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By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the U.S. Senate's biggest environmental boosters have launched a drive to revive the issue of climate change in Congress and defend President Barack Obama's climate action plan against opposition from Republicans.
Democratic senators Barbara Boxer of California and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island told reporters on Thursday they would launch a new climate action task force with more than a dozen members and the full support of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The task force is likely to introduce a number of small-scale bills and will push for increased discussion on climate topics in the full Senate.
The task force will also consult with officials at the White House, including John Podesta, the president's newly appointed adviser specializing in energy and environmental matters.
"The purpose is to use the bully pulpit of our Senate offices to achieve that wakeup call," Boxer told reporters during a meeting in her office. "We believe that climate change is a catastrophe that's unfolding before our eyes and we want Congress to take off the blindfolds."
In recent years Boxer, who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, spearheaded a few failed attempts to pass legislation that would put a price on carbon emissions by establishing an economy-wide cap-and-trade system.
While she and Whitehouse said that is still at the top of their wish list, they know they do not have the votes to achieve that goal in a bitterly divided Congress.
Among the smaller-scale bills being mulled is one to protect the government's renewable fuel standard proposal, and one to improve energy efficiency in federal buildings, she said.
Although the task force, whose members will be announced at an event on Tuesday, will "be on the offensive," Boxer said they will also work to protect federal and state initiatives already in place that are aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
"We are defending against legislative riders that would roll back environmental laws, including the president's climate initiative," Boxer said, referring to the White House plan to tackle climate change using executive authority.
Whitehouse, who has delivered a weekly address on climate change on the Senate floor for more than a year, said the timing is right for the task force, noting a shift in public support and backing of his party's leadership.
"There is a lot we can do on climate and a lot of room for optimism on getting things done now that the American public is very clearly with us," Whitehouse said.
He pointed to recent polling by the independent Pew Research Center that shows that 71 percent of Americans have said they've seen the effects of global warming, as well as a survey by the League of Conservation Voters that found that 53 percent of Republicans under the age of 35 describe those skeptical of climate change "ignorant," "out of touch" or "crazy."
Whitehouse said having the support of Reid would give the task force the political backing to play a more visible role in the Senate. "A lot of the things we are doing involve getting his blessing, and we have that," Whitehouse said.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, editing by Ros Krasny and Cynthia Osterman)


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Design & creative digital solutions.
Freelance designer, Patrick MonkelView my work
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Wildlife is a project focusing on custom illustrated typography and photo manipulation. This piece was used on the cover of a dutch magazine for creatives.
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I'm a freelance designer based in the Netherlands. For the past 10 years I've had the pleasure of producing digital art, print and online for a wide range of companies and publications worldwide. I've worked with clients such as Tribal DDB, NOS, VPRO, Digital Natives, Philips, Born05, ID&T, Meredith and Computer Arts.

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Vegan cream cheese taste test - Which one smothered the competition?
We're finally in the age where there's an increasing number of options when it comes to vegan food products. Back in the day we used to have to forego cheesecake or take matters into our own hands if we decided to eschew animal products. Then Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese came out and everyone rejoiced because they could finally have cheesecake and New York style bagels that were easy to make and didn't suffer from flavor compromises. But then a huge Doh! moment occurred. It's chock full of trans fats! Toffutti answered the call with Better Than Cream Cheese Non-Hydrogenated. Other companies are now following suit with their own vegan cream cheeses such as Follow Your Heart Cream Cheese Alternative. Which of the lot is recommended for your cheesecakes this season? Read on to find out.
Tofutti Better Than Cream CheeseThis is the original vegan cream cheese. If you get vegan cream cheese on a bagel in a cafe there's a good chance it's this stuff. It tastes amazing and it's a tragedy it contains hydrogenated oils. This vegan cream cheese exhibited a creamy mouthfeel and delicate flavor that's extremely close to real cream cheese all the way through to the finish.
Ingredients: Water, non-hydrogenated soybean oil, isolated soy protein, maltodextrin, tofu, nondairy lactic acid, sugar, locust bean, guar and carrageenan gums, salt, vegetable mono- and diglycerides, and potassium sorbate (added as a preservative).
Serving: 2 Tablespoons
Protein: 1 gram
Fat: 5 grams
Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese Non-HydrogenatedHealth experts recommend hydrogenated oils be avoided at all costs. This posed a little problem for Tofutti so they reformulated Better Than Cream Cheese to make a reformulated option. Tofutti's non-hydrogenated version should taste just as good as the hydrogenated version because the only thing they're doing is swapping out the hydrogenated fats with a blend of other fats including palm oil right? Wrong. Think of this version as new coke. Due to this swap of fats they had to do a major reformulation. This vegan cream cheese had much more subdued flavors than it's hydrogenated brother and also tasted somewhat grainy. This could be due to some of the vegetable starches that haven't been incorporated completely. It's still a good vegan cream cheese but you're not going to be fooling anyone who's accustomed to the flavor of real cream cheese.
Ingredients: Water, expeller pressed natural oil blend (soybean, palm fruit, olive), maltodextrin, soy protein, tofu, non-dairy lactic acid, organic sugar, blend of natural gums (locust bean, guar, cellulose, xanthan, carrageenan), veg mono and diglycerides, salt.
Serving: 2 Tablespoons
Protein: 1 gram
Fat: 5 grams
Follow Your Heart Cream Cheese AlternativeThis is the new player on the market. Follow Your Heart has been making a name for themselves with their nationally distributed vegan cheeses. Like Tofutti's Better Than Cream Cheese Non-Hydrogenated, Follow Your Heart's vegan cream cheese is also non-hydrogenated. This vegan cream cheese was excessively gummy, likely due to the large list of vegetable starches in it's ingredient list. It also exhibited a slightly salty flavor with a prominent lemon finish on the palate. That said, this vegan cream cheese would still be wonderful paired with crackers or vegetables on an hors d'oeuvres plate.
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Palm Fruit Oil*, Soybean Oil*, Inulin (Chicory Root Extract), Soybeans*, Soy Protein, Agave Syrup*, Sea Salt, Soy Protein*, Lactic Acid, Rice Starch*, Lemon Juice Concentrate*, Natural Flavor, Locust Bean Gum*, Xanthan Gum. *Denotes ORGANIC
Serving: 2 Tablespoons
Protein: 2 grams
Fat: 8 grams
The VerdictAll three of these vegan cream cheeses are great alternatives to the real thing. Due to the recommended avoidance of hydrogenated oils, I can't recommend Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, even though it's flavor won out over it's other competitors.
Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese Non-Hydrogenated came in a close second in the taste department and it's what I use in my cheesecakes and other sweets. A little trick for vegan cheesecake is to add a little soy yogurt to up the cheesecake flavor ante to more realistic levels. This solution enables Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese Non-Hydrogenated to still work wonders in vegan cheesecakes so you get the best possible flavor without the major health consequences.
Follow Your Heart Cream Cheese Alternative's excessive gumminess, salt and lemon flavors probably wouldn't do wonders in your vegan cheesecake but there are lots of hors d'oeuvre and sandwich applications where those flavors would make these foods excel. It also contains 76% organic ingredients which is a bonus. It will be interesting to see what the future has in store for vegan cream cheese. I predict more non-hydrogenated options and an increasing number of blended flavor choices. Competition is good in this regard because we all reap the benefits.
What are your favorite vegan cream cheeses and why? Let us know by leaving your comments below.
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User comments
11 commentsView most helpful
I am wondering, what you think of go veggie's cream cheese? I tried daiya and just about spewed. I have been turned of of sampling them now. I just found go veggie it says they use coconut oil so I was wondering if you have tried them?
Kite Hill (only found at Whole Foods?) is worth looking at. It's made from almond milk and the chive flavor especially tastes great
Great article, thanks, and glad I came across your site! I had high hopes for Daaiya as well on this, but no... Would love to see Hampton Creek give it a try, though.
Hi there,
I have only had the tofutti so it is nice to see reviews on other brands'. I just wanted to point out that the protein and fat content of both of the tofutti are definitely wrong... I always wish there were brands of cream cheese that is high in protein, so when I was reading your post, I was like "oh, really?" and I went back to tofutti website. As I remembered, there is almost no protein...just 1g. I really hope someday I can find store bought vegan cream cheese that is protein rich :)
Another new offering
Trader Joe's now has their own vegan cream cheese. The flavor and aroma are much more like dairy cream cheese than Tofutti's. The texture is a little less smooth though. No palm oil in this one. It's got the now-popular coconut oil, and also sunflower oil. Also "vegan culture" - so does that mean this one is actually fermented?
Oh, and it's less expensive than Tofutti too! I paid $2.99 for it. (tofutti was over $4.)
Daiya has recently come out with a vegan cream cheese. What's your take?
Can vegan cream cheeses be used in vegetable lasagna?
Palm Oil is a big problem
I wish I could find a product with out trans fat, but more importantly, with out palm oil. Purchasing palm oil is just as unethical, if not more, than eating real cheese itself. The farming of this product is putting the future of orangutans and many other species in serious danger. Please do some research on this crisis, as many vegans like myself would love products that exclude this ingredient.
I wish that I could find the hydrogenated stuff. My son has a milk allergy and that is the only one that he likes.
I am a big Tofutti fan. I just tried the Follow your Heart Cream Cheese and I was disappointed. Tofutti is better on a bagel. However, I used the Follow Your Heart in a vegan baked ziti recipe and it was delicious.
I can't find a date for this article, so I don't know how old it is, but I prefer the Follow Your Heart cream cheese to the others. I didn't find it gummy at all but very smooth, and it lacked the soy-y taste of the Toffutti brands. It's definitely my favorite.
Also, the ingredients you listed for the original Toffuti cream cheese contain no hydrogenated oils. The only oil listed is, "non-hydrogenated soybean oil". Have they changed their ingredients or is this just a typo?


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Press ReleasesThe State Agriculture Development Committee issues press releases to inform the public about important issues and events.
Hot TopicsAnnouncements, vital issues and important documents are highlighted under this heading. Visit the hot topics to stay updated on what's hot in farmland preservation and related issues.
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The Harwood Union softball team had their home opener on Saturday, April 25. They hosted the Galloping Ghosts of Randolph on a completely new surface. The home field, which is located at the Dac Rowe complex in Waterbury, was skinned late last summer and now sports the traditional dirt infield.
The Highlanders were able to initiate the new field with a victory, as they defeated Randolph, 6-3.
Harwood came out of the gates quickly, scoring all six of their runs in the first frame. With two outs, Ashley Sweet started things off with an infield single. After a pair of wild pitches she was standing on third base. Hannah Lovely reached first on a dropped third strike. Brittany Hoare laced a single down the line into right field, scoring Sweet, sending Lovely to third. Hoare then stole second base. Mariah Liberty coaxed a walk to load the bases. Megan Audet also drew a walk and picked up an RBI, when Lovely was forced to the plate. Hoare then scampered home on a wild pitch. Sarah Danaher came to the plate next and drilled a shot into right field. The defender misplayed the ball and it skipped past her for a triple, plating both Liberty and Audet. Danaher scored moments later on a passed ball.
Sweet pitched a quality outing and picked up a win, as she held Randolph to four hits and two walks over six innings. Morgan Lamson came in the top of the seventh to close the door on the Ghosts, picking up her first save of the young season.
The victory leaves Harwood with a 2-0 record. The Highlanders will be in action again on Thursday, April 30, at Peoples Academy in Morrisville and then again on Friday, May 1, at home versus Oxbow.
HU girls' softball earns another victory
The Harwood girls' softball team took their show on the road Tuesday, April 28, visiting the Lady Lakers of Colchester.
With the threat of rain and a temperature that dropped throughout the entire game, Harwood jumped out to an early lead on their way to an 11-10 victory. The Highlanders scored three times in the first inning. Harwood then blew the game wide open in the third frame notching seven more runs.
Things were looking so good that the Highlanders were able to go deep onto their bench and play 18 players during the course of the game. As the rain began to subside, so did the momentum of the game. Colchester was not about to go down without a fight. In the fifth inning, the home team was able to post three runs of their own due to a pair of walks and doubles.
In the sixth inning the flood gates opened and the Lakers were able to add six more runs due to walks, hits and very untimely errors. With the game in the balance, Harwood Coach Fred LaRock opted to re-enter his starting pitching battery of Ashley Sweet and Mariah Liberty. The senior duo had basically shut Colchester down for the first three innings before being sent to the bench with a 10-1 lead. After a brief scare, the duo was able to completely close the door on the Lady Lakers.
It was the second straight year Harwood was able to defeat Colchester, 11-10, in a game that could only be described as sloppy on the defensive end, although Harwood really only had one bad inning.
On a positive note the Highlanders were able to smash out a dozen hits en route to the win. Top sluggers on the day were Hannah Lovely with two hits and two RBI and Liberty with two hits (double) and an RBI. Brittany Hoare had a ground rule double and two RBI. In all, Harwood had 10 players collect at least 1 hit for a very balanced offensive attack.
The victory puts Harwood at 3-0. Harwood plays again this afternoon (April 30) at People's Academy in Morrisville. Harwood will host the Oxbow Olympians in a double header tomorrow, Friday, May 1, beginning at 3 p.m. at Dac Rowe field in Waterbury.
They will also host the Lyndon Vikings (current four-time defending Division 2 State Champions and winners of 78 straight games) in a rematch of the 2008 Championship game on Monday, May 4.


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Why do plants attract bugs and diseases?
Well, in many ways, plants are no different to humans. If malnourished, neglected, exposed to unfavourable conditions, and generally mistreated, they become stressed and quickly get sick and decline.
If a plant is placed in the wrong location and starved of food and crowded with too many other plants without adequate water or air flow, its demise is almost guaranteed.
There's scientific research that suggests that plants actually send out a distress signal when stressed. Sometimes, this is because they are being attacked by some predator.
The plant, according to scientists, is literally crying out for help.
Aid sometimes does indeed come in the form of a beneficial insect that arrives to deal with the attacking bugs.
In the same way, when a plant in your garden is suffering from an insect infestation or is having its leaves chomped or is trying to fight off a fungal disease, it is crying out for help - your help.
One of the golden rules of gardening is to try to concentrate on what are generally called "good gardening practices" - things that every self-respecting gardener should do to keep plants healthy and minimize attracting pests and diseases.
Here are some basic tenets of good gardening to create an environment where plants can thrive and flourish to provide lasting beauty:
- Make sure the plant is in the right place. First, think about where you want to grow something. Then study the conditions of the location, making note of such things as light, dampness and exposure to wind and frost. Next, go shopping for plants that are perfectly suited to the conditions of that location. This will save you money.
- Don't put your newly planted plant under stress. Most plants are healthy when you bring them home from the garden centre. They want to live. They don't need fertilizing, but they do need to be allowed to get their roots established, so watch over them until they get that done; don't think once they are in the ground, your job is done.
- If your plant attracts bugs or a disease, start with the least invasive, chemical-based treatment method. Perhaps you can solve the problem by squishing the bugs or washing them off with a hose. Only then should you resort to the more aggressive use of approved, environmentally-friendly pesticides.
- Some problems call for tolerance. A little black spot, for instance, on roses or a few aphids on your petunias is not the end of the world.
- Clean up. Garden hygiene is not less important than general hygiene. Pick up rot-ting leaves and general leaf litter; they can be nesting grounds for weevils and slugs, as well as breeding grounds for disease.
- Don't crush every bug in sight. You'll be surprised by how much work some creatures do, such as the ground beetle and the centipede. Practice the art of relocating snails and slugs rather than crushing them. And remember, birds come to your garden to eat as well as bathe, so they need to find some bugs.
- Stop fighting moss with chemicals. If your lawn is full of it but you never walk or play or sit on it anyway, who cares? Moss is a beautiful plant, cultivated by some gardeners. If you can't stand the moss, change the conditions that allow it to thrive - shade, damp ground, acidic soil. Increase the light levels, add lime, aerate. If all this fails, consider doing something else, like paving or growing some rhododendrons, but stop using moss killer. It's a waste of effort.


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Esa-Pekka Salonen on Stravinsky and Faith | Stravinsky: Myths & Rituals
In Stravinsky's later life he looked to religion for comfort and inspiration, both directly to his...
Esa-Pekka Salonen speaks about his Violin Concerto, performed by Leila Josefowicz.
Deutsche Grammophon released Out of Nowhere, a disc of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Violin Concerto and Nyx, featuring Leila Josefowicz and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The title of the disc comes from the pencil markings Josefowicz and Salonen wrote over the first movement of the original score for the Grawemeyer Award-winning concerto. Salonen describes the piece as, in many ways, "a summary of my experiences as a musician and a human being at the watershed age of 50." Order the CD on Amazon today! http://ow.ly/dLhBF
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The omnibus city planning review session Friday on the welcome center and overhead walkway for the new Caesars Horseshoe casino downtown offered stark evidence of the city's willingness to play nice with Rock Gaming LLC, the project's developer.
It also underscored the philosophical distance that separates Cleveland from cities with stronger design cultures, such as Chicago, San Francisco or Barcelona, Spain.
Cleveland has made some very smart moves in urban development and planning in recent decades, from the design of the Gateway sports complex and the renewal of Euclid Avenue with a bus rapid transit line to dozens of examples of enlightened historic preservation.
But the city's default setting is that of a developer-friendly town willing to countenance architectural mediocrity if it means encouraging economic development.
Even worse, however, members of the City Planning and Landmarks commissions and Downtown/Flats Design Review Committee voted Friday without discussing — and apparently without reviewing — a traffic study filed by Rock Gaming with the city's Division of Traffic Engineering in July.
When asked during breaks whether they had seen the study, a half dozen members of the three panels said they hadn't, and simply trusted that the traffic division had covered the bases. This begged the question of whether the study was intended to speed the flow of traffic to the casino, or to calm traffic to create a better environment for pedestrians.
In other words, the design review bodies are winging it when it comes to any big-picture understanding of how the casino will affect how downtown functions in a practical sense.
The design for the welcome center — a glorified valet drop-off zone and parking garage sprinkled with some street-level retail spaces — is dishwater dull. It is in no way a satisfying replacement for the handsome Columbia Building, a vacant 1908 brick office building that was demolished to make way for the garage.
Related content
Previous stories
- July 14:
- Horseshoe Casino Cleveland aims to draw new crowd to downtown attractions
- Jun. 12:
- Bingo profits and revenue details for each Ohio charity
- June 12:
- Many of Ohio's nonprofit leaders worry the state's new casinos could hurt charitable gaming
- June 9:
- Cleveland Landmarks Commission to vote on demolishing century-old Columbia Building
- May. 24:
- Workers rally today in support of halted Cleveland casino project
- May. 23:
- With new construction projects unlikely, retail developers focus on makeovers, expansion
- More about casino gambling
The overhead walkway, which would span the intersection of Ontario Street and Prospect Avenue to connect the welcome center and garage to the $400 million casino in the renovated Higbee Building, would unquestionably scar the latter, a once-beloved department store listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Nevertheless, various aspects of the welcome center and the overhead walkway won the approvals needed by Rock Gaming to stay on track to open the casino by early next year.
The review of the project, which consumed roughly 90 minutes out of a 3-hour agenda, focused mostly on tweaks because the city panels approved fundamentals of the design earlier this year.
In response to criticisms from the earlier city meetings, Rock Gaming's designers, from KA Architects in Cleveland, added more street-level retail space to the Prospect Avenue side of its garage and shrank the driveway exit lanes from three to two. The changes will make the area slightly more pedestrian friendly.
The architects also smoothed out some of the rough aspects of the four-lane garage entry to the welcome center along Ontario Street, such as shrinking a cartoonishly oversized cornice. Whoopee.
The garage entry will still be an alien presence in downtown Cleveland — a giant orifice designed to suck in hundreds of cars without so much as a burp.
The changes made by KA Architects showed Rock Gaming's willingness to listen to comments from the city's design review bodies and respond with minor adjustments.
Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the welcome center will be a hodgepodge. The five-story Prospect Avenue side will look like a faux office building rendered in brick and glass, while the Ontario side will evoke a suburban shopping mall.
The whole thing will wrap awkwardly around the Stanley Block, an historic but vacant, down-at-the-heels 19th century building awaiting a new use.
The welcome center will face the corner of Prospect and Ontario with a curving, two-story building that looks like little more than a structure intended solely to support the east end of the overhead walkway.
In terms of esthetics, the welcome center is a defeat, albeit a minor one. It will be a background building, not a landmark that commands attention. This may explain why Rock Gaming wants to affix a giant video panel to the south side of the Gateway North garage — which it bought from the city — to add some needed pizzazz.
The real issue here is that in approving the welcome center, the city's design review bodies failed to reach any larger understanding of how traffic generated by the 5 million casino visitors a year will affect downtown.
Who will have the upper hand — cars and buses or pedestrians and bicyclists? How will the construction of the new I-90 bridge over the Cuyahoga River nearby affect the casino and vice versa? What will the neighborhood be like when there is one game at Gateway? Two games? How will bicyclists traverse the area after crossing the nearby Lorain-Carnegie Bridge on new bike paths to be built by the Ohio Department of Transportation?
To be sure, the city and the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, an economic development organization, are aware of such issues.
The city has approved the creation of a bike station with lockers and showers at the Gateway North Garage, which will also be part of Rock Gaming's parking operation. The city last March also approved a plan for making the Gateway district, which borders the casino zone, more pedestrian friendly.
Then too, Mayor Frank Jackson's Group Plan Commission is about to launch a fresh traffic study to look at closing the two-block section of Ontario Street in Public Square, just north of the Higbee Building, to make it more beautiful and welcoming.
Despite all these wonderful measures, the city has also been very willing to allow Rock Gaming to pursue its unimaginative and potentially damaging vision for the welcome center and overhead walkway.
The "yes" votes on Friday were perhaps a recognition that when it comes to the casino, a project made possible by a voter-approved amendment to the state constitution, there just isn't much wiggle room. Then again, it was another confirmation of how Cleveland differs from cities that insist on better planning and urban design.
"We're developer driven" Jennifer Coleman, chairman of the Landmarks Commission and Downtown/Flats Design Review Committee, said during a break.
"If you have a great developer, you get a great project," she said. "If you don't get a great developer — it shows."


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Contemporary élan in Italy's Eternal City
Photography Susan Wright
WHAT SHE'S WEARING: Dress from Poems, an independent boutique on Via del Governo Vecchio; shoes by Nero Giardini; stockings by Intimissimi
ON THE LOCAL LOOK: "The style in Rome is very good. People here like to dress well, whether it be sporty and casual or elegant and fashionable."
WHERE TO SHOP IN ROME: "Go to Via del Governo Vecchio and the streets near Piazza Navona, as well as some of the designer stores in Rione Monti. I like that you can find original things in the tiny little niche shops."
PERSONAL AESTHETIC: "Rome is a very historical city, and I usually dress simply and elegantly, with nostalgic, feminine accessories that remind me of the past."
WON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT: "A big silk or cashmere scarf. These have a very antique look, can be worn with anything, and can make a sporty-casual outfit feel very sophisticated."
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Wow,these styles are fashionable and elegant.


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Make Your Video Sound Out
This story appears in the May 2010 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
YouTube has helped act as the great leveler between large and small businesses when it comes to distributing thought leadership and viral marketing videos online. Anyone can start up a channel and upload a video for mass consumption, and these days it seems as if everyone is, with more than 20 hours of video reportedly being uploaded every minute to YouTube. But not all videos are created equally.
With the advent of cheaper and more powerful consumer video cameras, many improvised videos created by enterprising small businesses offer excellent visual results. Sound quality, however, is an entirely different story. One of the biggest mistakes amateurs make when producing videos for online consumption is sticking with the built-in microphone on the video camera. The results can vary, but they're usually bad: full of echoes, too-quiet voices, distracting background noise and garbled speech.
Businesses that want to put their best visuals forward would do well to better budget for the audio portion of the AV combo. This means picking up a video camera with a microphone output, and it may mean spending more on the microphone and necessary accoutrements than on the camera itself. We tested some of the options in various price ranges to show you why the results will be worth it.
Tools of the Trade
The following three setups were tested on a handheld Canon FS200 (retail price: $229). Video quality was great, as expected. And the audio offered by each mic combination, even the cheapest, far surpassed the built-in mic.
TOOL: Audio-Technica ATR3350 lavalier microphone
Retail price: $25
Review: This affordable condenser "lav" mic offers a lot of bang for the buck. Businesses that need only occasional AV recording will get a big boost in sound quality over the standard built-in mic. Our tests showed the mic performed reasonably well, filtering out background noise while picking up the speaker's voice from her lapel. The ATR3350 also picked up quite well the voices of two speakers if the second speaker stood near the one with the mic.
TOOL: Sony UWP-V1 lavalier microphone with wireless transmitter and diversity tuner
Retail price: $450
Review: More expensive than the Audio-Technica lav mic, this mic and wireless transmitter/receiver package offers slightly better sound quality without cumbersome cords. The mic itself did a better job filtering out background noise and allowed two speakers to be farther apart without sound quality suffering.
TOOL: Audio-Technica AT8010 small diaphragm condenser microphone with BeachTek DXA-2T camcorder adapter
Retail price: $217 for mic + $199 for adapter + $20 for microphone cable = $436
Review: This more professional setup offered the best sound quality of the three, with one caveat: The hand-held form factor meant that the user had to be more aware of where the mic was in relation to the speaker's mouth to get the best sound quality. The benefit of using the Beach-Tek adapter with a three-pin-type microphone such as this one is having access to a more professional array of microphones, the ability to plug in two microphones at the same time and improved control.
Listen Up!
Getting good audio requires not only the right technology, but also proper techniques. Steve Savanyu, director of educational services for sound equipment manufacturer Audio-Technica in Stow, Ohio, offers these tips for achieving the best possible audio from your impromptu marketing videos:
Think like a microphone. "Before you start to roll the tape or run the camera, listen quietly and make certain that there are no weird noises that you need to be aware of," Savanyu says. Amateurs tend to forget that microphones can't filter out noise the way a human ear can, he says.
Block background blare. "If there is a noise source that's coming from a certain direction, I will sometimes position my subject so that the noise source is behind him," he says. "The human body absorbs sound really well."
Eat the mic. "Little things will improve audio quality so much," Savanyu says. "One of them is getting the microphone as close to the sound source as possible."


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Botshon and Mitchell both enjoy riding to work and showing houses, and feel they are doing their part in changing the idea of riding as exercise in to riding as an efficient form of transportation.More at Norwich Bulletin.
Clients also benefit from biking with Botshon and Mitchell; they become more familiar with the area. "It's a great way to know the neighborhood," said Botshon, and in ways she cannot define, "it's really helps to build a community."
Clad in a purple helmet with plastic flowers dangling from her handlebars, Portland's Kirsten Kaufman is part of a new generation of agents eager to replace the stereotypes of hauling clients around in fancy sedans or SUVs.Read more.
The mother of three starting hosting bike tours earlier this summer, doling out energy bars and apricots to a growing tail of clients whose passion for pedaling weighs heavily in their choice of homes. Some are hard-core cyclists. Others are moving into the city to avoid increasingly expensive and onerous commutes.
"It's becoming more common to see families committing to driving less," said Kaufman. "I think it's a part of the market that will continue to grow as gas gets more expensive."
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Small things often sell cars and create brand loyalty: the positioning of the cup holder; how the seat molds to your body; the thunk of the door when it closes. Add to that list how particles whether they are rain, snow or dirt disperse across the surface of a car.
Particle behavior in relation to the surface of a car is known in the automotive industry as vehicle soiling, and up until recently, it was nearly impossible to simulate in a computer. But within the last few years, Audi has made major strides in using CFD simulation and visualization to better predict the complex interactions that constitute vehicle soiling.
Read Full Article


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Difference between revisions of "Compiz"
(→Check Settings: highlight basic plugin activaation)
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[Desktop Entry]
[Desktop Entry]
Exec=compiz --replace
Exec=compiz --replace
{{Box Note| If {{filename|compiz.desktop}} already exists, you may have to add "--replace" and/or "ccp" to the Exec variable. Without "--replace", Compiz won't load since it will detect another window manager already loaded. Without "ccp", Compiz will not load any of the settings and plugins that you have enabled through CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) and you won't be able to manipulate any of your windows.}}
{{Box Note| If {{filename|compiz.desktop}} already exists, you may have to add "--replace" and/or "ccp" to the Exec variable. Without "--replace", Compiz won't load since it will detect another window manager already loaded. Without "ccp", Compiz will not load any of the settings and plugins that you have enabled through CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) and you won't be able to manipulate any of your windows.}}
{{Box Note| This method can also be slower due to the fact that KDE will first load the default window manager (KWin), then will launch fusion-icon which will load the Compiz window manager to replace KWin. Essentially, it will take the amount of time that it takes to load two window managers to get Compiz loaded. The next method eliminates this problem.}}
{{Box Note| This method can also be slower due to the fact that KDE will first load the default window manager (KWin), then will launch fusion-icon which will load the Compiz window manager to replace KWin. Essentially, it will take the amount of time that it takes to load two window managers to get Compiz loaded. The next method eliminates this problem.}}
Revision as of 16:03, 30 September 2010
Compiz is a compositing window manager. It provides its own window manager, so it cannot be used simultaneously with other window managers such as Openbox, Fluxbox, Enlightenment - users who want to keep their current window managers and add some effects to it may wish to try Xcompmgr instead.
Compiz is the core of the project Compiz-Fusion, which worked on adding many functions/plugins to the WM and now is being merged again. Both projects are active and undergoing constant development. For more information, refer to the article, Compiz Fusion vs. Compiz.
- 1 Installation
- 2 Starting Compiz Fusion
- 2.1 Manually (with "fusion-icon")
- 2.2 Manually (without "fusion-icon")
- 2.6 As a Standalone Window Manager
- 3 Misc
- 4 Additional Resources
Basic installation can be done using the [community] repo.
Install from [community]
Make sure the [community] repository is enabled in Template:Filename.
The command
# pacman -S compiz-fusion
will install EVERYTHING, but chances are you only want compiz for either Gnome or KDE, not both, so...
Run this if you want only the gtk-based packages (for Gnome) installed:
# pacman -S compiz-fusion-gtk
Or this if you want only kde-based packages (for K Desktop Environment) installed:
# pacman -S compiz-fusion-kde
Users who wish to select the packages individually may consult the following list:
List of packages by group
- Entire compiz-fusion group (compiz-fusion)
- ccsm, compiz-core, compiz-fusion-plugins-extra, compiz-fusion-plugins-main, compizconfig-backend-gconf, compizconfig-backend-kconfig, emerald, emerald-themes, fusion-icon
- KDE compiz-fusion group (compiz-fusion-kde)
- ccsm, compiz-fusion-plugins-extra, compiz-fusion-plugins-main, compizconfig-backend-kconfig, emerald, emerald-themes, fusion-icon
- GTK (Gnome) compiz-fusion group (compiz-fusion-gtk)
- ccsm, compiz-fusion-plugins-extra, compiz-fusion-plugins-main, compizconfig-backend-gconf, emerald, emerald-themes, fusion-icon
- Groupless
- compiz-decorator-gtk, compiz-decorator-kde, compiz-manager
- ccsm is a good first choice frontend to configure compiz.
- Emerald is compiz's own window decorator.
- fusion-icon offers a tray icon and a nice way to start compiz, start ccsm and change the WM / Window Decorator.
- compiz-manager is said to bring better session managing capabilities (needs confirmation!).
- compiz-decorator-gtk and compiz-decorator-kde are alternatives to emerald if you prefer to use your desktop environment's configuration backends and looks.
Starting Compiz Fusion
Manually (with "fusion-icon")
Launch the Compiz Fusion tray icon:
$ fusion-icon
Note: If it fails (almost never), you may try it with dbus-launch:
$ dbus-launch "fusion-icon"
Right click on the icon in the panel and go to 'select window manager'. Choose "Compiz" if it isn't selected already, and you should be set.
If this fails you can start compiz-fusion by using the following additional command to replace your default window decorator with Compiz's window decorator (Emerald):
$ emerald --replace
Again, note: If you want to use compiz window decorations make sure you have the "Window Decoration" plugin marked in the compiz settings through ccsm.
Manually (without "fusion-icon")
Launch Compiz with the following command (which replaces your current window manager):
$ compiz --replace ccp &
A quick overview over common compiz command-line options:
- --indirect-rendering: use indirect-rendering (AIGLX)
- --loose-binding: can help performance issues (nVidia?)
- --replace: replace current window-manager
- --keep-window-hints: keep the gnome window-manager gconf-settings for available viewports, ...
- --sm-disable: disable session-management
- ccp: the "ccp" command loads the loads the last configured settings from ccsm (CompizConfig Settings Manager) otherwise Compiz will load with no settings and you won't be able to do anything with your windows like dragging, maximizing/minimizing, or moving.
- Set the kde-window-decorator as an alternative to Emerald and enable features you like
- Launch CompizConfig Settings Manager:
$ ccsm
- Select all the plugins you like including the "Window Decoration" plugin. Add
kde-window-decorator --replace
- or
gtk-window-decorator --replace
- as the command string in the "Window Decoration" plugin's settings under the field "Command".
Autostart (with "fusion-icon")
Add a symbolic link, that points to the fusion-icon executable, in your KDE Autostart directory (generally located in Template:Filename):
$ ln -s /usr/bin/fusion-icon ~/.kde/Autostart/fusion-icon
Next time KDE is started, it will load fusion-icon automatically. Template:Box Note
Autostart (without "fusion-icon")
Method 1 - Autostart Link
- You can ensure that Compiz Fusion will always start at login by appending a desktop entry to the KDE Autostart directory. If it doesn't already exist (it should), create the file Template:Filename with the following contents:
[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Encoding=UTF-8 Name=Compiz Exec=/usr/bin/compiz ccp --replace NoDisplay=true # name of loadable control center module X-GNOME-WMSettingsModule=compiz # autostart phase X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=WindowManager X-GNOME-Provides=windowmanager # name we put on the WM spec check window X-GNOME-WMName=Compiz # back compat only X-GnomeWMSettingsLibrary=compiz
Template:Box Note Template:Box Note
- If you want to use the optional fusion-icon application, launch fusion-icon. If you log out normally with fusion-icon running, KDE should restore your session and launch fusion-icon the next time you log in if this setting is enabled. If it doesn't appear to be working, ensure you have the following line in Template:Filename:
Method 2 - export KDEWM (Preferred Method)
As root you must create a short script by doing the following in your terminal. This will allow you to load compiz with the switches because doing it directly via
export KDEWM="compiz --replace ccp --sm-disable" doesn't seem to work.
$ echo "compiz --replace ccp --sm-disable &" > /usr/bin/compiz-fusion
Ensure that Template:Filename has executable (+x) permissions.
$ chmod a+x /usr/bin/compiz-fusion
Choose one of the following:
- 1) Compiz for your user only --> Edit the file Template:Filename and add the following line so KDE will load compiz (via the script you just created) instead of loading KWin.
- 2) Compiz system wide --> Edit the file Template:Filename and add the following line so KDE will load compiz (via the script you just created) instead of loading KWin.
Template:Box Note Template:Box Note Template:Box Note
Method 3 - Use KDE 4 System Settings
Go to System Settings --> Default Applications --> Window Manager --> Use a different window manager
If you need to run compiz with custom options select "Compiz custom" (when you run fusion-icon from a terminal you can see the command line with which compiz was started). Create a file called "compiz-kde-launcher" in your /usr/bin directory. Then make the file executable: "chmod +x /usr/bin/compiz-kde-launcher". Here is an example for compiz-kde-launcher:
#!/bin/bash LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1 compiz --replace ccp & wait
Autostart (without "fusion-icon") (Preferred Method)
This Method makes use of the Desktop Entry Specification to specify a Compiz Desktop Entry and of the GConf default windowmanager setting. Thanks to the Desktop Entry you should be able to select Compiz as a windowmanager out of GDM.
1) If it doesn't already exist (it should), create the file Template:Filename containing the following:
[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Encoding=UTF-8 Name=Compiz Exec=/usr/bin/compiz ccp #Make sure ccp is included so that Compiz loads your previous settings. NoDisplay=true # name of loadable control center module X-GNOME-WMSettingsModule=compiz # autostart phase X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=WindowManager X-GNOME-Provides=windowmanager # name we put on the WM spec check window X-GNOME-WMName=Compiz # back compat only X-GnomeWMSettingsLibrary=compiz
If the above doesn't work, try:
Exec=/usr/bin/compiz ccp --indirect-rendering
Exec=/usr/bin/compiz --replace --sm-disable --ignore-desktop-hints ccp --indirect-rendering
Instead of
Exec=/usr/bin/compiz ccp
Some Users noticed a "lag" of 4-10 seconds when loging in from a login manager. The solution is to change the command to:
Exec=bash -c 'compiz ccp decoration --sm-client-id $DESKTOP_AUTOSTART_ID'
as noted in the forum. You can also add the extra parameters as described above if needed.
2) Set some GConf parameters using the gconftool-2 command in a terminal window or do it visually with Configuration Editor (gconf-editor). The following outlines using the command line method, but you can also see which keys to change using gconf-editor:
gconftool-2 --set -t string /desktop/gnome/session/required_components/windowmanager compiz
The following are optional and in most cases not necessary (the respective keys are deprecated since GNOME 2.12). But iny any case, if the above didn't succeed the next two statements are still valid and should be tried.
gconftool-2 --set -t string /desktop/gnome/applications/window_manager/current /usr/bin/compiz gconftool-2 --set -t string /desktop/gnome/applications/window_manager/default /usr/bin/compiz
Autostart (without "fusion-icon", Gnome prior to 2.24)
This is a way that works if you use GDM (and I'd assume KDM too).
Make a file called /usr/local/bin/compiz-start-boot with the contents:
#!/bin/bash export WINDOW_MANAGER="compiz ccp" exec gnome-session
and make it executable (
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/compiz-start-boot). Next create the file Template:Filename containing the following:
[Desktop Entry] Version=1.0 Encoding=UTF-8 Name=Compiz on GNOME Exec=/usr/local/bin/compiz-start-boot Icon= Type=Application
Select Compiz on Gnome as your session and you're good to go.
Autostart (with "fusion-icon")
To start Compiz fusion automatically when starting a session go to System > Preferences > Startup Applications. In the Startup Programs tab, click the Add button.
You will now see the Add Startup Program dialogue. Fill it in as follows.
Compiz Fusion
Comment: (Put anything you like or leave blank.)
When you're done hit the Add button. You should now see your startup program in the list in the Startup Programs tab. It must be checked to be enabled. You can uncheck it to disable Compiz on startup and switch back to Metacity.
You may also need to use the gconftool-2 command in a terminal window to set the following parameter, otherwise fusion-icon might not load the windows decorator.
gconftool-2 --type bool --set /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager false
Xfce autostart (without "fusion-icon")
This method will start Compiz directly through the XFCE session manager without loading Xfwm.
Please note the change to xml config files in XFCE newer than 4.2
To install the session manager, run this command as root:
# pacman -S xfce4-session
Now we have to configure the default/failsafe session of XFCE.
Edit the following file
# nano ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml
Or to make the change for all XFCE users (root access required)
# nano /etc/xdg/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml
Replace the xfwm startup command,
<property name="Client0_Command" type="array"> <value type="string" value="xfwm4"/> </property>
with the following:
<property name="Client0_Command" type="array"> <value type="string" value="compiz"/> <value type="string" value="ccp"/> </property>
To prevent the default session from being overwritten you may also add this:
<property name="general" type="empty"> ... ... <property name="SaveOnExit" type="bool" value="false"/> </property>
To remove the existing sessions, run:
rm -r ~/.cache/sessions
Xfce autostart (with "fusion-icon")
Method 1:
This will load Xfwm first then replace it with Compiz.
Open the XFCE Settings Manager & then Sessions & Startup. Click the Application Autostart tab.
(Name:) Compiz Fusion
(Command:) fusion-icon
Method 2:
Edit the following file (settings in this file is used in preference)
nano ~/.config/xfce4-session/xfce4-session.rc
Or to make the change for all XFCE users (root access required)
# nano /etc/xdg/xfce4-session/xfce4-session.rc
Add the following
[Failsafe Session] Client0_Command=fusion-icon
Comment out Client0_Command=xfwm4 if it exists.
This will cause xfce to load Compiz instead of Xfwm when the user has no existing sessions.
To prevent the default session from being overwritten you may also add
[General] AutoSave=false SaveOnExit=false
To remove the existing sessions
rm -r ~/.cache/sessions
Method 3:
Check if this file exists:
If not do:
cp /etc/xdg/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml
and open it for edit:
nano ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml
or make the changes for all xfce4 users (needs root access):
# nano /etc/xdg/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml
Edit Client0_Command that it look like this:
<property name="Client0_Command" type="array"> <value type="string" value="fusion-icon"/> <value type="string" value="--force-compiz"/> </property>
if --force-compiz dosen't work use compiz --replace --sm-disable --ignore-desktop-hints ccp instead.
Add the SaveOnExit property if missing and set it to false:
<property name="general" type="empty"> <property name="FailsafeSessionName" type="string" value="Failsafe"/> <property name="SessionName" type="string" value="Default"/> <property name="SaveOnExit" type="bool" value="false"/> </property>
finally remove old xfce4 sessions:
rm -r ~/.cache/sessions
Now xfce4 will load compiz instead of Xfwm.
As a Standalone Window Manager
Configure ~/.xinitrc to launch fusion-icon.
exec ck-launch-session fusion-icon
An alternative method, utilizing a simple script entitled start-fusion.sh:
#!/bin/sh # add more apps here if necessary or start another panel, tray like pypanel, bmpanel, stalonetray xfce4-panel& fusion-icon
If this script dosn't work for you, or you get issues with dbus utilize this script:
#!/bin/sh cd /home/<yourusername> # eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session` # /usr/bin/X :0.0 -br -audit 0 -nolisten tcp vt7 & # export DISPLAY=:0.0 # sleep 1 # compiz-manager decoration move resize > /tmp/compiz.log 2>&1 & # add more apps here if necessary or start another panel, tray like pypanel, bmpanel, stalonetray xfce4-panel& fusion-icon
Make it executable and add it to ~/.xinitrc, like this:
exec ck-launch-session start-fusion.sh
Feel free to use a different panel, tray, or start a whole bunch of applications with your session. See this forum thread for more info.
To add a root menu similar to that in Openbox, Fluxbox, Blackbox etc. you must install the package compiz-deskmenu from the AUR. Upon a restart of Compiz-Fusion, you should be able to middle click on your desktop to launch the menu.
If it does not automatically work, enter the CompizConfig Settings Manager, and in Commands tab, within the General Settings menu, ensure that there is a command to launch Compiz-Deskmenu, and the appropriate key binding is set to Control+Space.
If it still does not work, enter the Viewport Switcher menu, and change "Plugin for initiate action" to core (NOTE: for versions 0.8.2+ it's 'commands' instead of 'core'), and "Action name for initiate" to run_command0_key.
An alternative is to use mygtkmenu, also in AUR.
You must do this so your windows function like you expect them to!:
Make sure you have the plugins "Window Decorations", "Move Window", and "Resize Window" enabled. Depending on what packages you have downloaded you can choose between serveral window decorators. The most common ones are Emerald, kde-window-decorator, and gtk-window-decorator. The emerald decorator has the advantage that it fits better to compiz's screen handling and offers transparency effects. Use CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) to change the default decorator: Window Decorator -> Command: "emerald --replace" or "kde4-window-decorator --replace" or "gtk-window-decorator --replace".
Using compiz-manager
In order to use compiz-manager, you need to install it from community:
pacman -S compiz-manager
Compiz-manager, that is now installed in Template:Filename, is a simple wrapper for Compiz and ALL of its options. For example, you can run
and see what the console returns for more info. You can use it in all the scripts that start Compiz. Very simple!
Using gtk-window-decorator
In order to use gtk-window-decorator, install the package compiz-decorator-gtk and select "GTK Window Decorator" instead of "Emerald" as your window decorator in fusion-icon or whatever other program you are using to configure compiz.
gconf: Additional Compiz Configurations
To achieve more satisfying results from Compiz, you can tweak its config with gconf-editor:
$ gconf-editor
Note that now compiz-core isn't built with gconf support; It is now built with gconf support through compiz-decorator-gtk. So, you need to install it if you want to use gconf-editor to edit your Compiz configuration. The Compiz gconf configuration is located in in the key apps > compiz > general > allscreens > options.
"Active plugins" is where you specify the plugins you would like to use. Simply edit the key and add a value(refer to the key apps > compiz > plugins to see possible values). Plugins I've found useful are screenshot, png, fade, and minimize. Please do not remove those enabled by default.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Default plugin keyboard shortcuts (plugins have to be activated!)
- Switch windows = Alt + Tab
- Switch desktops on cube = Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right Arrow
- Move window = Alt + left-click
- Resize window = Alt + right-click
A more detailed list can be found under CommonKeyboardShortcuts in the Compiz wiki or you can always just look at your plugin's configuration (ccsm).
ATI R600/R700 Notes
While using fusion-icon you shouldn't experience any problems because it takes care of everything for you, but if you are using one of the autostart methods that don't involve fusion-icon you will run into trouble. For example when using the Xfce autostart method without fusion icon you must edit ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-session.xml per the instructions above. However, if you follow the directions above explicity you will find that compiz does not load. You must instead make your xfce4-session.xml file look like this
<property name="Client0_Command" type="array"> <value type="string" value="LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1"/> <value type="string" value="compiz"/> <value type="string" value="--sm-disable"/> <value type="string" value="--ignore-desktop-hints"/> <value type="string" value="ccp"/> <value type="string" value="--indirect-rendering"/> </property>
This example targeted Xfce specifically, but it can be adapted to any desktop environment. It's just a matter of figuring out how to add it to the proper config file. The key thing is the required command which if typed on a command line would look like this
LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1 compiz --sm-disable --ignore-desktop-hints ccp --indirect-rendering
This is how Xfce's session manager interprets the above XML code. Notice that you don't need --replace because you are not first loading xfwm and then compiz.
Additional Resources
- Compiz_Troubleshooting -- sub article
- Compiz_Configuration -- sub article
- Compiz Website -- including wiki and forum
- AIGLX -- article
- Xgl -- article
- Composite -- A Xorg extension required by composite managers
- Xcompmgr -- A simple composite manager capable of drop shadows and primitive transparency
- Wikipedia: Compositing Window Managers


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Water Quality and Hispathology of Climbing Perch (Anabas testudineus Bloch) at Cempaka Mining, South Kalimantan, Indonesia
The study on water quality and hispathology of climbing perch (Anabas testudineus Bloch) was conducted to analyze water condition, water quality determine the pollution index, and to analyze the liver tissue of the fish in the area of diamond and gold mining areas. Samples were taken from three observation site. The analysis of water quality and fish's liver tissue were conducted in laboratory. Histology observation using the microtechnique method was conducted by preparing histological preparat of climbing perch. Based on classification of water quality, the parameter of alkalinity, mercury (Hg) in liver, Total Suspended Solid(TSS), Hg in worms, the depth level of site, ammonia (NH3), Hg in snails, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), and pH were classified into Class B. The pollution index was between 1.0 < IP ≤ 5.0. Therefore, the area of Cempaka diamond and gold mining was mildly polluted. Tissue damage was around 50-80 %. There were severe level types such as inflammation, cloudy swelling, focal necrosis, karyolitic, hemorrhage, and hepatoma.
Full Text:PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/ast.v2i1.4809
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Today a free software update has been made available for Wi-Fi® BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets. This release brings with it many new features for business customers and IT administrators that make the tablet a seriously enterprise-ready device and a productivity powerhouse. Combined with BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion and the coming BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10, managing BlackBerry PlayBook tablets just got a whole lot more functional. I'm excited to walk through what's new when it comes to both management and security as well as features for business end users. Read on for the full scoop!
Features for Business End Users
Print To Go® across Wi-Fi networks
Judging by our LinkedIn® recommendation page, there are quite a few fans of the Print To Go app out there. We've also had a lot of suggestions for additional features since the initial launch. With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1, you now have the ability to deliver documents from your PC to a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet that may be connected on a completely different network, providing a true solution for rapid document transfer to your tablet.
Text Messaging with BlackBerry Bridge
Text messaging or SMS is now supported as a BlackBerry Bridge™ application. Head to the BlackBerry Bridge folder on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's home screen and get started interacting with SMS.
Improved Android Runtime
One of my favorite features on my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is the Android™ runtime and all of the fantastic apps that it places at my fingertips. With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1, the experience is improved and even more seamless with features like multi-window applications for a feel consistent with the overall OS, support for the HD cameras on the tablet, and in-app payments for value added experiences.
Portrait Orientation for Messages, Calendar, and Contacts
I often use portrait mode when I'm reading e-books on my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet or playing games like Cut the Rope HD – and now this functionality extends to the native mail, calendar, and contacts applications. This gives you the flexibility and choice in how you want to view information and interact with the tablet. The layout intelligently arranges the data onscreen to display critical information in portrait mode, and automatically returning to the expanded view in landscape mode.
Folder and Sync Management
Folders within an email account connected through ActiveSync can now be synchronized individually. You can quickly toggle on/off for each folder to round out the mail management experience on the device. If you use an IMAP email account, you can also now get full access to your mail folders. These features together with the current functionality provide a complete mail organization tool in the Messages app.
Streamlined setup and software update experience
When setting up a brand new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and running through the out-of-box experience, a Wi-Fi connection is no longer required. Software updates can also be delayed until a later time – and when you do need to update your software, patch-based updating is now supported, which significantly lowers the file size of the updates and increases the speed of the operation.
Management and Security Features
Over-the-air (OTA) enrollment with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion
Employees using BlackBerry PlayBook tablets for work can now enroll with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion wirelessly. Once connected and enrolled, enterprise configurations such as email, Wi-Fi, VPN profiles, or enterprise apps can be pushed directly to the device by IT administrators. With this new feature, you can bring BlackBerry PlayBook tablets onto your corporate network quickly and easily.
New IT policies for added security
IT policies are crucial for enabling IT administrators to manage the wireless devices at play within their organizations. We've added new IT policies that administrators can take advantage of through BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. These include the ability to enable full device encryption and to disable development mode for enterprise-connected BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.
ActiveSync Certification Management
Certificate-based authentication can now be configured in order to allow access to work email, calendar, and address book data. These can be securely installed to the tablets over the air with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, which utilizes Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP).
Full device encryption, including personal data
From the Options menu on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, you can now enable "Full Device Encryption" by navigating to Security and then Encryption. This secures the data on both the work and personal perimeters of the device with AES 256-bit encryption for ultimate data protection.
What are you waiting for?
Get the update! You will automatically receive a software update notification on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet status ribbon, or you can check for the software update at any time by going to the settings menu under "Software Updates" and tapping "Check for Updates". Then follow the steps to update.
What's your favorite feature in the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 update? Share in the comments below.


text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Job please! Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Job please! Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> United Kingdom View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message leeroyJoined: 30 Jan 2003Posts: 777Location: London UK Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 5:12 pm Post subject: Job please! If anyone has any ideas of how to find work in London that pays more than £11ph, and that doesn't involve refugees, then please let me know! Back to top SueHJoined: 01 Feb 2003Posts: 1022Location: Northern Italy Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 10:45 pm Post subject: Don't get excited Sorry I can't help Leeroy - here on the South coast I am equally looking for work as 2 hours a week at 20 quid an hour is not quite enough to live on! Why I posted was to ask what your experiences of refugees were to result in your comment. Last year I had quite a number in mixed EFL/ESOL classes at various intermediate levels and found them enjoyable to teach, apart from the odd unpleasant bumptious individual that you might get anywhere. Whether a lower level or purely refugee class might be more difficult I wouldn't like to hazard a guess. The powers that be at the college I was working at now seem to think that the EFL and ESOL students should be kept separate which to me seems a bit pointless at intermediate level. Now there's another thread... Back to top lajzarJoined: 09 Feb 2003Posts: 647Location: Saitama-ken, Japan Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 7:42 am Post subject: I remember many moons ago Watford College was advertising work at 50 quid for a 3 hour lesson. That was 3 hours of contact time mind you. Given the prep time, I fully expect that pay rate to drop below basic secretarial work. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> United Kingdom All times are GMT Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Where to Begin----------------General DiscussionNewbie ForumCurrent Events ForumTechnology ForumOnline Teaching Forum Africa Forums----------------General Africa Forum Asia Forums----------------CambodiaChina (Job-related Posts Only)China (Off-Topic)Hong KongIndiaIndonesiaJapanMalaysiaPhilippinesSingaporeTaiwanThailandGeneral Asia ForumVietnam Caribbean Forums----------------General Caribbean Forum Europe Forums----------------Czech RepublicFranceGermanyGreeceItalyMacedonia and the BalkansPolandRomaniaRussia & C.I.S.SpainTurkeyUkraineUnited KingdomGeneral Europe Forum Latin America Forums----------------ArgentinaBrazilChileColombiaCosta RicaMexicoMexico (off-topic)PeruGeneral Latin America Forum The Middle East Forums----------------BahrainEgyptIsraelKuwaitOmanQatarSaudi ArabiaUnited Arab EmiratesGeneral Middle East Forum North America Forums----------------General North America Forum Oceania----------------Australia/New Zealand You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved. Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group Teaching Jobs in China


text:
Discover Hudson
Close to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Our Baymont Inn & Suites Boston Heights/Hudson hotel offers comfort you can count on. Centrally located between Cleveland and Akron, our hotel offers friendly amenities to make your stay relaxing. Enjoy close proximity to exciting regional attractions.


text:
11610 W Broad StRichmond, VA 23233
Shop on sprint.com and choose the 'In-Store Pickup'
option during checkout. Note: this option is only available for phones.
Orders are ready in as little as two hours. Let us know when you're coming by and we'll
make sure to have your order ready by the time you arrive.
We'll let you in on a little secret: Backing up your data saves time. If you're
picking up a new phone, please come with your current phone and its most recent backup. We
want to make sure you have all of your important pictures, calendars and contacts on your
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Need help backing up your data?
Be sure to bring a government-issued ID matching the name on your order, the card used to
place your order and a copy of your confirmation email. We wouldn't want your new device to
end up in the wrong hands.


text:
Will I go up, will I go down? So many questions, so little time...
Posted by Unknown on Friday, February 19, 2010 / / Comments: (0)
Moved up from 43 now..Currently at 50.
Posted by Unknown on Monday, February 15, 2010 / / Comments: (0)
Its interesting that I can get more visits in one day by posting a comment at GB's Blog than I can manage by other nefarious means. Hmmmm....
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, February 14, 2010 / / Comments: (0)
When someone calls you, and you cannot pick up or you are on another call, you call them back when you are free.
But what if they are calling to wish you or to congratulate you? Then, do you call them back? Or is that considered soliciting?
Any answers?
Posted by Unknown on Monday, February 8, 2010 / / Comments: (0)
Definitely getting my Mojo back, little by little.
Finished an entire book in one sitting, after a very very long time. So what if it could be classified (somewhat) as chick-lit? It was a little cliched, the plot was wholly predictable but in the end, it was a blast. You knew what was coming, you just wanted to know how it got there. The Zoya Factor, by Anuja Chauhan, is one of the funniest and timepassiest books I've read in a long time. More power to Indian authors like her. And she looks good to boot. Somebody should put her pretty face on the telly rather than Mr. Obnoxious.
Do read up in case you get a chance.
So who then?
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, February 7, 2010 / / Comments: (4)
What with all the uproar surrounding Marathis and Maharashtrians (and it being something that I am quite passionate about) I thought that I'd put in my tuppence on it.
What I will write is nothing new. All that has to be said has been said, far more evocatively and much more in depth by far more influential people. However, that does not mean that I have to keep quiet or not speak. How else is there any chance of me being heard?
I am a Mumbaikar. Or a Bombayite. But it is my right to refer to myself as I want. I will not have any one telling me what to call myself. I am an Indian, true. But if that has to be expanded upon, am I not an "Earther" first? Am I not a "human" first? Wasn't the planet here long before the idea of India or Mumbai or VT or Churchgate? Thus, shouldn't my priorities be first and foremost towards my planet and towards all other peoples before to any one organization or idea. But the whole idea seems so huge; how do I associate myself to a concept of being true to humankind first, and to others next? My method to it is simplistic to a point, and probably mistaken, I am true to myself first, and to others next. I do not do what others want me to do, I may not behave nice in a social setting, I may not acquiesce to your viewpoint just to make you feel better. But I do what feels true to me. Sometimes I do make nice, true, but you must realize that I do it only when I am convinced of the need for it. Others' considerations are secondary to the fact that I have to be convinced of it. In turn, I do not ask for you to play nice with me. I am ready to listen to your viewpoint and grant you credit for the same. I will not rabidly turn on you, trying to convince you of my ideas and I only ask that you do the same. The only time where I might disagree is if and only if, I have hard, cold facts to back me up. On ideas and ideologies, you are free to think. And it is this freedom of thinking that has in turn influenced me to live in India. Of course, the money is more in the Middle East. But I somehow feel oppressed. As if I need to watch what I think. There will come a point in my life, where I will be sufficiently worn down enough to realize that earning 2-3 times of what I am currently is a big enough reason for me to tone down my thinking. Or that, if I tone it down for a period of 2-3 years, I can then come back and then 'think' all I want. But I recognize the fact. And if (when??) I compromise, it will again be of my own choosing.
Which is why these Shiv Sainiks drive me mad. Who gave you the right to tell me what to call myself? If I'd been around when you were doing your protests 30-40 years back, then yes, you might have some claim as to what I did or did not do. I am not against the party. They hold a special place in Mumbai folklore, and I am not denying the fact that they might have done some things for the benefit of the people one upon a time. But how long can they run a party on what is essentially a 30-ro year old plank? Case in point: Refer to the recent 'hilarious' video of Uddhav Thackeray being interviewed by Rajdeep Sardesai. He again and again brings out the point that we will not let anyone seperate Mumbai from Maharashtra. Who has ever raised this point? I find it very similar to the Pakistanis' "we will not want to fight a war on this issue" campaign of disinformation, wherein they raise the flag of war over and over, just to keep people incited. And what can people on the other side do? India cannot deny the fact that it does not want to fight a war, but neither can they agree because then it seems that a war was what we had in mind in the first place! It is a similar case here. The other parties can neither agree nor disagree to this statement. Just to keep in perspective, the issues that the Shiv Sena is raising in a world of Ipads and Androids is one that was initially brought about when the 4004 chip by Intel was released and when BASIC was just an idea in Bill Gates's mind.
Shiv Sainiks, who gave you the right to deny me the moniker of a Mumbaikar? I refuse to listen to you. I spent half of my childhood in my Maharashtrian neighbours house. My grandmother possibly loves their daughter more than me and she is a proper south indian. I can speak Marathi well enough to deceive a native Maharashtrian for some amount of time. I watch Marathi movies in theatres and listen to Marathi songs. Some of my Maharashtrian friends call me up when they can't remember the names of that marathi movie they had seen. How many malayalam movies have you watched? If only you had spent this time and effort on improving this city's infrastructure, Mumbai would have been the greatest city on the planet. Sadly, though, I feel our time is past. We have just fallen behind and it will take a Herculean effort for us to recover. Unfrotunately, the will for the same seems to be strangely absent. And so I despair...
Of Time...
Posted by Unknown on Thursday, February 4, 2010 / / Comments: (2)
One of the strangest experiences that I had during my time away from The Big City was the weird habit of the locals to speak about distances in kilometres. I mean, what self-respecting person does that? Everyone knows that if you speak about distance, you speak in terms of minutes, and for longer distances in hours. I mean, does anyone even know how far Thane is from VT? Or Ulhasnagar? Of course we bloody do. Its one hour by train for the former and one-and-a-half hours for the latter. Churchgate station to Marine Drive is 5 minutes. Ruia to Dadar station is 15, max-to-max 20. Bandra Station to National college is 5 minutes by rickshaw and 15 minutes by walk.
So when I was in Dhule, and asking people in all my doe-eyed innocence how far a particular village is, they would invariably seek to confound me by answering in kilometres. And, I-shit-you-not, I had NO freakin clue what they were trying to indicate. I would (rather unintelligently) repeat the same question, only to get the same answer thrown back. Oh, the commissioner's office? Its hardly 2 kms. away. Now, honest to God, what does that tell me? I'll tell you what it tells me. Abso-fuckin-lutely Nothing. I'd throw a Huh? only to be stared back as if I was an alien. And not to mention the nightmare when we were planning the next day's itinerary. "Haan, woh gaon 10 km duur hai yahaan se, phir wahaan se 55 km duur woh doosra gaon hai, but wahaan se return aane ke liye ek shortcut hai, toh aap log 40 km ke adar aa jaaoge." I was like, dude, that's all fine, but how much time will you take? Time, what time? What does time have to do anything with it? At one point it was so bad, that I was forced to resort to time-distance-speed calculations to get an idea of what the hell it was that was going on around me. The distance is the constant. Everything else varies. The people know they have to get from A to B. Getting there is more important than in how much time they have to do it in.
Is this a difference between big cities and smaller towns? Time certainly has a far more greater value in cities, where it is broken up into ever-smaller components from hours to minutes to seconds. You get into office at 8:59:59 and you are on time but come in at 9:00:01 and you will be marked late. Even in the previous sentence, the first unit of time that came to my mind is hours. Everyday is broken up into discrete pieces. But in a village it is not so. Time is fluid, gently coasting along, ebbing and flowing over a much larger period. Time is thought of in years and seasons, each one covering upto 3-4 months at a time. A farmer tells me that 2 months down the line his crops might be affected and he knows it now. But his is a job measured over years and years. Mine will be measured over quarters. If he does well for three units of time and not for one, he can still ride out the storm. For a big-city employee it might be the difference between a highly successful career and a merely good one. For the unit of time for the farmer is a year, while for the employee it is but 3 months. The farmer has been assessed but four times, but the employee has been "appraised" a grand total of 16 times. Everyone in the city tries to fit in more and more in the same time that we all have, shrinking his point of view, while the farmer sees things on a grander stage, on a more cosmic level, so to speak. Wouldn't it be fun and might I say, a damn sight more fulfilling, to be a big city employee who can break down a day into microseconds and yet never lose sight of the larger, truly grand picture? What could possibly be more harmonious, unless it was a farmer who while never wavering from the greater canvas, purposefully makes use of those individual discrete moments? Is that desirable? Is it even possible? Or are we destined to lose sight of the one when we attempt to track the other?
I love it when posts like these happen. When I begin with something, and end up on something else altogether. And the whole thing took just 15 minutes too. Life's not so bad then, huh?


text:
UPDATED ON: May 8th, 2015
By the Crossbow Tramp
The Ibex SMF package comes complete with 2.5 power scope, side quiver, four arrows and cocking rope.
I have just completed another affair with a most desirable crossbow. Almost perfect in every way, she is well built, very attractive, a dependable and sturdy hunting partner and slips oh so beautifully into my arms. After a brief affair, I am so pleased to add her to my list of loves. The Excalibur Ibex SMF did everything I expected and not once, broke my heart.
Excalibur's reputation for making high quality, durable and very accurate crossbows is second to none. Over the years, they have produced some of the most popular crossbows on the market and it is not without good reason that they remain an industry leader today.
The reticules on the Excalibur 2.5 power scope on my bow were exactly calibrated for 20,30,40 and 50 yards.
When the Ibex arrived at my door step, I hurried to my office with the box and began assembly anxious to head for the range to see what she could do. At first glance, I was treated to attractive bow and riser covered in a beautiful Realtree AP HD skin. A quick and simple connection of the bow and riser and the Ibex SMF was ready for action. This particular Ibex came complete with Excalibur 2.5 scope, side quiver, cocking rope and arrows; and it was strung with the optional Flemish Dyna Flight String for superior performance.
The lightweight, durable stock of the Ibex SMF is so well made and so beautiful that the Excalibur proudly puts its name right on the stock.
The Ibex SMF tips the scales at just a hair under 6 pounds which makes it easy to handle with little burden regardless of how long the trek. It has a 175 pound draw weight and a 14 ½ inch power stroke, which launches a 350 grain arrow at around 305 feet/second; a speed more than fast enough to bring down whatever you're shooting at. When shouldered, it fits the contour of the body snuggly and comfortably made ever more so by the generous thumbhole stock, a feature that I have always favored in a crossbow.
Perry Mason's range setup allows us to ideal conditions for sighting in and judging the performance of each crossbow tested.


text:
Doug Vaughan pleads guilty.
Jail guards arrested after beating an inmate and then covering it up, according to a criminal complaint.
Jerome Block, Jr. on house arrest.
Druids say the solstice ritual yielded good omens.
Racist ad for Chinese restaurant in Dubai.
16-hour roasted Christmas goose recipe.
George H.W. Bush backs Mitt Romney.
Ron Paul storms out of CNN interview.
House caves on payroll tax deal.
The next thing to worry about: weaponized bird flu.
Texas drought results in mistletoe shortage.
How Best Buy is ruining Christmas.
The 16 worst Christmas specials of all time.
Chicago Cardinal Francis George under fire for comparing gay-rights movement to the Klan.
LGBTers say sorry to Amy Koch for wrecking her marriage.


text:
- Synopsis
- Description
- Distributions
- Constructor and initialization
- Methods
- Author
- Copyright
HTML::Parser::Simple::Reporter - A sub-class of HTML::Parser::Simple
#!/usr/bin/env perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use HTML::Parser::Simple::Reporter;
# -------------------------
# Method 1:
my($p) = HTML::Parser::Simple::Reporter -> new(input_file => 'data/s.1.html');
my($s) = $p -> traverse_file;
print "$_\n" for @$s;
# Method 2:
my($p) = HTML::Parser::Simple::Reporter -> new;
my($s) = $p -> traverse_file(input_file => 'data/s.1.html');
print "$_\n" for @$s;
See scripts/traverse.file.pl.
HTML::Parser::Simple::Reporter is a pure Perl module.
It is a sub-class of HTML::Parser::Simple.
Specifically, this module overrides the method "traverse($node)" in HTML::Parse::Simple, to demonstrate a different way of formatting the output.
It parses HTML V 4 files, and generates a tree of nodes, with 1 node per HTML tag.
The data associated with each node is documented in the "FAQ" in HTML::Parse::Simple.
See also HTML::Parser::Simple and HTML::Parser::Simple::Attributes.
This module is available as a Unix-style distro (*.tgz).
See http://savage.net.au/Perl-modules.html for details.
See http://savage.net.au/Perl-modules/html/installing-a-module.html for help on unpacking and installing.
Constructor and initialization
new(...) returns an object of type
This is the class contructor.
HTML::Parser::Simple::Reporter -> new().
This method takes a hashref of options.
new() as
new({option_1 => value_1, option_2 => value_2, ...}).
Available options (each one of which is also a method):
But since this class is a sub-class of HTML::Parser::Simple, it share all the options to
new() documented in that class: "Constructor and initialization" in HTML::Parser::Simple.
This module is a sub-class of HTML::Parser::Simple, and inherits all its methods.
Further, it overrides the "traverse($node)" in HTML::Parser::Simple method.
traverse($node, $output, $depth)
Returns $output as an arrayref of strings.
Traverses the tree built by calling "parse($html)" in HTML::Parser::Simple.
- o $node
The node at which to start the traversal. This is normally $self -> root.
- o $output
The arrayref in which output is stored. It is normally used like this:
my($arrayref) = []; $p -> traverse($p -> root, $arrayref); print "$_\n" for @$arrayref;
- o $depth
The depth of $node within the tree. This is normally set to 0.
traverse()it is used to indent the output.
If not specified, it defaults to 0.
Lastly note that this method ignores the root of the tree, and hence ignores the DOCTYPE which is stored as an attribute of the root.
Returns an arrayref of formatted text generated from the nodes in the tree built by calling "parse($html)" in HTML::Parse::Simple.
Traverses the given file, or the file named in
new(input_file => $name), or the file named in
Basically it does this (recalling that this class sub-classes HTML::Parser::Simple):
# Read file and store contents in $html.
$self -> parse($html);
my($output) = [];
$self -> traverse($self -> root, $output, 0);
return $output;
However, since this class has overridden the "traverse($node)" in HTML::Parse::Simple method, the output is not written anywhere, but rather is stored in an arrayref, and returned as the result of this method.
Note: The parameter passed in to
traverse_file($input_file_name), takes precedence over the input_file parameter passed in to
new(), and over the internal value set with
Lastly, the parameter passed in to
traverse_file($input_file_name) is used to update the internal value set with the input_file parameter passed in to
new(), or set with a call to
See the "Synopsis" for sample code. See also scripts/traverse.file.pl.
See "FAQ" in HTML::Parse::Simple.
HTML::Parser::Simple was written by Ron Savage <email@example.com> in 2009.
Home page: http://savage.net.au/index.html.
Australian copyright (c) 2009 Ron Savage.
All Programs of mine are 'OSI Certified Open Source Software';
you can redistribute them and/or modify them under the terms of
The Artistic License, a copy of which is available at:


text:
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Utopia, C4&HD, 10pm, 15-22-29 Jan 5-12 Feb
welwynrose Posts: 32,572Forum Member✭✭✭This is just wrong0
OK, the cushion wasn't enough so I ran into kitchen.0
Ed R.Marley Posts: 5,137Forum Member✭welwynrose wrote: »This is just wrong
I agree. Smoking indoors is never acceptable unless it's your own home or the host allows you to:cool::cool:0
Hmmmm may tune in for the next one, it has me intrigued.Ed R.Marley wrote: »I agree. Smoking indoors is never acceptable unless it's your own home or the host allows you to:cool::cool:
TOFFEEMAN1878 Posts: 75Forum MemberThe only thing I can make of it, is it was filmed in Liverpool!0
Black_Waltz Posts: 3,245Forum Member✭✭✭Interesting, some funny bits, though I'm not loving it stylistically.0
Haha, actually laughing at it. My main problem is it's lack of feeling. It didn't convey any sense of drama or urgency. It felt flat and listless throughout. It made no attempt to make the drama and the whole big drama scenes feel like it, it was like watching a shopping channel. I'm aware it's on, and that there is supposed to be feelings of excitement, but it didn't do a good job.
Scenes like people getting arrested, murdered, murdered again, tortured. There just wasn't any feeling in it for me.0
SillyBoyBlue Posts: 1,792Forum Member✭✭✭Why does everyone want everything explained to them in five minutes? It was very easy to follow, there's a conspiracy that will unravel over the six episodes. I'll be watching next week.0
I liked it. I have decided to let programmes take me where they want to take me this year rather than endlessly analyzing things the nth degree. Life is so much more fun that way.
I guess that Jessica Hyde knows something or has something they want. I think that is it because it is so wonderfully vague.
Sadly to see Wilson Wilson so injured and I think I will avoid anyone buying spoons, chillis, bleach and sand at the same time. They are probably up to no good.0
this looks like something you'd cook up after a weed trip.
like a cross between the kill list, the matrix and scanners, and not as good as any of them0
mr muggles Posts: 4,601Forum Member✭✭✭Well, that kept me glued. Love the length too, hope they all go past the hour mark. Contemporary issues, nicely shot, interesting mix of characters... and had two of the leads from that film Kill List which unsettled me no-end when it was shown on Ch 4 films a couple of months ago!0
Looks like the Utopia website has crashed0
Prince Monalulu Posts: 35,900Forum Member✭Ah half watching this on +1, if you lot can't make head nor tail, I've got no chance, I need to pay attention and probably piece it all together, so I'll give this series a miss, Blazing Saddles is on ITV4.
I'll check the thread out of curiosity see if the storyline is explained.0
clearly the whole idea of the show is that the main characters uncover this parallel universe that only those who are connected to the comic can see, very much like the matrix.
whether any of the stuff in it is particularly new or cutting edge, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.0
well according to the internet it featured the worst torture scene ever and made people physically sick, or scarred them for life.
Am I just super desensitized to stuff like this, or are they over reacting? I didn't bat an eyelid at it, it was so mild. Oh he got Chilli's put in his eyes, then they scooped them out with a spoon. Big whoop.0
spaniel-lover Posts: 4,188Forum MemberTo me there was something Clockwork Orange about it. The eyes bit was gross :eek:. I'm not really sure what the hell's going on, but I will probably tune in next week.0
or rather I should say uncover that the reality we're supposed to believe is real, and that this schizophrenic guy who wrote this comic was the only one who could see the true reality.0
TOFFEEMAN1878 wrote: »The only thing I can make of it, is it was filmed in Liverpool!
...apart from the bits that were filmed in London!!0
Went on the Utopia website and saw it would take them 46 hours to find me.0
TOFFEEMAN1878 Posts: 75Forum MemberSeries Record set!0
onefineday Posts: 4,915Forum MemberVery intriguing and exciting.0


text:
Artist Bio
Merrill Garbus has performed as Tune-Yards since 2009, and that band name has always been synonymous with forward movement—whether because of her explosive performance style or the always-surprising way in which her songs unfold. First gaining notice with the debut BiRd-BrAiNs, which The New York Times called "a confident do-it-yourselfer's opening salvo: a staticky, low-fi, abrasive attention-getter," Garbus forged a reputation as a formidable live presence through relentless touring. In 2011, tUnE-yArDs released its second album, w h o k i l l, a startling and sonically adventurous statement that led to a whirlwind period where Garbus and bassist Nate Brenner accrued accolades from critics (including the #1 spot on the Village Voice's 2011 Pazz and Jop poll), performed in front of increasing numbers of rapturous crowds around the world, and collaborated with the likes of Yoko Ono and ?uestlove. It was a thrilling ride, but it was one that needed a little bit of recovery afterward.
"I took the Fall [of 2012] off and started taking both Haitian dance and drum lessons," says Garbus of the post-w h o k i l l period. "It was nice; I was trying to be healthy and have a good time. And then, in January [2013], I was like, 'I have nothing.' I've never had nothing before—I've always had some songs that I'm planning on recording; I've always been working live with the looping pedal and writing that way. And I thought, 'OK, if I'm going to grow as an artist, I need to do this differently.'
"So I went to my studio five days a week and told myself I would be doing two demos a day. I also had rules: 'This week I'm only going to write using drum machines'; 'This week I'm going to write using vocal melodies first, and build something around that.' At the end of that, I had about 30 demos."
Those demos would eventually gel into Nikki Nack, the stunning third album by the Oakland-based band. A complex, textured statement that opens with a clarion call to 'Find A New Way' and spends its 13 tracks getting there, it's a showcase of how Garbus's songwriting has blossomed, and a testament to how current technologies can combine with themes from the past—Saturday mornings spent watching Pee-Wee's Playhouse, puppet shows based on Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, hard days made less so by the refuge provided by top-40 radio—to create something utterly original.
"It was weird what stuck," Garbus says of the writing process. "The first song that felt finished is not on the album, and I almost scrapped 'Water Fountain.'" That pulsing track's post-apocalyptic vision is presented as a sing-along, a tale of streets where once-useful structures have been rendered into disintegrating husks with Brenner's bass playing providing an increasingly concerned counterpoint. "I almost threw it away," she recalls, "because it sounded like a kids' song. But I really liked the theme, which mirrored what I was seeing in Oakland—people don't want to pay taxes, but the taxes are paying for the water fountain, and for the trash to be picked up, all these bare essentials."
Having studied both Haitian dance and drumming during her downtime, Garbus also visited the island nation in the spring of 2013 (she penned a piece about her time there for the online magazine The Talkhouse). The trip informed the record both spiritually and practically, and led to Garbus adding another instrument into Tune-Yards' musical arsenal (which, as she documented online, includes items like a bag of rice and a stool this go-round). "There's this drum called the boula; it sets the tempo for all the other drums," she says. "It's the smallest drum, and it's played with two sticks, flat to the skin. That element of Haitian drumming acts as the hi-hat, or the metronome, for a lot of the songs on the album."
Callbacks to the past are all over Nikki Nack, as befitting its jump-rope-chant title. Garbus's vocal performance on 'Wait For A Minute' recalls Quiet Storm balladry, and the song also contains a direct callback to her own past: A wobbly keyboard line provided by a Casio she received as a gift when she was nine years old. 'Left Behind' is underscored by a jittery nostalgia, the playground chant from which the album's title is taken eventually giving way to a chorus where Garbus's voice is masked by glossy-yet tarnished production that brings to mind the radio reigns of Lisa Lisa and En Vogue. "On the chorus," she says, "I sang those three parts and we put the recording through some crazy tape to make it sound like it was old and warped and distorted." Instead of weighing the music down, though, the heaviness of the past defiantly animates the track, which culminates in a cacophonous "Holiday, holiday"/"Let's Go Crazy" call-and-response.
"That song may be the epicenter of the album for me," says Garbus. "There's a sense of people not being okay with change, and how uncomfortable change is. I have a great amount of nostalgia for times past, and I feel extremely uncomfortable with that because I think it's so misdirected and misguided to think that things were 'better back then.'"
Nikki Nack has uncertainty about both the past and the future, but that's in keeping with Garbus's overall aesthetic of constantly questioning and burrowing for a "new way," tempered by the joy that goes hand in hand with new discoveries. "We worked with other producers for the first time this time around, which required that I humble myself quite a bit. We've worked with other collaborators, of course, like Eli Crews as a recording and mixing engineer again, but to ask Malay (Alicia Keys, Frank Ocean, Big Boi) and John Hill (Rihanna, Shakira, M.I.A.) for input on the tracks I had to let go of Tune-Yards being rigidly my production. I have a very specific vision for the sound of the band and I don't think women producers get enough credit for doing their own stuff, so I was resistant – but we grew, Nate and I both, and the songs grew. And it turns out that's what's most important: the songs, not my ego."
"Every single composer, artist, writer—anyone that I respect, there is crazy shit that's happened in all these art forms," she says. "When the shit started changing, people were like, 'Ugh, I don't want that, what is that?' And it's kind of painful sometimes being on the front line of whatever I'm doing—I'm pushing myself, so I am going to rub up against my audience's expectations, and there is going to be some friction and tension there. My job is to get comfortable with that and accept it rather than kowtow to it."
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TUNE-YARDS' NEW ALBUM I can feel you creep into my private life OUT NOW
READ SUNDAY NY TIMES ARTS & LEISURE FEATURE LISTEN TO NPR ALL THINGS CONSIDERED Tune-Yards' highly anticipated new album I can feel you creep into my private life is out now. The 12 songs…Read More
Watch Here New album I can feel you creep into my private life out January 19 via 4AD "An entertainingly disruptive blast of a record with a mirrorball lure." –…Read More
TUNE-YARDS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM I can feel you creep into my private life
Out January 19, 2018 on 4AD 2018 FEBRUARY/MARCH HEADLINING TOUR ANNOUNCED; SHOWS ON SALE THIS FRIDAY Listen to new song "Look at Your Hands" Pre-Order I can feel you creep into my…Read More


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text:
Remember Star Wars Uncut? That brilliant project where artists all over the world could submit their own interpretations of fifteen seconds' worth of Star Wars, then have it all cut into the one insane movie?
Well it's back. With Empire Strikes Back Uncut.
And just like last time, it looks like it's going to feature more than a few retro-gaming-inspired sections, like this one. OK, so it's not the most exciting 15 seconds from the movie, but just as somebody got to do "I know", somebody had to do "Han breathes heavily while digging in the snow".
"Han Makes Snowballs", Star Wars Uncut Scene 53 [Drew Wise, via it 8-bit]


text: Offered is a salad plate in the Courtship pattern. The plate measures 7 3/4 inches wide. The plate is signed on the base, Rosenthal Selb- Germany Pompadour. The plate is in mint condition, having no chips, cracks, scratches, or stains. Very few usage marks can be found. The gold trim is 100% complete.