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Calling Stonehenge a "monument," as most books and tourist guides do, is a bit like calling the Grand Canyon a hole in the ground. Both descriptions are, from a literal standpoint, accurate—but neither manages to encompass the magnificence of those improbable creations. The latter was carved from the earth by natural forces millions of years ago; the former was built over the course of millennia by people about whom we know little, for purposes that, thousands of years later, remain a mystery.
Was Stonehenge a place of worship? Probably. A kind of massive, three-dimensional calendar? Maybe. A pilgrimage site for the sick? Perhaps. A beacon for extraterrestrials?
A beacon for extraterrestrials? Anyone?
[Natgeo.com: "Hidden Monuments Under Stonehenge Revealed by High-Tech Mapping"]
What one can say with certainty about Stonehenge, the Grand Canyon, Egypt's pyramids, Machu Picchu, the Brooklyn Bridge and other natural and human-made wonders is that, in their presence, even the most atrophied imagination is likely to stir. We're in awe before them, even when we know—as with Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza—that we're gazing on a mere shadow of what was once a far more extensive, elaborate and vibrant complex.
But that, too, is part of the profound allure of these places: having fallen into ruin, they still possess a genuine grandeur.
[Buy the LIFE book, Wonders of the World]
Here, thousands of years after its first stones were erected on England's Salisbury Plain, LIFE pays tribute—with a single photograph—to the structure itself, and to the long-vanished people who envisioned and built Stonehenge. One of many pictures LIFE's Dmitri Kessel made on assignment in England in 1955, this photo manages to capture what feels like an utterly contemporary scene—the picture might have been made (and tweeted or posted to Instagram) moments ago—while also somehow evincing the mystery and majesty of an impenetrable, departed world.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Download Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) CD ISO / DVD Imageslast updated in Categories Download of the day, News, Ubuntu Linux
The latest version of the popular Linux desktop distribution Ubuntu 11.04 has been released and available from the official project web site. This new version uses the Unity user interface instead of GNOME Shell as default desktop (user can switch back to classic Gnome desktop any time). New features since Ubuntu 10.10 includes – Banshee as the default music player, Mozilla Firefox 4, LibreOffice, Linux kernel v188.8.131.52, gcc 4.5, Python 2.7, dpkg 1.16.0, Upstart 0.9, X.org 1.10.1, Mesa 7.10.2, Shotwell 0.9.2, and Evolution 2.32.2.


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Sochi Games CEO brushes aside controversy over Rodnina, racist tweet
- Dmitriy Chernyshenko said there should be no controversy
- Chernyshenko praised Rodnina%27s Olympic career
SOCHI, Russia — The head of the Sochi organizing committee dismissed any controversy about the choice of figure skating great Irina Rodnina to light the Olympic torch on Saturday, declining to address the racially insensitive doctored photograph of President Obama and the First Lady she shared on Twitter last September.
The image depicted Obama with his mouth full of food, seated next to his wife, behind a fake image of a banana. Though Rodnina took down the Tweet quickly, she refused to apologize, even after it gained attention on social media.
BRENNAN:Rodnina owes an apology
"She is a three-time Olympic champion, one of the most respected in the world of Olympic athletes," organizing committee president and CEO Dmitriy Chernyshenko said during a regularly scheduled news conference. "I want to stress that Olympics is not about politics, and any political talks about discussions are inappropriate."
Some have interpreted the choice of Rodnina as a shot across the bow during an Olympics in which passive-aggressive tensions have simmered between Russia and the United States over political and social issues.
IRINA RODNINA:Skater took racist shot at Obama
SOCHI:Security ramps up as Games begin
Obama decided not to attend the Games in Sochi, becoming the first American president since the 2000 Summer Olympics not to make an appearance. Instead, he appointed a delegation with three openly gay athletes, which was viewed as a strong response to Russia's so-called "gay propaganda" law enacted under President Vladimir Putin.
In his opening address to the IOC session this week, president Thomas Bach didn't name Obama directly but criticized politicians who use the Olympics "as a stage for political dissent."
THE COUNT:Medal projections in every event
Rodnina, who shared the torch-lighting honors with legendary hockey goalie Vladislav Tretiak, lived in the USA for a number of years but is now a member of the Russian parliament. Confronted about the Tweet last year, she was defiant, accusing political adversaries of stirring up controversy.
Michael McFaul, the American ambassador to Russia, wrote on Twitter that she was guilty of "outrageous behavior."
IOC spokesman Mark Adams declined to specifically answer whether there had been discussion about whether it was appropriate for her to be a torch bearer in light of the Tweet.
"Clearly, this is not the IOC that chooses torch bearers, but she was chosen for what she's done in sport," Adams said. "She's a triple gold medalist and she has done a great deal of work in sport. It was a decision Sochi took as it did with all the torch bearers."


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Victoria Azarenka Continues her 2012 undefeated streak in Doha! Could it be that finally a woman is taking the WTA tour by the throat and making it hers? It looks like Wilson has found the true spokesperson for the "Juice" racquets!
Views: 108
Replies to This Discussion
She's the one right now. Her only real rival is Kvitova.
She completely steam-rolled my gal Stosur in Doha. She is playing extremely well, so let's see how she does the rest of the year.
Stosur must pick up some steam. Gee whiz!
Stosur is one of those cameleon type players. You just never know what Stosur is going to show up. It is really hard to get behind her for that reason. I love her game though.
Someone please make her consistent. That's all I ask!
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Wednesday, 5 May 2010
L'Occitane Peony makeup collection
I went into a L'Occitane store and was greeted by an SA, I noticed that the Peony display was missing some items (one of the lipsticks and all the eyeshadows) and inquired when they would get them in, she replied that she had no idea, and it might not be for quite some time, it did seem strange to launch a limited edition collection and not release all the products at the same time.
I said to her I was just going to have a look at the colours, she did not leave my side. I picked up the Etoile des neiges Illuminating Powder and swatched it (it was very pale, not much colour pay off) and she asked if I wanted to try the products on instead, I said no it was fine, I just wanted to have a look so I could decide what to buy. I didn't feel like I could swatch anymore, maybe this is something L'Occitane discourage? She still did not leave my side, I said ok, thanks, I'll just get a few things, still she did not move, so I just grabbed some stuff but wasn't able to have a proper look. I wanted to look at the lip balm and lip and cheek tint really but felt quite uncomfortable with her standing right next to me not saying anything.
In the end I bought lipsticks (£12.50 each) in Mme Louis Henry Lipstick (very sheer peach with slight pink tone and non gritty microglitter) and Paeonia ( sheer but bright pop of cool toned pink).
The formula is really nice; it's very comfortable, smooth, lightweight and not drying. As there is a bit of slip to these they aren't long lasting.
I also bought Marie Rivière Liquid Shine Lip Colour(£11.50) a pink with golden shimmer, this goes on a lot more sheer that it appears in the tube and I only get a hint of colour, I think its best worn over a lipstick.
The formula is not overly heavy but there is a bit of stickiness/tackiness to it, although this does make it last better.
Lastly I picked up the Hélène Facecolour Powder (£12.50) this is a sheer ivory base with golden shimmer. Its not an intense highlighter and looks like a sheen rather than full on shimmer. The texture is really smooth; I use it on cheeks and eyes.
Swatches (L-R):Mme Louis Henry,Paeonia,Marie Rivière, Hélène
Overall it's a pretty collection for a soft natural look. I'm pleased with all the items, although I would have probably gone for a darker shine lip colour. I think the pricing fits well with the rest of the L'Occitane range. Where it not for the SA I'm sure I would have picked up some more.
5 comments:
They hover in the L'Occitane in Covent Garden too - I find it really annoying. I do really like the look of that Helen face colour.ReplyDelete
Shame about the shopping experience - I think this range looks gorgeous tho. xReplyDelete
Hi Grace,ReplyDelete
I think you would like it, I'm more for natural looking highlighters rather than over the top shimmer/glitter and this fits the bill nicely.
Hi Charlie,
Yes, think I may shop online in future :) its a very easy to wear subtle range, fits well with the brand image. Thanks for your comment.
Those lipsticks look lovely. What a shame about the SA, you did better than I would have done. I can't abide hovering and would have disappeared without managing to pick anything up!ReplyDelete
Hi ModestyBrown,ReplyDelete
Well, I don't like to let anything get in the way of me and my makeup :) I'll be interested to see how well the range does as it doesn't seem to have interested many people judging by other blogs.


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Actor/comedian Jimmy O. Yang and actress/rapper Awkwafina (aka Nora Lum) discuss Yang's new book "How to American," their roles in the upcoming film adaptation of "Crazy Rich Asians," growing up Asian-American and why Nora never became a meat inspector.
As a stand-up comedian, actor, and fan favorite as the character Jian Yang from the popular HBO series Silicon Valley, Jimmy O. Yang has achieved the American dream, but he wasn't born into it. He started his journey as a teenage immigrant from Hong Kong, determinedly chasing the elusive Hollywood career. He defied his parents' wishes, learning English by watching BET RapCity for three hours a day, and worked as a strip club DJ while pursuing a career in comedy. He was almost deported during a trip abroad before finally becoming a US citizen. Now he's written a memoir recounting it all.
In his book "How to American," Jimmy O. tells those stories and many more, while sharing some hard-earned lessons and insightful advice for those looking to achieve the American Dream.


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love is a miracle. like, as far as i can tell, it almost shouldn't be possible, but it transpires sort of in spite of the the world. 'cold nites' comes out of experiences i've had w respect to the will to preserve love across long distances, thru challenging times, amidst life's changes--- this will to love can give us the most beautiful stability and a sense of truly living, but can also lead us into totally spiritually rending compromises, split between worlds.
wanted to share this with u as soon as possible so i got my friend nick to make this little ambient video thingy – i think it's REALLY beautiful and i'm always so proud to work w him :+) love you nick
working on a music video for the song now v v v excited
with an AMAZING director
more details soon
more details soon
thank u and love you,


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"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving" — Albert Einstein
After 10 years of living in this house – the first house we bought together – Jody, the kids and I are packing up and moving on to our next home.
I've had a few recurring complaints about this house – namely that the kitchen is too small (I've nicknamed it "tiny kitchen") – but I am so grateful for the time we've spent and the memories we've made here.
This is the first house Jody and I lived in when we moved to Colorado. Its the house we came home to after we got married. This is the house to which we brought Ava home from the hospital. Its the house where Ava had so many firsts – first steps, first words – and where she's grown into an amazing 6-year-old. This is the house where Julian was born in our bedroom, at the foot of our bed. Its the house where Julian had so many firsts as well including taking his first breath. He's now a vivacious 3.5-year-old. This is the house where we have memories of watching baby birds learn how to fly, finding snakes, growing a small garden, playing, and swinging on the tire swing all in the backyard. This is the house where Jody and I have begun to learn more about ourselves (through therapy, etc.) and what we need to do to improve our quality of life – that we can become better, healthier people.
This has been a house of laughter and tears, victories and learning experiences, frustrations and uncertainty, but most of all, love.
We've visited with the sellers of our new house a few times over the past week and as they reflected on their house and the memories they created there with their family over the past 17 years, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic with them and even got a little teary-eyed at the closing this week. They told us they feel good about selling to us. That we remind them a lot of themselves – moving into the house with young kids as they did many years ago. I think they see the sparkle in our eyes as we look at the house and begin to envision our family in it. They know that the swing-set they put in in the backyard, that has sat dormant for the past several years as their children grew too old for it, is going to get a new lease on life. They know that I'm excited to get settled into the large (to me) kitchen they remodeled. They know that I can't wait to get my fruits and vegetable plants in the ground in the garden they used to cultivate. They know Jody has hopes of building a wood-shop in the backyard someday. They know that we are excited to move in and make it our home and create our own memories at that house, just as they have theirs.
I feel very good about this move.
We are at a point in our lives where moving forward and making a change like this – relocating to a new home – feels symbolic of the path on which we already are.
I don't expect moving to change our lives dramatically, but I feel like this move signifies us moving forward with our lives and choosing to try to break the patterns of our pasts. We are forging ahead. I know there will still be rough patches and issues – who doesn't have issues? – but as we learn to react to things differently and develop healthy habits, I feel like moving away from this old house is a good thing. Its like we're leaving the past behind and opening the doors of new possibilities and adventures.
I'm ready to start the next chapter in our lives. Moving forward.
"Home is where our story begins." — Author Unknown
Photo credit: Granny's Basement
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First of all I want to thank two incredible people who made possible this amazing Special Post, the well known software artist Scott Draves and as interviewer Phoenix Perry who is curator of Devotion Gallery and a new media artist and performer.
So in the interview you can read almost everything about the career of Scott Draves as a visual and software artist. He says how and when started in the fabulous and huge world of programming and also explains some of his projects in the easy way.
If you already know him, now you're going to learn a lot of new stuff from him, and if you didn't hear speaking about him, so you'll meet a pioneer of generative art and the creator of the Electric Sheep. See more;
Scott Draves (S) and Phoenix Perry (P)
P: Hi! I've been looking forward to this.
S: Hi Phoenix. Me too.
P: Have you always been hooked on art through programming? When did you start?
S: I started programming in about 1978 when I was 10 years old. Our grade school had one computer for about 500 kids. It was an Apple II. I fell in love immediately and started to learn to program by myself. Eventually I convinced my parents to get one and we had an Apple //e at home. I spent a lot time with it, sometimes playing games but also amusing myself by programming graphics and interactive things, including eventually games. I started out with things like spirograph in BASIC.
I was fascinated by the ability of the computer to do the unexpected. People think of the computer as an automaton that follows the program you write for it, but what's the fun in seeing it execute what you already imagined or knew? We are naturally attracted to novelty. Anything predictable or repetitive eventually becomes boring.
P: What were the games you played that influenced you the most?
S: So those were the days we had arcades with the classics: Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Defender, Pac Man, etc. The computer wasn't as good, the ones I remember playing the most were Lode Runner, and I had a friend who had "Wizardry", a D&D knockoff.
P: What games did you make?
S: It was called "Ace Snake", it was written in assembly language. It got a prize from a local competition. There were smaller ones but that was the only full-on polished one.
P: Did the game-play resemble anything that you later wove into your creative practice?
S: No, this was simple stuff.
P: I always find it interesting that gaming was the gateway into this space for many computational artists. It seems to inspire a sense of play that never dies.
S: It was definitely there from the beginning. We had an Atari 2600 too. Not sure it was the gateway though -- more of a parallel track.
Electric Sheep
P: So what led you to make the Electric Sheep open source screensaver project?
S: The pieces came together over a long period of time. Before Sheep there was the Flame algorithm, creating art out of math. And before Flame there was a long series of experiments with similar algorithms. The first was the summer between freshman and sophomore years in college at Brown University. My first job there was at a place called IRIS. They had developed a whole collaborative multimedia hypertext system. This was like 1987. I got a job as a sysadmin there and had access to the computers and network.
A friend (Bill Poirier) had described an idea to me, which he called "recursive pictures". He drew one for me by hand, it looked kind of like a bow-tie. I'm not sure if he got the idea from "Gödel, Escher, Bach" (the book by Douglas Hofstadter, which has a similar "MU picture"), or had it on his own, or what. I realized I could program the computer to draw one. So I wrote it in PostScript, and the program ran on the original LaserWriter (at IRIS). It output at 300dpi black and white, and made the picture with lots of very small vectors. An image at 300dpi 8.5x11 was too much data to transmit to the printer, but the program was small, and then the image computed in the printer. It was slow but it worked. I made a couple dozen images with different transformations. I wonder where they are now.
P: I was just going to ask that.
S: I found them in a folder just a couple of years ago, not sure where they are now though. I think they made it into a storage box :)
P: So basically at this point you'd caught the generative bug?
S: I was fully infected. It was really going in high school -- when I was playing with simpler things like spirograph. But with bigger computers and people to talk to who knew a lot, it had more room to develop. Brown was a great place for computer graphics and a bunch of today's digital artists studied there at that time too, like Scott Snibbe and Brian Knep.
Electric Sheep
P: What I though was so amazing about Electric Sheep is you had the idea to do this over a network.
S: That came later, in 1999. There were three steps to getting there. First while at the Brown graphics group working for Andy van Dam I kept playing with the recursive picture thing, rewriting it for different computers with different techniques. I learned that it was basically Iterated Function Systems (IFS), a kind of fractal -- I had access to the literature; I wasn't just experimenting by myself anymore. Eventually I went to grad school, and then on an internship to Japan. This was 1992.
P: Where did you intern in Japan and how did being there effect you?
S: The company was called NTT Data, it was the Japanese version of Bell Labs. I went after two years of doctoral study in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. This was back when Japan was "the future" to us here in the states. The DOD was sending engineers there to learn their language and steal their magic :-) They gave me some research jobs and a computer to work on. It was a graphics supercomputer -- the highest-end SGI all to myself. An intern!
P: That's unheard of then. Unbelievable.
S: Back in grad school I had the cheapest Sun workstation with a bit-mapped display. Literally! One bit per pixel. It was still a serious computer compared to your basic PC or Mac, but the SGI was another world.
P: SGI machines at this point cost thousands upon thousands of dollars.
S: Yea it was pretty crazy. It was like driving a Formula One car instead of a Model T. I finished the job they gave me in two weeks. They gave me another thing to do and I did that in a week. So then they said "well we don't have anything else for you do to, so you can have the rest of the summer to yourself." I guess they weren't that interested in me working for them -- remember why I was there. Or maybe they were just kind. So I went to work on my art. I didn't think of it as "art" yet -- it was just something I was into.
This computer gave me freedom. I went back to the Flame algorithm. Previously I had been making approximations. Because it takes so long to draw the image, essentially I was using shortcuts, just to get something. But now with a fast computer and freed from the constraint of time I was able to come up with a true solution that revealed the complexity in this process. Now it uses thousands of parameters. The resulting images are distinct, unlike anything else -- but often remind viewers of objects in nature like feathers, galaxies, or coral reefs.
Electric Sheep
P: What came next?
S: The next important thing was open source: letting others see and use my code. It was next year, back in school at CMU. NCSA Mosaic, the first graphical web browser, was released. I made a home page for myself and put the Flame images and the source code on it. I was already very into open source. Emacs (the text editor by RMS) got me hooked on that. So not much happened right away, but word spread and people saw the gallery. Things happened so slowly back then, but eventually the code got ported into the standard graphics apps: Photoshop (via Kai's Power tools), GIMP, and After Effects.
P: What were the plugins called?
S: In KPT it was FraxFlame, in the Gimp it was just Flame, and aeFlame for After Effects. So now we are in the mid 90s. Oh one thing
happened along the way: my PhD adviser was initially Andy Witkin (who recently tragically died). Actually I had two advisers: Andy for graphics, and Dana Scott for programming languages, which was my other big thing. Ask me about fnord sometime, or about my thesis.
Andy had received a Golden Nica from the Prix Ars Electronica (for reaction diffusion textures, with Michael Kass). I showed him the Flame images and he recommended I enter them in the competition. I did (by taking pictures of a CRT, my monitor at the time, with a 35mm film camera and making slides). I got a prize. I didn't know it was a big deal, I didn't even go to Linz for the show. I couldn't have afforded it even if I had realized I should have.
P: That's the highest honor you can get in the community of digital arts.
S: Well I didn't get a Golden Nica but I am very honored.
P: Even being selected to go is a massive achievement.
S: Thank you. Dana later told me he was there for the show, having no idea I had entered or anything, and they had a giant print of my work "Flame #149". He was admiring it and looked at the credit and realized it was his own student! He was quite pleased.
P: So you accidentally ended up an artist.
S: Yes, in a way. I had been doing it for years but without the label.
P: So how did you end up in California?
S: I graduated with my PhD in 1997. The bubble was in full swing. I moved to the Bay Area to work for tech startups, first Transmeta -- the chip company where Linus Torvalds among many other great programmers worked. Later FastForward Networks, which got acquired by Inktomi. So I was living in SF and the Internet was going off, big time.
One day I got a VHS tape in the mail. It was from Alien Skin, the VFX company where the aeFlame guys worked. They had put their render farm to work at night and made a couple minutes of video of animated flames. I was impressed, it would have taken me weeks to do something like that on my regular PC. This was right after SETI@home had come out, I think that was in the early spring. Now the end of summer was approaching, I had just quit my job at Transmeta. Burning Man was in a month and I was going to go (my 2nd time). I was hanging out with my friend Nick Thompson and showed him the video and we had the idea of distributed rendering of Flames. It was just rendering back then, no interaction, evolution, or crowd-source. It took me a week to write the first version of the client and server. It ran on Linux only at 256x256 resolution. The genetic code was much simpler back then.
Once it was working, I posted it and emailed a few people, and it's been growing and spreading ever since. We have half a million users now.
P: And this was Electric Sheep.
S: That's how it started.
P: You are well known thanks to Electric Sheep. Do you consider it one of your best projects?
S: Certainly one of the best :-) But there are different metrics. Something like Dreams in High Fidelity, Clade, or Generation 243 are much higher quality. But they are all created by the Electric Sheep project. I don't think of it as a single artwork really but as a genre or a technique. Other stuff I have done like Fuse and Bomb have been influential and are just as creative from my perspective, but they never took off in the same way. There are many ingredients required for that, plus luck.
P: In a way they are now almost seed concepts for new forms.
S: Definitely, and that's one of my key motivations, to enable other people's art. Running the screensaver is great, but it's passive.
Voting is interaction, but it's pretty low bandwidth. Hand-designing sheep – which people can do on their own using software built on the flame algorithm -- is pretty involved, but the ultimate for me is when people take our source code and make their own programs from it, or based on it. Or when people remix the sheep videos into their own stuff and make it their own. Now, that's intimate, engaged
P: That is very exciting, very interactive, it's more than just pushing a button or waving your hand in a museum. What language is it built in?
S: The graphics engine is in C. It's not based on any graphics API like OpenGL; it works directly with the math and the pixels as raw memory. The genetic algorithm is also in C, but the http/networking/database part of the server is in Perl. What a horrible choice that was, it really needs to be redone. We used to have separate code bases for each client platform, but now we have a unified C++ client for Mac, PC, and Linux (it has some Objective-C on Mac). The mobile clients (in development) use the native APIs (Java for Android and Objective-C for iOS).
Working directly with the pixels in C is what gives us our unique look. It's unlike most other digital art, which uses primitives or vector graphics or photography.
Electric Sheep
P: What do you think of efforts like Cinder and Processing? Cinder is in C++ and it seems now the world is catching up with you.
S: I think it's great that Processing has made programming interactive graphics easier. It's opened the door to a lot of people, as has openFrameworks.
P: Now there's a whole pack of artists programming, exploring code in a way never done before.
S: Yes but all of those packages are really just layers on top of something like OpenGL. It's certainly true that there are lots of programmer/artists these days, whereas 20 years ago you could count them on two hands.
P: So you are saying there's no OpenGL in anything you code?
S: Flame, Fuse and Bomb do not use OpenGL.
P: This hurts my brain. Wow. Tell me about the look, and your choice to not use what everyone else is using in terms of graphics packages.
S: A graphics package is like a language. And Flame is a visual language, to use the term like Kandinsky did. Processing/Cinder/oF are like Italian, French, and Esperanto. You can draw lines, circles, and polygons in 3D. They are based on the metaphor of drafting, which was called CAD when people starting doing it by computer.
Flame, the language of the Electric Sheep is different, it's like Japanese or Martian. In particular, in how you give up control. And this is the source of its ability to evolve. It's not really possible to take two Processing programs, mate them, and produce children. But with the Sheep, it is.
Electric Sheep
P: Can you go into the details of this? And for people who might not know about mating programs, can we give them a brief explanation?
S: Control is the crux of it. With normal graphics, and normal art, the artist has an internal vision and then reproduces it in material form by hand. You put a stroke here, a blob there, until the painting realizes what you saw in your imagination. Or - people sometimes ask me what photo source I used to make a particular image, but that's not how it works either.
As I described from my earliest experiments as a child, what I want is not to "get what I asked for" but to get something I haven't even thought of, and never imagined. I want to surprise myself, the creator. Generative art is the path in this direction. You can introduce randomness, for example.
And if your process has an element of complexity you might get more out of it than you put in. This difference -- emergence, synergy, life, call it what you will, is what I am after. I wrote a paper for YLEM Journal titled "Metaprogramming Emergent Graphics" that really goes into this, see here.
Normal computer graphics is more like the controlled process of painting. Of course that's the metaphor -- drafting. That's where it comes from. Flames are different because the relationship between the parameters and the image is not so one-to-one. What the algorithm does is solve an equation where every pixel is a variable.
P: So you really don't know how it's going to look until you are done. Tell me more about this equation.
S: Flame computes the interference pattern between geometric transformations of the plane. It solves a recursive set equation. It does so by sending billions of particles into a formula with thousands of parameters (corresponding to the genetic code), and based on where they go, the image develops.
Electric Sheep
P: What are you working on? You told me that you are reviving Fuse, could you explain it further?
S: The Fuse algorithm is a form of texture synthesis. These days it is a standard technique in computer graphics, and many research papers are devoted to it. But instead of textures you can synthesize pictures. :-) At the time I was working on it I had to invent it myself. I believe it was later independently re-invented by someone else, who actually published it in a scientific journal. All I did was open-source the code. I don't think he saw it, but once ideas out there they are floating around. It's very common for something to be discovered in more than one place in the world independently. draves.org/fuse has a couple galleries of images from the mid-90s. I'm working with this code again, making it better and applying it to new imagery and bringing new concepts to it.
Fuse is algorithmic but not so abstract because it uses images as input. It was the first program that could do anything like the advanced kind of what most people call photomosaics, as well as other manipulations. It takes images, breaks them into little pieces, and then fits them together to make new images, either with a goal or not. "With a goal" is like those posters you see everywhere now where a big face is made up of lots of little faces. "Without a goal" overlaps them based on other similarities. The algorithm primarily relies on search, associative matching. It finds ways of putting together the pieces so they match their neighbors, and (if there is a goal) so they match that too. This was inspired by the text cutup technique of William S Burroughs. I think Brian Gyson was involved in that too.
P: I was just going to say that. I feel like Gyson was nearly a generative artist in his approach to painting and language.
S: Yes definitely a progenitor. Along with John Cage.
Electric Sheep
P: Did you use Electric Sheep as part of Clade? Could you explain which part you used?
S: Yes. Clade, the Blu Ray, is made with re-rendered, high definition Electric Sheep. There are six sheep in Clade, plus about 20 ways of connecting those Sheep. Those six were chosen because they form a clade. I wanted to emphasize the evolutionary aspect of the Sheep, to tell more of that story. Previously the HD pieces didn't have a theme. I wanted to be more... specific. Do you know that famous illustration of evolution, a monkey walking upright and becoming man?
P: Yes.
S: Clade treats that as a filmstrip. Those images are key-frames, for animation along (and across) the family lines of evolution. A "clade" is a group that shares a common ancestor. I learned the word from "Schismatrix Plus", Bruce Sterling's book. It's a term from evolutionary biology and in a sense it's meaningless because the Darwinian orthodoxy is that all life is descended from one. But more practically it refers to any one branch of the tree of life.
P: Something in me feels like that is wrong. Emergence is more diverse.
S: Right, it's not exactly true. But it's a big step in the right direction. See Lynn Margulis for a start on the exceptions. Anyway, the terms species, genus, family, class, order, phylum, and kingdom refer to branches of the tree of life of different sizes. "Clade" is the generic term for any or all of them, and the six sheep form a clade. They all share a common ancestor, and so they share a common gene, and so their shapes are related.
There is a common theme that runs through the piece. The structure they share forms a trefoil shape. This is an ancient symbol. It makes the piece like a theme and variations, the musical form. The trefoil is always there, but the Sheep look fairly different in style: one is modern, one is machine-like, one is like Indian lace, etc. And then between them all kinds of things happen – the transformations from one sheep to the next reveal hidden secrets of their biology.
P: Do you think there are limits to what can be accomplished with computational art?
S: Certainly the field is limited by its definition. And computation has some theoretical limits, like Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems. And there are plenty of practical limits. We talked before about how having a fast computer can remove one limit, for example.
But to address the essence of the question, the answer is no. I believe that computation can reproduce the whole creative process, and that ultimately computers can have soul. We are a long way from that, but we are headed in the right direction. The limits are really in society's understanding of this.
Dreams in High Fidelity 2 triple projection at 3LD Manhattan 2009. Photo by Mike Este.P: You and I are much in agreement here. Who inspires you?
S: I always find this question difficult. There are many people who have influenced me and inspired me. Every time I make a list like this, I look at it later and think of all those I left off. How could I! So, I will mention just one here, because he doesn't seem well known, but had a big impact on me, at a critical time in my life. That would be Gregory Bateson. There's a book of his collected writings, "Steps to an Ecology of Mind" that I found very insightful. I read it around 1995. At that time I was struggling with the definition of information and meaning. What is life? A lot of theorists have definitions -- Claude Shannon, Andrey Kolmogorov, Greg Chaitin, Erwin Schrödinger, etc. People keep trying to quantify it. Bateson said "information is a difference that makes a difference". It was a sign to me that information (and hence beauty) could not be quantified, or reduced to an equation. But, I was also reassured that I could trust myself to recognize it. And so I was able to continue to pursue creativity.
P: OK that sounds like a good place to stop. Thanks for talking.
S: And thank you for your time.
Edited interview by IM, 2010.12.23 for Triangulation Blog


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David E. Platt is a Sr. Lecturer in the Department of Accounting. He earned his BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, his MBA in Marketing from Syracuse University, and his PhD in Accounting from Cornell University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and also holds the Chartered Global Management Accountant designation. Prof. Platt has taught in the McCombs School of Business' BBA, MPA, MBA and Executive MBA programs, receiving teaching awards at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. From 2001 until 2012, he directed UT-Austin's Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and has served as chairman of the Partnership in International Management, a consortium of leading graduate business schools with 57 member schools in 35 countries. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Sorbonne Graduate Business School and Tec de Monterrey, and has delivered training for Dell and other companies in the US, Europe, Latin America and China. His primary teaching and publication interests are in organizational performance management and the measurement of the cost of goods and services for decision making. Prior to joining UT-Austin in 1996, Prof. Platt worked for Pricewaterhouse Coopers (assurance services, clients including Campbell Soup and Vanguard Mutual Funds) and Raymond Corporation (financial and product management in supply chain capital goods and software integration).
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Hello guys! This is my third tut! I think you would of guessed what it is! Today im going to show you how to draw a rabbit. Its another simple tutorial by me. Hope you enjoy it, and ill chat to you later! :), daisydog
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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Search Reviews
Explorer Of The Seas
Explorer Of The Seas
19 Passengers have reviewed this ship
Very good
Top 5 most helpful reviews
Rating summary
18 reviews sorted by:
- 287 Helpful votes
- 1 Cruise review
- 3 Cruises
"South Pacific Cruise"
Sailed with my wife , 3 daughters and one of their boyfriends on 8 day cruise on Explorer of the Seas to Noumea, Mystery Island and Mare from Sydney on 14th Feb 2017. Had 2 balcony cabins on Deck 9 next to each other and an inside on same deck across alleyway. From the moment we got on board till we got off we had a great time. Loved the food in both the Windjammer and the Sapphire Restaurant. Daughter and boyfriend ate twice in Giovannis and said food was great. he is a chef by trade and liked the food on the ship. Our cabin stewards were great. Nothing a problem. Table waiters in restaurant were the best. Looked after us so well. Entertainment. We went to all the shows and all were first class. Ice skating show was great. Found plenty of room to chill out on decks. So many bars etc that ship did not feel crowded. Islands were great especially Mystery Island and Mare. Noumea? Once is enough. Would i travel on Royal Caribbean again. Yes.Read more
- Cruise Name: Explorer Of The Seas
- Destination: South Pacific
- Sailed: February 2017
- 236 Helpful votes
- 1 Cruise review
- 1 Cruises
"Nice ship few disappointments. "
We cruised from Singapore to Fremantle on this ship. The crew were amazing so friendly & helpful. We did not eat in main dining room but loved Windjammer. The staff in here were incredible. The pool area is lovely with the live band & movies has everything you need. We did not find drinks too expensive & did not bother with drinks packages. Our 3 year loved the kids club & the staff in there. I went to the dsy spa twice one time was incredible & really worth it but second time I was really annoyed with the worker. I declared a condition i have & she kept telling my dr doesn't know how to treat my condition & some "herbal" drugs she was selling onboard would clear it. I asked where you can buy them but they aren't available in or allowed to be sent to Australia. She was very persistent & ruin my dayspa experience. Did not go back after this. Our only main complaints are RCI themselves assured us the kids pool & play area is still on board when is definitely is not & assured me there is free wifi for email only which there is not!! This is a very large ship but you don't notice this when onboard. Would definitely go on board again. Was a great family holiday & look forward to doing it again!Read more
- Cruise Name: Explorer Of The Seas
- Destination: Australia
- Sailed: November 2015
- 134 Helpful votes
- 1 Cruise review
- 2 Cruises
"fun, fun, fun "
Royal Caribbean cruise ships are awesome, the staff, friendly with a smile. The food amazing, so much variety. The entertainment packed with so much talent, very entertaining. Over all top class cruise. Great staff and crew.Read more
- Cruise Name: Explorer Of The Seas
- Destination: South Pacific
- Sailed: January 2016
- 147 Helpful votes
- 4 Cruise reviews
- 30 Cruises
Wow. What a beautiful ship. We are from New Zealand and as we only get p&o Pacific pearl which thankfully will be retired early next year by leaving from Australia you get better ships. is dearer but you pay for what you get. Loved this ship. Wonderful for family's or couples. Would go again in a heart beat. only thing was in American dollars for on board spending so that made things dearer and felt drinks were quite dare as exchange rate and 15% tip added to each drink. So if big drinker buy package as tips included in price. However if not do not buy as you wont get your moneys worth. Such a beautiful ship and food was just fantastic. Room service food is free and wonderful. Will free except midnight till 5am in the morning then its $5. Great menu. In-house movies are a rip off $11.99 per movie. TV channels were the worst I have had on a cruise before. So Cons were drinks dare and movies and to many repeats on tv. Pro's are staff, they are fantastic. Shows and entertainment also fab. Food to dye for food has so many choices. Kids club fantastic you will have to drag your children out of there. Hint Worth giving them some cash in an envelope as a extra tip like I did.Read more
- Cruise Name: Explorer Of The Seas
- Destination: Australia
- Sailed: March 2016
- 106 Helpful votes
- 1 Cruise review
- 0 Cruises
"Great cruise"
We have cruised to New Zealand before and chose this cruise due to it going to Picton, Napier and Wellington. Wasn't much at Picton but Napier was a highlight. Loved the specialty restaurants on board but also had the best service in the main dining room from our wait staff. Has one of the new cabins on deck 12 and can highly recommend, close to pool, bars and lifts. Will look at doing another very soon. The cruise director was so good as were his staff. The adrenaline juckies were satisfied with the flow rider rock climbing and ice skating. Actually won a quiz. Travelled with first time cruisers and when they get home and start looking at the next cruise you know what a great time they had.Read more
- Cruise Name: Explorer Of The Seas
- Destination: New Zealand
- Sailed: January 2016


text:
A few days ago, my friend Llarold asked me if I had done any calculation about the new threat bonus on taunts in 5.4. In the past, I had worked out a rough formula for how long it took to lose aggro after taunting in the past (roughly the duration of the encounter divided by five). So we were both curious how the threat buff affects that estimate.
The first thing to do was to verify how the threat buff works. It claims to "increase threat that you generate against the target by 200% for 3 seconds," but doesn't make it clear whether that's multiplicative or additive with the +400% threat modifier granted by Righteous Fury. In other words, if we normally get $\text{damage}\times 5$ threat, will the buff give us $\text{damage}\times 7$ or $\text{damage}\times 15$?
So, I hopped on PTR to test. Below are the test results from two consecutive Holy Wrath casts, which do a fixed amount of damage. The first is before taunting and the second immediately after taunting:
There's no ambiguity in that data, we get $\text{damage}\times 15$ during the buff.
Next, we want a mathematical model. To model threat on taunts, we make a few simple assumptions. First, we assume that threat generation is continuous and uniform so that we can easily integrate. In reality it's discrete and uneven, but if we averaged over all possible swing timer offsets it would be roughly continuous, and it makes the math easier.
We'll also ignore base threat output and assume all output comes from Vengeance AP. Again, this makes the math simpler, and doesn't really break much since both tanks are presumably generating roughly the same amount of threat in the absence of Vengeance anyway, so it would mostly cancel out.
We'll let $T_1(t)$ describe the threat of tank #1 as a function of time, and $T_2(t)$ will describe the threat of tank #2. At time $t=0$, tank #2 taunts off of tank #1. At that instant, both tanks have $T_0$ threat, and we'll let $G_1=G$ represent the rate at which tank #1 is generating threat. Tank #2 generates threat at a rage $G_2$, which we'll define shortly.
Under those general circumstances, the threat as a function of time for each tank can be represented as follows:
$\displaystyle T_1(t) = T_0 + \int_0^t G dt'$
$\displaystyle T_2(t)= T_0 + \int_0^t G_2 dt$
This has all the makings of a basic kinematics problem. Normally you'd be concerned with velocity and acceleration; here we're concerned with constant threat generation rates (velocity) and time-dependent threat generation rates (acceleration). Though as we'll see shortly, the form of the acceleration is very different here than it is in kinematics.
There are two ways we can go about solving this problem. The first is to ignore acceleration entirely. What that means is that after taunting, tank #2 gains no more Vengeance from the boss. This models the "worst-case" scenario, where you taunt and the boss decides to turn and cast something, or tank #1 gets a number of lucky crits at exactly the wrong time.
The other way is to try and model the Vengeance ramp-up you get after taunting, which massively complicates the problem. However, the results are sort of interesting, so we'll tackle that problem as well. First, though, let's do the easy version, starting with the "before" case (i.e. 5.3 mechanics) and then the "after" case (5.4 mechanics).
Without Acceleration – Before
In the "no acceleration" case, the equations are very easy. When tank #2 taunts, he gets 50% of tank #1's Vengeance, and thus is generating threat at a rate $G_2 = G/2$. So our "equations of motion" for this threat system are:
$\displaystyle T_1(t) = T_0 + G t$
$\displaystyle T_2(t)= T_0 + G_2 t = T_0 + \frac{G}{2} t$
Tank #1 will pull threat if he exceeds 110% of tank #2's threat, which is mathematically expressed like this:
$ T_1(t) \geq 1.1 \times T_2(t) $
If we plug in our expressions for $T_1(t)$ and $T_2(t)$, we can solve this equation to find the time $t$ at which tank 1 pulls threat:
$\begin{align} T_0 + G t &\geq 1.1 \left ( T_0 + \frac{G}{2} t \right ) \\
0.45 G t &\geq \frac{T_0 }{10} \vphantom{\frac{G}{2}} \\
t &\geq \frac{T_0 }{4.5 G} \vphantom{\frac{G}{2}} \end{align}$
Let's make another simplifying assumption, namely that the initial threat at the time of taunting ($T_0$) is linearly dependent on how long the fight has been going on. In other words, tank #1 started generating threat at rate $G$ from the very beginning of the pull, which is the same as assuming there was no ramp-up time on their Vengeance. This is actually an over-estimate, which means our $T_0$ value will be a little higher than it would be in reality; thus our time $t$ will be a slight over-estimate as well. But given that assumption, $ T_0 \approx G \tau$, and we get the final expression for $t$:
$\displaystyle \large t \geq \frac{\tau}{ 4.5} $
Now let's see what happens after the 5.4 buff.
Without Acceleration – After
In 5.4, you will generate +200% threat for the first three seconds after you taunt. Thus, our threat generation rate $G_2$ changes to a piecewise function:
$\displaystyle G_2 =\cases{\frac{3G}{2} & \text{if }t \leq 3 \cr \frac{G}{2} & \text{if } t > 3 }$
The threat for tank #2 can still be expressed by $T_2(t) = T_0 + \int_0^t G_2 dt'$, but now we have to split that integral up when we cross over the $t=3$ boundary.
First, let's consider what happens if $t<3$. Our threat equation for tank #2 is then
$\displaystyle T_2(t) = T_0 + \frac{3G}{2} t$
And if we solve our inequality we find:
$\begin{align} T_0 + G t &\geq T_0 + \frac{3G}{2}t \\
G t \left (1 – \frac{3.3}{2} \right ) &\geq \frac{T_0}{10}\end{align}$
We can actually stop there, because this inequality literally cannot be satisfied. $G$, $t$, and $T_0$ must be positive values, so we have an inequality that requires a negative number be greater than a positive number. Thus, even without the fixate effect, you can't lose aggro after a taunt in this continuous model.
What if $t>3$? Then we split our integral up into two parts as follows:
$ \begin{align} T_2 (t) &= T_0 + \int_0^3 \frac{3G}{2} dt' + \int_3^t \frac{G}{2} dt' \\
&= T_0 + \frac{9G}{2} + \frac{G}{2}\left ( t-3 \right ) \\
&= T_0 + 3 G + \frac{G}{2} t \end{align}$
and when we solve our inequality we find:
$ \begin{align} T_0 + G t & \geq 1.1 \left ( T_0 + 3 G + \frac{G}{2} t \right ) \\
T_0 + G t & \geq 1.1 T_0 + 3.3 G + 0.55 G t \vphantom{\frac{G}{2}}\\
G t \left ( 1 – 0.55 \right ) & \geq \frac{T_0}{10} + 3.3 G \\
0.45 t& \geq \frac{\tau}{10} + 3.3 \\
t & \geq \frac{\tau}{4.5} + 7.\bar{3} \vphantom{\frac{G}{2}} \end{align}$
In other words, the +200% threat buff adds $7\frac{1}{3}$ seconds to the $\tau/4.5$ seconds we normally have before tank #1 pulls aggro back. I've illustrated that graphically below by plotting tank threat vs. time for a situation where $\tau=20$. In the "before" model, tank #2 loses threat at a little under 5 seconds (green line). In the "after" model, the tank doesn't lose aggro until almost 12 seconds have passed (red line).
This has two important consequences. First, it guarantees that for any nontrivial $\tau$ you'll have at least 8 seconds of aggro, which means your taunt cooldown will be back up before you're at risk of losing threat. Second, it makes the "no acceleration" model incredibly unlikely, because within 10 second of taunting the boss should be hitting you and generating more Vengeance.
Really, that's enough of a calculation to satisfy ourselves that the new threat buff will really eliminate threat problems. If you have 10+ seconds without acceleration, then clearly you'll have even longer if we do include a Vengeance ramp-up. However, it was an interesting calculation, so I'll share it with you below.
A word of warning though: it involves come calculus.
With Acceleration – Before
First, we need to decide on how to model the "acceleration" term that describes Vengeance ramp-up. It seemed to me that a fairly standard decay model would apply here, so I chose to use the form:
$\displaystyle \large r(t) =\left ( 1-0.1^{t/20} \right ) = \left ( 1-e^{\ln(0.1) t / 20} \right )$
That looks something like this:
In other words, it acts like an exponential decay in reverse. It starts at $r(0)=0$ and rises fairly quickly, eventually reaching $r(20)=0.9$ after $t=20$ seconds have passed, asymptotically approaching $r(\infty)=1$. The choice of 20 and $\ln ( 0.1)$ as our rise-time are somewhat arbitrary, but should model how Vengeance actually builds up fairly well. Remember that this is only going to affect the acceleration term, which is 50% of tank #2's overall threat generation, so after 20 seconds have passed they will be at $0.95G$.
There's one more variable I want to introduce into this expression. We may want to know what happens if the boss delays its attacks by a few seconds – for example, if it's casting something when you taunt. So I want to introduce an offset into that ramp-up function, which is accomplished by replacing $t$ with $(t-a)$, where $a$ is the time at which the boss resumes melee attacks.
With those conventions, our threat generation rate function looks like this:
$\displaystyle G_2 = \cases{ \frac{G}{2} & \text{if } t \leq a \cr \frac{G}{2}+ \frac{G}{2}\left ( 1 – e^{\ln (0.1) t / 20 } \right ) & \text{if }t > a } $
For $t<a$, this works exactly the way our "no acceleration" model does. So we only need to consider $t>a$. We perform the usual integral of $G_2$ from $0$ to $t$ to find our expression for $T_2(t)$:
$\begin{align} T_2(t) &= T_0 + \int_0^t G_2 dt' \\ &= T_0 + \int_0^t \frac{G}{2}dt' + \int_a^t \frac{G}{2}\left ( 1-e^{\ln (0.1) (t'-a) / 20} \right ) dt' \end{align}$
As you can see, we've split up the integrals, and the second one is only evaluated for $t>a$ since the threat ramp is inactive before that point. The first integration is easy, so we can trivially perform that:
$\displaystyle T_2(t) = T_0 + \frac{G}{2}t+ \frac{G}{2}\int_a^t \left ( 1 – e^{\ln(0.1)(t'-a)/20} \right ) dt' $
The second one is trickier, but not that bad. Part of the reason I've used the form $e^{\ln (0.1) t/ 20}$ rather than $0.1^{t/20}$ is that every first-year calculus student knows how to integrate $e^x dx$. So we could use a technique commonly called "u-substitution" to show that (proof left as an exercise for the reader)
$\displaystyle \int e^{\ln (0.1) (t-a)/20} = \frac{20}{\ln (0.1)}e^{\ln (0.1)(t-a)/20}$
And with that, we can perform the second integral:
$\displaystyle \begin{align} T_2(t) &= T_0 + \frac{G}{2}t + \frac{G}{2} \left [ t' – \frac{20}{\ln (0.1)} e^{\ln (0.1) (t'-a) / 20} \right ]_a^t \\
T_2(t) & = T_0 + \frac{G}{2}t + \frac{G}{2} \left [ t – a – \frac{20}{\ln ( 0.1 )} \left ( 0.1^{(t-a)/20} – 0.1^{(a-a)/20} \right ) \right ] \\
T_2(t) & = T_0 + \frac{G}{2}t + \frac{G}{2} \left [ t – a + \frac{20}{\ln ( 0.1 )} \left ( 1- 0.1^{(t-a)/20} \right ) \right ] \end{align}$
The form of this equation makes it difficult to solve for $t$ in the inequality, so rather than trying to do that we'll use graphs to interpret how this works. But first we'll consider the "after" case and put them all on the same plot for easier comparison.
With Acceleration – After
This version is a bit ugly. Because we've left $a$ as an arbitrary turn-on time, we don't know whether that happens before or after the threat buff expires at $t=3$. So we have to take that into account in our expression for $G_2$. Here is the complete version of $G_2$ for all four possible situations:
$\displaystyle G_2 = \cases{ \frac{3G}{2} & \text{if } t\leq 3, t \leq a \cr \frac{3G}{2}+\frac{3G}{2}\left ( 1 – e^{\ln (0.1) (t-a) / 20 }\right ) & \text{if } t<3, t>a \cr \frac{G}{2} & \text{if } t>3, t<a \cr \frac{G}{2}+\frac{G}{2}\left ( 1 – e^{\ln (0.1) (t-a) / 20 }\right ) & \text{if } t>3, t>a }$
Ew. This also makes the limits of integration particularly ugly, as you'll frequently run into a limit that would have to be described like "the smaller of $x$ or $y$," or $\text{min}(x,y)$ (and in other places, the corresponding $\text{max}(x,y)$). However, there is a particular combination of these constraints that simplifies the limits a lot. We'll define that combination $b$ as follows:
$b = \text{max}(\text{min}(t,3),a)$
In plain words, "compare $t$ to $3$ and take whichever is smaller, then compare that to $a$ and take whichever is larger." With that definition, the representation of $T_2(t)$ looks like this:
$\begin{align} T_2(t) = T_0 & + \int_0^{t\leq 3} \frac{3G}{2}dt + \int_3^{t>3}\frac{G}{2}dt' \\ &+ \int_a^b \frac{3G}{2}\left ( 1 – e^{\ln (0.1) (t-a)/20} \right )dt' + \int_b^{t>a}\frac{G}{2} \left ( 1-e^{\ln (0.1) (t-a)/20} \right ) dt' \end{align}$
Still quite a mouthful. The first and second terms are the continuous threat contribution from our "no acceleration" model. I've put slightly more specific upper limits on the integrals just to make it clear how the behavior below $t=3$ occurs; if $t < 3$, then the first integral is $\int_0^t$ but the second integral is $\int_3^3$, which goes to zero identically. And if $t>3$, the first integral is just $\int_0^3$ and the second is $\int_3^t$. We already know that $t<3$ isn't going to be interesting because we can't lose threat even in the "no acceleration" model, but it matters a bit if you want the plots to look correct. For example, when we perform the first integration, rather than $\frac{3G}{2}t$ we would express it $\frac{3G}{2}\text{min}(t,3)$ in MATLAB.
The last two terms describe threat generation from our Vengeance ramp function. The first one, with limits $\int_a^b$ describes threat due to that ramp function between the turn-on time of the ramp ($a$) and the turn-off time of the threat buff ($t=3$). Our definition of $b$ automatically collapses this function in certain cases: if $a>3$ or $t<a$, the upper limit becomes $a$ and the integral $\int_a^a$ is identically zero.
The second term describes threat generation due to the ramp after the threat buff turns off. Again, our definition of $b$ ensures that if $t<3$, the lower limit is $t$ such that $\int_t^t$ goes to zero. If $t<a$, both upper and lower limits are $a$ and the integral also goes to zero.
Again, we can perform these integrations pretty easily, so we'll do so. The result is a complicated piecewise function thanks to all of the conditionals, but with liberal use of the $\text{min}()$ and $\text{max}()$ functions it can be condensed into a single expression:
$\begin{align} T_2(t) = T_0 &+ \frac{3G}{2}\text{min}(t,3) + \frac{G}{2}\text{max}(t-3,0) \\ &+ \frac{3G}{2}(b-a) + \frac{60G}{2\ln (0.1)} \left ( 1-0.1^{(b-a)/20} \right ) \\ &+ \frac{G}{2}\text{max}(t-b,0) – \frac{20G}{2\ln (0.1)} \left ( 0.1^{\text{max}(t-a,0)/20} – 0.1^{(b-a)/20} \right ) \end{align}$
Again, it may be hard to get much intuition from the expression, but we can plot the results to see how this works for various values of $a$:
First, let's consider the "before" curves, which are shown in dashed lines. For $a=0$, which is the case where the ramp starts immediately upon taunting, we still lose threat somewhere around $t=7$. However, each second of delay we add to the ramp function lowers that crossover point by about a second. If the boss doesn't start meleeing tank #2 again until $t=2$, they lose threat five seconds after taunting.
And keep in mind that this is still the idealized, continuous case. In reality, any time the threat curves for tanks #1 and #2 come close to one another, tank #2 is in danger of losing aggro thanks to a lucky (or unlucky, depending on your point of view) crit by tank #1.
The after curves are much more forgiving. Just as before, tank #2 has great threat generation for the first three seconds. And even with a five-second delay on the threat ramp function, they still manage to maintain aggro indefinitely. That huge, discontinuous threat boost at the beginning gives them the wiggle room tank #2 needs to deal with unlucky boss behavior. The curves start to get close after 14-16 seconds, but by that point tank #1's Vengeance should be ready to decay as well.
So in short, even when threat ramp-up is included, threat can be a problem in the "before" model, but will rarely be an issue in the "after" model.
The entire point of this post wasn't really to "prove" anything. Pretty much every tank knew that threat was dicey after a taunt early in an encounter, the only question was how they dealt with that problem. Some players use a Righteous Fury /cancelaura macro to make their co-tank's lives easier (protip: Righteous Fury is on the GCD, but does not incur one, so you can cast RF and then immediately cast something else, making the cost of doing this very small). Other tanks, especially ones taunting off of classes that can't turn off their 500% threat multiplier buff, just shrug their shoulders and play through it, taunting back as soon as it's available.
Instead, the goal of this post was twofold. First, I wanted to illustrate mathematically why the problem exists in the first place. Second, I wanted to determine whether the 5.4 threat buff fixes that problem, and if so how much wiggle room it gives you.
The short version is that it adds about 7 seconds to the expected "time to threat loss," which should make it much easier to maintain aggro after a taunt within the first 30-40 seconds of the encounter. Note that this is also applicable to any new mob – it's not really encounter time that matters, it's time spent building threat on the current target by both tanks.
Of course, the model is fairly limited. We're only looking at continuous threat generation, when in practice everything is discrete. It's still going to be possible to lose aggro after a taunt, but it should be rare. It will almost require that you stop pressing buttons, or that the tank you're taunting off of suddenly crits with several big abilities in a row while you only connect with weak attacks.
It will still be good practice to try and time your taunts such that you can follow them with Judgment, Avenger's Shield, or Holy Wrath to make sure you have a heavy-hitter landing in that 3-second window. But whereas before 5.4 that would only reduce your chance of having aggro ripped away, after 5.4 it should more or less guarantee it.


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You're ready to study, for real this time. You sit at your desk and rub the ache at the back of your neck. Your phone chirps. Your friend sent you a video of a koala eating a leaf. Actually, you're hungry. You head for the kitchen. Did you buy cereal?
The modern world is so full of shiny things that distraction can be a major, ongoing impediment to productive work. "We think that we make decisions on our own, but the environment influences us to a great degree," says Dr. Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University in North Carolina (speaking to Eric Barker of the awesome blog Barking Up the Wrong Tree). "Because of that, we need to think about how to change our environment."
By controlling your environment, you can improve your focus. You can also control your physical and mental comfort and stamina—and the likelihood that your assignment will make the deadline.
Click through the image to see what works.
Why it matters
- Time management is a key skill in school (and life in general) and takes a while to master.
- Students who perceived that they controlled their time had better performance, better life satisfaction, and fewer job-induced tensions than students with less control of their time, reported the Journal of Educational Psychology (1990).
What to do
- Dedicate your most productive time of day to tasks requiring memory, concentration, and alertness. For many of us, our peak productivity window starts about two hours after we wake up and lasts two and a half hours, says Dr. Ariely. Your own body clock may be different.
- Find a task management system that works for you, such as a wall calendar, daily planner, Kanban board, or app (try Todoist or Wunderlist).
- On your calendar, color-code the timeframe for each project (e.g., a blue band spanning from the date the history paper was assigned to the date it's due). In a 2014 study by the Journal of Consumer Research, this simple technique helped people meet their deadlines.
"What makes the biggest difference to productivity is if I can manage my time appropriately so that I only have to put in a few highly productive hours more regularly, rather than cram eight- to nine-hour work sessions."
—Kaden F., second-year graduate student, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
"Having a desk calendar has been an enormous help to me. There's a column designated for projects, one for to-dos, and one for general notes. In addition to having all of my important dates handy while I'm working, having a list of things that need to be done contributes to getting work done in a timely manner."
—Kendall H., first-year student, Wake Technical Community College, North Carolina
Why it matters
- Loud or sudden noises can easily break concentration. The effect of noise on learning is somewhat individualized. Some people find background music or white noise helpful for focus; others find it distracting.
- Music can stimulate our thinking and sustain our attention for some study tasks, according to a study in Learning and Individual Differences (2012). Avoid musical distractions, however, such as loud, fast beats; lyrics; and drama. Also good to know: Music may make it more difficult to memorize a sequence of facts (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2011).
What to do
- Close the window, turn off or silence your phone, and work in a quiet, uncrowded area.
- Experiment with different levels of background music and sound to figure out what works best for you. Try a white noise app, such as White Noise or Coffitivity.
- In a survey by Student Health 101, students who found that music helped them study recommended instrumentals, classical, jazz, electronic, and film soundtracks. Try making a Pandora station or Spotify playlist of your favorite genres.
"Making sure that there's minimal noise around helps me concentrate much better."
—Nathan P., first-year student, Wake Technical Community College, North Carolina
"White noise is good. Sometimes I use binaural beats to help me focus."
—James A., second-year graduate student, College of the Desert, California
"I get distracted by noise, so I put on headphones with ambient music playing so I can tune out the rest of the world."
—Audrey J., third-year student, Wake Technical Community College, North Carolina
Why it matters
- Too much stuff on your desk is a hazard to focus, says the Journal of Neuroscience (2011). (For most of us, that is; some of us screen it out just fine.)
- Color matters too, research suggests. White walls are bad for productivity, say researchers at the University of Texas. Red may provide helpful stimulation for detailed tasks, blue may promote creativity and communication, and green may be good for creativity and problem-solving, according to a study at the University of British Columbia (2009).
What to do
- Declutter! Keep stuff you're not using—books, plates, trash—out of your workspace and out of your line of sight.
- Experiment with light: Some people prefer natural sunlight, while other people work better with artificial light, or a combination of both.
- Position a couple of items in your line of sight that keep you calm and focused, like a visual schedule or a comforting photo.
- It may not be practical to repaint. To experiment with color, try a solid-color wall hanging, poster, board, or screen above your desk.
"I keep my desk organized so I can easily get to what I need and so that I have enough space to work. My office is clutter free, and the one place that is all my own where I use scents and music conducive to a good working environment."
—Kristyn H., second-year student, Wake Technical Community College, North Carolina
"I try to have no clutter, especially items that remind me of other things I have to do (like a dirty shirt that reminds me of laundry)."
—Melinda H., second-year student, College of the Desert, California
"The most helpful strategy is to have everything on my desk organized and available (pens, highlighters, flash cards, sticky notes, you name it) because I don't want anything to interrupt my academic flow by making me go get it."
—Harmony J., second-year student, Del Mar College, Texas
Why it matters
- Hunger, dehydration, and low blood sugar are major distractions. Low glucose levels impair memory and focus, according to a 2011 study in Nutrition Research.
- Even mild dehydration can interfere with focus, according to the Journal of Nutrition (2012).
What to do
- Snack on vegetables, fruits, beans, and nuts. The nutrients in these food groups are natural energy boosters, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
- Avoid sugar: Sugary foods can provide bursts of energy but can leave you more tired than you were before, says a 2006 study in Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental.
- Drink coffee early: Caffeine is OK until 3 p.m. Caffeine consumed within six hours of going to bed has an adverse effect on sleep, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (2013).
"I like to eat 'study foods' like berries and other fruit to help my brain focus."
—James A., second-year graduate student, College of the Desert, California
"I have snacks and a drink handy so I don't have an excuse to wander into the kitchen!"
—Whitney N., graduate student, Wayne State University, Michigan
Why it matters
- Phones, computers, and tablets are major sources of distraction. Even receiving a phone notification can impair attention, reports the Journal of Experimental Psychology (2015).
- More than 80 percent of students acknowledge that their gadgets interfere with their learning, and one in four says this hurts their grades, reports the Journal of Media Education (2014).
- Phone notifications trigger dopamine reactions in the brain, similarly to stimuli like sugar, gambling, etc. "We're not really addicted to our cell phones per se, but to the activities on our phones," says Dr. James Roberts of Baylor University in Texas, who specializes in the psychology of consumer behavior.
What to do
- Set your phone to silent or turn it off, and keep it out of your line of sight.
- Log out of social media and entertainment sites.
- Keep TVs and game systems turned off. If Netflix is your weakness, avoid starting a new season of a show when academic demands are high or imminent.
- Just hit a deadline? Give yourself a tech reward for getting it done, such as 20 minutes of scrolling through your Instagram feed.
"I use browser extensions to block myself off from distracting websites for a certain amount of time. I can't go on Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, or Netflix for the next hour, and when that hour's up, I can take a break from work."
—Rebecca R., third-year student, St. Mary's College of Maryland
"[My strategy is] not having anything distracting around me like phone and TV. I unplug the internet when I don't need it for schoolwork."
—Zach D., second-year graduate student, University of Central Arkansas
"I have an app on my phone that locks certain apps so all I can use it for is music and the timer. This helps me concentrate."
—Jessica N., fourth-year student, California State University, San Bernardino
"The 'do not disturb' function on the iPhone is incredibly useful while studying!"
—Laura B., fourth-year student, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Why it matters
- Life is stressful, and stress can be an enemy of focus. In a 2007 study of almost 10,000 students at 14 colleges, seven out of ten students reported that they were stressed, and students who reported a high number of stressors had lower GPAs than those who didn't.
- However, students who felt able to handle their stress performed much better academically than those who didn't, suggesting that learning stress-management techniques is key to student success, said researchers at the University of Minnesota.
What to do
- Schedule regular breaks to keep from getting overwhelmed or burned out.
- Scheduled breaks are a good time to get up and move. Try stretching, doing some yoga moves or jumping jacks, or taking a quick walk. Even a 15-minute walk can give you an energy boost.
- Make sure your five-minute break doesn't drag into an hour: Keep your environmental controls in place to help you stay on task. Time-management apps can help.
"Once every half-hour, walk around, take a break, or do something other than what you're doing."
—Santos U., second-year student, Wake Technical Community College, North Carolina
"Use sticky notes and install an app on the computer to remind you to take breaks."
—Terence H., second-year student, University of Washington Bothell
"Get one of those adult coloring books! If I finish a question or set of questions, I then reward myself with coloring part of it in, then I move on to another part of my homework and repeat."
—Morgan B., first-year student, Wake Technical Community College, North Carolina
Why it matters
- Slumping over your laptop gets uncomfortable and can lead to eye strain and musculoskeletal disorders, including repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Upright posture is associated with better mood and lower stress compared to slouched posture, reports Health Psychology (2015).
What to do
The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), which promotes safer workplaces, recommends these evidence-based strategies:
- Switch your body position several times through the day.
- Position your keyboard directly in front of you at elbow height so you can type with straight wrists. An adjustable-height keyboard tray can help with this.
- On the phone, put the phone on speaker and set it down, or use a phone headset; don't tuck your ear to your shoulder.
- Try not to tense your neck and shoulder muscles. Do short stretching exercises for your neck and shoulders frequently.
- Alternate tasks and get up every so often.
- If you're able to, invest in a good ergonomic chair. Alternatively, if your chair doesn't support the curve of your spine, try using a small pillow or towel roll to relieve pressure on your lower back.
- Bonus tip: Experiment with alternatives to traditional desk chairs, such as exercise balls (for sitting on) or standing desks, or alternate between a ball and chair. Standing desks and treadmill desks may improve both cholesterol and mood, according to a study in Preventive Medicine (2015).
"[My best strategy] is working at an adjustable desk that allows me to stand."
—Candace R., first-year student, Austin Community College, Texas
"It's all about the environment: adequate light (task lighting in addition to ambient light); good setup for posture for my neck, hips, and low back; white noise and no conversing or music with words; and cooler temp (68–69˚F) with good ventilation."
—Andey N., third-year graduate student, Portland State University, Oregon
Why it matters
- Working from bed primes your brain to be awake there, which can interfere with sleep later, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
- Interrupted or inadequate sleep seriously affects performance—impairing learning, memory, and grades, according to a 2014 study in Nature and Science of Sleep.
- Lack of sleep makes us oblivious to just how poorly we're doing. That's according to a 2003 study published in Sleep. Even as the study participants became less able to sustain their attention and succeed at working memory tasks, they insisted they had adjusted to the shorter sleep hours.
- Mixing up where you study (e.g., transferring from the library to the café) can help you remember your material, according to a 2008 study in Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
What to do
- Have a designated workspace away from your bed; this helps your mind recognize the difference between work time and rest time.
- If you have to work in your bedroom, physically separate your bed and your workspace. Keep work cues (schedule, laptop, textbooks) on your desk, and sleep cues (slumberous novel, fluffy bunny) by your bed.
- If you're slumping, try switching study locations. Maybe move to the student library or a local café.
"Sitting in a chair at a table or desk helps me get much more work done than sitting on the couch or in bed."
—Claire P., second-year graduate student, University of Maryland, College Park
"Use an actual desk. The [fewer] distractions one has, the more productive. Having to constantly readjust that pillow for back support on your bed is distracting."
—Name withheld, first-year student, Wake Technical Community College, North Carolina
"Studying at the library instead of in my room at home where there is a bed for potential naps."
—Eden B., second-year graduate student, Golden Gate University School of Law, California
Manage your stress: CampusMindWorks
Study strategies in grad school: Ashford University
Find resources for studying, by subject: Howtostudy.org
Five research-based study strategies for online learners: The EvoLLLution
Explore new study strategies: University of California, Berkeley
Avoid desk and workplace injuries: American Industrial Hygiene Association
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Armstrong, L. E., Ganio, M. S., Casa, D. J., Lee, E. C., et al. (2012). Mild dehydration affects mood in healthy young women. Journal of Nutrition, 142(2), 382–388. Retrieved from https://jn.nutrition.org/content/142/2/382.full
Baker, E. (2015). How to be efficient. Barking Up the Wrong Tree. Retrieved from https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/10/how-to-be-efficient/#ixzz3HRhzYEcZ
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Collins, A. (2016, August 6). Why you are waking up tired (and what you can do about it). Opencolleges.edu. Retrieved from https://blog.opencolleges.edu.au/2016/08/06/lw-why-you-are-waking-up-tired-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/
Danoff, R. (n.d.). "At your desk" makeover tips. American Osteopathic Association. Retrieved from https://osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/about-your-health/health-conditions-library/pain/Pages/desk-makeover-tips.aspx
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- Iron/Ironing Board
- Separate Hanging Closet
- In-Room Heating and A/C Controls
- Extra Bedding Available
Bathroom/Personal Care
- Private Bathroom
- Bathroom Amenities Available
- Hair Dryer
- Bathtub
- Separate/Walk-in Shower
In-Room Features
- Mini Refrigerator
- Microwave
- Coffee Maker
- Flat-screen TV
- Work Desk with Lamp
- Desk-level Electrical Outlet
- Cable/Satellite
- Premium Channels
- Stereo/Radio
- Phone with Voicemail
Added Value
- Connecting Rooms Available
- Oversized Bath Towels
- Complimentary Coffee/Tea Supplies
- Full Breakfast Included
- Breakfast Buffet Included
- Continental Breakfast Included
- Complimentary Coffee in Lobby
- Kids Eat Free
Business Services
- 2 Meeting Room(s) Available
- Printer
- Copier
- Scanner
Internet Access
- Wireless Internet service is free for all IHG® Rewards Club members
Entertainment & Recreation
- Indoor Pool
- Heated Indoor Pool
- Indoor Whirlpool
- Indoor Pool Hours of Operation: 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Health & Fitness
Complimentary Fitness Center
Available 24 hours per day. Elliptical Trainer, Treadmill, Recumbent Bicycle, Free Weights, Fitness Ball, Bosu, LCD TV to watch while you work out.
Hours of Operation: 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM
Fitness Center Type: LIMITED
Fitness Center Equipment:
- Treadmill
- Elliptical Machines
- Stationary Bicycle
Last Renovation of Fitness Center Equipment: 2019
Housekeeping & Laundry
- Daily Housekeeping
- On-site Guest Self-Laundry Facilities
- Hours of Operation: 12:00 AM - 11:59 AM
Added Value
- Wake Up Calls
- Ice Machine
Hotel Details
7580 W. 135th Street
Overland Park, Kansas 66223
United States
Check In: 3:00 PM
Check Out: 12:00 PM
Check-in Age: 21
Parking + -
- Complimentary Self Parking Available
Accessibility + -
- Public Entrance
- Guest Rooms
- Elevators
- Public Restrooms
- Registration Desk
- Exercise Facility
- Business Center
- Pool
- Number of Accessible Meeting Rooms: 2
Accessible Hotel Areas
- Registration Area
- Accessible Guest Rooms
- Business Center
- Meeting Room
- Exercise Facility
- Pool
Hotel Areas with Accessible Routes from Accessible Public Entrance
- Accessible Self Parking
- Van Accessible Self Parking
- Ramp Access
- Portable Bathtub Seats
- Closed Caption TVs
- Telephone with TDD
- Visual Alarm/Alert in Guest Rooms
- Visual Alarm/Alert in Public Spaces
- Communication Kits with Visual Alarms
Provided by Hotel
Pet Policy + -
- Service Animals Allowed
- Only ADA Certified Service Animals are allowed.
Facility + -
- Smoke-Free Facility
- Number of Floors: 4
- Total Number of Rooms: 90
- Number of Suites: 24
- Number of Non-Smoking Rooms: 66
- Number of Accessible Rooms: 5
- Connecting Rooms Available
- Public Spaces Renovated in: 2019
Credit Cards + -
- American Express
- Visa
- MasterCard
- Diners Club
- Carte Blanche
- Discover


text:
Four years ago, right around the beginning of 2009, I said to myself: I'm going to write a book.
But, hang on. Let me back up a minute.
See, five years ago, I ran a marathon. And you know what running a marathon is the best preparation for, ever?
Everything else you do in life. I don't run anymore, but the mental toughness and strength that I got from marathon training has stayed with me so much longer than the physical strength ever could. Because here's how you run a marathon:
You get to the point where every single muscle and bone in your body is telling you to stop running.
And you keep running.
It's the best thing I ever learned how to do. To take myself to the point where all I wanted to do was quit, and to keep going. To ignore all the excuses and the doubts and the pain and to just push through, and get to the finish line. I didn't run fast, but I finished. And for me, that was all that mattered.
Running a marathon was training for starting a business, for starting a blog, and for all the challenges and obstacles that I've faced since. But the thing that it was the best for, without a doubt? Writing a book.
Because four years after having that thought, I've written three books. Casey and Blake started out as little wisps of inspiration in my head, but in these four years with them, they've become so much more. They've kept me up at night wondering about how to tell their story, they've frustrated me to no end, they've made me laugh and cry, and they've made my life so much richer in so many ways.
So it was a big moment for me yesterday when Moving Forward, the third book in my Moving Neutral series, went on sale! I've been pouring blood, sweat and tears into this manuscript for over a year, and it's an incredible feeling to finally release it into the world.
And what a release it was — in its first 12 hours, Moving Forward hit three Amazon Top New Release lists and two Bestseller lists. I am overwhelmed and so incredibly grateful, and hope that everyone who's been waiting for this book will love it as much as I do. It took me a while to get it right, but I am so, so thrilled with how it turned out.
And kind of like running a marathon, I'm exhausted and proud and can't wait to write another. Let's hope I can get Book Four done before the baby is born!
Moving Forward is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo. If you want to start at the beginning, Moving Neutral is available on Amazon here.