text:
I've asked a question about listing all sub-pages before:
But all the questions were wrong.
Anyways, I have now simpler question.
global $post;
echo $post>ID
Works totally fine, but while on pages sidebars only. When it's next to the blog loop (in a blog section) it goes crazy, for example Blog has ID of 216 (and $post>ID in loop.php shows 216), but the $post>ID in the sidebar shows 87. Why is this happening? How to fix that?
Thank you!
I have a suspicion that loop and sidebar are both included in index page separately and loop is getting different post ID than sidebar. The big question is how to change that.
[edit for Rarst]
global $post;
$children = wp_list_pages('title_li=&child_of='.$post->ID.'&echo=0');
echo $children;
Gives the same result. It works with pages, not blog. I have a normal loop, as like in Twenty Ten for example.


text:
Worm Hook
[Size Chart]
- Excellent strength, penetration and durability
- Exceptional strength enables to fight against unexpected large species
- Designed for even force distribution after hookset
We ship to any valid and deliverable addresses in 50 States in the United States. We will ship orders to the address you indicate as long as it meets the address requirements at checkout. Upon delivery of your items to the carrier, you assume risk of loss as well as ownership of items purchased through the website, and you are responsible for filing any claims with the carrier for damaged and/or lost shipments. If you refuse delivery of your order, it will be returned to our warehouse and you will receive a refund for the merchandise and tax paid. Shipping charges are nonrefundable.
Orders shipped to contiguous 48 States will arrive normally within 3~7 business days. Shipping is available for orders with a PO Box, Rural Route, or APO/FPO/DPO address. Orders shipped to a PO Box or Rural Route will arrive usually in 7-10 business days. Orders to an APO/FPO/DPO address will arrive in 3-5 weeks.
The shipping cost is determined at checkout and will be fixed price or vary based on delivery zone and weight. Free standard shipping is eligible on orders $25 or more.
You have 30 calendar days to return an item from the date you received it for a full refund. Only items that have been purchased directly from www.hitenausa.com can be returned. Hitena products purchased through other retailers must be returned in accordance with their respective returns and refunds policy. Your item needs to be in original packaging and have the receipt or proof of purchase. We'll also pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error (you received an incorrect or defective item, etc.).
To return an item, please email customer service at firstname.lastname@example.com with order number and details about the items you would return to obtain a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number. We will respond quickly with instructions for how to return items from your order. After receiving a RMA number, place the item securely in its original packaging and include your return form and proof of purchase, and mail your return the following address:
Hitena USA LLC
Attn: Returns Processing
2300 Valley View Ln Ste 835
Irving, TX 75062
Please note, you will be responsible for return shipping charges. We strongly recommend that you use a trackable method like UPS, Fedex or USPS to mail your return.
After receiving your return and inspecting the condition of your items, we will initiate a refund to your credit card (or original method of payment). Please allow us at least 30 days from the receipt of your item to process your return. In many cases you will receive a refund more quickly. This time period includes the transit time for us to receive your return from the shipper, the time it takes us to process your return once we receive it, and the time it takes your bank to process our refund request. Refund may take 1-2 billing cycles to appear on your credit card statement, depending on your credit card issuer. We will notify you by email when your return has been processed. In case you have opted for an exchange, we will provide shipping details for replaced items.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..


text:
Sky Force Anniversary
Sky Force Anniversary
The official app & game
Distributed by ApkOnline
iPhone app Sky Force Anniversary download it using ApkOnline.
The blaster legend is back to celebrate its 10-year anniversary in super-destructive style. Harnessing the intensity of classic arcade shoot-em-ups with the latest technology, Sky Force Anniversary offers a stunning scrolling shooter experience with an incredible new social gameplay element.
Ten years ago, IGN said, Put simply, Sky Force is amazing. Scoring an incredible 9.5 out of 10, Sky Force took the early mobile gaming scene by force.
And now its back. Bigger, bolder and more intense than ever.
This 10th anniversary edition adds incredible depth to the series through stunning 3D graphics, intuitive controls and a powerful upgrade system thatll keep you blasting for hours on end.
Weekly tournaments take place on unique new levels as you battle it out against legions of other Sky Force Anniversary players, offering great rewards not only for winning, but for rescuing other pilots whove already been taken down!
The hottest shooter is no push over, but the invigorating gameplay and vast library of
achievements will keep both casual players and hardcore gamers hooked as you upgrade your ship and take it a little deeper into the incredible battlefield time after time.
* Beautiful levels with immersive missions to complete.
* Multiple extreme boss battles.
* Upgrade your shields, guns, missiles, lasers, mega-bombs and magnets.
* Risk everything to rescue civilians.
* Brand new weekly tournaments against other players.
* Boost your final score with a host of in-game achievements.
* Rescue fallen opponents to win extra lives and stars.
* Accessible to beginners, as well as hardcore shooter addicts.
* Full voiceover and incredible electronic soundtrack.
* Co-operative mode for two players!
Get ready for the fight of your life in Sky Force Anniversary.,
Get it from Apple Store
Download Sky Force Anniversary from ApkOnline.net
Developer: Infinite Dreams Inc.
Try Sky Force Anniversary online
Try it online before its download. Use our platform UptoPlay for trying online any Android application or game.


text:
MCLEAN, VA—AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology has elected its 2014-2015 officers and directors. The 2014-2015 board term begins April 1, 2014.
The Board of Directors of the Association—which represents approximately 600 American manufacturers and distributors of machine tools, manufacturing machinery and related products— named Kevin J. Kilgallen, President, Mid Atlantic Machinery, Inc., Harrisburg, Pa., to serve as Chairman. He follows Chairman R. Stephen Flynn, President, Optical Gaging Products, Inc., Rochester, N.Y.
The Board elected Jerry Rex, President, Hegman Machinery, LLC, A Morris Group, Inc. Company, Maple Grove, Minn., to serve as First Vice Chairman in the coming year. Richard L. Simons, Chairman, President and CEO, Hardinge Inc., Elmira, N.Y., will serve as Second Vice Chairman/Treasurer. Brian J. Papke, President, Mazak Corporation, Florence, Ky., was elected Secretary.
Returning Board members include David J. Burns, President and COO, The Ex One Company, LLC, Irwin, Pa.; Thomas R. Dillon, Vice Chairman, DMG/Mori Seiki USA, Inc., Hoffman Estates, Ill.; Richard Gilchrist, Chairman, Felsomat USA, Inc., Schaumburg, Ill.; Ronald S. Karaisz, President, Novi Precision Products, Inc., Brighton, Mich.; Lee Morris, CEO and Chairman, The Morris Group, Windsor, Conn.; and Steven R. Stokey, Executive Vice President/Owner, Allied Machine & Engineering Corp., Dover, Ohio.
"After 17 years of participation, I look forward to representing AMT for all groups and members. Our new AMT board is made up of committed, dynamic and reputable stewards of the manufacturing industry who will provide guidance to the organization," said Kilgallen. "I look forward to serving alongside the executive committee and board of directors. My focus for the upcoming year will be to encourage members to engage their association and their industry in three ways: try a new AMT program that will have an impact on future success; support a community college or trade school that is promoting skill developments specific to the manufacturing industry; and finally, make our industry's voice heard by writing your U.S. Senators and Representatives regarding what we need to advance and maintain our competitiveness in the global manufacturing world."
Kevin J. Kilgallen is President, Mid Atlantic Machinery, Harrisburg, Pa. He co-founded the company in 1991. He also co-founded Southern States Machinery, Greensboro, N.C., in 2002. Prior to that, he was with Fox Machinery Associates, Bridgeport, Pa.; Teledyne Rodney Metals, New Bedford, Mass.; and York Steel Co., York, Pa. He began his career as a machine operator at York Steel Co., York, Pa. Mr. Kilgallen previously served on the AMTDA Executive Committee and was a member of the Association's R3 Leadership Group. He has been involved with the association for over 17 years. He is a graduate of York College.
First Vice Chairman
Jerry Rex is President of Hegman Machinery, LLC, A Morris Group, Inc. Company, Maple Grove, Minn. Prior to that, he was President of Morris South, Charlotte, N.C., for 10 years. Before joining Morris, he managed sales and applications efforts in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the eastern two-thirds of North Carolina, as well as showroom and support staff in Ashland, Va. He was Vice President at Gosiger, Inc., and a Regional Sales Manager at Carboloy. Mr. Rex began his career in manufacturing technology more than 37 years ago as a machinist apprentice at GE Locomotive in Erie, Pa.
Second Vice Chairman/Treasurer
Richard (Rick) L. Simons has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hardinge Inc., Elmira, N.Y., since May 2008 and became Chairman of the Board in February 2012. Prior to rejoining Hardinge in 2008, he was Vice President and Corporate Controller at Carpenter Technology, a publicly-traded specialty steel manufacturer (2005-2008). Mr. Simons originally joined Hardinge in 1983 and held various management roles before being named Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer (1999-2005). Mr. Simons has a B.S. degree from Bloomsburg University and an M.B.A. degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is also a director of Sunnen Products Company, a global manufacturer and distributor of honing and bore sizing equipment and related accessories.
Brian J. Papke is President of Mazak Corporation, Florence, Ky. Mr. Papke was named President of Mazak Corporation in 1989. Mazak Corporation is the North American manufacturing and marketing unit of Yamazaki Mazak, headquartered in Oguchi, Japan. Since joining Mazak in 1987, Mazak has completed 14 expansions, including the establishment of a National Technology Center and Customer Service and Support Center and a network of technology centers throughout North America. Recently, expansions have included $15 million on the Kentucky manufacturing plant and new Versatech bridge-style machining centers. Further expansion of Technology Centers is in progress, with a new building in Houston and an expansion in Schaumburg, Ill. Mr. Papke is a graduate of the University of Illinois.
- David J. Burns, President & COO, The Ex One Company, Irwin, Pa.
- Thomas R. Dillon, Vice Chairman, DMG/Mori Seiki USA, Inc., Hoffman Estates, Ill.
- Richard Gilchrist, Chairman, Felsomat USA, Inc., Schaumburg, Ill.
- Ronald S. Karaisz, President, Novi Precision Products, Inc., Brighton, Mich.
- Lee Morris, CEO and Chairman, The Morris Group, Inc., Windsor, Conn.
- Steven R. Stokey, Executive Vice President/Owner, Allied Machine & Engineering Corp., Dover, Ohio
- R. Stephen Flynn, President, Optical Gaging Products, Inc., Rochester, N.Y.
- Timothy B. Dining, President, Greenerd Press & Machine Company, Inc., Nashua, N.H.
- Ronald J. Mager, President & CEO, Machinery Systems, Inc., Schaumburg, Ill.
For more information, visit www.AMTonline.org.


text:
use Sys::Hostname qw( hostname );
my $hostname = hostname() or die "Can't get unique hostname";
my $manager = Lucy::Index::IndexManager->new( host => $hostname );
# Index time:
my $indexer = Lucy::Index::Indexer->new(
index => '/path/to/index',
manager => $manager,
# Search time:
my $reader = Lucy::Index::IndexReader->open(
index => '/path/to/index',
manager => $manager,
my $searcher = Lucy::Search::IndexSearcher->new( index => $reader );
DESCRIPTIONNormally, index locking is an invisible process. Exclusive write access is controlled via lockfiles within the index directory and problems only arise if multiple processes attempt to acquire the write lock simultaneously; search-time processes do not ordinarily require locking at all.
On shared volumes, however, the default locking mechanism fails, and manual intervention becomes necessary.
Both read and write applications accessing an index on a shared volume need to identify themselves with a unique "host" id, e.g. hostname or ip address. Knowing the host id makes it possible to tell which lockfiles belong to other machines and therefore must not be removed when the lockfile's pid number appears not to correspond to an active process.
At index-time, the danger is that multiple indexing processes from different machines which fail to specify a unique "host" id can delete each others' lockfiles and then attempt to modify the index at the same time, causing index corruption. The search-time problem is more complex.
Once an index file is no longer listed in the most recent snapshot, Indexer attempts to delete it as part of a post-commit() cleanup routine. It is possible that at the moment an Indexer is deleting files which it believes no longer needed, a Searcher referencing an earlier snapshot is in fact using them. The more often that an index is either updated or searched, the more likely it is that this conflict will arise from time to time.
Ordinarily, the deletion attempts are not a problem. On a typical unix volume, the files will be deleted in name only: any process which holds an open filehandle against a given file will continue to have access, and the file won't actually get vaporized until the last filehandle is cleared. Thanks to ``delete on last close semantics'', an Indexer can't truly delete the file out from underneath an active Searcher. On Windows, where file deletion fails whenever any process holds an open handle, the situation is different but still workable: Indexer just keeps retrying after each commit until deletion finally succeeds.
On NFS, however, the system breaks, because NFS allows files to be deleted out from underneath active processes. Should this happen, the unlucky read process will crash with a ``Stale NFS filehandle'' exception.
Under normal circumstances, it is neither necessary nor desirable for IndexReaders to secure read locks against an index, but for NFS we have to make an exception. LockFactory's make_shared_lock() method exists for this reason; supplying an IndexManager instance to IndexReader's constructor activates an internal locking mechanism using make_shared_lock() which prevents concurrent indexing processes from deleting files that are needed by active readers.
Since shared locks are implemented using lockfiles located in the index directory (as are exclusive locks), reader applications must have write access for read locking to work. Stale lock files from crashed processes are ordinarily cleared away the next time the same machine --- as identified by the "host" parameter --- opens another IndexReader. (The classic technique of timing out lock files is not feasible because search processes may lie dormant indefinitely.) However, please be aware that if the last thing a given machine does is crash, lock files belonging to it may persist, preventing deletion of obsolete index data.


text:
Want to buy a Reliant Rialto
How to buy?Our company professionally engaged in support of transactions on buying and selling of retro cars at auctions in England and the United States.
We will help You to buy the Reliant Rialto in original condition, and bring you a car all over the World.
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Please, answer the questions about the car, You want to buy, as accurately as possible. This will help us pick up for You the best car in the shortest time.
Leave the request for the purchaseIf You want to buy Reliant Rialto, please, fill in this form.
We will review Your application and select possible options for the purchase and delivery of this vehicle.


text:
Paul Defenbaugh
Paul Defenbaugh aka Ravenscroft (born December 19, 1969) is an artist who made his entrance into anthropomorphic fandom circa 1988, after Paul Kidd showed him a Dan Flahive pin-up calendar. Particularly fond of bright colors, pin-ups, and the occasional soft-core adult art, he has done work with Fur Play, Midnight Sands, Genus (covers 7 and 14), Yarf!, and other small press fanzines. He is influenced by Vicky Wyman.
Paul was a Guest of Honor for the furry track at Duckon IV. He has an AAS in 3d Computer Animation, is interested in writing, comics, music of all genres, and is also credited for writing in the First Edition Werewolf: The Apocalypse Players' Guide.
He has written stories under the name Peter C. Drake, and as a music artist is "Brocken Spectre".
The wolf persona of artist Paul Defenbaugh, Ravenscroft resided on FurryMUCK and was created Sun Apr 26 08:00:44 PDT 1992, but no longer exists as of March 2023.
External links[edit]
- Paul Defenbaugh at the VCL
- Defenbaugh at the Fur Affinity
|This person is a WikiFur user:


text:
Corgis and their humans who live in or love to visit Virginia Beach!
Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beach-Corgis/241474782562255?skip_nax_wizard=true
Location: Virginia Beach
Members: 29
Latest Activity: Jul 23, 2014
This group does not have any discussions yet.
Heading out to Bark in the Park at the Chesapeake City Park on Greenbrier. Proceeds to benefit the Chesapeake humane society. Come show your love and support.
We found Chester a forever home last week, I visited him today and he is truly king of the castle there :-) Our little Sadie has been a bit clingy with me, but overall adjusting well...
I'm happy to see people have room in their hearts for our little guy!!! I spent the weekend at a wedding, but will be responding to your inquiries about him via email this afternoon while our human babies are napping :-)
Jennifer, can you send me some info about Chester? My neighbor's friend is looking for a corgi. He's an older gentleman with no dogs right now and might be a perfect fit for your boy :) my email is email@example.com
Thanks! It makes us soooo very sad, but we know it will be better for him to be an only dog (as weird as that is for a corgi... he is a "lone wolfe") He's the sweetest boy! No re-homing fee or anything like that, just an interview, we want him happy and in a forever home


text:
EPA Announces Winner of the 2011 Energy Star National Building Competition
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that the University of Central Florida (UCF) is the winner of EPA's 2011 Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings. In its second year, the competition featured teams from 245 buildings across the country in a head-to-head battle to save energy, reduce costs, and protect people's health and the environment. UCF's winning building was a parking garage on the university's main campus where energy use was decreased by 63.2 percent. Together, competitors cut their energy costs by $5.2 million.
"All of the Energy Star National Building Competition participants are seizing the opportunities energy efficiency presents to cut pollution and save money. Congratulations to the University of Central Florida for leading the way," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "Increasing energy efficiency is a key strategy for securing our nation's energy future, and Energy Star can help everyone from homeowners and small businesses to big buildings cut energy use and protect health by reducing air pollution."
From improvements in operations and maintenance to upgrades in equipment and technology, the competitors saved a combined total of more than 240 million kBtus of energy and $5.2 million on utility bills annually. Competitors reduced annual greenhouse gas emissions equal to the electricity used by more than 3,600 homes. The top overall finishers and their percent-based reductions in energy use include:
The energy efficiency improvements achieved by UCF demonstrate that significant opportunities exist to save energy even in buildings that are not typically associated with sizeable energy use. Lighting accounts for the majority of energy consumed by an above-ground parking structure, therefore UCF focused their efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of the garage lighting. Improvements included upgrading the main garage to high performance T-5 fluorescent lights, retrofitting the top deck with light emitting diode (LEDs) fixtures, and adding motion sensors in the storage areas. In addition to cutting their energy use by 63 percent, UCF reduced their lighting bill for the parking garage by more than half due to improvements made during the competition. UCF is now spreading their successful strategies, as well as savings, to other buildings across the campus.
The 2011 Energy Star National Building Competition measured energy performance from September 1, 2010 through August 31, 2011. Competitors tracked their building's monthly energy consumption using EPA's Energy Star online energy tracking tool, Portfolio Manager. UCF won the competition by demonstrating the largest percent-reduction in energy use, adjusted for weather and the size of the building. The energy use intensity and square footage for each top overall finisher was verified by an independently licensed professional engineer or registered architect at the conclusion of the competition. This marks the second year a university has won the competition. In 2010, Morrison Residence Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill won the competition, reducing energy use by more than 35 percent.
Energy use in commercial buildings accounts for nearly 20 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of more than $100 billion per year. Thousands of businesses and organizations work with EPA's Energy Star program and are saving billions of dollars and preventing millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere each year.
More information on the 2011 Energy Star National Building Competition, including top overall finishers and top finishers by building category: www.energystar.gov/BattleOfTheBuildings
NAHB International Builders' Show
January 9-11, 2018
The Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS)
January 9-11, 2018
AHR Expo 2018
Jan 22-24, 2018
6th Annual Emerging Water Technology Symposium
May 15-16, 2018


text:
Washington and Israel Target IranWritten by Stephen Lendman Subject: Iran
by Stephen Lendman
Escalating anti-Iranian tensions continues. More on what's ongoing below.
February 10 marks Iran's 1979 revolution's 34th anniversary. On January 31, 10 days of commemorative activities began.
Imam Khomeini was exiled for 15 years in Paris. On February 1, 1979, he returned to Tehran. Doing so marked the beginning of Ten Days of Dawn.
On February 10, they culminated successfully. A generation of repressive Reza Shah Pahlavi rule ended. He was Washington's man in Tehran.
He remained so until a White House task force recommended replacing him with Ayatollah Khomeini.
It was part of a larger scheme. It involved balkanizing the region along tribal and religious lines. It sought to create an arc of crisis through Central Asia to Soviet Russia.
In 1978, it became urgent. The Shah was negotiating a 25-year oil deal with British Petroleum (BP). Talks broke down. BP demanded exclusive rights to future output. Company officials refused to guarantee oil purchases.
The Shah sought new European buyers. He sought others elsewhere. He hoped to create a modern energy infrastructure. He wanted it built around nuclear power. He wanted Iranian and regional power needs transformed.
He wanted Iran's dependence on oil reduced. He wanted Washington's pressure to recycle petrodollars weakened. He sought increased foreign investments.
Washington was alarmed. It tried blocking his plan. It failed. Disruptive tactics followed. Iranian oil purchases were cut. Other economic pressures followed.
Disruptive instability was stoked. Measures included strikes, religious rivalries, and efforts to incite anti-Shah sentiment.
Media scoundrels regurgitated US propaganda. Khomeini leadership was promoted. In January 1979, things came to a head. The Shah fled. Khomeini returned. He proclaimed an Islamic Republic. He got overwhelming public support.
He cancelled Iran's nuclear plans. Washington officials thought they could control him. They miscalculated. Iranian sovereignty was restored.
Tensions escalated. Decades later they're boiling. For years, Iran's been targeted for regime change. Washington wants puppet leadership replacing its independent government.
It wants control of Iranian oil and gas. It wants unchallenged regional dominance. It wants China, Russia, and other regional rivals shut out.
Israel and Washington are rogue partners. They share likeminded ambitions. They're longstanding. Media scoundrels support them. They're relentless. They're lawless. They spurn rule of law principles.
Iran's peaceful nuclear program is red herring cover for regime change.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) is a right wing pro-Israeli front group. It wants Iran's government deposed.
Michael Singh is managing director. From 2005 - 2008, he was Bush administration National Security Council Middle East affairs senior director.
On February 5, The New York Times gave him featured op-ed space. He took full advantage. He headlined, "Don't Let Iran Stall for Time."
He claimed Vice President Joe Biden wants direct talks with Iran. In early February's 49th Munich Security Conference, he left no doubt where Washington stands.
He represented America's imperium. He prioritized key strategic interests. He signaled permanent war on humanity. His thinly veiled anti-Russian/Chinese threats weren't unnoticed.
He called Iran's nuclear program a "threat to the national security of the United States." He said Washington "will stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon."
He demanded Tehran prove a negative. He wants proof positive it no nuclear ambitions. No evidence suggests it. US intelligence says so annually. Washington and Israeli officials know it. They target Iran anyway.
Iran "evade(s) negotiations," said Singh. "(T)he real question is not whether America should talk to Iran, but how to get the Iranians to talk to us in earnest."
Tehran participated in multiple P5-1 talks in good faith. Washington obstructed them. So did Israel behind the scenes. Resolving the issue equitably is impossible. Iran has no legitimate negotiating partner.
Singh claims otherwise. Engaging Iran diplomatically isn't new, he said. Every US president since Carter tried, he claimed.
Every president vilified Iran. They obstructed good relations. Regime change is longstanding US policy.
According to Singh, failure has "a common thread: Iran shrank from any broad bilateral thaw because it feared engagement with the United States more than it feared confrontation."
Singh claims "resistance" was a "founding principle of Iran's Islamic regime."
Saying so turns truth on its head. For decades, Iran sought normalized Western relations. Rebuff and betrayal followed. Lawless sanctions are imposed.
Saber rattling threatens war. Bellicose red lines, deadlines, timelines, subversion, targeted assassinations, other disruptive actions follow. Media scoundrel vilification and fearmongering regurgitate official lies.
Iran's got just cause for concern. Singh advocates increased US pressure. He urges support from key allies. He wants no letup in Washington's demands.
He wants "military action" if other ways fail. He wants Iran prevented from "stall(ing) for time." Failure to resolve things Washington's way assures "another way station on the route to war," he says.
He's actively promoting it. The Times and other US scoundrel media barely stop short. On February 6, The Times headlined "US Increases Pressure of Economic War on Tehran."
Doing so won't defuse crisis conditions. Washington's nuclear deal has been on the table for months. It was proposed to be rejected.
It demands Iran cease doing what's entirely legal. NPT provisions aren't compromised. Claiming otherwise is false. Insisting it relinquish rights afforded dozens of other nuclear powered nations oversteps.
Washington insists anyway. So does Israel. Key Western countries go along. Doing so subverts their own interests. Iran has every right to reject illegitimate demands. Doing less would be irresponsible.
The Times report blamed Tehran for hostile US/Israeli policies. It turned truth on its head. It's standard Times practice. Managed news misinformation is policy. So is supporting wrong over right.
Netanyahu is Israel's worst ever prime minister. He's unfit to serve. He's an embarrassment to democratic governance. He spurns peace. He's bellicose on Iran. He threatens war. So do likeminded Israeli and Washington hardliners.
Irresponsible lies proliferate. Former Israeli Military Intelligence chief, Major General (res.) Amos Yadlin, says Iran is close to crossing Netanyahu's "red line."
"Today (Iran's) capability is between four to six months" to build a nuclear bomb, he claims. It "completed all of the necessary components" to do so, he added.
Former pro-Western IAEA deputy director-general for safeguards, Olli Heinonen, said Iran began buying special centrifuge manufacturing materials years ago.
Doing so is entirely legal. Other countries do the same thing. Iran alone is criticized. Heinonen targets Tehran. He supports sanctions. He calls IAEA negotiations at "stalemate." Saying so is false.
No country cooperates more with inspectors than Iran. Washington and Israel tolerate none. IAEA complaints don't follow.
On February 5, the White House said Obama plans to visit Israel end of March. On January 28, he and Netanyahu spoke. They discussed his visit.
He's waiting until Israel's next government is formed. He assumes it'll be by mid-March. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said:
"The start of the president's second term and the formation of a new Israeli government offer the opportunity to reaffirm the deep and enduring bonds between the United States and Israel and to discuss the way forward on a broad range of issues of mutual concern, including Iran and Syria."
Additional trip details will come later.
A senior Israeli official said "there's no clear American plan to resume the peace process or diplomatic initiative that the president intends to launch during his visit."
Israeli US ambassador Michael Oren added:
Obama's visit is meant "to send a clear message to the entire region about the strength of the US-Israeli relationship and the intent to strengthen this historic alliance still further at this challenging moment in the Middle East."
Obama didn't visit Israel in term one. Discussions will focus on advancing America's imperium. Increasing its global footprint is prioritized.
Syria and Iran top Obama's agenda. War strategy will be discussed. They rage without end. Obama more in mind. He's got four more years to wage them.
He'll take full advantage. Israel partners willingly. They prioritize state terrorism. They proliferate regional violence. Doing so menaces humanity. The worst of times loom.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.


text:
Category: Start / Mask making / Methods
- Sites currently sorted by: Title (A to Z)
- Sort links by: Title ( + | - ) Date ( + | - ) Popularity ( + | - )
CHARLOTTE'S WEB OF ILLUSION here reveals her secrets with very nice text and photos: "I use a technique called "Vacuuform" to make my masks. This process involves a Vacuuform machine, molds, plastic sheet goods, paints, trims and imagination."
Added on: Nov 26, 2002 | Hits: 9508
Instructions to make a fly mask using egg carton cups.
Added on: Jul 24, 2002 | Hits: 9441
The term papier m?ch? (pronounced p?p-ee-ay mash-?y) comes from the French phrase meaning "chewed paper." You can use papier m?ch? to make pi?atas, masks, jewelry, and lots of other crafts.
Added on: Jan 16, 2001 | Hits: 10558
Watch the creation of a sea monster
Added on: Feb 01, 2003 | Hits: 10577
Mixing the Primary Colors Making Colors Lighter or Darker The Color Wheel: Colors opposite on the color wheel are complementary colors. For example, violet and yellow are complementary colors. The warm colors include reds and yellows; the cool colors include blues and violets. The neutral colors are black, white, and grays.
Added on: Oct 15, 2002 | Hits: 13214
Follow these helpful hints and have fun!
Added on: Nov 30, 2001 | Hits: 6664
Nothing betrays the hand of a poor prop builder quicker than something that is supposed to be gold, brass, silver or steel, but is obviously just a piece of wood or plastic covered with gold or silver spraypaint. No matter how good the shape, surface or decoration underneath might be, an unconvincing metal finish will ruin any prop instantly. On the other hand, a convincing metallic surface can often redeem lumpy and otherwise unfortunate props.
Added on: May 31, 2002 | Hits: 6290
"This is a very old method of "painting" that can be dated as far back as the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Heated coloured wax is applied hot to a surface in a series of layers.It's recent revival is due to a strong Dutch interest in encaustic art. The major practitioners being based in the Netherlands. On the web there are some very informative sites. For those who have some tired old masks this may be just the method to employ in search of their renovation. Indeed, with wax you could look forward to changing your mask collection with the colour of the seasons." Dave Riley,Australia
Added on: Jan 23, 2001 | Hits: 9979
( english translation on the main page of this site) La cr?ation d'un masque est aussi passionnante que simple. Les masques peuvent ?tre d?coratifs, tels des masques africains, ou ludiques (masque d'Halloween, de carnaval). Tout est dans le d?tail apport? ? l'objet
Added on: Feb 11, 2001 | Hits: 8673
Elementary Art Lessons
Added on: Feb 11, 2003 | Hits: 7081
(This is the process we use for our papier m?ch? masks; the process for Neoprene masks starts exactly the same, but takes a little detour once the negative mold is cast.)
Added on: Jun 13, 2002 | Hits: 6083
This is a three-part series of e-newsletters from Victory Corp. For more details visit http://www.victorycorps.com/ebook_form.html for a free e-book and other e-newsletters on how to build a float
Added on: Oct 07, 2002 | Hits: 5678
Mumming shows are a simple structure that can be used to readily develop a wide variety of entertainment. They are medieval in origin based on the archetypes of clown, hero, heroine, villain, doctor (& perhaps doctor's assistant). Each of these characters can readily be translated into a modern day character..
Added on: May 19, 2002 | Hits: 8593
"The only "store bought" material is paint (tempra, poster or finger paint all work well... acrylic paints work great, but don't wash out of clothes!!!) We mixed white and black to make our own grey. Alternatively, you can mod podge (mache) on 1 inch squares of grey tissue paper. Or make a "funky dolphin" by maching on 1 inch squares of patterned tissue paper or napkins"
Added on: Jan 16, 2001 | Hits: 9832
"...........To build the mask: 1) Take your pre-bought neutral half-mask and, if it's not plastic, cover it with cellophane (like Handi-wrap). If the mask is plastic, skip to step number two. 2) Cover the cellophane (or plastic mask) with a thin layer of Vaseline, so you'll be able to take the paper mache off when you're finished. 3) Begin to layer on your newspaper or....."
Added on: May 01, 2001 | Hits: 7863
Welcome to our coverage of the 10 day (90 hour) workshop in the design and construction of leather performance mask. This workshop is being run by Paolo Consiglio, a master leather mask maker and teacher from Florence, Italy. It is being held at The Crago Mill Regional Arts Centre, Piper Street, Bathurst, NSW, Australia. It has been financed by a Visiting Artists' Grant from Charles Sturt University and is open to the local community and students from CSU. It is being covered on the Net by staff and students of the Communication School at CSU's Bathurst Campus. You will be observing the processes of casting the the makers' faces to obtain a positive face mould on which the masks will be designed in clay. A positive plaster mould of the intended mask will be carved onto a wooden block. Over this block leather will be stretched, beaten and smoothed to create a performance mask. As part of this workshop there will be readings from Dante's "Divine Comedy" and various other Italian cultural delights. Please enjoy the processes involved in the fine art of leather mask making. Masks have been used throughout the history of theatre. They were a significant part of the the Western World's first professional theatre, the Commedia dell' Arte, which developed in Italy in the 16th Century.
Added on: Apr 17, 2001 | Hits: 9251
Welcome to our coverage of the 10 day (90 hour) workshop in the design and construction of leather performance mask. This workshop is being run by Paolo Consiglio, a master leather mask maker and teacher from Florence, Italy. It is being held at The Crago Mill Regional Arts Centre, Piper Street, Bathurst, NSW, Australia. It has been financed by a Visiting Artists' Grant from Charles Sturt University and is open to the local community and students from CSU
Added on: Dec 27, 2000 | Hits: 9077
A nice photo guide. Maskmaking step by step. Aqu? vemos al Maestro Caretero Vegano Carlos Francisco Marte - Cayoya - ofreciendo un taller sobre la creaci?n de caretas de carnaval en el Centro Cultural de Espa?a.
Added on: Feb 21, 2001 | Hits: 5528
You can procure them free by clicking on the samples. Or, you can create some enthralling variety with the following do-it-easy tips.
Added on: Jul 28, 2002 | Hits: 6897
You will need: A cardboard mask (bought from a craft shop), paper plate, egg boxes, thick card, paint, wool, tape, PVA glue, kitchen roll, feathers, pipe cleaners.
Added on: May 31, 2002 | Hits: 4809
A Preschool, Kindergarten, and Early Elementary School Activity This activity creates papier-m?ch? dinosaur hats. Each step takes about an hour or less. A few days drying time is required between the papier-m?ch? part, the application of decorations, and the painting part. It is also messy, involving tearing paper, gluing it, decorating, and painting.
Added on: Jan 16, 2001 | Hits: 7448
cut in paper
Added on: Nov 19, 2002 | Hits: 5529
Choose a character and click on it. Click on the print button in the pop-up or choose the print option from your browser. Colour in your mask. Ask an adult to help you cut out the head and eyes. Use a pencil to make some holes where the dots are. Use some elastic or string to thread through the holes and tie the mask around your head.
Added on: Jul 24, 2002 | Hits: 4990
Guide features instructions on making paste for papier mache projects. Find a list of materials and links to other papier-mache project sheets.
Added on: Jan 16, 2001 | Hits: 5419
A lesson plan for 5th graders-- easily modified for any student, age 7 or older
Added on: May 05, 2002 | Hits: 3588


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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Review: Doctor Who - The Name Of The Doctor
Let's talk about the DOCTOR WHO Series 7 finale shall we?
No, I've not been reviewing anything from the strangely titled Series 7b (THE BELLS OF ST. JOHN to NIGHTMARE IN SILVER), and that's really (sadly) come down to an enjoyment level. When I used to watch RTD's DW I was EXCITED to post about it, to talk about it with friends, and gush over what I liked. When Moffat took over in Series 5, I was excited-ish throughout (nothing reaching the levels of my RTD-era love, but excited enough)…My feelings on the entirety of Series 6 are pretty well known (Read: I loathed it more than any whole series since DW came back in 2005). Series 7 has been "meh". The only truly standout eps for me were Neil Cross' HIDE, and the Xmas special THE SNOWMEN…everything else could be easily swept under my WHO-rug and forgotten about. It should, therefore, speak volumes that the ONLY thing that's been able to rouse me out of my review-malaise concerning this show is to pontificate on what I felt was a relatively disjointed and ultimately pointless Finale for Series 7.
THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR, written by showrunner Steven Moffat (a man whom Chris and I used to look upon with wonder for his TV writing), is not a mess persay (at least not like 2011's A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR), but it's a straightforward thought essay on the Doctor.
For the 3rd Series finale in a row.
History Check: Series 5 – The Doctor must solve the mystery of the Pandorica (a box designed by his enemies to keep him from his future), and stop the TARDIS from exploding in the future.
Series 6: The Doctor has gotten to big for his britches, and his very "name" has caused an entire religion to be crafted around capturing him, and killing him…to keep him from his future. This time we get the mention of that future in Trenzalore, where the question cannot be asked "Doctor Who?"
Series 7: We go to Trenzalore, and proceed to go through 45-odd minutes of that journey and what happens there.
The issue? That for the third series running the show isn't about the Doctor saving a planet, or people, or the universe…it's instead all about the Doctor. Hell, it's not even really about his companions.
This inward looking Doctor Who is about as far from the original series and mythos as it gets…but it's also about as far from the storytelling that RTD gave us that you could get.
So we go to Trezalore. Does the "name" of the Doctor get said? Yep. But like all Moffat's "This will happen, and it will change the Doctor forever!" proclamations…it's all bullshit, a fake out. The name gets said, by River Song, off-screen. And there is no clever story (as was eluded by David Tennant in the Library when he said to River "there was only one time he COULD tell someone his name") associated with her knowing of it. She literally found out "Because she badgered him about it".
You get that? She badgered him about it. A Time Lord…scratch that, the Runaway Time Lord who for over a thousand years has kept the secret of what his name really is…gave in because his (briefly) wife badgered him about it.
Wow. Just wow.
And that's just for starters.
So, "name" thing aside what happens on Trenzalore? Well, it's a battlefield. "Sweet!" you say "Tell me more!" Err…well nope. It's an old battlefield, and is "supposedly" where the Doctor died. His tomb is his TARDIS which is "leaking" it's bigger onto the outside. So his tomb is a giant TARDIS. Cool. What's inside? Well this kind of Swirly Light Tree thingie…and it's basically the remnants of the Time Lord…a map of his life through time leftover as some kind of echo (I guess?).
Enter our villain. The Great Intelligence (a creature from another universe trying to get into ours VIA proxies) in the form of THE SNOWMEN's Doctor Simeon and his Whispermen (beings that ominously whisper, and who's powers are the ability to become incorporeal enough to squeeze your heart so you die) has shown up at the Doctor's Tomb, and wish entrance, and after threatening the Doctor by saying he'll kill his friends if he doesn't speak his name and open the door to his tomb. River helps him avoid this, and everyone trundles inside where they find the light tree thingie. Then the villain does the DW Villain equivalent of a filibuster and tells everyone there his plan is to go into the Doctor's Light Tree and screw up his every success throughout his timeline and thus undo all he has done. This would be really interesting if he had:
A) Not SPELLED OUT his plan to his enemies in the room, like a hackneyed Bond villain.
B) Found some way to close the Doctor's Light Tree timeline map thingie after he goes into it so no one follows him…because…
C) …seconds after he goes into it, Clara decides to sacrifice herself and follow him in to "correct" all that he screws up. Negating his entire (stupid) plan in seconds.
I'm serious. The Great Intelligence, a villain whom the Second Doctor fought, and who has been tipped as the "big bad" since the Christmas episode and has been pretty much behind all the stuff that's occurred since then…the creature that you want to see a showdown with…spells out his plan and has it foiled in less time than it would take a Dalek to say "exterminate". The Whispermen (his lackeys on this plane) had more teeth than he did.
Okay, now let's leave aside the silly and toothless villain. Let's deal with Clara's reveal. It turns out that because she chases The G.I. into the Light Tree she essentially "dies" and "scatters herself" across the Doctor's Timeline, which is why he keeps meeting her and why she keeps dying and seemingly is resurrected in different times and places. Cool. I can totally buy that, and it's MUCH less messy than any other Moffat-ism "timey-wimey" thing he's chucked at us in recent seasons. If it weren't for the idiocy of the villains it would be a very elegant solution to the "impossible girl" that actually echoes Rose and Bad Wolf.
"So what's the problem then?" you ask.
Well, it's in the emotional resonance of her sacrifice. She literally says she will die to save the Doctor from this fate. River actually tells her that she will cease to exist and what is left will be scattered pieces across time saving the Doctor…that the person she is, will no longer be.
Okay great. Gotcha. Poignant, and even though I'm not as emotionally invested in her as I was Rose and Donna, I'm quite fine with that. But the Doctor almost immediately goes into his own timeline (paradox much? But nevermind) to rescue her. He actually breaks the rules of the show…rules which (for example) disallowed two Amy's, one younger and one older, into the TARDIS at the same time…an arguably WAY lesser paradox than crossing your OWN timeline…to save the girl who just had an emotional scene "rescuing" him. So we decide to steal ANY emotion I had for the scene by reversing it almost right away. That such things are happening on DOCTOR WHO is baffling.
I mean how do you even associate this Moffat-written moment with stuff like "Everybody Lives" from THE DOCTOR DANCES, or Sally Sparrow saying goodbye to a dying old man who moments before was young and hitting on her at the end of BLINK, or even the tear-jerking letter that Madame De Pompador left for Ten in THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE? How? The answer is that you can't. They don't even exist in the same universe.
Refer to my old post: Steven Moffat CAN be a brilliant writer…when someone else is in control…but when he's in control of the show as a whole his writing becomes something unrecognizable.
Lastly we have to talk about John Hurt.
So at the tail end of the ep, when The Doctor goes into his own timeline to rescue Clara from her rescue (don't get me started on why this doesn't UN-DO her rescue…) and there are various incarnation of the Doctor walking by her…we see the back of an unrecognizable man staring out into the rain…and he is revealed (quite brashly in text on screen…cause apparently we are all dumb and need it spelled out?) as "The Doctor"…and Eleven says that he's not really allowed to have that name cause of "what he did." And Hurt's version says "I only did what I had to do" Speculate as you will. I'm cool with Hurt playing some lost or evil version of the Doctor's past (even if it renumbers the Doctors) if only because I'm sure whatever it is, won't stick. Whatever happens with the character in the 50th Anniversary will be timey-wimey'd out of existence, and things will settle back to the status quo. As far as the reveal is concerned, I like that he was in it, to link the finale up with the 50th…but I REALLY could have done without the big, bolded text on screen. It's almost like Moffat and Co. were like "See, look what we did! Ain't we tricksy? What's going on?! You must watch to find out!"…when in my mind, just having Hurt turn around and deliver his line ominously with no reveal about "what/who" exactly he is and running the credits would have been MUCH better as a cliffhanger-y moment. It's typical of Moffat's "tell don't show" approach to WHO…which is the opposite of good storytelling.
Think David Tennant in years past finale epilogues.
Bride in TARDIS: "What? Whot?! WHAT?!"
The hull of the TITANIC: "What? Whot?! WHAT?!"
…it was always some visual cue, and that's it. Imagine if RTD had put text on the screen saying "There is a BRIDE in the TARDIS?! What the?!" or "The Hull of the TITANIC? What has the Doctor gotten himself into?!"
But no, instead we get the equivalent of Moffat telling us that our attention spans are SO short that he feels the need to type out on the screen what we are seeing.
Did I like the episode in the end? Yeah, the opening nods to past Doctor's and the like was fun, if short. The Clara reveal appeased me…if making me realize that for whatever reason Moffat needs to make his companions always be a "mystery" for the Doctor to solve…instead of just letting them be…you know, people. How can Clara grow organically as a character if all we (and the Doctor) are doing is trying to "figure her out" from ep to ep. Sad really. I miss Donna…the temp from Chiswick, and Wilf, her dreamer, stargazing grandpa. Seriously.
I liked it, and it's SCADS better than last years ridiculous finale…but it's not remotely close to Series 5 THE PANDORICA OPENS / THE BIG BANG, and isn't even in the same ballpark as RTD-era finale's like DOOMSDAY or THE LAST OF THE TIMELORDS.
Lacking doesn't cover it, and I'm more inclined to talk about what didn't work for me, if only because what DID work for me in the episode is very little.
And that all makes me sad.
Posted by GunMetalBlue at 11:09 AM 1 comment:
Labels: BBC, Doctor Who, jenna-louise coleman, matt smith, series 7, Steven Moffat, the name of the doctor
Monday, March 11, 2013
Movie Review: Why Wreck-It Ralph is one of the best animated films in years!
Sometimes when you see a movie on DVD / BluRay (or OnDemand), you sit back afterwards and think to yourself "Damn, I wish I saw that in the theatre! That was SO good!"
WRECK-IT RALPH is not only one of those movies, but probably one of the finest animated movies in recent memory.
One of the things that comes from watching Anime, especially family oriented Anime like Studio Ghibli films, is that the writers refuse to pander to their child audience. Life has heartbreak, life has sacrifice, and life is filled with a myriad of emotions, which can range from blissful happiness to lonely despair. I have always felt that the best family films are the ones that don't sugar coat those things, but also still find a way to tell them in an interesting way.
WRECK-IT RALPH is a film that begins from a very sad aspect. Ralph is the bad guy in a Donkey-Kong-style arcade game from the 80's called "Fix-It Felix Jr." in which he….well, wrecks things for the hero to fix. He lives in a dump, sleeps under a blanket of bricks and for the most part is very lonely and disgruntled with his lot in life. No friends and basically being excluded from the celebratory proceedings of his game on any given day…Ralph goes off in search of a medal that might make HIM the hero for once. Through an arcade game nexus (cleverly designed as a joint outlet that all the games share) where the avatars of different games can interact, he battles his way through a modern combat FPS game called "Hero's Duty" to get his medal. But on the way back things go awry and he ends up in a candy-based Kart racing game called "Sugar Rush", and meets up with a game glitch named Vanellope. And that's where things take off and never stop.
So, why the review title? Well, that's easy. From the writing, direction, the character design, the setting, the clever video nostalgia in-jokes, the humour, and most of all the heart…this movie has absolutely everything going for it and nearly no stumbles at all.
The jokes are really funny (helped in no small part by perfect voice acting delivery by the likes of Sarah Silverman, and John C. Reilly), and clean. I find that these days comedy films tend to think that "pushing the boundaries of uncouth humour" and "making people laugh" are one and the same. But when a script like WRECK-IT RALPH comes along and can make lines of dialogue hilarious without the need to resort to anything really low-brow, it shows me that this doesn't have to be the case. Both the leads have a verve and rhythm to their witty repartee which was not only refreshing, but actually helps to cast the "boundary pusher" comedies further into the spotlight as "smacking of effort". WRECK-IT RALPH seems effortless in this regard.
The second thing that will resonate (especially with older viewers) is the video game nostalgia. If you played video games in the 80's and 90's there is an absolute plethora of nods to your childhood here. They range from the very present and plot specific (Q-Bert and his pals being homeless but helpful, or a bunch of classic game baddies who attend a support group together, run by the lead ghost from Pac-Man), to the much more obscure easter egg stuff (like graffiti that says "Aerith Lives!", a reference to FINAL FANTASY VII). There are loads to see and find hidden in the film and none of that ever feels like it is taking away from the story. I happily glanced around during larger crowd scenes to catch references (like the Joust birds, Sonic The Hedgehog, and Street Fighter characters like Blanka and Chun-Li).
Another aspect about it that kind of floored me (if only because I usually key into these things earlier), is that there are multiple plot points that when they are introduced are innocuously a part of the story and don't seem to be anything further than that. But in the third act a few of them come into play VERY cleverly none of which I was expecting. So I got to be enthralled when they did and not feel like I saw them coming ahead of time.
Lastly I'd like to mention is that the story is absolutely 100% charming, and earns every single emotional beat that is offered up. I found myself getting misty more than once, and smiling like a madman more than once as well. I can't tell you how wonderful the final act of the films plays out, it's just well written, acted and presented and you owe it to yourself to watch and find out why.
As entertaining for kids as much as it is for adults, WRECK-IT RALPH is a triumph of filmmaking in a way that not a lot of films GET to be these days. It is allowed to be bright, colourful, whimsical and a whole heck of a lot of fun. In a medium in which audiences are increasingly asking to be wowed on a high level, and who demand every film to blow them away otherwise it was a waste…WRECK-IT RALPH succeeds like old 80's movies did. It takes a very simple premise, and then expounds upon it in a number of unexpected ways and allows itself to still be high-caliber fun in the process. What you end up with is something I am glad to called one of the best animated films I've ever seen.
Posted by GunMetalBlue at 7:00 AM No comments:
Labels: Disney, jane lynch, john c. reilly, sarah silverman, wreck-it ralph
Friday, March 8, 2013
Doctor Who - Crackpot Theory: Is Clara Oswald actually Romana IV?!
Been a while. What with these sporadic mid-series breaks in the show (don't get me started), DOCTOR WHO news has been slow to leak out. However, we have had two; count 'em, two episodes which feature (versions) of the new companion Clara Oswald (played exquisitely by Jenna Louise-Coleman). The first of which was in the Series 7 opener ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS, in which she was the disembodied consciousness of someone who was once called Oswin Oswald (whom had once worked aboard a starship) and had since been mutated and turned into a Dalek…but had no idea what she is and had been placed in the Asylum's (by presumably the Dalek high Command) "Intensive Care" unit, where the Daleks who survived great battles reside, weaponless. This is where Oswin is, locked in a room on her own. This will be important later in the post. Stay tuned.
The next time we see her is in the most recent Christmas Special THE SNOWMEN. She is now Clara Oswald, Victorian barmaid and secret governess to a wealthy family's children. With the help of Silurian 'Sherlock Holmes' Madame Vastra, her wife Jenny, and the Sontaran Nursemaid (now Butler) Strax, the Doctor is in hiding, refusing to save the universe any more. Then Clara comes along and mucks things up by getting him involved. She's quick, she's clever and nine times out of ten in this episode she is smarter than the Doctor, or at least on par with him mentally. They spar back and forth and it all... sounds very familiar.
CRACKPOT THEORY time!
During his 4th Incarnation (Tom Baker), The Doctor spends an entire series on a quest for the various pieces to the Key To Time. On this quest (given him by the mysterious White Guardian) he is joined by another Time Lord, one fresh out of the Academy on Gallifrey. Namely, Romanadvoratrelundar (Mary Tamm), or Romana for short (though she prefers Fred). At less than 100 years old she is still a raw recruit, but being a Time Lord she can spar with the Doctor on his level. In fact he's initially very unsettled by how much she knows. She's a strong character, and one I really enjoy watching. Now, after the various pieces of the Key To Time are found and then re-dispersed (I'm not telling you why, go watch THE KEY TO TIME), Romana regenerates into Romana II (Lalla Ward). Romana II stays on board with the 4th Doctor for a long time (nearly until his regeneration into the 5th), but when she finally takes her leave, he gives her K-9 and off she goes.
Now that's where vaguely the TV story of Romana ends. Thankfully the books and Audio drama's continued her story (most especially in the political drama series from BIG FINISH called GALLIFREY). It turns out that some years after leaving the Doctor, Romana II returned to Gallifrey and ends up as its President. She and K-9 have to jump through a myriad of political hoops and nefarious plans to unseat her for many years.
And that is where some Dark Times occur during which we know very little. We only know that at some point down the line the Lord President becomes Rassilon, and the Time Lords engage in a large scale war across many systems with their most hated enemies the Daleks, in the Last Great Time War. The Doctor (in his Eighth incarnation at this point) sees many things that unsettle him about his own race. Having lived through them being stagnant, unbending, and basically arrogant…he then sees them descending further and further into madness and violence. In the final days of the Time War the Doctor time-locks it so that it doesn't tear reality itself apart and dooms his own race and planet to eternal torment.
But what happened to Madame President Romana II? Well the books tell us that she regenerated into a third incarnation prior to this, but they never tell us how she lost the presidency, nor what happed to her during the Time War. We know that a Rival Time Lord tried to unseat her and kill her after the Second Great War In Heaven…but Eight stopped this.
The Crackpot theory part is about what I think COULD have happened. What if Romana III objected to the Last Great Time War (having survived the Second War In Heaven, and assassination attempts), and the CIA (the Gallifreyan Celestian Intervention Agency) found a way to unseat her and put Rassilon on the seat. Might she have been imprisoned for her views? What if while in prison (and in the still current locked state of the Time War) she found a way to project herself outwards. Used regeneration energy to get through the Time Lock and offworld into…a passing Starliner perhaps? What if a human aboard that ship was converted into a Time Lord, and the official 4th incarnation of Romana allowing her to escape? Her old body imprisoned on Gallifrey would die, but she would go on in a stolen human body effectively regenerated into a Time Lord. Then travelling back through time and basically BEING these other versions of her new self, on a skipping loop that repeats when she dies. She DID have a TARDIS when we last saw her, so it could be disguised as something very small. What if Oswin Oswald was that human? It would explain both her variations so far (neither of which is the main one we will be introduced to in THE BELLS OF ST. JOHNS on March 30th) being so terribly clever (smart enough to spar with a genius Time Lord who is over a 1000 years old), and seemingly un-phased by the alien nature of the plight of the Doctor against the Snowmen.
I add to this a few nuggets from things we hear in the trailer for the second half of Series 7.
1. She is referred to as the girl twice dead. So she is somehow the same person over and over again even after dying. Sounds like regeneration but the switch is stuck and instead of changing to a DIFFERENT body she's being given new same ones instead. This could be explained by the fact that Romana needed to steal a human body.
2. The Doctor clearly says, "She's not possible." To me this could be a big pointer at the fact that it's Romana IV…since her being out of the Time War would seem next to impossible. But where Rassilon failed at unlocking the Time War as a whole…perhaps One Time Lord could survive. After all, Dalek Caan rescued Davros from the Crucible and brought him across the Lock barrier. One could interpret the Doctor's statement as simply being that she's died twice, how can she exist a third time in the same "look"…but that's a little too simple for DW in my eyes.
A variation on this theory (which I've seen around), with the same results is based on something talked about in THE SNOWMEN. A specific story about being "born behind Big Ben" and how this accounts for her impeccable sense of time. What if, Romana III wasn't imprisoned, but rather escaped BEFORE the Last Great Time War...but needed to hide. Enter the Chameleon Arch (the Fob Watch) that Time Lords use to hide their identities disguising themselves as human. What if Big Ben is her Fob Watch? And not only that, what happens when a Time Lord disguised as a human VIA a Chameleon Arch dies? Do they regenerate normally? Or is it possible they continue to regenerate but into the same form over and over again since that's the form they took when disguised? She keeps telling the Doctor to "Run" and to "Remember". We know from John Smith and the Master's use of the Fob Watch that little bits of their time lord personality leak out form time to time when disguised. This would explain her smarts, her ease with the decidedly alien events, her seeking out of the Doctor, and her treating him like an old friend. So this is another way that Romana could have survived and become Clara.
So that's my theory. Clara is not only a Time Lord, but she is the 4th incarnation of the prior Lady President of Gallifrey, whom has travelled with the Doctor before. She is likely some 700 years of age and escaped the Time War. What a boon that would be going into the 50th Anniversary events storywise. The avenues and story aspects that could lead to (including multiple Doctor appearances) begin to boggle. But to be quite honest…I'd just like to see Romana make an appearance in NuWho. She is just such a great character with a lot of depth, and I think she deserves to come back.
Posted by GunMetalBlue at 6:13 AM 2 comments:
Labels: clara oswald, doctor, Doctor Who, Doctor who crackpot theories, eight, eleven, four, gallifrey, jenna louise-coleman, matt smith, romana, ten, time lord
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Doctor Who - Big Finish Audio Adventures - 1.4 Phobos
Eddie Robson (who writes for Big Finish) really does waver up and down in his DOCTOR WHO stories, but they are never bad. Even the lower register ones are quite fun and enjoyable. I started this review off that way because when Robson is on…he's really on.
We've jumped briefly back to Eight and Lucie's S1 adventures to cover 1.4 PHOBOS, which we missed when I first did these as I'd not had a copy yet.
PHOBOS is really Eddie Robson's writing firing on all cylinders in the DOCTOR WHO arsenal. It's got it all, an interesting setting (in this case Mar's moon Phobos), compelling secondary characters, a creepy set of monsters who are not what they appear, emotions, running, witty banter. It's all here.
The Doctor and Lucie have arrived at Phobos, which is now the center of an extreme sports phenomenon in the form of a huge stationary wormhole on the surface from which they bungee. But of course not is all it seems and people have begun to disappear.
Seems rather generic yes? Ah, but that is the genius of the episode. For on the surface it is generic, but underneath lays one of the best, albeit darker, stories in the whole first series. For once the villain is properly discovered, the Doctor delves into things to a level that is unexpected not only to said villain, but to those around him and even Lucie herself. It's one of the darkest moments in the whole of Eight's adventures, and gave me a chill towards where he heads in the future, up to and including the Time War. I don't want to give away too much so I won't tell you more, but sufficed to say that the Doctor owns this episode for sheer brass.
PHOBOS is a really interesting look at what humans seek, what they strive for and why, but most of all what happens when they find more than they bargained for. Like I mentioned above the story has all the hallmarks of a classic DW story, but it will be the final ten minutes that will haunt you and really get under your skin. I loved that feeling, as it's not really something you often get to see of the Doctor as a character.
Stalwart director Barnaby Edwards ought to be praised for always paying attention to pacing and layout of the episodes he directs…and PHOBOS is especially no different. Give this one a listen, as it is easily the match of the other really standout episodes from Series 1.
NEXT TIME: S2.5 GRAND THEFT COSMOS in which the Doctor and Lucie become embroiled in a heist…but on which side?
We've jumped briefly back to Eight and Lucie's S1 adventures to cover 1.4 PHOBOS, which we missed when I first did these as I'd not had a copy yet.
PHOBOS is really Eddie Robson's writing firing on all cylinders in the DOCTOR WHO arsenal. It's got it all, an interesting setting (in this case Mar's moon Phobos), compelling secondary characters, a creepy set of monsters who are not what they appear, emotions, running, witty banter. It's all here.
The Doctor and Lucie have arrived at Phobos, which is now the center of an extreme sports phenomenon in the form of a huge stationary wormhole on the surface from which they bungee. But of course not is all it seems and people have begun to disappear.
Seems rather generic yes? Ah, but that is the genius of the episode. For on the surface it is generic, but underneath lays one of the best, albeit darker, stories in the whole first series. For once the villain is properly discovered, the Doctor delves into things to a level that is unexpected not only to said villain, but to those around him and even Lucie herself. It's one of the darkest moments in the whole of Eight's adventures, and gave me a chill towards where he heads in the future, up to and including the Time War. I don't want to give away too much so I won't tell you more, but sufficed to say that the Doctor owns this episode for sheer brass.
PHOBOS is a really interesting look at what humans seek, what they strive for and why, but most of all what happens when they find more than they bargained for. Like I mentioned above the story has all the hallmarks of a classic DW story, but it will be the final ten minutes that will haunt you and really get under your skin. I loved that feeling, as it's not really something you often get to see of the Doctor as a character.
Stalwart director Barnaby Edwards ought to be praised for always paying attention to pacing and layout of the episodes he directs…and PHOBOS is especially no different. Give this one a listen, as it is easily the match of the other really standout episodes from Series 1.
NEXT TIME: S2.5 GRAND THEFT COSMOS in which the Doctor and Lucie become embroiled in a heist…but on which side?
Posted by GunMetalBlue at 8:27 AM No comments:
Labels: barnaby edwards, Big finish, eddie robson, eighth doctor, episode 4, lucie miller, phobos, series 1
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Doctor Who - Big Finish Audio Adventures - 2.3 Brave New Town
Nitty Gritty. The Doctor takes Lucie to a seaside town in 2008, just not the one she thought it was going to be (she was thinking of her home, Blackpool). The town has a few anomalies though. It's seemingly not by the sea (though it is called Thorington-on-Suffolk), and instead rests at the center of what looks like a dried up lakebed. The people who inhabit the town think it's Sunday Sept. 1st 1991…everyday. Brian Adams is annoyingly still #1; there is no food, no gas in the cars, and no electricity. So what exactly is going on?
Enter Classic Who villain the Nestene Consciousness and the Autons. More importantly Autons that look and act VERY realistic because instead of merely being remote controlled by the Consciousness, they have a small piece of it inside them.
Now, while the Autons work fine on Audio (something the producers at Big Finish revealed initially being leery about), the telltale arm gun sound is pretty much all you need. It's about as recognizable as "Exterminate" and "Delete", so there was really now worry there. However, because of the nature of the tale, one in which these Auton's don't really KNOW they are Autons, and aren't really doing any kind of attacking, they come across as far less scary than they could/should. I get that we are seeing the Audio Drama equivalent of the TV episode DALEK in which we take a Classic villain and put them in a situation that humanizes them…but where DALEK still maintained the scare-factor of the villain, the Autons all but have their teeth removed by being too humanized. So in the end the Doctor is simply working against the connection to the consciousness VIA the control box that gives them orders, and That's. About. It. If there is anything scary about the episode, I'm not sure what it is. That's obviously not a prerequisite to a DOCTOR WHO story, but it is nice. My fave thing about DW is the running, and the action, mixed into a good story. There is little of that in BRAVE NEW TOWN.
That's not to say there is nothing good. It's a rather compelling mystery to begin with before the Auton's are introduced. It's just afterwards that it becomes a bit plodding. Or at least it did for me. McGann, Smith and their co-stars (Adrian Dunbar, Derek Griffiths, Lorna Want and Nick Wilton) all do an admirable job of performing the script, and Lucie especially gets some plum funny lines ("Where does plastic come from?" "Taiwan!"), but overall that's the only thing I come away with having enjoyed. The tale itself was probably one of the more mundane ones I've listened to since I stared the EDA's.
So all in all, I think my experience with BRAVE NEW TOWN comes down to match the final line by Lucie.
Doctor: I saved a brand new race from certain destruction!
Lucie: With a little help from me.
Doctor: …
Lucie: You'll never admit it will you? Never in a month of Sunday's.
So yes, that's a bad pun on the fact that it's always Sunday on Thorington, and that's the final flavour I walk away from this story with. It's decent enough, but is about as entertaining as a weak pun.
NEXT TIME: We skip 2.4 SKULL OF SOBEK (mostly because I don't have it yet) and move onto 2.5 GRAND THEFT COSMOS.
Posted by GunMetalBlue at 6:52 AM No comments:
Labels: audio drama, Big finish, brave new town, Doctor Who, Jonathan clements, Paul McGann, Review, sheridan smith
Monday, February 11, 2013
Doctor Who - Big Finish Audio Adventures - 2.2 Max Warp
The story begins with the Doctor and Lucie attending a Motor Show. Well, it's technically a very popular Spaceship Show. If you've not already guessed it from the title and that small description, this really is TOP GEAR in space. Strangely, or perhaps not-so-strangely, this premise fits into the DW mythos and story-style like a leather driving glove (yeah, I went there). From the multiple, and varied hosts talking about the newest, sleekest spaceship, to the Doctor behaving like a proper Ship-Enthusiast like a gleeful 12-year old, to Lucie calling it all boys-with-their-toys and making jokes at the Doctor's expense, this is everything you love about TOP GEAR transferred into DOCTOR WHO.
So where does the intrigue come from in this episode? Well that's an easy one. The show Max Warp is filming live from the Sirius Inter-G Cruiser Show, which was installed as an event to bring two previously warring worlds (the Varlon Empire and the Kith Oligarchy) together, and is set in a station orbiting nearby. The two hosts, smarmy, sexist Geoffrey Vantage, and spaceship enthusiast, Vantage-whipping boy O'Reilly are seen commenting on their fellow Max Warp member, and hotshot pilot Timbo "The Ferret" just before his ship malfunctions and plows into a nearby moon. The intrigue and investigation (launched, of course by our intrepid Doctor and Lucie), begin in earnest with Lucie attempting to guess whodunit, and the Doctor trying to methodically interview people. Because Timbo was clearly murdered, and the uneasy peace between the Kith and the Varlon is at risk.
Lucie is absolute, 100% pure gold in this episode. Sheridan Smith just nails the comedy in Jonathan Morris' script. I kept laughing at her comments as she gets most of the plum lines, up to and including her final line (which I won't spoil for you, but it's hilarious!). Her verbal sparring with Eight (one of the best bits about their relationship) is in fine form in MAX WARP. Not only do we get Paul McGann doing a proper fanboy excitement about the fastest and the sleekest ship (listing off features like he's read multiple magazine articles about it), but we also get a wonderfully diverse secondary cast. Graeme Garden is suitably nasty, sexist, and just deliciously horrible (read: hilarious) as Geoffrey Vantage. I seriously could not believe some of his script beats ('It's a mans spaceship! Literally fuelled with testosterone! Ladies bring a toothbrush and a spare pair of knickers!' or 'Just smile and stick out your bits!' to Lucie), but I adored how well Lucie sparred with him and put him in his place without him really catching on. Further still to the sexist angle we are given a different, but no more unwanted bit of that with mousy O'Reilly attempting to get Lucie to go to his room with him, and she kind of beats around the bush to let him down easy, but even he doesn't get it and she has to end up rather sternly telling him "No." I loved that aspect of the script as it showcases that sometimes even the nicest of guys can say and do the wrong things without realizing they are, and they need to be told they are out of line. It's an attentive moment that I noticed and enjoyed, because Lucie really does give him a second to realize (and he's just totally oblivious) before getting more direct with him.
The mystery/motive is fairly well hidden amongst a few red herrings and plot twists, added to by Lucie throwing out suspect after suspect and giving Sherlockian reasons for their guilt. The SpinDroid (a politician's assistant / crutch) is wonderfully whimsical when he is on scene and sounded suspiciously like the droid from RETURN OF THE JEDI who tells R2 that he "has need for him on the master's sail barge, and that he'd soon learn some respect".
The political machinations at work are light, but given gravity due to the instability of the two world governments, and add tension to the proceedings of the investigation. The whole thing (the event, the crash and the murder) begins to stink of an elaborate scheme and it's up to the Doctor and Lucie to sort out what and why. It's quite satisfying on that end when all is said and done, and that's really all you can ask of a DW mystery. I should not be able to guess the final outcome, and I think in MAX WARP, this is achieved well. But it's more than likely going to be how fun and hilarious this episode is that will sit with you afterwards. It's pure enjoyment for 50 minutes.
The aspect of envy on the part of the Doctor, who adores his stolen TARDIS, towards these super sleek, fast spaceships was palpable and entertaining. It's always funny to think of it, since the TARDIS really does trump every other mode of transport, but the Doctor can't help but feel a little envious. But it's like owning a Smart Tank than can roll through anything and survive (and travel in time and space), but being jealous of a Ferrari, which is shiny, fast and nice looking, but could be ripped through like tin foil (BTTF reference intended).
Big Finish has their first big hit of their second Series with MAX WARP, as entertaining as some of the best from Series 1. The comedy and action are both spot on, and character interaction is tops. I'd ALMOST want to say if you were thinking about giving Series 2 a go and were wondering if it was worthy, that you should put DEAD LONDON off (briefly) and hit up MAX WARP first, as I feel it's probably more entertaining to the casual listener.
NEXT TIME: The Doctor and Lucie visit a seaside town, in the middle of nowhere in 2008 that is seemingly stuck on a Sunday in 1991 and so are its inhabitants, in BRAVE NEW TOWN.
Posted by GunMetalBlue at 7:34 AM No comments:
Labels: audio drama, Big finish, Doctor Who, eighth doctor, jonathan morris, lucie miller, max warp, Review
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Doctor Who - Big Finish Audio Adventures - 2.1 Dead London
Basically this episode drops our TARDIS team into a very strange London where a parking violation in 2008 can earn you a hanging in the 1800's. Time is seemingly shifting around both Lucie and the Doctor, and there are only a few connecting threads that allow the two to sniff out the trail of what is going on. The Doctor, charged with parking the TARDIS in the wrong place, links up with a fellow lawbreaker in Victorian London named Spring-Heeled Sophie. The two eventually find Lucie and attempt to sort out what exactly is going on and why the Judge in one time looks like the chief of police in another time who looks like a hangman in another time. In any other tale it might seem convoluted, but in DOCTOR WHO it's par for the course for our intrepid Time Lord.
The best bit about this opener is the rivalry between Sophie and Lucie. It's only slightly there as Lucie is too proud to actually comment on it aloud (ala Rose Tyler), and instead just tries her very best to trump Sophie in the companion category at every chance. It's incredibly fun to watch as Lucie really does trump Sophie for me...Sophie is interesting, but she just can't match the sassy, strong nature of our companion.
The story in DEAD LONDON is a great little diddy. It's interesting without being over the top. It's got different timelines, scattered characters, and crazy alien connotations. Great voice acting form the guest stars, and a really, solid opener to the series. Is it great exercise in Doctor / Companion relationship and it is really just a good DOCTOR WHO story at the end of things.
There's not much more to say. It's not as good as some of the previous stories in the range, but it certainly is a cool, irreverent choice as an opener for the 2nd Series and for that I applaud Big Finish.
NEXT TIME: Stay tuned for one of the most fun DW Audio Drama's in the EDA range, MAX WARP!
Posted by GunMetalBlue at 7:54 PM 1 comment:
Labels: audio drama, BBC, Big finish, dead london, Doctor Who, Paul McGann, Review, Series 2, sheridan smith
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Finno-Ugric languages
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- Related Topics:
- Hungarian language Sami language Permic languages Ugric languages Finnic languages
Finno-Ugric languages, group of languages constituting much the larger of the two branches of a more comprehensive grouping, the Uralic languages (q.v.). The Finno-Ugric languages are spoken by several million people distributed discontinuously over an area extending from Norway in the west to the Ob River region in Siberia and south to the lower Danube River in Europe. In this vast territory, the Finno-Ugric peoples constitute enclaves surrounded by speakers of Germanic, Slavic, Romanian, and Turkic languages.
The Ugric division of Finno-Ugric languages is composed of Hungarian and the Ob-Ugric languages Mansi (Vogul) and Khanty (Ostyak). The Finnic division of Finno-Ugric languages is composed of five groups. The Baltic-Finnic group consists of Finnish, Estonian, Karelian (including Olonets), Ludic, Veps, Ingrian, Livonian, and Votic. The Permic group consists of Komi (Zyryan), Permyak, and Udmurt (Votyak). The three remaining groups are the individual languages Mari (formerly Cheremis), Mordvin, and Sami (formerly Lapp). Mari and Mordvin, however, are frequently classified together as the Volga-Finnic group of languages. Also, because the dialects of Sami are almost mutually unintelligible, they are often classified as separate languages.
The vocabulary of the Finno-Ugric languages reflects a series of contacts with neighbouring non-Uralic peoples at different periods in history. Loanwords from Indo-Iranian seem to be the oldest. Finnish borrowed from Baltic languages in remote times and later from Germanic languages and Russian. Mari, Udmurt, and the Ob-Ugric languages are rich in Turkic loanwords. Hungarian has also borrowed at different times from several Turkic sources, as well as from Iranian, Slavic, German, Latin, and the Romance languages.
The phonologies of the modern Finno-Ugric languages show a variety of forms, and virtually no feature is common to the entire group. For example, vowel harmony (in which vowels are divided into two or three classes, usually a back, front, and neutral category that may not occur together in the same word), which is sometimes thought of as characteristic of Finno-Ugric, is not found in Sami, Khanty, or the Permic languages. Consonant gradation—an intricate alternation between two classes of stem consonants—occurs in Sami and the Baltic-Finnic languages. The usual method of marking grammatical categories in these languages is by the addition of suffixes. Some of the group (e.g., Finnish and Hungarian) make use of an elaborate case system. Sami and the Ob-Ugric languages mark dual number as well as singular and plural.


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Vehicle groups at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), Germany
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Minimum Age
In most countries, the minimum age required to hire a vehicle is 25.
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Each driver must present a full, valid and original national driving licence, held for a minimum of 2 years. If your licence is not in a language used in your destination country, an International Driving Permit to accompany your national driving licence is highly recommended. Some rental companies and government agencies require that you present an IDP. It is the renter's responsibility to present both their IDP and Driver's License when picking up the vehicle. For more information, please reach out to the Rental Company.
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Each driver must present a valid and original photo ID and passport.
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The renter must present a valid and personal credit card with enough funds to be held as a security deposit. Third-party credit cards will not be accepted. The car hire company is solely responsible for approving the provided credit card. Online prepayment does not exempt the renter from providing a valid international credit card during vehicle pick-up. The hire company will place a hold in the amount of the required security deposit and, when applicable, any additional local fees not covered in the prepaid voucher will be charged to the card provided at the hire location.
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You must present a printout of the Booking Confirmation Voucher at the hire location. This document officially confirms all agreed upon services, payment conditions, rates, discounts, as well as the availability of a vehicle from the selected group.
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text:
John Grisham
Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm with eight hundred lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was three years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience.
But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived; his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging, and learned that he was a mentally ill veteran who'd been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper, and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney.
The fast track derailed; the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street lawyer.
And a thief.


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|Irome for Kokka Fabric
(not pictured here are four ombre semi-solid fabrics,
several of which I have used in the making of my quilt. See pictures below).
Irome is a quilting cotton weight collection, suitable for quilt making, but also apparel and other crafty projects. The fabrics have a lovely hand, the colors range from delicate to saturated, and the prints all work well together. My only fabric addition used in the making of this quilt is Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in White.
I have made the binding for the quilt from some of the scrappy left over fabric pieces. Scrappy binding is a favorite and I love to see all of the different patterns and colors blending with the quilt. It also makes me feel good to use up fabric scraps.
IROME for Kokka Fabric will be available from:
Miss Matatabi (Etsy Store)
Red Pepper Quilts Etsy Store
Kokka Fabric Blog (in English) - see more projects made using the Irome collection.
Irome fabric samples were supplied without obligation by Kokka Fabric, however all images, text and opinions expressed here are my own.


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- Measuring Growth
- Public Reports
- School Reports
- District Reports
- Comparison Reports
- Restricted Reports
- School Reports
- District Reports
- Teacher Reports
- Teacher Composite
- Teacher Value-Added
- Teacher Diagnostic
- Teacher Custom Diagnostic
- Teacher Value-Added Summary
- Teacher Diagnostic Summary
- Reports for Administrators
- Teacher Pattern Report
- Teacher/Student Equity
- Student Reports
- Student Search
- Custom Student Reports
- Student Information
- Student History Report
- Student Projection
- Comparison Reports
- District Value-Added Summary
- School Value-Added Summary
- School Diagnostic Summary
- School Perf Diagnostic Summary
- School Search
- Scatterplots
- Feeder Pattern Report
- Roster Verification (RV)
- Getting Started
- Specifying Instructional Responsibility
- All Actions by Role
- All Actions for Teachers
- All Actions for School Administrators or Roster Approvers
- Manage teachers' access to RV
- Assign other school users the Roster Approver permission
- View a teacher's rosters
- Take control of a teacher's rosters
- Mark rosters as eligible or ineligible
- Add and remove rosters for a teacher
- Copy a roster
- Apply a percentage of instructional time to every student on a roster
- Batch print overclaimed and underclaimed students
- Remove students from a roster
- Add a student to a roster
- Return a teacher's rosters to the teacher
- Approve a teacher's rosters
- Submit your school's rosters to the district
- All Actions for district admin or district roster approvers
- Assign other district users the Roster Approver permission
- Take control of a school's rosters
- View a teacher's rosters
- View the history of a teacher's rosters
- Edit a teacher's rosters
- Mark rosters as eligible or ineligible
- Add and remove rosters for a teacher
- Copy a roster
- Apply a percentage of instructional time to every student on a roster
- Batch print overclaimed and underclaimed students
- Return a school's rosters to the school
- Approve rosters that you have verified
- Submit your district's rosters
- Understanding the RV Pages
- Viewing the History of Actions on Rosters
- Additional Resources
- General Help
Misconception: The TVAAS methodology is too complex; a simpler approach to measuring system and school effectiveness would provide better information to educators.
Although conceptually easy, the statistical rigor necessary to provide precise and reliable growth measures requires that several important analytical problems be addressed when analyzing longitudinal student data, which is critically important in any reporting used for educator evaluations.
In short, a simple gain calculation does not provide a reliable estimate of growth for students linked to an educator. Value-added estimates based on simple calculations are often correlated with student characteristics (prior achievement, demographics, or socioeconomic status) served by the educators rather than the educator's effectiveness with those students. Such models often unfairly disadvantage educators serving students with a history of lower achievement and unfairly advantage educators serving students with a history of higher achievement.
However, it is not necessary to be a statistician to understand the educational implications of TVAAS reporting. With the TVAAS web application, educators have a wealth of reports that go beyond a single estimate of student growth and assist in identifying accelerants and impediments to student learning.
TVAAS in Theory
Any student growth or value-added model must address the following considerations in a statistically robust and reliable approach:
- How to dampen the effects of measurement error, which is inherent in all student assessments because the tests themselves are estimates of student knowledge, not an exact measurement.
- How to accommodate students with missing test scores without introducing major biases by eliminating the data for students with missing scores, using overly simplistic imputation procedures, or using very few test scores for each student.
- How to use all the longitudinal data for each student when all of the historical data are not on the same scale.
- How to use historical data when testing regimes have changed over time to provide educational policymakers flexibility.
TVAAS modeling approaches address all of these concerns to provide reliable estimates of student growth, and more details are provided below.
- TVAAS value-added measures are based on all of a student's previous years' performance data on an assessment instrument (rather than one or two years of data in one or two subjects) to determine the teacher/school/system's estimated impact on its students' academic growth. The inclusion of multiple years of data from multiple subjects for each individual student adds to the protection of an educational entity from misclassification in the value-added analysis. More specifically, using so much data at the individual student level can dampen the effect of measurement error, which is inherent in any test score and in all value-added or growth models.
- TVAAS value-added measures are sophisticated and robust enough to include students with missing data. Since students with a history of lower achievement are more likely to miss tests than students with a history of higher achievement, the exclusion of students with missing test scores can introduce selection bias, which would disproportionately affect educators serving those students.
- TVAAS value-added measures provide estimates whether, on average, the students fell below, met, or exceeded the established expectation for improvement in a particular grade/subject. Assessing the impact at the group level, rather than on individual students, is a more statistically reliable approach due to the issues with measurement error.
- TVAAS value-added measures account for the amount of evidence (standard error) when determining whether an educational entity is decidedly above or below the growth standard as defined by the model. Any model based on assessment data relies on estimates of student learning, and it is important that any value-added measure account for the amount of evidence in the growth measure when providing estimates.
- TVAAS value-added models are sophisticated enough to accommodate different tests or changes in testing regimes. This provides educators with additional flexibility. First, they can use more tests, even if they are on differing scales. Second, they can continue to provide reporting when the tests change as will be the case with the implementation of TNReady assessments.
TVAAS statistical models have been validated and vetted by a variety of value-added experts. The references below include recent studies by statisticians from the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization:
- On the choice of a complex value-added model: McCaffrey, Daniel F. and J.R. Lockwood. 2008. "Value-Added Models: Analytic Issues." Prepared for the National Research Council and the National Academy of Education, Board on Testing and Accountability Workshop on Value-Added Modeling, Nov. 13-14, 2008, Washington, DC.
- On the advantages of the longitudinal, mixed model approach: Lockwood, J.R. and Daniel F. McCaffrey. 2007. "Controlling for Individual Heterogeneity in Longitudinal Models, with Applications to Student Achievement." Electronic Journal of Statistics 1: 223-52.
- On the insufficiency of simple value-added models: McCaffrey, Daniel F., B. Han, and J.R. Lockwood. 2008. "From Data to Bonuses: A Case Study of the Issues Related to Awarding Teachers Pay on the Basis of the Students' Progress." Presented at Performance Incentives: Their Growing Impact on American K-12 Education, Feb. 28-29, 2008, National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University.
TVAAS in Practice
Although the statistical approach is robust and complex, the reports in the TVAAS web application are easy to understand. Provided by subject, grade, and year, the value-added estimates are color-coded quick interpretation: blue indicates that students in a system or school made more than the expected growth; yellow indicates that students in a system or school made about the expected growth; and red indicates that students in a system or school made less than the expected growth. Educators and admins can identify their strengths and opportunities for improvement at a glance. The reporting is wide-ranging, so that authorized users can also access Diagnostic reports for students by achievement level, individual student-level projections to achievement, and other reports. Educators have a comprehensive view of past practices as well as tools for current and future students. Thus, educators benefit from the rigor of the TVAAS models by gaining insight in an accessible and non-technical format. TVAAS Value-Added reports are customized for Tennessee reporting and preferences, but the sample TVAAS school report below illustrates how TVAAS reports can be user-friendly and do not require sophisticated statistical knowledge.