenty of incidental pleasures." The Brooklyn writer concluded: "It hardly feels like Shakespeare, but it is thoroughly enjoyable." In the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Lore Croghan declared of TFANA's Pericles: "We can sum it up in three words: Magic. Magic. Magic." It's " a captivating production," said Croghan, and "Nunn is a wizard" who "finds moments that he makes into Big Moments of great theatre." Davey's music is "enchanting" and "powerful aids in creating these moments." The cast is "stellar," wrote Croghan, and all give "fine performances."
The capsule review of Pericles in the New Yorker declared, "The stage of the Polonsky Shakespeare Center is used to full magical, theatrical effect, with music, dance, and pageantry all contributing to the glow." In New York magazine, Jesse Green dismissed the play as "constructed like a summer-vacation movie, with about as much coherence and consequence," but the second half, supposedly written by the Bard, "sometimes seems like a test drive" for the later romances and, like those plays, "offers emotional depth and verbal gorgeousness." Green suggested, "Nunn has thrown everything he knows how to do" into the production and it "all looks and sounds grand in the deep thrust arrangement" of the Scripps stage. "I'm not complaining," admonished the man from New York. "Something has to be done with the weaker material in Pericles in order to make way for the stronger, and it might as well be cheesy." Green hastened to add, "The good news is that Nunn has cast actors . . . who can serve the cheese but also the verse, so the beauty pops as much as the humor."
Time Out New York's Adam Feldman called Nunn's Pericles a "ravishing production" that "may well be the best account of Shakespeare's bad romance that you will ever have a chance to see." Feldman asserted, "It is a testament to Nunn's directorial mastery that he is able to fashion a coherent, often beautiful pageant from" what the reviewer called "a wrecked ship of a text." The "capable" cast, headed by "an impressively noble" Camargo, "helps flesh out the play's dry bones." The man from TONY concluded: "Against all odds, the play is finally quite moving." Under a "Bottom Line" slug affirming, "This ponderous take on one of the Bard's lesser efforts fails to enchant," the Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck quipped, "It's been over 400 years now. Is it OK to stop pretending we care about Pericles, Prince of Tyre?" Scheck insisted that "the play is an unholy mess." In addition, the HR reviewer complained that Nunn's insertion of "generous amounts of song and dance" make "an already long evening feel even longer." Scheck found that "the overall effect is curiously lifeless, due to both the diffuseness and unevenness of the material . . . and the familiar flourishes that afflict so many Shakespeare productions." The HR writer felt that "Nunn is mightily straining for poeticism, when a light-hearted, winking approach might have produced more felicitous results" and his effort isn't aided by a cast that "differs widely in effectiveness." Scheck singled out several performers for praise: Casnoff, Swenson, Thompson, Rothman; but he found that Camargo "fails to project the charisma necessary to anchor the proceedings."
Turning to the cyber press, I found the opinions similar to the ink-and-paper reviews, setting the production above the play. Tami Shaloum of Stage Buddy likens Pericles to "an amalgamation of . . . many Shakespearean plays," naming The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and Midsummer as half-siblings for various aspects. "Everything from the costumes (Constance Hoffman) to the sound (Daniel Kluger) and set design (Robert Jones) is simple but distinctive," asserted Shaloum—though I strongly disagree about the costumes, which I found anything but "simple." Affirming that "it's the acting that grounds the show," the Stage Buddy declared, "All the actors demonstrate great skill with the language, emoting Shakespeare's lines beautifully." Shaloum praised the director, writing, "Nunn is extremely masterful at producing a show that feeds all the senses, employing bright and colorful visuals and a rich sound tapestry," concluding, "Nunn and company make it come alive." On TheaterMania, David Gordon dubbed the play "ghoulish" and acknowledged, "It can be a tough nut to crack." With director Nunn at the helm, however, "the experience is oftentimes quite lovely." Gordon reported that "his physical production is rollicking," though he found "the acting is more of a mixed bag." Nonetheless, the TM reviewer pronounced the production "particularly handsome."
Theater Pizzazz's JK Clarke pronounced TFANA's Pericles, a "fabulous and unbelievable tale if there ever was one (in every sense of the term)," "a very satisfying evening." Clarke asserted, "It is only through" director Nunn's "elaborate and elegant staging that Pericles becomes a palatable play." Disparaging the acting, particularly of Camargo ("moody and melodramatic"), the Theater Pizzazz reviewer stated, "The real saviors of the production, however, are Robert Jones for his absolutely stunning set . . . [and] Stephen Strawbridge's luscious lighting," which Clarke acknowledged "are rivaled only by Constance Hoffman's magnificent and elegant costumes." Clarke's bottom line was that the TFANA company "have taken an ostentatious play . . . and turned it into a lovely and entertaining production that's as worth seeing as any great play." On CurtainUp, Deirdre Donovan asserted that in TFANA's "smart" production, the actors are all "assuming roles." (Donovan appears to mean by this that they "disappear into their roles"; for some reason she seems to have expected them to chew the scenery or, as she put it, "barnstorm," as she dwelled on this aspect of the performance fairly extensively. It's certainly not an anticipation I have when going to see a production featuring pros at a company like TFANA or, say, the Signature Theatre.) The CU review-writer praised the acting of Crovatin's Thaisa and Englert's Marina, with "shout-outs" to Adjepong, Chevannes, and Keating for bringing "comic flavor" to the brothel scenes; she also complimented the sets of Jones, the lighting of Strawbridge, and the costumes of Hoffman.
Huffington Post's Michael Giltz seems to have made a mistake: he decided to read Pericles, Prince of Tyre before seeing Nunn's version at TFANA. He declared that "it's not good" in advance. So much for expectations. "Still," he acknowledged, "it could be fun and apparently has been rehabilitated in recent years, to a degree." Nunn, however, "makes no case here for the show's potential and indeed this production in particular gets worse as it goes along." Reinforcing his disappointment, Giltz asked, "[C]an one mess up a bad play?" His answer: "Nunn comes awfully close." HP's review-writer suggested that "it's as if Nunn were adapting The Scarlet Pimpernel but treating it like Macbeth," although he allowed (rather begrudgingly, to my ear) that "more than a few cast members make their mark." Like other reviewers, Giltz singled out Camargo's Pericles, Swenson's Cleon, Hellman's Dionyza, Rothman's Simonides, and Thompson's Gower, along with several others from the ensemble, but disparaged the work of both Crovatin as Thais and Englert as Marina. On top of this deficiency, Giltz found that "Nunn has shown far too much respect to a work that at best might be amiable. The play slows and slows . . . when we'd prefer they gallop to the finish." While Jones's sets create "some fine effects," Hoffman's costumes "are disastrous . . ., unintentionally silly when they're not simply unflattering and distracting." The reviewer even pronounced, "The music is a mess, as well. . ., underlining every emotion in italics." "At the end," Giltz asserted, "the narrator gains unwelcome laughter when reassuring us the show is almost over"—although I didn't hear a similar response the night I saw the play. Giltz singled out for opprobrium the very dumb shows—the starving citizens of Tarsus, the jousting tournament in Pentapolis, which he said "extend just a little past our breaking point"—that I thought were marvelously theatrical.
Well, as my late father loved to say: De gustibus non disputandum est—There's no accounting for taste. In other words, To each his own.


text: The core resource also includes a series of 51 In2Hockey delivery cards. These delivery cards are designed to be easy to use, and assist teachers, coaches and young people with delivery. All of the cards are based around challenges, there are three different types: 4 x introductory cards 34 x skill cards 10 x small-sided game (SSG) cards 3 x penalty corner (PC) cards The delivery cards are also colour coded using a traffic light system to help coaches and teachers select cards that are appropriate to the group that they are working with. Some cards will be suitable for two or more levels of ability as they may include basic skills which can be made easier or harder using the STEP framework. All of the In2Hockey delivery cards follow a similar format to the Quicksticks challenge cards. The front of the card includes: A clear illustration of the challenge An indication as to the level of difficulty A concise explanation of how to play, including any additional rules and how to score the challenge A list of the equipment required The back of the card includes: Teaching points Key points to remember during the challenge How to adapt the challenge to be easier or harder (using the STEP framework) In2Hockey is brought to you by England Hockey Board.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"Mzoli's Meats is a butcher shop and restuarant [sic] located in Guguletu township near Cape Town, South Africa."
Twenty-two minutes later, the article was deleted from the site. Nineteen-year-old administrator Chad Horohoe, who uses the moniker "^demon," removed the entry, citing Wikipedia guideline CSD A7 (Criteria for Speedy Deletion: Articles: No. 7), which says that an article can be summarily deleted -- with no discussion or notice to the author -- if it contains "no assertion of importance/significance."
Horohoe's unilateral decision to kill the "Mzoli's" article spawned a vehement weeklong debate in which dozens of users and administrators battled over the importance/significance of a barbecue place none of them had heard of. Also at issue was whether the initial deletion was a deliberate dig at Wales -- perhaps in a bid for attention, or if the article was in fact pointless "cruft," which, had it been written by anyone else, would've been deleted without a peep, as are thousands every day.
"Once again, people are trying to give Jimbo some god-like status and put him above the rules," wrote Horohoe.
"Delete with fire," recommended another user. "If anyone but King James had started this arty it would have been cast into the memory hole within an hour. Doubt this? Then test it by starting an article on a local restaurant you like and see how long it remains alive."
(I did test this by posting a three-sentence entry about a quirky pet store in my hometown. It was deleted after 27 hours -- not instantaneously, as in Wales' case, but still pretty quickly.)
His intentions assailed, Wales deigned to enter the Mzoli's fray, accusing his detractors of "shockingly bad faith behavior," and suggesting that some of them should "excuse themselves from the project and find a new hobby."
At first blush, the Mzoli's debate looks like countless other kerfuffles in the minutia- obsessed Wikipedia community. Contentious 'Wikipedians' are famous for focusing NASA-like quantities of brainpower on such marginal issues as the true height of Andre the Giant (7 foot 1? 7-4? 6-10?), whether Europe is "commonly considered" a continent and if vinegar is a fundamental ingredient of mayonnaise.
To some Wiki pundits, however, the Mzoli's debate was not just another pedantic back-and-forth -- it was a symptom of the growing pains now afflicting the 6-year-old project.
Having just passed the 2-million article mark last week, Wikipedia is not the virginal expanse it once was.
"Of course if you start from zero like Wikipedia did in 2001," said media scholar Andrew Lih, author of an upcoming book on the history of the project, "the growth at the beginning is going to be much more rapid than it is now -- you're filling in articles about 'dog,' 'cat,' 'blanket,' 'food,' 'government.' "
But as Wikipedia's knowledge base has expanded to cover the highest-profile people, places and things, making an original contribution becomes a lot tougher. Wales touched on this plateau effect last year when he recommended that Wikipedia community members "continue to turn our attention away from growth and toward quality."
Users may have taken Wales' entreaty to heart. According to Lih, much of the editorial activity has shifted from article creation and expansion to "deleting, pruning, citing and challenging."
Perhaps the granddaddy of all the Wikipedia debates is the question of which information deserves to be included, and which doesn't. So-called Inclusionists believe that because Wikipedia is not bound by the same physical limits as a paper encyclopedia, it shouldn't have the same conceptual limits either. If there's room for an article on unreleased Kylie Minogue singles -- and a group of people who might find it useful -- why not include it?
Deletionists, meanwhile, believe that because not all articles are created equal, judicious pruning increases the overall quality of Wikipedia's information and strengthens its reputation. An encyclopedia, they say, is not just a dumping ground for facts.
Lih and other veteran Wikipedians, including Geoff Burling, a contributor since 2002 and author of the Wikipedia blog Original Research, see a generation gap among editors as partially responsible for the recent rise of Deletionism.
"I think this is more of a conflict between the Wikipedians who have been part of the project for some time," Burling wrote in an e-mail, "versus a group that has not been part of the project as long." Most members of the old guard, he explained, had at one point or another helped delete articles that they later realized should have been kept.
"The newer members haven't made mistakes like this enough times to understand that caution is a virtue."
At the heart of the include-exclude issue is the idea of notability, which a Wikipedia policy page defines as "worthy of notice." The problem is that deciding what counts as notable -- and who gets to decide it -- is a hopelessly slippery pursuit. We can probably all agree that the Mona Lisa, the Great Pyramids and the Pacific Ocean are notable. But what about my pet shop? It's notable to me and the people in my neighborhood, and everyone who's bought a dog or a snake there. Isn't that enough?
Or if you don't like that example, how about YouTube's Chris Crocker, of "Leave Britney Alone" fame. An article on him was posted in July and deleted within days. Then a second version was created Sept. 12. That version was also nominated for deletion, but this time, a consensus failed to emerge. Crocker just wasn't non-notable enough anymore.
Wikirage, a new site that lists the most heavily edited recent articles, reads like a What's What of popular culture. The site's top article last week was "Blue Harvest," an exhaustively detailed entry on the sixth-season premiere of "Family Guy." Also receiving a lot of attention were "Halo 3" (No. 2), "Gimme More" (No. 5), and "Heroes" (No. 8). An article on the nation "Chad" came in third, but only because it had been featured on Wikipedia's home page. (A Wikipedia article about "Wikirage" has been created twice, and deleted both times, said Craig Wood, the site's creator.)
And though "Blue Harvest" raised no Deletionist hackles, articles currently on the chopping block are an entry on "Florizel," a character from Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale"; an article called "Charon in popular culture," which lists dozens of appearances of the grim ferryman in recent books and movies; and even a long and thorough entry on "the Peninsula Outlook," an award-winning high-school newspaper out of Gig Harbor, Wash., that a bunch of kids clearly worked on really hard.
To be fair, Wikipedia administrators do rid the site of truckloads of needless guff. People are constantly posting articles about their best friends, their quirky theories, their local pet stores, their short films -- most of which stand little chance of being read, except by accident.
But if even a small number of useful articles are being deleted in the name of keeping Wikipedia clean, isn't that like allowing a few innocent men to hang in favor of a lower crime rate?
"Wikipedia's community has become so rushed, so immediatist, that it is not willing to allow embryonic articles even a tiny modicum of time to incubate," wrote an editor named Kelly Martin of the Mzoli's situation.
Ultimately, Mzoli's was spared. But not until a gaggle of editors worked on expanding it from an afterthought to a more substantial portrait. Though it's still just a description of an African barbecue place, it's difficult to see how the world would be better off without it.
Special thanks to Ben Yates of Wikipedia Blog.


text:
Polyester Stinks And Here's A Study To Prove It
In the 70's fashionable men wore polyester 'leisure suits.' Fashionable women wore polyester or nylon Emilio Pucci patterned dresses. They were supposed to be cool, but really they were hotter than heck. Then, thankfully, there was a return to natural fibers in textiles - not only cotton, silk, and wool, but several fibers like hemp, bamboo, and soy that were relatively new to the fashion industry. Now the pendulum is back to the synthetic, and it's not pretty. As a matter of fact, it stinks!
And that was proven by scientists at Ghent University in Belgium. Their study, which compared the bacteria content and odor of various synthetic and cotton shirts worn by healthy men and women after athletic activity, is now published online in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Twenty-six healthy men and women gave up their t-shirts to the researchers after an hour of vigorous cycling workouts. The t-shirts were made of polyester or cotton; a few were blends of synthetic materials. After wear, the t-shirts were stored in air-tight plastic bags for 28 hours and left in a dark room, a bacteria stimulative environment.
After the storage period, the shirts were presented to a panel of seven trained odor assessors who evaluated the odor of each t-shirt armpit on hedonic value (pleasant or unpleasant), intensity, musty, strongness, amonia, sweatiness, and sourness. The panel assessed all values significantly higher for the polyester and blended t-shirts except for the hedonic value which was higher for the cotton t-shirt. In other words, the polyester shirts were more stinky than the cotton shirts.
It should be noted that testing the smell of the t-shirts after strenuous exercise was only one aspect of this study. The main objective was to learn what bacteria grow on what materials and which of those bacteria produce the strongest odors. This information, in its current stage, will be most interesting to bacteriologists and can be found in the study report. Eventually, the study's lead author, Chirs Callewaert, hopes to learn why certain synthetics grow specialized bacteria.
Callewaert's ultimate goals are to help manufacturers find ways to minimize the bacteria producing fibers in their garments and to help persons with body odor by transplanting microbes from non-malodorous relatives to them.
In the meantime, maybe we should be wearing cotton.
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology via Eurekalert


text:
Overall crime in Encinitas, Del Mar and Solana Beach was down or stayed about the same in 2017 compared to 2016, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department North Coastal Station.
However, Captain John Maryon warns that the cities' top problems — property thefts and burglaries — have persisted since he joined the department in 1996.
Maryon said such "crimes of opportunity" can stem from people leaving their garages open or leaving items on their car seats, for example. Most property theft or burglary suspects are from out of town, he added.
"Criminals know this is a more affluent area, so there's going to be more valuables in garages or sitting in car seats," he said, adding that someone stealing from a garage in any capacity is burglarizing the property. "Maybe in another town they might not have had a $7,000 Louis Vuitton sitting on a passenger seat. That makes for a quick window smash."
As a way to remedy the problem, the captain recommended residents and business owners look into alarm systems that immediately alert the authorities, rather than ones that first alert the alarm companies then the authorities.
In Encinitas, the number of calls for burglaries increased by 18 occurrences, theft decreased by 127 occurrences and auto theft decreased by 12 occurrences, according to a sheriff's report written in mid-December and acquired by the Union-Tribune Community Press.
In Del Mar, the number of calls for burglaries decreased by 14 occurrences, theft decreased by two occurrences and auto theft remained the same.
In Solana Beach, the number of calls for burglaries increased by three occurrences, theft increased by three occurrences and auto theft decreased by one occurrence.
Maryon explained the calls for burglaries in the cities included a combination of commercial and residential thefts.
"Commercial burglaries have increased," he said. "We started a loss prevention working group with the large box stores in Encinitas, so that should help reduce them."
Calls for violent crime — including homicide, rape, robberies and aggravated assaults — was up by five total occurrences in Encinitas, up by one occurrence in Del Mar and down by four occurrences in Solana Beach.
The captain said the lower crime in Encinitas — particularly downtown — can be attributed to a sheriff's substation near the La Paloma Theatre that opened earlier in 2017.
He said the addition of the substation, as well as ridesharing programs like Lyft and Uber, have also contributed to the reduction of DUIs and public intoxication.
"It's getting better, but obviously we're not past it since we've had a couple hit-and-run crashes that involved possible alcohol," he said.
Maryon said he is thankful that crime has been down overall, even with the number of people that visited the cities over the year.
"The City of Encinitas last year estimated that one million extra people visited their beaches," he said. "That's a lot of people to add into a city of 64,000. I think Del Mar may have estimated another three million that came in through their area, which do trickle into Solana Beach and Encinitas as well. It's a lot of people, but we've been pretty fortunate to keep crime down and get the word out."


text:
Year of the Draghi, as Mario breathed fire into markets
Dec. 27 - At the start of 2012, the euro zone was staring into the abyss. But in July ECB chief Mario Draghi pulled it back, and sparked a remarkable rally across European markets. Can this continue into 2013?
At the beginning of the year of the eurozone was still getting into them best. Some analysts believe that -- and depression hit -- would be forced out of the seventeen nation bloc and market mayhem we consume. But so called critics it never happens. And if you bought Greek bonds perhaps the most toxic asset of all after the country's debt -- structuring -- much you would have doubled your money. Much of that tournament came in the second half of the year. European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said the bank would do what ever it takes to save the you know. And believe me it will be enough since then the Euro has surged 1110 cents. And European stocks have jumped more than 10%. Italian and Spanish borrowing costs plunged and the risk of you goes on breakup has receded dramatically so is the -- Over the same definitely common markets in the last six tonight months and I went to commit the end of 2012 we've got. -- German stock market in multi year highs the defense CCs to be ending fairly near near the highs for the year some markets. Buoyant but. Markets may struggle to much there -- tons of this year and 25 team even if central banks remain committed to printing money. And keeping the world financial system -- with ample liquidity. The US could fall back into recession if lawmakers in Washington failed to reach a deal on the events in the so called fiscal cliff. 600 billion dollars of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts due to kick in on the first of January. The markets start trading again. It's likely that that equity markets cut if if the situation as a result equity equity markets could stop pricing in the negative aspects of this this whole episode. And that's is the US economy potentially going it's a recession at some points in the first the second course and yes when the US sneezes. The rest of the world still catches a cold.


text:
Cardiff City midfielder Peter Whittingham jokes Saturday's opponents Manchester City are struggling for form.
The Bluebirds stunned their opponents, fans and pundits by beating the Premier League title hopefuls 3-2 in August.
And Whittingham and his team-mates are taking confidence from that result ahead of their trip to Etihad Stadium.


text:
Kid-friendly Bio
Emma Lesko grew up near Detroit, Michigan, where she ate dirt, taught her guinea pig to turn the basement lights on with his teeth, and read books in a garbage can. Like all kids, Emma had some superpowers. She had supersonic ears, super-strong taste buds and a supersmelling nose. Sometimes her superpowers were spectacular, and sometimes they gave her a feeling of barf. Though Emma has written a gazillion kids' stories, this is the first one she ever showed anybody.
Grown-up Bio
Emma Lesko is the author of two chapter books, SUPER LEXI and SUPER LEXI IS NOT A FAN OF CHRISTMAS. Emma is passionate about the unique potential in every child to contribute to the greater good, and seeks to ignite this potential in her school visits and through her work with various children's nonprofits.
She been published in the Huffington Post, Susan Cain's Quiet Revolution, and several blogs. She is both a sponsor and active volunteer for the Kids for Peace Great Kindness Challenge, a global kindness initiative with over five million participating students.


text:
Price Display
The display of prices for services and products on the internet is regulated by the Price Display Regulations. These stipulate that consumers are to be shown net prices only and that they are made aware of this fact. The regulations also provide for additional pricing factors of which consumers need to be made aware, such as shipping and postage costs.
Back to Basic Service / Standard Service / Premium Service


text: On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 11:41 -0700, m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote: > > On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 11:01 -0700, m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote: > >> The subject says it all. I've still got that irritating problem of > >> selinux > >> complaining with smagent writing to its own logfile, and as I mentioned > >> here, weeks ago, I've done everything that sealert says, a number of > >> times, and it didn't fix it, and I've determined that it's clearly an > >> error handling failure of selinux. > >> > >> So, I'm hoping to find someone else who's run into the same thing.... > > ---- > > the problem with sealert's is that the paths are relative so just > > running the command without doing a 'cd /path/affected/by/selinux/' > > doesn't actually work. > > Wait - you mean I have to cd to /var/log/httpd, to run setsebool > httpd_unified on? That makes no sense. > > And I made the roles, etc, as close as I could, both on smagent and on its > log file. ---- No, for setsebool, it's just a boolean policy and of course switching the pwd is meaningless but for setting file contexts, it's very meaningful...sorry for the lack of clarity. Craig -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.


text:
The following pictures are some of the units in Pousard's Leipzig Project.
Just to restate this is not my game, figures or pictures. The aim of this post is to give wider access to people interested in the subject of refighting Napoleonic battles using miniatures, particularly 1/72nd scale plastic figures.


text:
Why Getting a Good Garden Hose is Beneficial
One who loves to garden is like many other people in the world, people who savor being outdoors, breathing fresh air and being close to green things. In many ways, gardening is very good for the health - one who gardens regularly might see it as a way to destress as well as a way to gain fitness through exercise. It is good to know that a lot of gardening tools have appeared in the market, each one special and specially made to make the work of gardening easier and more enjoyable. One tool which you might know you need is a garden hose, a tool which will help you reach different plants and make the whole gardening process much easier and much more convenient for you, a tool which, when bought from a good source, will prove to be beneficial to you in many different ways.
Purchasing a good garden hose is beneficial in a lot of different ways, one of which is the fact that when you use one, you will be able to save time and gain a lot of convenience as well. If you don't have a hose, you might have resorted to using a watering can or another such appendage, wasting a lot of time and energy as you lug the heavy device across your garden, trying to get as many plants as you can before having to haul the whole thing back to the water source for more water. Today, when hoses are used, all plants can be watered in no time, which is certainly wonderful for those who are busy people but still love to garden. Read on for
special info.
One who decides to purchase a modern garden hose will also be happy to know that the best garden hoses are very durable, and can last a very long time. When one buys something which is not durable, he or she is actually wasting money, as when this item breaks down and becomes unusable, there is a need to either fix or replace it. When you buy a modern garden hose, you can be sure that you will not feel the feeling of disappointment you get every time you waste your money on something, as modern garden hoses are very strong, flexible and durable and, being made out of the finest materials in the market, are created to last and serve your purposes for a long time to come.
Last but not least, people can benefit when they purchase the best garden hoses in the market because they can be sure that these hoses will be flexible. Because modern garden hoses are both strong and flexible, they will not be torn apart and kink when they are stored in small closets or when they are wound tightly.
You can find out more.


text:
[ I post an e-mail which I am sending also to email@example.com, with cc's as follows: firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com, email@example.com, email@example.com, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com.
I may conceivably make future forwards, notably to individuals interested in Canadian heritage conservation.
Anyone having questions or concerns should e-mail me through my usual address, firstname.lastname@example.com.]
Coordinated Universal Time (= UTC = EST+5 = EDT+4): 20170328T040657Z
Dear Ombudsman team,
I am herewith continuing with the Ombudsman complaint I registered against the Town of Richmond Hill around UTC=20170313T1915Z, under the procedure discussed at https://www.ombudsman.on.ca/Home.aspx.
In the interest of transparency, I have just displayed this present material at my blog, http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.ca/ (for viewers outside Canada, http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.com/).
For prudence, I intend in the next few minutes to submit this present e-mail text also through the Web interface which the Ombudsman makes available to the public at https://www.ombudsman.on.ca/Make-a-Complaint/Complaint-Submission.aspx.
It has been two weeks since I submitted my complaint, and yet I have not heard from the Ombudsman. I gather from https://www.ombudsman.on.ca that it is common for complaints to be resolved in a two-week timeframe.
(1) For your possible convenience, I display my complaint from two weeks ago in an Appendix to this present communication.
(2) I would now respectfuly ask you to confirm by phone or e-mail that my complaint has not been dismissed (as being, for instance, somehow frivolous, or somehow incorrectly formulated, or somehow unclear), and that the case I started with you two weeks ago therefore remains open.
(3) I continue to worry about the odd and inconsistent behaviour of Clerks (efficient and friendly communications over the period 2008 through 2016 inclusive, in part in the context of my fifty or so 2008-through-2016 appearances at Town Council or Committee-of-the-Whole, sometimes as Delegation and sometimes in Public Forum or "Questions"; and now a seeming blackout on communications, with correspondence unacknowledged even after a repeated, and eventually after even a strongly worded, request for acknowledgement).
It now occurs to me that the normally efficient and friendly Clerk, in declining to communicate with me, may be acting against her will under the firm instructions of some Town lawyer. This is a scenario a little different from what I had feared two weeks ago, in which I was inclined to think that the elected Town politicians - in other words, one or a few or some large number of members of Town Council - were the source of the conjectured inproper pressure on our Clerk.
It therefore now occurs to me that I should draw to your notice my grounds, from back in 2013, for fearing the Town's lawyers, which I have just this morning in some degree of pessimism recalled.
I attach for your reference two short audio recordings, under filenames
* melitzer_legal_dept____untruthful_answer_20130624T2337Z.m4a
* barrow_dave_mayor___evasive_answers_of_20130923.m4a
The recordings raise a pessimistic fear about the probity of the Town's lawyers, in connection with one particular aspect of the David Dunlap Observatory case - with, namely, the purchase by the Town, around 2012 or 2013, of a 5-hectare David Dunlap Observatory and Park land parcel known as the "Panhandle", under terms which gave a would-be property developer at the David Dunlap Observatory a 400-percent-per-hectare profit.
(It is true that the would-be property developer is also donating other lands to the Town - donating, in fact, around 40 hectares from the 72-hecatre Observatory legacy "Trapezoid" (with at least the two key Observatory heritage buildings) while retaining 32 hectares for a projected 520- or 530-home subdivision. The 5-hectare Panhandle and the 40-hectare Trapezoid remnant are slated to become a municipal park, of around 45 hectares. In strict legal terminology, (a) the 77-hectare original 1930s-and-1950s legacy was the "David Dunlap Observatory and Park" (cf Jessie Donalda Dunlap Deed of Indenture, from around 1932, formalizing this language in the context of her relationship with the University of Toronto), and (b) the 45-hectare remnant is to become the "David Dunlap Observatory Park", and (c) the projected 32-hectare [sorry, typo here in my e-mail, where I erroneously had "33" in place of the needed "32": error noted and corrected at UTC=20170328T155837Z] subdivision is to become "Observatory Hill" - though it is also a legal fact that there has for many years existed a body, the "Observatory Hill Homeowners' Association" or "Observatory Hill Homeowners Association", representing the interests of some homeowners residing just outside the 77 subject hectares.)
The recordings are self-explanatory. Nevertheless, I summarize their content for you here:
- On an afternoon in 2013 June, I checked the status of the Town's title to its newly-acquired 5-hectare Panhandle tract, by visiting the Land Registry. I learned from the Registry that the title was not absolute, being only "Land Title Conversion Qualified" (LTCQ). Equipped with photocopied documentation from the Land Registry, I proceeded on that same evening to Town Council and in Public Forum (or, as it was perhaps then known, "Question Period", or "Questions", or something of this kind) asked the Town Solicitor (Mr David Melitzer), through the Mayor, whether the title was or was not absolute. (My intention was only to stress-test the probity of the Town's lawyers. I was sure that I would be given the correct answer, "not absolute but LTCQ", with some more or less instructive accompanying window-dressing or accompanying embellishment. My main intent was to learn how our government works, by gauging and appraising the nature and quality of this anticipated window-dressing.) To my shocked surprise, the Town Solicitor said that title was absolute, and he said this twice or three times (as you can hear by listening closely to the audio file melitzer_legal_dept____untruthful_answer_20130624T2337Z.m4a). I stayed calm, proceeding to table the Land Registry documentation. At this point the Town Solicitor backtracked, saying that the title was indeed LTCQ rather than absolute, and by way of window-dressing adding that LTCQ is a solid kind of title. So solid is LTCQ (he now said) that he would not even recommend a conversion from LTCQ to Absolute.
- In 2013 September, in Public Forum at Town Council, I recalled the Solicitor's twofold or threefold false statement from 2013 June. I asked politely, through the Mayor, for an explanation. (Perhaps, I suggested, the Town Solicitor had been tired, or had been inadvertent, in mishandling my question in 2013 June?) To my shocked surprise, the Mayor declined to pass my request for an explanation on to the Town Solicitor, and indeed indicated (after I probed the Mayor, politely) that in his judgement the Town Solicitor owes me no apology for his statement of 2013 June. The assertion that no apology is owed is made toward the end of the audio file barrow_dave_mayor___evasive_answers_of_20130923.m4a.
I had intended on 2013 September to raise the problem of the Town Solicitor's 2013 June false statement with the Attorney General of Ontario. I think that in the end, however, being perhaps a little overwhelmed or tired or depressed, I let the matter slide, failing to follow through on my intention.
You should now, I reiterate, note the two audio recordings I am sending you as attachments to this e-mail, since they may shed some light - they may supply what I am as of my pessimistic recall this morning coming to think might prove to be relevant background or context - on the problem with the Town Clerk that forms the substance of my 2017-03-13 submssion to you. (Might it be - such is my line of thinking, particularly in the wake of this morning's pessimistic recall of the 2013 events - that someone in the Town's legal department is directing the Town Clerk to ignore my requests for acknowledgement of 2016 December correspondence?)
I now look forward (a) this week to your affirmation that my case is still open, and (b) over the coming days (not necessarily this week) to your closing the case - with a statement, perhaps rather terse, that I can in the interest of transparency post to my usual http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.ca.
I also now take the liberty of adding (what has become vivid in my mind in the last few days, as I continue to reflect on the Town Clerk's situation) that if the Clerk cannot be fully trusted - if, for instance, there are reaons for fearing the Clerk can be put under pressure from elsewhere - then we in two respects weaken one of our main municipal safeguards:
- it is Clerks who process citizen requests to address Town Council and Committee-of-the-Whole as a Delegation
- it is Clerks who process citizen complaints directed to the Town's Integrity Commissioner
For your possible convenience, I specifically draw your attention to the paragraph beginning ((QUOTE)) A satisfactory resolution of the case would involve ((/QUOTE)) in my Appendix below. That paragraph sets out what in my respectful estimation would constitute three jointly sufficient components in a satisfactory, if rather minimalist and low-key, resolution - although I do now add that any further steps you might now be able to take (for instance, an investigation by you of the Town Solicitor's unexpected 2013 June in-Town-Council falsehood, with an apology from the Town Solicitor through you to me) would be a further contribution toward restoring the public's confidence in the Town of Richmond Hill.
Dr Toomas Karmo
42 Gentry Crescent
Richmond Hill, ON L4C 2G9
Coordinated Universal Time (= UTC = EST+5 = EDT+4): 20170313T1915Z
I am herewith opening an Ombudsdman complaint against the Town of
Richmond Hill, under the procedure discussed at
In the interest of transparency, I have just displayed this present
material at my blog, http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.ca/ (for viewers
outside Canada, http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.com/).
The material following this sentence repeats, word for word and indeed
letter for letter, the submission which I made a few minutes ago
through a Web form at
My complaint regards deficient public communication by the office of
Clerks, Town of Richmond Hill. The deficiency conceivably involves
behind-the-scenes interference (even conceivably behind-the-scenes
political interference) directed against Clerks by some to-me-unknown
third party.
I have asked Clerks in at least 3 separate e-mails, in the period from
2016 December through 2017 March inclusive, to acknowledge my 2016
December action of drawing a potential municipal problem, with
conceivable legal ramifications, to their notice. The problem involved
misleading advertising by a subdivision developer, DG Group (formerly
Metrus) subsidiary Corsica, in respect of their envisaged 520- or
530-home "Observatory Hill". The advertising language was deficient in
several respects, one of them involving a misleading use of a
municipal-park name.
In 2016 December, I drew the problematic advertising to the notice of
Advertising Standards Canada (ASC), thereby opening the (now-closed)
ASC case #141628. The advertiser eventually resolved the case to my
satisfaction, correcting its advertising language. But the Clerk has
persistently declined to acknowledge receiving correspondence from me,
despite the potential legal ramifications of the advertiser's conduct
for the municipality - refusing both (a) when the case was under
adjudication at ASC and (b) when the case was, to the advertiser's
satisfaction and my satisfaction, closed at ASC.
Two complicating factors in Ombudsman case which I am herewith opening
are (1) the inconsistency of the Clerk's present behaviour with the
Clerk's cooperative and helpful demeanour, in our many dealings over
the years on other aspects of the controversial "Observatory Hill"
subdivision development, and (2) legal actions brought against me by a
present "Observatory Hill"-favourable Town Councillor, Karen Cilevitz,
during Ms Cilevitz's successful 2014 election campaign. I have
documented Ms Cilevitz's 2014 legal actions at
http://www.karen-vs-toomas-blog.ca/ and
It is possible that the Clerk, in now departing from the Clerk's past
well-established pattern of behaviour, is now suffering political
interference (being, in other words, now instructed - as a political
initiative undertaken from some sufficiently powerful quarter, against
the Clerk's own long-standing preference - to ignore my requests).
However, it would be improper for me to suggest that any such
hypothetical powerful-quarter political interference is specifically
from Councillor Cilevitz. As a purely subjective assessment, my
feeling is 50% that Councillor Cilevitz is somehow significantly
involved in the situation (perhaps with a few, or even with many,
others), but 50% that the problem lies altogether elsewhere - in some
quarter, perhaps political, which I in my mild autism, and in my mild
consequent social clumsiness, am unable even to guess at.
A satisfactory resolution of the case would involve (a) a specific
acknowledgement by the Clerk to me of past correspondence from me to
Clerks regarding the past (now-closed) ASC case #141628; (b) an
affirmation that the Clerk will, as a matter of general future policy,
acknowledge receiving incoming correspondence in all cases in which
the correspondent requests an acknowledgement of receipt; and (c) an
affirmation that the Clerk is politically neutral.
In the interest of public transparency, I am proposing to document
this present Ombudsman case, as I have already documented the
now-closed ASC case #141628, in blog format at
http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.ca/ (for readers outside Canada, at
For your possible convenience, I add, as an appendix, my most recent
e-mail to the Clerk, in which I state that an acknowledgement is
sought, and in which I indicate that in the event of failure to
acknowledge I will have to open an Ombudsman case.
((APPENDIX WHAT="archived correspondence"))
Coordinated Universal Time (= UTC = EST+5 = EDT+4): 20170306T194604Z
Dear email@example.com;
Advertising Standards Canada has now resolved my
case involving DG Group (formerly Metrus) subsidiary
Corsica (the would-be developers of "Observatory
Hill", a projected 32-hectare subdivision adjacent
to the remnant 45-hectare "David Dunlap Observatory
Park"). I quote herewith the relevant part of the
relevant Advertising Standards Canada e-mail to me,
dated 2017-03-02:
ASC carefully reviewed the advertising
in light of your concerns and
contacted the advertiser for additional
information. We were informed by the
advertiser that, after receiving your
complaint, it changed the advertisement
in question as per your proposed
Based on the advertiser's corrective
action, we will now close our file on
this matter.
I believe I have remarked to you on a couple of
occasions, most recently in my e-mail bearing the
internal timestamp UTC=20170204T041144Z, that we
should document in a duly formal way the Town's
awareness of the problems that I first drew
to the Town's notice on 2016-12-19 or 2016-12-20,
and which formed the subject of my Advertising
Standards Canada case #141628. My e-mail to you,
bearing the internal timestamp UTC=20170204T041144Z,
is copied below.
Unfortunately, the Town has not acted on these
requests - even though I last week had a fully
correct acknowledgement, from Commissioner Shane
Baker to me with cc to you, of other DDO-pertinent
correspondence, not involving Advertising Standards
Canada. I would now respectfully ask Clerks to follow
Commissioner Baker's good example and acknowledge,
in some brief form of words of other, (a) the Town's
awareness that I brought case #141628 to its notice,
fearing a breach of advertising ethics, and even (as
a legal layman) fearing an outright illegality; and
(b) the Town's awareness that the case has now been closed
by Advertising Standards Canada, in a way which
satisfies my concerns.
In the interest of transparency, I would propose to
reproduce your brief form of words on my server
space http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.ca/, as a supplement
to my existing documentation of case #141628
at that server space. My server space seeks to guard the
public interest, by doing everything possible to
render the ongoing DDO conservation case transparent.
As I remarked to Commissioner Baker and you in
connection with Commissioner Baker last week, I am
trying these days to be more diligent in transparent
administration than I have been in the past - seeking,
as I would put it today, to cross all my t's and to dot
all my i's.
I make two further contextual remarks.
(1) It is especially important that we achieve full
transparency, with a due acknowldgement to me of
my correspondence with you, because of a possible
public perception that the aspiring developer and
the Town are in some sense allies. It will not have
escaped public notice that although the developer
is making a large gift of land and buildings to
the Town, for the Town's remnant 45-hectare park,
the developer has also made a 400-percent profit on
its circa-2013 sale to the Town of five David Dunlap
Observatory hectares (slated to become part of that
45-hectare remnant park), and additionally stands
to profit from the sale of 520 or 530 homes in
its projected 32-hectare subdivision. I would say
that this is to the detriment of the provincial and
national DDO heritage (a heritage which in my own
private judgement should have, and yet did not,
generate a federal application for UNESCO World
Heritage Site protection). Mindful of the dangers of
the developer's bringing litigation against me, and
recalling my belief - Councillor Hogg must this week
correct me if I am mistaken - that in the past the
late Alfredo DeGasperis, Sr of DG Group (then Metrus)
has outside the immediate DDO context been involved
in a threat of litigation against Councillor Hogg,
I underscore and stress that I do not myself assert
the developer and Town to be in any sense allies:
my assertion, which I believe I can support in court
under "Truth Defence" by due use of subpoena, is
only that there is a possible public perception that
the developer and Town are in some sense allies. -
Mr Bronskill, representing DG Group (former Metrus)
subsidiary Corsica, is a cc'd party to this present
e-mail, and he must this week correct me if in
writing this paragraph I have strayed - as, mindful
of "Truth Defence", I do not think I have strayed -
into some tort of defamation.
(2) I have noticed in the last few days with a special
horror that the Vatican has played loose with the
normal accepted rules of administration, by failing to
acknowledge incoming correspondence in sexual-abuse
matters. It was in part this loose Vatican behaviour
that triggered the resignation, around 2017-03-01,
of Marie Collins from the Pontifical Commission for
the Protection of Minors: cf her words as quoted at
This, like other bad things I have noticed in Soviet
and Singaporean files in my minor past public work,
is much on my mind as I now work
on our particular DDO file. We do not want our
Town imitating the just-cited Vatican administrative
In light of my last two paragraphs, I have to remark,
politely but firmly, that I cannot in conscience
take Town silence for an answer, and that if I
receive no acknowledgement of correspondence from
you by late tomorrow afternoon (I define this as
UTC=20170307T2200Z), then I will start a case against
the Town at the office of the Ontario Ombudsman. I
would in that unpleasant, abrasive - but remote? -
eventuality be basing my proceedings on the Ombudsman
expanded-jursidiction provisions as explained at
As of January 1, 2016, the
Ontario Ombudsman can take general
complaints about the province's 444
municipalities. This is in addition
to complaints about closed municipal
meetings, which were added to the
Ombudsman's jurisdiction in 2008.
looking forward (I reiterate)
to your terse response by UTC=20170307T2200Z,
addressing my points "(a)" and "(b)" above,
Dr Toomas Karmo
42 Gentry Crescent
Richmond Hill ON L4C 2G9
[This is the end of the present blog posting.]


text:
(continued from "Disasters")
Two weeks earlier a phantom canoe was said to have been seen on nearby Lake Tarawera.
...June. A series of eruptions affecting Tongariro Te Mari craters began and lasted a decade.
1888 Floods. July. 11km of railway track were inundated in flooding at Taieri and Outram.
...Earthquakes. An earthquake occurred which reached damaging intensity in Christchurch and North Canterbury. It was felt in the South Island parts of the North Island.
1891 Earthquakes. June 23. Chimneys toppled in Auckland during an earthquake centred near the mouth of the Waikato River with intensities of 8 at Kawhia and Raglan.
1895 Eruptions. March 10. A large eruption of Mt. Ruapehu resulting in a number of lahars.
1897 Floods. April. Twelve died when the Tutaekuri River flooded.
...Earthquakes. 7 December. An earthquake along the Wellington coast was felt between Auckland and Timaru with the highest intensity at Wanganui.
1903 Eruptions. August 30. A guide and three tourists were killed when the Waimangu Geyser erupted. Now extinct it was at one time the world's largest , playing to a height of 988 m.
1907 Fire. Parliament Buildings destroyed by fire.
1908 Drought. January-February. Damage caused to property in both islands by fires arising from drought.
1914 Earthquakes. 7 October. One person died when an earthquake measuring 7.5 was recorded at East Cape.
1915 Floods. July. Six express trains stranded by severe flooding between Otorohanga and Taihape. Some of the 300 passengers slept on the trains for four nights.
1917 Eruptions. April 1. The Waimangu Geyser again erupted destroying the accommodation house at Waimangu. Two people died from burns.
1918 Epidemics. November. A WORLD WIDE NFLUENZA EPIDEMIC claimed 5,561 European and an estimated 11,200 Maori lives in New Zealand, most of the casualties occurring in November.
1921 Earthquakes. Centred at Hawke's Bay this was felt throughout most of the country.
1922 Earthquakes. 19 June. A shock reaching damaging intensity was felt in the Taupo District. These were followed by similar shocks on July 15 and July 17.
1928 Tidal Wave. 27 May. A tsunami caused damage at Gisborne and along the East Coast.
1929 Earthquakes. 9 March. A 1,000 m vertical face was carved on Falling Mountain when it split in half, the result of an earthquake based on Arthur's Pass.
...16 June. THE MURCHISON EARTHQUAKE. This measured 7.75 was based at Buller and felt on both islands. This earthquake which claimed 117 lives uplifted land by as much as five metres. Murchison and Nelson suffered heavy damage. At least six after shock all of at least 7 were recorded for two weeks, during which time there was heavy rain and flooding.
1931 Earthquakes. THE NAPIER EARTHQUAKE. 3 February. Occurring in the morning the earthquake measuring 7.9 hit the Hawke's Bay area, causing extensive damage o Napier, Hastings and many smaller nearby settlements, leaving 256 people dead. In Napier there was a major landslide from Bluff Hill and Ahuriri Lagoon was uplifted producing 3,600 ha of dry land. Within a few minutes of the earthquake fire broke out and swept through four ha of buildings. Fire also broke out in Hastings that evening after a second shock.
North of Napier stretches of coast fell into the ocean and throughout the region rivers changed courses or banked up and whole hillsides were destroyed and the landscape was scarred with huge fissures. After shocks, some of them nearly as intense as the original continued for 10 days. The earthquake put an end to Napier's tramways. Buses took over.
1932 Earthquakes. 15 September. roads and communications were damaged when an earthquake measuring 7.3 hit the Wairoa and Gisborne areas.
1934 Earthquakes. 5 March. An earthquake measuring 7.5 had its epicentre at Pahiatua and as felt in both islands. 1 person died.
1936 Floods. 11-2 February. Trains derailed and severe flooding when two storms met over the North Island.
1938 Floods. 18 February. A cloudburst at Kopuawhara north of Wairoa claimed 21 lives.
Stock was lost and farms buried under silt. Streams in the Gisborne area rose as much as 20m.
...April. Catastrophic floods occurred between Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay.
1942 Earthquakes. 24 June. An earthquake measuring 7 shook Wellington.
...Floods 13 July. Wairarapa experienced its worst flood for 46 years.
1947 Tidal Waves. 26 March. An earthquake at sea caused a tsunami on the East Coast of the North Island. The main wave was five to seven metres high.
1948 Earthquakes. 22 May An earthquake with an intensity of about 8 centred on Waiau was felt over the northern half of the South Island
...Tornadoes. 25 August. A tornado cut a path up to 200m wide through parts of Hamilton and Frankton Junction. three people were killed.
1949 Eruptions. February 9-March 3. Mt. Ngauruhoe erupted with lava flows.
1953 Earthquakes. 29 September. An earthquake centred on the Bay of Plenty and measuring 7.1 was felt in both the North and South Islands.
December 24 Christmas Eve. THE TANGIWAI DISASTER. 151 people died hen the northbound Auckland Express was swept off the Wangaehu River Bridge by a sudden discharge
of water from the Crater Lake on Mt. Ruapehu. This wave carried thousands of tonnes of ice, ash and boulders down the river striking the bridge just before the train arrived. 46m of the
(Disasters continued)


text:
Feb 21, 2011
Free Clip Arts | Cupcakes
Free 4 Clip Arts Cupcakes, They are in PNG and 12x12 inch size.
You can Download the files.
For Personal Use Only.
6 comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Spring Sale
Check the new look of our shop www.sherykdesigns.com and enjoy the 55% off of our products*. Check it HERE . *Conditions Apply


text:
While innocently browsing the internet the other day, I came across this video (pun not intended). It had a lovely title like Do Your Homework or I will Stop Fucking You. I gave it a watch, but only because I have friends who are teachers, and I thought it might be beneficial to them to find ways in which to get their pupils to study more effectively.
The gist was this: a mother catches her son wanking off instead of doing his homework, so gives him a blowjob so as to encourage him to study. That's a bit wrong isn't it?
It was shot from the POV of the son, so you never get to see his face – but he's clearly not a schoolboy (his hands are too big).
The best bit though happens at 3:06 mins when you can spot a cat wander into the scene in the background. He's probably not allowed in the bedroom usually, so saw an opportunity to sneak in while they're at it. Cats are so crafty aren't they?
I decided the cat should be called Pedro.
Sorry – I forgot to warn you that this post contains explicit images. It's also a well-known fact that if you're a bloke watching porn, and you stare at the willies for too long you will become gay.
At least I managed to finish this post without making a "pussy" gag.


text:
To all survivors:
This place will be used to record everything that happens in the Dead Zone (and, if we are lucky, the State and the world). Write any note, message, memo, warning or whatever you find from both before, during and after the outbreak so, if HERC decided to nuke the city, there is a memoir of the city's residents.
Good luck and take care.
- Souvage
[Hello there wiki editors, readers and the rest. This blog is to write any note "you find" in Union City (Similar to the ones found in TLS:UC). Make sure it sticks as much as possible to the source material. Any question or doubt, feel free to contact me. Thank you.]
- Z_Creator


text:
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Madonna has apologized for using the N-word along with an Instagram photo of her son Rocco Ritchie.
"I am sorry if I offended anyone with my use of the N-word on Instagram," the singer said in a statement on Saturday, Jan. 18. "It was not meant as a racial slur...I am not a racist."
She added: "There's no way to defend the use of the word. It was all about intention...It was used as a term of endearment toward my son who is white. I appreciate that it's a provocative word and I apologize if it gave people the wrong impression. Forgive me."
This apology from the Material Girl comes on the heels of her adding a snapshot of her 13-year-old son boxing, along with the message "No one messes with Dirty Soap! Mama said knock you out!" along with the hashtag "#disni--a."
She quickly deleted the controversial comment and wrote, "Ok let me start this again. #get off of my d--k haters!"


text:
Kentucky's inability to consistently connect from behind the arc is posing a serious problem in Lexington
Thirty-five percent.
That's what Kentucky shot from three-point range in the regular season in 2014–15, a mark that was O.K. (it ranked 137th in the country) yet sufficient, largely because that juggernaut of a team had so many offensive weapons—especially in the post—that it didn't need to light it up from the arc.
And when last year's Wildcats did need a three-pointer, they could turn to Devin Booker and Tyler Ulis, who attempted a combined 218 shots from the perimeter and made 41.7% of them.
Flash-forward to 2015–16, and it's clear that this year's guard-oriented Kentucky group needs to utilize the three-pointer more than its predecessor. The problem? Night in and night out, the Wildcats can't seem to buy one.
Ulis is back, but while the sophomore has looked outstanding at times this season (most notably in wins over Duke and Wright State), he has struggled with his shot, shooting 35.1% from the field and just 28.1% from three. Maybe Ulis is simply in a slump, or maybe his shooting has been affected by the fact that he's drawing a lot more attention from opposing defenses than he was last season.
Remember the 35% mark that last year's Wildcats averaged from three? Through nine games, this year's squad has only met that plateau twice, and the other seven games have been flat-out ugly.
Two for 12, 3 for 15, 2 for 10, 3 for 10, 5 for 21, 8 for 25. All of those are three-point lines belonging to UK this season, and that was before the Wildcats went 4 for 19 (21.1%) from behind the arc on Wednesday in an 88–67 win over Eastern Kentucky.
• DAVIS: When will the 10 remaining undefeated teams lose?
All that adds up to a Wildcat team shooting a dismal 27.5% from three. That's not just poor, that's in the bottom of the Division I barrel. There are 351 teams in D-1. When it comes to three-point percentage, Kentucky is ranked No. 326. That's a ton of potential points left on the floor, which partly explains why some of its point margins in wins (+13 over Albany, +15 over Wright State, +12 over Illinois State) haven't been as large as we're accustomed to seeing from John Calipari-coached teams.
Shooting 21% from three might be enough to cut it against Eastern Kentucky in December (though the Colonels and their high-powered offense did provide a few scares at Rupp), but those kinds of performances will leave the Cats with very little room for error in others aspect of the game when they face teams like Louisville and Kansas, or hit conference play. The play of Skal Labissiere has been up and down—as is normal for freshmen big men—and as talented as Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe and Jamal Murray are at getting to the rim, this team must get its outside shooting going if it wants to reach its potential.
And if its shooting doesn't improve? Consider Kentucky's loss to UCLA last week, when the Bruins packed it in the paint on defense to force the Wildcats into attempting 25 threes (they made eight) and several ill-advised long jumpers. The plan worked beautifully for UCLA because Murray was the only Wildcat who proved to be an outside threat and the extra bodies in the paint helped the Bruins shut down Labissiere.
The other concern about Kentucky's poor three-point shooting so far is that some of its worst outings have come against teams that shouldn't be posing much of a defensive threat. Eastern Kentucky is ranked No. 333 in the nation in kenpom.com's adjusted defensive efficiency, and while the Cats ultimately poured in 88 points, it should've been a game where they could have built some confidence from behind the arc. Instead they went 4 for 19. This doesn't bode well for when UK faces SEC foes Vanderbilt and Tennessee, who are holding opponents to 29.1% and 29.2% three-point shooting, respectively.
Getting Ulis going from downtown could go a long way toward improving the situation, but when you're No. 326 in the nation it's going to take more than one player to see a substantial change. Murray has been streaky from the outside, but considering he's 18 and has just nine college games to his name, it's probably a safe bet to assume he'll find some consistency. The real question is: how soon?
Shooting guard Mychal Mulder was heralded as a sharpshooter when he committed to Calipari in April—he averaged 46.3% from behind the arc as a sophomore in junior college—but he has yet to crack the Cats' rotation and has logged only 16 minutes total. The assumption would be that Mulder isn't quite ready to play meaningful minutes for Kentucky, but if he can play the role of a catch-and-shoot three-point specialist, he could be a valuable weapon off the bench.
The good news for Kentucky is that A) it is only December and B) it is an extremely young team that is only scratching the surface of its potential. There's no reason to assume this poor outside shooting will continue forever, but a 27.5% average through nine games is enough to realize this weakness is not a fleeting trend. Kentucky doesn't necessarily need to shoot the lights out from deep to achieve its goals this season, and it's certainly not the Wildcats' only flaw so far. Even just reaching a respectable level of three-point shooting could take this team from very good to scary good and send a message to any team planning to use the UCLA approach in an effort to catch lightning in a bottle twice.
Time will tell what kind of Kentucky team this will truly be. Will it habitually need to overcome a poor night from behind the arc and hope its opponent isn't trading twos for threes? Or one that can beat teams with a true inside-outside game, punishing opponents who think they can pack the paint?