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With the huge increase in gas prices these days, I've been wondering about the impact on dating. Wait, I digress — "fueling" in this case refers to the news from […] Read more »
Equal Work ≠ Equal Pay
For many women at least, that is a fact of life. As students graduate from colleges and universities across the country this spring, I'm sure many questions have entered their […] Read more »
Racing for a Cure
A little over five years ago, I whispered to my godmother that she was going to be a great-godmother again. Other than my husband, she was the only one who […] Read more »
Working Hard for the Money
Last week the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) released the report Statutory Routes to Workplace Flexibility in Cross-National Perspective, which examines workplace flexibility rights in 21 high-income countries, including […] Read more »
Remembering Women Soldiers
Women have served, and died, in the U.S. armed forces since the Revolutionary War. While there isn't much documented history, the bodies of two women soldiers were found at the […] Read more »
Out of the Rubble
As catastrophes like the world food crisis, the deadly Myanmar cyclone, and the earthquake in China continue to grab headlines, I am grateful to see international attention being paid to […] Read more »
The Value of a Mother
Cooking dinner? $14 per hour Cleaning the house? $10 per hour Healing a scraped knee? $29 per hour Being a stay-at-home mom? $117,000 per year (or $68,000 for working […] Read more »
Mom's Financial Security
Mothers devote much of their lives to our well-being. If your mother is retired or nearing retirement, how much do you know about her financial security? Initiating a conversation on […] Read more »
Pregnancy Discrimination Today
When my grandmother became pregnant with my mother, her first child, she was fired from her job. My grandfather was still in college and they had no other income, so […] Read more »
Knowledge Is Power
I was intrigued by an e-mail to attend the first annual Negotiations Challenge at Clarkson, sponsored by the AAUW. The training session was very informative but comfortably informal. I was […] Read more »


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FLOTSAM AND JETSAM - "We'll Probably Start Writing And Recording The Next Record In November," Says ERIC "A.K." KNUTSON
February 13, 2019, 6 months ago
Although Flotsam And Jetsam only released their new album, The End Of Chaos, on January 18th (AFM Records), the band are already looking forward to their next.
In a new interview with Loudist, vocalist Eric "A.K." Knutson reveals: "We'll probably start writing and recording the next record in November."
Asked what can fans expect on the band's upcoming tour, he says: "We're doing a lot of songs on the US headlining tour that we've never played live. We'll be doing a lot of stuff off of Drift and Quatro and a lot of new stuff, so it's gonna be interesting. There's a couple songs that we have to play no matter what every time or people will throw things at us. You always have to play 'Hammerhead', you always have to play 'No Place', but other than that, we're really switching things up a lot. We're hoping that the fans take to that."
Read more at Loudist.
Find the band's live itinerary here.
The End Of Chaos is the fourteenth album in Flotsam And Jetsam's more than 30-year history. "This album kills! It's all five guys with the gas pedal pushed to the floor for the entire album!" states Ken Mary.
"It was cool to have a new element of influence on this album with having Ken's drum parts to partner with and play in and around his playing that also do with the guitars and vocals. Glad to have had Jacob Hansen bringing this album to the overall sound and energy it has, Jacob really highlights AK's vocal melodies, as well as Steve and Michael's songwriting, while the power of the rhythm section drives the songs." - Michael Spencer
The album is available as Digipak, clear orange, gatefold vinyl (ltd. to 450 units), black gatefold vinyl (ltd. To 450 units), ltd. picture vinyl (ltd. to 500 units), gold black splatter gatefold vinyl and limited boxset's with T-shirts which is available here.
"Prisoner Of Time"
"Prepare For Chaos"
"Slowly Insane"
"Architects Of Hate"
"Demolition Man"
"Unwelcome Surprise"
"Snake Eye"
"Good Or Bad"
"The End"
"Control" lyric video:
"Demolition Man" video:

subset: commoncrawl


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It's always depressing when you find out your favorite TV show has been cancelled. It's even more miserable when a show gets the can at the last minute. While many TV shows get the plug pulled due to "low ratings," there were many incredibly shocking reasons why hit shows got the axe in the 90s.
The 90's, a whole decade before social media served as a means for fans to declare public outcry when their show was trashed. It was also a decade that pushed boundaries for what could be shown on television. Cartoons were riddled with adult humor and sitcoms depicted less than stellar family situations. While some got away with it, others sadly were tossed in the can.
It's crazy to think that just twenty years ago TV was reluctant to air shows with diverse cast members. It's also shocking to see what actors wanted to move from TV to film, no matter how much money was offered to them to stay on their hit show. While plenty of shows from the 90's received happy endings and finales that appeased critics and fans alike, many weren't so lucky. Here's a look at 20 90's TV Shows That Were Cancelled For Shocking Reasons.
20 Mystery Science Theater 3000
MST3K was an groundbreaking cult comedy that made making fun of horrible movies an art. Taking place in a galaxy far away, a group of misfits are forced to watch the worst movies of all time by a team of villains. Known for its iconic image of a man and two robots sitting in movie seats at the bottom of the screen, the show featured classic duds like Space Mutiny, Angel's Revenge, and of course, Manos: The Hands of Fate.
MST3K became a popular cult sensation on Comedy Central, then was picked up by Syfy, but the cost of acquiring rights to even some of the worst films became too expensive. The show got cancelled, angering all the "mysties" around the world. Plus, we all know there are far too many bad movies that desperately need commentary.
19 Kids in the Hall
Kids in the Hall was a hilariously strange Canadian comedy that featured sketches with alcoholic fathers, beards that had a life of their own, and anti-homophobic monologues of "Queer Nation." Mixing sketch comedy with improv, the small cast invented hundreds of characters. Irreverent, witty, and ahead of its time, Kids in the Hall lasted five seasons garnering a dedicated audience who couldn't wait to see more.
The talented cast was led by comedians Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson. The show could have gone on for more seasons, however the actors wanted to leave to pursuit bigger projects like movies, a move that unfortunately didn't pan out for all. Just two years later the cast reunited for the film version of the show Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy.
18 Quantum Leap
Quantum Leap was an early 90's sci-fi hit that followed time-traveling hottie Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) as he was transported from body to body to find his way home. Mixing action, sci-fi, and comedy, Beckett would leap into different bodies, at times even crossing genders. Dean Stockwell played sidekick Admiral Al Calavicci who helps Beckett along the way, hoping that he can finally leap back home.
Quantum Leap lasted five seasons. Yes, the network was worried about low ratings for a while, however once creator/screenwriter Donald P. Bellisario presented the cliffhanging finale to the network, the cast and crew were promised there would be a sixth season. To much shock, the plug was pulled. Both Bakula and Bellisario publicly professed their upset, as did fans.
17 Blossom
Blossom was a beloved sitcom that followed likably hip teen Blossom Russo, who was perfectly played by Mayim Bialik. Although the show focused on serious plot lines, like growing up with a mother who left the family to pursuit a career, it was a comedy that had Jenna von Oy playing Blossom's best friend and partner in crime, Six LeMeure. And who could forget Joey Lawrence playing Blossom's dumb jock brother Joey, occasionally spewing his famous line, "Whoa!"
The show had a successful run with four seasons, but in season five, the show drastically changed its tone to being much more serious. In an infamous episode, Blossom faced a violent attack from a boy she was dating. NBC received backlash for having "issue" based episodes, so they decided to axe the show as many fought over creative differences.
16 All-American Girl
All American Girl broke boundaries for its time featuring a nearly all Asian cast depicting a Korean-American family in 1994. The sitcom introduced the world to standup comedian Margaret Cho who played her semi-autobiographical role Margaret Kim; a Korean-American girl that juggles the culture clash between her traditionally Korean family and the very different American world she lives in.
The show was heavily criticized by audiences, critics, and Asian American viewers and, sadly, the show was canned after just 19 episodes. Margaret Cho went on to say, "When you're the first person to cross over this racial barrier, you're scrutinized for all these other things that have nothing to do with race, but they have everything to do with race – it's a very strange thing." Thankfully Cho would find much success with her stand-up tours and films.
15 Strangers With Candy
Jerri Blank, the messy gal who ran away from home to become "a boozer, a user, and a loser" would serve as the cult defining role for Amy Sedaris. Premiering in 1999 the dark comedy followed Jerri Blank's misadventures as a 46 ex-prostitute and former drug addict going back to high school to complete her degree after several stints in prison.
Comedy Central aired all 30 episodes and the show garnered a dedicated cult audience. The show could have easily gone on longer, but several cast members and creators wanted to do other projects. Thankfully, Amy Sedaris and company reprised their beloved roles for a 2005 film version of Strangers With Candy featuring funny cameos from Sarah Jessica Parker and a breakout performance from Chris Pratt.
14 The Ren & Stimpy Show
"Happy Happy, Joy Joy!" Ah, the crazy misadventures of Ren, the emotionally unstable Chihuahua and Stimpy, the dimwitted cat. The hit Nickelodeon cartoon that followed the unlikely pair of best friends was dark and laced with adult humor, violence, subliminal messages, and sexual innuendo. Surprisingly, the trippy show lasted five seasons, even with thousands of complaint letters written from concerned parents.
It was the 90s version of Looney Tunes, but with fart jokes, sex cracks, violent outbursts, and psychedelic druggy sequences. The further the show went on, the more boundaries the makers tried to break. Episodes were heavily edited and content was censored, leading to a controversial banned episode. The creators had enough of censorship and Nickelodeon cancelled the show due to creative differences and too much controversy.
13 In Living Color
In Living Color was the first show to showcase the brilliant comedic talents of the Wayans Brothers, as well as future Hollywood heavyweights like Jim Carrey as Fire Marshall Bill, and Jamie Foxx as Ugly Wanda. It was like Saturday Night Live but with a more diverse cast. The hilarious sketch comedy ran for five hit seasons, so why didn't it go on for a sixth?
Fox and creator/star Keenan Ivory Wayans fought hard behind the scenes about censorship and where the show was going. Their tumoultous relationship led to volatile fights over editing certain episodes to arguments over syndication. Once Fox notified him about the series going to syndication, Wayans had enough and stepped away from the show, leading to an abrupt cancellation. While it's sad the show ended, thankfully the cast members went on to much bigger projects.
12 Legends of the Hidden Temple
Remember this competition show on Nickelodeon? The one where nobody ever won? Well, rarely that is. The show was in the same vein as Double Dare and Guts, and showed different kids competing in a series of mental and physical challenges to ultimately find a mysterious artifact in a hidden temple to win a grand prize.
The expensive show was difficult to film, and one episode was rumored to have gone overtime to an insane 18 hour shoot, exhausting the child contestants and adult crew. In fact, the show was so expensive to run, the producers were only allowed to award a handful of contestants. Does this mean the show was rigged?! It's no wonder people tuned out, as next to nobody ever won the damn thing.
11 Rocko's Modern Life
It's pretty surprising that Rocko's Modern Life ran for three successful seasons on Nickelodeon, a station that ran a relatively wholesome brand for kid's television. The wacky animated series followed the Australian wallaby Rocko and his friends as they moved from Australia to America, finding themselves in the most bizarre situations.
The show was saturated with adult and potty humor, ultimately facing controversy with censorship. Joe Murray, the creator, fought with Nickelodeon over what could and couldn't make it on the show. Though faced with strict pullback from the Network, Murray would secretly insert little subliminal "F Yous", like a live action segment "Wacky Delly" that aired in the third and final season. Though the plug was finally pulled, the show heavily influenced Nickelodeon's huge phenomenon SpongeBob SquarePants.
10 Married With Children
Arguably one of the most iconic TV shows of the 90's, Married With Children broke the rules for sitcoms, depicting the miserable, dysfunctional family of the Bundys living a less than satisfying life in suburban America. Ed O'Neill angered many for his portrayal of misanthrope Al Bundy, and Katey Sagal played his lazy, nagging wife Peggy, while breakout star Christina Applegate played their promiscuous, and not very bright daughter Kelly.
While very controversial, the show was a hit, playing for eleven seasons. Ratings weren't as high as they were in the beginning, but the show was still a success and could have gone on for longer. The network axed the show during the last season, a shock for the cast and crew as well as the fans. Star Dave Faustino admits, "The fans are really the ones that got kind of screwed over. They didn't get any resolution or end or something cool as a last episode."
9 Clarissa Explains It All
Clarissa Explains It All was that mega Nickelodeon hit show that starred Melissa Joan Hart as Clarissa Darling, cool high school gal that talks to the camera and tells the world all about her life. With her denim skirt, neon colored print shirts, and ponytail tied in a scrunchy, Clarissa was the "It Girl" of Nickelodeon. Her friends would come in and out through her window, and she would discuss friends, boys, pimples, and her mischievous little brother Ferguson. The ratings were through the roof kids all around the world couldn't wait to see what Clarissa had to say.
So why didn't this show last longer? Nickelodeon felt that Hart, who was 17 in the final season, was too old to continue her role as Clarissa.
8 The Ben Stiller Show
Ben Stiller took sketch comedy to a whole new level with The Ben Stiller Show. It's shocking looking back at this comedy as it was aired on MTV, a station that in the 90's was known for mainly showing music videos. In fact, many people questioned why the network was showing a comedy show when they should be showing music videos, a far cry from all the reality shows that air today (seriously, does MTV even play music videos anymore?). The Ben Stiller Show featured no live audiences or laugh tracks, but also set the bar for mockumentary style comedy.
The cast included Janeane Garafolo, Andy Dick, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Judd Apatow. The show had a successful run on MTV but was then picked up by Fox, who had creative differences with the makers and ended the show after just 13 episodes.
7 Salute Your Shorts
Any Nickelodeon fan of the 90's remembers the theme song to this kid's classic show about Camp Anawanna, the beloved summer camp that we hold in our hearts, but when we think about it, it "makes us wanna fart!" Salute Your Shorts was the number two kid's show on TV with two successful seasons following a group of camp counselors replete with neon shorts, fanny packs, and mullets, finding themselves in the most ridiculous situations as they harass the adult Camp Leader Kevin "Ug" Lee.
So why was this hit show cancelled? Nickelodeon built a brand new studio in Orlando, Florida, and the majority of the cast didn't want to relocate. The show was quickly canned, and the cast lived comfortably in Los Angeles, California.
6 Profit
Profit was one of those shows that was just too much for its time. The protagonist, Jim Profit (Adrian Pasdar), played the company bad guy who would do literally anything to get the job done, from resorting to blackmail, bribery, bullying, and even murder.
A show that preceded works with unlikeable characters to come like The Sopranos, Dexter, House of Cards, or even Oscar favorite Wolf of Wall Street, Profit was cancelled in the middle of its first season. Fox received endless phone calls and letters complaining about the immorality from its leading character. Funny enough, the show was critically acclaimed, while the show that preceded Profit was Melrose Place, a massive hit that featured a large cast of immoral characters who cheat, lie, and murder as much as they breathe air.
5 Grace Under Fire
Grace Under Fire was a hugely successful sitcom that depicted the single parent household in the 90s. Brett Butler played Grace Kelly, a recovering alcoholic struggling to raise three kids on her own in this comedy. Sadly, the character was a little too close to home for Butler, as she was struggling with her own addiction in real life.
Butler infamously caused massive fires behind the scenes. She showed up to set hours late, costing the network thousands of dollars, and demanded ABC pay for her own chartered jet. Her drunken antics finally reached an all-time low when she was rumored to have flashed herself to actor Jon Paul Steuer who was only 12 at the time. It's no wonder the crew were given "I Survived Brett" T-shirts after the show was canned.
4 Freaks And Geeks
Premiering in 1999, Freaks and Geeks only lasted one season. Taking place in a 1980's high school, the hilarious show featured the new talents of James Franco, Seth Rogan, and Busy Philipps. Created by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Superbad) and Paul Feig (Bridesmaids), the show has become a cult sensation that still leaves fans scratching their head as to why it was canned so soon.
NBC placed Freaks and Geeks in a horrible time slot, airing at 8pm on Saturdays, leading to not so great ratings. But then there were major fights between the makers and NBC leading to creative differences. The network wanted the characters to have "more victories" and even wanted Franco to be more handsome, show his thick spiky hair, rather than wear a beanie all the time. The writing team even gave Ken (Rogan) a storyline about his girlfriend having "ambiguous genitalia." In 2013, Apatow admitted that it was essentially a middle finger to NBC. Thankfully, the cast and crew have gone on to do bigger things.
3 Home Improvement
One of the staples of 90's family sitcom gold, Home Improvement was everybody's favorite comedy following Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, played by Tim Allen. The eight season mega-hit featured a cast of recognizable faces like Richard Karn, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Patricia Richardson, and Pamela Anderson as the supporting hottie character "The Tool Time Girl."
Jonathan Taylor Thomas left the show during the final season to further his education, a decision that surprised most cast members and crew. What makes Home Improvement's end the most shocking was the fact that, rumor has it, Richardson was offered nearly $25 million to do a ninth season and Tim Allen was offered a staggering $50 million. Both actors declined the very generous offers to pursuit movie projects, and the show was cancelled.
2 Ellen
Way before the world would know her as America's favorite talk show host, Ellen had her own hit sitcom in the 90's. In the fourth season, Ellen had a largely publicized and talked about "coming out" episode where she, as character Ellen Morgan, and as as person, Ellen DeGeneres, came out as an open and happy lesbian.
Sadly, the show suffered major backlash. Conservatives trashed her and magazines scrutinized her decision to come out so loudly. The next season, the show was cancelled and Ellen's career was deemed "over." In hindsight, Ellen's decision would be celebrated as groundbreaking and thankfully her career has only flourished since, with her critically acclaimed voice-over work in Finding Nemo, to her iconic talk show Ellen that premiered in 2001 and still runs strong.
1 My So-Called Life
For a show that only had one season, My So-Called Life is a 90's phenomenon. The 19 episode season starred Claire Danes and Jared Leto as teens in high school. With exceptional writing, direction, and acting, the show was known for its authenticity, portraying angsty teenagers facing realistic struggles unlike overly dramatic fare like 90210 airing at the same time.
My So-Called Life struck such a huge nerve with audiences in 1995. In fact, when the show was threatened with low-ratings, fans resorted to creating "Operation Life Support," a fan club that wrote thousands of letters and made T-shirts to save the show. Surprisingly, Claire Danes was reluctant to reprise her role as she wanted to do films. Just one year later, she would star in her infamous role as Juliet opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.
What do you think of these shocking 90s TV Show cancellations? Do you have any others to add? Let us know in the comments below!


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Mo Ebrahimkhani, M.D.
Principle Investigator
Principle Investigator
Mo Ebrahimkhani is an assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering (SBHSE) who joined ASU from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mo has an M.D. degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and was awarded a European Association for Study of Liver Sheila Sherlock fellowship to investigate regenerative processes at University College London. Prior to joining ASU, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in MIT biological engineering department and subsequently as a research scientist at MIT center for Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS). His lab combines in vivo mouse models, stem cell engineering and synthetic biology to understand tissue regeneration and repair and develop technologies to predict and modulate these processes in a personalized fashion. Mo has also been awarded Mayo Clinic accelerated regenerative medicine award as well as new investigator award from Arizona Biomedical Research Council.
Jeremy Velazquez
Jeremy is a graduate student, pursuing his Ph.D. studies in our lab. He graduated from MIT in 2012 with a B.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering. He worked as a technical assistant for two and a half years in Professor Linda Griffith's lab, where he worked on multiple projects including human physiome-on-a-chip, biomaterial development for improvement of liver cell culture, and NSF- funded project for the study of emergent behavior of integrated cellular systems. Here at ASU he works on designing and integrating synthetic genetic circuits into stem cells to control their fate and function. Specifically, he is interested in investigating ways to use modular, extrinsically and intrinsically responsive genetic switches to develop self-vascularizing organoids. He enjoys playing volleyball, video editing, hiking, gaming and singing alone in the TC room (poorly).
Ryan LeGraw
Ryan is a graduate student from Northwestern University in 2014 with a BS in Chemical Engineering. He then worked as a research technician for two years in the laboratory Dr. Hanno Hock in the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. At MGH, he worked on projects investigating the role of ETV6 in hematopoiesis and specifically in vivo murine B cell development. While pursuing his PhD at ASU, Ryan will be involved in investigating hematopoiesis in the liver bud organoid systems. He enjoys golfing, volleyball, rooting for Boston sports, going to concerts, and listening to music and podcasts.
Farzaneh Moghadam
Farzaneh is a graduate student pursuing her Ph.D. in biological design engineering. She graduated from the University of Tehran with a B.S. degree in biology. After moving to the United States in 2013, Farzaneh began her studies at Oklahoma State University where she focused on protein structure-function relationships using molecular science to explain biological functions. Here at ASU, she works on the applications of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology in genome engineering in vivo. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, camping and hanging out with friends.
Joshua Hislop
Joshua Hislop is an undergraduate student in the Barrett Honors program pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering. He will be graduating in December 2018, and hopes to continue working in the lab pursuing his Ph.D, also in Biomedical Engineering. He is working on projects investigating cell fate decisions as well as synthetic biology based tissue patterning during development. Joshua's goal is to integrate synthetic biology, neural development and network creation to eventually apply this approach towards the creation of biologically-based novel neural interface devices. Outside of lab, Josh enjoys playing board and card games, creating adventures for his Dungeons and Dragons group, camping, backpacking, and honing his skills as a third degree black belt in taekwondo.
Matthew Pandelakis
Matthew is undergraduate student in Barrett the Honors College working on his B.S. degree in Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology. His research is focused on developing novel CRISPR systems to control cell fate and function, with an emphasis on studying liver cell types. He one day hopes to earn a Ph.D in molecular biology. In his spare time he enjoys learning about history, debating politics, spending time with his family, and sleeping on the beach.
Maitriyee Mahanta
Maitriyee is an undergraduate in College of Liberal Arts and Sciences . She is a major in Molecular Bioscience and Biotechnology and also minoring in Philosophy. She aspires to get her PhD in Molecular Bioscience and work on senescence control and stem cells . She works part time as a Basketball referee and is also part of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at ASU.
Jeremy Ellis
Jeremy has received his bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering and is currently working as a lab technical assistant in the SKMO lab. He hopes to pursue his Master's degree in synthetic biology and to begin to conduct medical research in this same field. His passion is cancer research, and he seeks to apply forward engineering to discover novel cures to replace traditional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. Outside of lab, Jeremy has been involved in the Biomedical Engineering Society, Engineers Without Borders, and the ASU Baja SAE team. He enjoys reading, watching movies, hiking, tabletop games, listening to music, and traveling. Jeremy has been to Europe, Central America, and nearly half the states in North America and has plans to visit Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and South America.
Sharanya Kalasekar (Postdoctoral research associate)-2016
Derek Titus (Master student, 2016)
Angela Hemesath (undergraduate, 2016)
Shaun Wootten (undergraduate, 2016)
Suyen Go (undergraduate, 2016-2017)
Joshua Hsu (undergraduate, 2016-2017)
Shay Carter (Master Student, 2016-2017)
Ceasar Udave (undergraduate, 2016-2017)
Warner Kostes (undergraduate, 2016-2018)


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What would you be glad that you did…. EVEN if you failed?
Brene Brown
I admire courage!!! I want to be a more courageous woman, but it's scary. the above teaching helps me wrestle with courage and fear.
I had the opportunity to hear Sarah Zoabi, the Muslim woman in the link below, address a small group during the first few months of 2015. She boldly spoke for the silent Muslims, and I was encouraged that at least she had the courage to say it in a small gathering of 15 or so.
I was thrilled to find her message on this link… may she become the spokesperson, and empower others find their voices. She is my new hero, reaching past physical danger, rejection, and recriminations into precious, genuine heroism. Please take 6 minutes to hear what you'll not hear in mainline news! Please.
Visiting Socialism
Days of listening to words both spoken and unspoken revealed much about life in a Socialist country. I'm startled at how startled I am by the differences between China's powerful, dynamic culture and my own deeply embedded national-origin values (Liberty, Freedom of Speech, Independence).
Like the good and bad of everything, Chinese fundamental values include some precious and admirable, along with some less-than. A few examples:
- Harmony and cooperation
- Family focus – prioritize and plan to care for elderly parents, along with intentional, sacrificial devotion to caring for and investing in the children's futures. 35% of China's family incomes is devoted to children's education.
- Saving face – decisions made in order to appease, so others would think of one as a good person and avoiding embarrassment at all cost, even by lying more colorfully than "white lies".
- Impressing others by your success as evidenced by your possessions, even if it means spending money impractically
I wonder to what extent the above enable the political system of restrictions of speech and autonomy. And that causes me to consider how my own national-origin values drive personal values, both admirable and otherwise.
Squatty Potties
Every toilet I encountered in Shanghai was a (normal by western standards) pedestal seat, and ranged from reasonably to remarkably clean.
The other 6 Chinese cities' countless toilets visited offered the non-western variety you see here. Also, this is an exceptional ladies room in that all the others had individual, private stalls with doors that closed and even sometimes latched.
Men's and women's were always separate, and while many women's rooms had one or several pedestals, the majority of stalls had a porcelain base on the floor and flusher activated by foot pedal or button to press. Several had a shared trough under the entire row of stalls, and one flush pushed water along the entire trough. That system was more…aromatic… in a negative way.
Some were as dirty as the worst U.S. gas station bathrooms, but most were reasonably clean. Near the sinks, many but not all had a roll of paper and many stalls had no paper, by design. Needless to say it didn't take long to establish patterns: bring at least 4 "servings" of TP in one's daypack or purse, and use theirs whenever it was available. While some women from my tour patiently lined up for the pedestal stalls, others of us enjoyed the flexibility to take care of business the Chinese way. I found the squatting preferable in dirty facilities, and that's probably more than you ever wanted to know.
P.S. The men made no comments in my hearing about differences, cleanliness, or otherwise.
China is a socialist country, led by a one Party: the Communist Party. I'm not aware of history where Socialist or Communist methodologies haven proven beneficial to the masses in the long run; rather I consider them as philosophies that sound good in theory but don't work in reality.
Last year's visit to Berlin gave me visual clarity of the contrast: black and white drab poverty colored the pre-1991 side of the Wall that had separated Communist from Free post-war Berlin, while the Capitalistic side enjoyed color that reflected opportunity and a dramatically higher standard of living for the people. We have so much history from which to learn.
As the U.S. struggles through this election season, I learned that the current leader and ruling party (the Communist Party) choose China's next leader. Then the Party members' "vote" either for that nominee, or no vote at all. To not vote for the "candidate" is foolishly self-destructive for future economic and social opportunities for the individual party members as well as their extended family, so in actuality it's obligatory.
The several Chinese people I asked told me that the "Party leaders are smart and know what's best." Do they have the freedom to tell me if they think otherwise? One offered that because there are so many Chinese, it would be impossible to have elections like the U.S.
Can you imagine: 1,390,000,000+ Chinese voters?!?
Venturing into other observations about culture, were you aware of the above creative clothing strategy for potty-training? Note the split rear seam – and take a moment to envision the ease of immediate urge. However, "squat where you are" is problematic, if there are not pooper-scooper laws like the U.S. established years ago for dogs – I mean, their owners. I didn't see it happen, but am told the "product" is left where it's deposited by these darlings . . .
Are any readers aware of this strategy in any other country or culture?
Our Tibet guide sang to us enroute to the airport during our final time together. His use of a nearby water bottle/microphone prop was spontaneous and charming!
click to download to play: Tibet guide singing
Driving through cities ranging from 35,000,000 to 6,000,000 in mainland China revealed towering high-rise condominiums alongside old, single story dwellings and dwarfed dilapidated apartment buildings targeted for removal and renovation respectively. Standard practice of drying clothing outside rendered surprise to the eyes of my fellow travelers from the U.S. Since it's the norm in much of Israel, it's become my norm as well.
Doors are closed and privacy is ensured for the safety for those speaking about how the government operates, discussions about propaganda, mistakes by the government, etc. Predictably, suggestions for change to the government are typically dismissed as merely the voice of one, while petitions listing many signatures are at least considered more seriously.
However, the tone must not include any implication that the government is wrong or mistaken. If someone were to appear to be criticizing the government, their extended family to three generations could be vulnerable to recriminations interfering with employment, promotions, education, etc. I was startled, rattled really, to learn of 21st century people accepting the directive of government without any option for facilitating change or freely voicing questions, concerns, disapproval.
In 1980, the Chinese government imposed substantial fines and even forced abortions upon families having a second child. Exceptions included minorities, farming families, and of course those who knew someone important who could grant absolution from the restriction. Finally realizing that the economy cannot support an aging population without more workers paying taxes, the government has recently changed the policy; no surprise that the campaign launched to encourage each family to have 2 children completely contradicts the preceding decades of rationale for having only one.
The blend of Chinese characters with western influence was at every turn, from knock-off Colonel Sanders fast food to genuine Starbucks and Hagen Daz, to this merry-go-round.
We enjoyed a lecture by a foreign language and linguistics professor from Xi'an International Studies University, whose specialty is teaching courses in Chinese culture and international studies. She presented an overview of Chinese philosophy and religious evolution along with highlights of the many ruling dynasties.
Do people still play Trivial Pursuit? If so, perhaps you'll be interested to know that Confucius' name was really Kong FuZi. Below is the Wikipedia specifics on his name; pulling clan name + given name + Ancestral name come together into "Kong FuZi." Saying that quickly has resulted in "Confucius" as we know him today.
|Ancestral name(姓):
|Zi (Chinese: 子; Pinyin: Zǐ)
|Clan name (氏):
|Kong (Ch: 孔; Py: Kǒng)
|Given name (名):
|Qiu (Ch: 丘; Py: Qiū)
|Courtesy name(字):
|Zhongni (Ch: 仲尼; Py: Zhōngní)
|Master Kong (Ch: 孔子; Py: Kǒngzǐ)
I guess I found that interesting partly because names are so important and I struggle terribly with them in Israel. Meeting other guests at a dinner or event can be a challenge for all of us. To remember Mary, Sam, Judy is one thing, but hanging on to a handful names around a dinner table that I've never heard and can't immediately link with a name or word I know is a challenge at which I typically fail. I appreciate the gracious patience of Israeli's as I struggle to remember and wrap my mouth around foreign sound combinations and stress.
Back to Kong FuZi: I recognized Konf FuZi's teaching as foundational to what I learned to be Chinese life-philosophies. He taught filial piety, loyalty to rulers, love for siblings, and that at birth everyone is good but bad people make them bad by modeling or by abuse. Some think that respect as a foundational principle of the culture is to be blamed for China's inability to resolve political problems. I see how respect carried to extreme could interfere with reasoned analysis of problems and solutions. What do you think?
Chinese Chess
Online resources are restricted in China. Even Google! Gmail was not accessible, as were links in various news sources. Facebook and Linked-In? Inaccessible! My Gmail address is forwarded to my primary email address, so I received all email, but my tour companions with only Gmail simply could not access their email the entire trip. I could not access Google's maps or translation sites either.
It's hard to imagine why some were blocked, but more understandable when researching Chinese or related events, places, or people mentioned during touring, some apparently restricted. By the way, it was clearly not the hotel wifi, because I accessed my bank, Quicken, and other sites having nothing to do with China.
Tibetan Opera
I'll close with samples of Tibetan Opera – certainly not "opera" as you might think! Energetic dancing, clamorous music, and colorful costumes.
click to download and play:Tibetan Opera coed


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I have been relatively quiet for a while on the issue of loudness and loudness workflows in a broadcast setting. However, since my last articles on loudness, there have been a number of issues that have been exercising the little grey cells as Agatha Christie's Poirot would say, which I plan to explore further in this article. If you haven't read my previous articles on the subject then do check the More On Loudness section at the bottom of this article especially Are TV Mixes Becoming Too Cinematic?, Intelligibility Explained - We Don't Just Hear With Our Ears and Are TV Mixes Getting Too Big For The Domestic Living Room?
BS1770 - A Brief Recap
Before we get into the nitty, gritty, a bit of a recap on how we measure loudness using the BS1770 standard on which all loudness related delivery specs are based.
In the BS1770 specification, there are 2 key parameters, which are pass/fail criteria - Integrated loudness – the average loudness for the whole programme and maximum true peak level.
However, there are a number of other parameters that are very useful to help us mix loudness compliant content. These are Momentary Loudness, which is the average loudness over the last 400ms, Short Term Loudness, which is the average loudness over the last 3 seconds and is great for level setting and the one I want to take a detailed look at now - Loudness Range which gives a sense of the dynamic range of a mix.
Loudness Range - How It Can Help
Take a look at this table of recommendations for the suggested Loudness Range for different delivery systems, I find this a great help as guidance on where to pitch the loudness range of my mixes. A lot of what I do is radio, in fact long before these loudness workflows came along I would consider what are the key narrative elements in the program I am working on, and make sure that they are clearly audible even in the most challenging listening environments like a car travelling on the motorway where the ambient noise is very high. I know that other elements that I add to enhance the narrative won't be heard in high ambient noise environments, but those in a quieter space, will be able to enjoy those details as well, but I know that the key elements will be audible for everyone. This also means the dialog will need to be at a constituent level otherwise a realistic whispered line will drop below the ambient noise in the car and be lost.
LRA Being Added To Delivery Specs And Recommendations
It would appear I am not alone in considering the importance of loudness range. The Digital Production Partnership (DPP) updated their unified UK delivery specs for all UK broadcasters and added this guidance on Loudness Range…
Loudness Range - This describes the perceptual dynamic range measured over the duration of the programme - Programmes should aim for an LRA of no more than 18LU
Loudness Range of Dialogue - Dialogue must be acquired and mixed so that it is clear and easy to understand - Speech content in factual programmes should aim for an LRA of no more than 6LU. A minimum separation of 4LU between dialogue and background is recommended.
I have heard a number of people point the finger at the loudness delivery specs and say something like, "everything was OK before they were introduced". But were they? Is it not a coincidence? I believe that the loudness normalisation delivery specs are not to blame, that around the time the loudness workflows were introduced the production values for TV drama changed and TV drama took on the film production process workflows and although that has had huge benefits in the storytelling, the budgets and the cinematography, when it comes to the sound it is my view that you cannot mix TV drama destined for the small screen, which is likely to watched in small noisy rooms, the same way as a theatrical mix would be mixed.
In the comments in my article from last year Are TV Mixes Getting Too Big For The Domestic Living Room? community member Dan Smith said...
Here in Canada, the CBC and Radio Canada both require that the LRA is less than 10 and some request 8. Also, the program integrated AND the dialogue stem both must be -24LUFS. Lastly, your momentary must not exceed +10LU of your target.
So with a -24LUFS target here, your momentary must remain below -14LUFS. Arguably, the LRA and momentary are the most important as this bakes in the dynamics. All of this works really well to make consistent programming that is not overly dynamic for consumer systems with intelligible dialogue at all times!
I completely agree with the Canadians in specifying the loudness for the dialog stem. Dialog is key and I always prefer to set the dialog to be around target loudness in my loudness planning and then build everything around it. In fact, I recommend in my loudness training resources, if there is time, to do a complete pass working just on the dialog, getting that as close as possible to target loudness whilst NOT turning my mix into a sausage factory with no light or shade.
This is really important and I would like to see amendments to the specs that includes a dialog level as well as the overall programme level, a dialog LRA as well as overall LRA recommendations, and to include in the recommendations that the short term loudness at the junctions between programs or programs and adverts should be very close to target loudness, to help reduce any jumps in loudness across the content junctions.
However, LRA Isn't The Magic Bullet
That said, loudness range isn't the magic bullet, fix this and you fix all our problems. For example, community member Oliver Lucas commented to my article Are TV Mixes Getting Too Big For The Domestic Living Room?
Very good points Mike, thanks. I think mixing in the right environment absolutely makes sense. From my experience the problem with LRA is, that you might have shows with a lot of parts that do not contain music or speech. A colleague recently mixed a drama for TV where this was the case. It was a 30 min episode with about 4-5 minutes of quiet atmospheres and light music. The LRA went off the charts, although there was enough dynamics limiting, especially on the dialog stem. What I am trying to say is - the numbers can be helpful and give a first impression, but more limiting would have destroyed the programme. The mix was just fine for TV, even with an LRA of 19.
Dialog Intelligibility Is Key
I am a firm believer that the dialog is key and needs to be intelligible. When you are telling a story and it doesn't matter whether its drama or documentary, any sound elements that are key to the narrative must be clearly audible. If they are not you quickly lose the plot, quite literally. Now I am not suggesting that we go back to actors enunciating every word like an elocution lesson, the dialog needs to be delivered in a style that fits the scene or it becomes unbelievable. But this is one part of the problem.
Directors Know What Is Being Said So They Can Always Hear It
I am of the opinion that one of the biggest issues at play here is that everyone involved in the production knows what is being said, they have lived with through pre-production script editing and shooting. This means they probably know the script as well as the actors who have to learn it. What this familiarity with the script means is that they can hear the words even when they are not that intelligible. For example, this happens when the drama is being shot, the director knows what is being said, and even if the sound team ask for a retake it is likely to be received with a hard stare and "I can hear it what's your problem"! When we get to the dub, when the director comes to sign off on a scene, again they know what is being said and so may be asking for the FXs and/or music to be lifted to increase the sense of drama in the scene.
Add to this, from my perspective TV drama is becoming more cinematic and from a sound perspective, which doesn't translate to a domestic situation where neither the playback system or background noise of the room can be controlled unlike a cinema theatre, where there is end-to-end control. We must remember to consider how the content we create is going to be consumed and it what environment.
Mixing In Big Rooms
In my article Are TV Mixes Getting Too Big For The Domestic Living Room? I took an initial look at this issue. The National Association Of Broadcasters Engineering Handbook states that larger rooms with a higher reference SPL will yield wide dynamic mixes where smaller rooms with a lower SPL will yield more constrained mixes. So I asked...
Could the size of the mixing space be having an impact on TV mixes? if mixing TV content in larger theatrical spaces is producing mixes that are too dynamic, what size of room should we be mixing in?
10 months on, having talked to a number of people about these issues, I acknowledge that one of the key requirements for working in a large room is that there are a growing number of people who need to be in the room to sign off on the mix. Whether we like it or not, in a lot of cases facilities are not going to change mix room sizes, so we have to work out how to deal with it. That said, I am also aware of high profile production facilities that choose to keep the room size smaller for broadcast mixes and to mix at 79dB SPL.
But back to the big rooms…
What About The X Curve?
Another factor we haven't explored is theatrical rooms have theatrical speakers systems with horn tweeters designed to project to the back of the theatre and then there are the issues of the theatrical (X-Curve) and broadcast (Linear). We need to understand that in a big room designed for theatrical mixing, the size won't be the only thing affecting your mix!
I haven't had an opportunity to do any tests personally, but I cannot help wondering what impact the theatrical speakers and the X-curve might have on intelligibility. My gut feeling is that mixing on a theatrical system with horn speakers will produce a mix that when played on studio monitors or a home-based system will produce a duller mix.
Other Considerations When Mixing In Big Rooms
Perhaps consider having some kind of alternative monitoring system, like a near-field system, with studio monitors and configured in the ITU layout.
The ITU Speaker layout will more closely reflect what the consumer's system should be like. The differences between a cinema layout and an ITU layout will affect things like panning movements, especially front to back, as there tends to be very little phantom imaging when panned halfway between front and back on a cinema layout, but will be more obvious with an ITU layout.
My preference is that mixes should be monitored through a near-field system but also consider as well as, or instead of, the near-field monitoring having something that mimics a TV speaker, although what that looks like is a tough question and something we will look at later, but this is another very useful way to check for intelligibility.
I acknowledge that the downside of an ITU layout is that it is more of a challenge to fit a lot of people within that speaker configuration, which will be one of the reasons more and more TV is being mixed in bigger spaces to accommodate the larger number of people that need to be in the room, is the customer always right?
That has to be the 6 million dollar question. It is all about people and more importantly the relationship you have with the people making the final decisions. Community member Mike commented on my article Are TV Mixes Getting Too Big For The Domestic Living Room? saying...
I've found it's a tight balance between all elements. It also depends on the type of show you're mixing. Most importantly, it's usually what the people sitting behind me want with regards to the final mix. I can only expertly guide them and make them aware of my limitations when it comes to how I need to deliver to the network. A lot of it is also perception. Help them believe some of these elements are louder without actually going beyond your limitations. It's tough being a psychologist, magician, artist, editor, mixer, and engineer all at the same time.
Realism - Good Or Bad?
I am also sensing that there is a growing trend towards more realism. Surely, mixing a show with too much dynamics and with the music too loud, especially during dialog scenes, is definitely an area where the mixer has to say in how it should play.
I do not believe you can mix TV shows with natural dynamics in the dialog. If you do, it makes the dialog harder to hear and understand. How you choose to reduce the dialog dynamic range is up to you. It can be with the faders, clip level or compression. But restricting the dynamics is essential. Realism is just not possible and I feel that the realism kick is flawed at so many levels, consider the lighting, the way its shot, how the story is put together, none of it is real so why apply realism to the sound, its bonkers.
I believe that mixing TV drama like it's a feature is daft. For example, at night the consumer will almost certainly have the TV volume much quieter, especially if they have young children and so all that quieter stuff won't be heard and if that includes quiet dialog the narrative can get lost.
Coming back to the people and your relationship with your client, the simple answer is yes the customer is always right, even when they are wrong. Perhaps I am fortunate, but as a rule, I work with clients who respect my judgement and want and expect my input, that is why they hire me. But I appreciate that isn't always the case. But we should always advise, as strongly as we feel able, but ultimately the client is always right even when they are wrong.
The Broadcaster And The Consumer
The next stop is the broadcaster, and in the current climate, I am using the term broadcaster loosely to include the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime into this category as well as broadcaster like the BBC and ABC, because Netflix and the others don't have any transmitters, they are effectively 'the one' delivering to 'the many' in the standard definition of a broadcaster.
Consumers Complaints To The Broadcaster
At the start of my loudness training resources, I quote the results of looking at one 40-day period before the loudness workflows came in, over the Christmas holidays in 2010, during which the BBC received a number of complaints relating to TV loudness issues.
- 61% related to the background sound being too high, which is the issue of intelligibility.
- 20% were about volume jumps between content, so program trailers or announcements being louder than the content around them. On commercial TV channels, the biggest issue was with adverts and trails being much louder than the programs they sit in.
- 19% were about the volume range within programs being too high and this often relates to dialog being quiet and indistinct and then suddenly everything gets much louder.
On other networks here in the UK most of which are advert funded, I understand that the issues were similar, although it would be fair to say that the core of the complaints were about adverts and the loudness wars because 'I want my advert louder than anyone else's'.
What We Mix Should Be What The Consumer Hears
One of the underlying concepts with the BS1770 loudness workflows is that we mix the show and nothing happens to it all the way through to the consumer. In reality, it seems that broadcasters still have a black box or three in the way so that what the consumer listens to isn't what we mixed in the studio.
A Lot of my work in the UK is radio and I am looking forward to the day when the loudness workflows are adopted, because at the moment, because of the FM loudness wars, depending on what network I am mixing for, I end up mixing round the transmission processing so that there is little the processing can do to my mix to mess it up, rather than mix to suit the house style of that network. I am having to work around the processing rather than deliver the most appropriate mix. But I am still working in a peak normalisation world at present as radio here in the UK hasn't moved to loudness normalisation. But in TV production, we have adopted loudness workflows.
No Black Boxes
In case you hadn't guessed it already, I have to declare that I am not a fan of the trend to sell a black box that will solve all the broadcaster's loudness compliance issues. Although the technology is improving all the time the nature of all of them is that they are reactive. What I mean by that is they react to the audio that is fed into them. There is no real look ahead or 'intelligence'. At the core of the loudness workflows must be the idea that we as audio professionals are best placed to make the judgement call about how a show should be mixed, taking into consideration the content, the style of the show, the network's house style, the consumer, and the likely environment the consumer might be watching the show in. It is my view that these black boxes fly in the face of one of the key benefits of the loudness workflows which is 'what we mix is what the consumer hears' nothing added, or nothing taken away.
But this relatively new digital end-to-end delivery chain still seems to have processors and encoders in the chain, and these units are controlled with browsers and menus and it only takes one setting out of place to screw up things. With the introduction of surround there have been a number of issues where shows have been transmitted in the wrong format, with channels in the wrong order, flags not set correctly so the wrong audio has gone out, often resolved by the mix engineer calling the broadcaster to tell them what is wrong.
We need to press for these units to be taken out of the transmission chains once loudness normalisation workflows have been adopted. Maybe it will need the standards bodies to step in but we need these black boxes out.
Coming back to the delivery specs, I am pleased that all the delivery specs are based on one standard BS1770, which makes program delivery so much easier. In the UK, the broadcasters got together and agreed one common UK delivery spec with the Digital Production Partnership and we are seeing the DPP teaming up with the ATSC to produce a similar unified spec for the US and I was hopeful that these unified specs would work across all the networks and genres.
However, as we have shown in this article there are a growing number of variations and recommendations being added to these unified specs. This should be the way that we can handle house styles for channels and also reflect the variety of environments content is being consumed in, is to have a variation of the spec. For example, a speech-based station like BBC Radio 4 in the UK would have a much tighter loudness range than the classical music station BBC Radio 3. It might be that we need to look at variations of the spec for program genres, so that a drama could have a slightly wider dynamic range than a live music entertainment show like X- Factor.
The Effect Of Downmixing On Dynamic Range And Intelligibility
With the increase in multi-channel content, first 5.1, and more recently the growth of Dolby Atmos content consumed in a domestic environment, broadcasters have had to wrestle with the thorny issue of backwards compatibility. What to do with the consumers still listening in stereo or mono, especially when they are still a significant majority of the audience. The cost of multiple format delivery is complex and expensive. For example in live content in the early days, there were two simultaneous mixes undertaken one for surround and one for stereo, but this was an expense the broadcasters wanted to do away with. As a result, there is a growing trend by broadcasters to only transmit the 5.1 mix and downmix it into stereo, either at the transmission centre or within the consumer's equipment.
But are there any issues with downmixing, does downmixing affect the loudness and/or intelligibility of the content? There has been some academic research into whether downmixing has a negative impact on intelligibility or not.
Roger Dressler from RWD Consulting, LLC, who is now a consultant on consumer audio entertainment technologies having been Director of Technology Strategy at Dobly suggests...
that the down-mix process may distort the mix in such a way as to reduce intelligibility by altering the subjective balance of the mix.
A downmix has also been shown to reduce the Loudness Range of the 5.1 mix compared to the derived stereo mix. Not unsurprisingly if the surround channels have a lot of content on them the integrated loudness of the downmix can very easily get out of control.
Delivery specs require that the centre channel is reduced by 3dB in the downmix, and while that may be technically correct I wonder if it's sonically the best thing to do, as there's a distinct acoustic difference between the discrete centre channel in 5.1 and the phantom mono centre of a stereo pair of speakers. When you mix on 5.1 do you monitor the stereo downmix, then go back and check and maybe slightly tweak the mix in 5.1? After all, perhaps more than 90% of the viewers will be listening in stereo, which makes it important for us to check the downmix, whether we are required to deliver an LoRo or LtRt stereo mix, or if it is going to be derived in the consumer's equipment.
Other research has shown that a stereo system with a phantom centre channel will compromise the intelligibility. This effect is a result of acoustical crosstalk that occurs when two identical signals arrive at the ear with one slightly delayed compared to the other. The resultant comb filtering effect cancels out some frequencies in the audio. Other research has shown a small but measurable improvement in intelligibility by utilising a central loudspeaker for speech instead of a phantom centre.
Commenting on frequency response problems caused by signal path delays David Clark in the paper "Measuring Audible Effects of Time Delays in Listening Rooms," presented at the 74th AES states that...
clearly the 'phantom' center is an entirely different listening experience than pure left or pure right.
This confirms that having a centre solid actual speaker rather than a phantom centre will have a positive impact on intelligibility because there are no comb filter effects on the centre channel audio. It would seem to me that the outcome of this goes beyond the need for a centre channel, that diverging the dialog or commentary from the centre channel into the front left and right is going to have a negative impact on intelligibility with up to 3 paths with their respective comb filtering all smearing the dialog. I believe this makes a very strong argument for not using divergence at all.
The Consumer's Equipment
We have finally got to the consumer's equipment. This is another area that has come in for a lot of criticism in the press and even at government level.
Tom Harper, who was the Director of War and Peace has said that, while he respects the views of sound recordists, in his opinion and experience, if there are audibility problems...
they arise at the broadcast and TV reception point, as the soundtrack is played out on reduced bandwidth to two tiny speakers.
As flat screen plasma and LED screens have become the norm, there is less and less room for the loudspeakers in the consumer's TV. Back in the days of CRT TVs, there was a good-sized cabinet that worked well with a reasonably sized speaker to produce reasonable sound, with a good chance it was also forward facing.
With flat screen TVs there isn't anywhere to put the speakers, and so they are often tucked away around the back with very small drivers and then wonder why we get intelligibility complaints. But as I have reiterated many times before, the issues of dynamic range and intelligibility in TV sound are not just down to one issue, and to reinforce the point that it isn't just about the speakers in theTV, in our living room we have a system with separate forward facing monitor speakers, including a centre speaker and we still have intelligibility issues.
This is a bigger issue than just the TV speakers. Using a reference TV in the dub is a useful part of the checking process, even assuming the dialog was well delivered and well recorded. You also have to take into consideration the environment that the consumer is watching the TV show. There is no point in having quiet whispering dialog that is too low in the mix so that when someone is watching it at home with the washing machine going in the background meaning that the ambient noise in the room is so high that the quiet dialog is lost.
And finally, in looking at the consumer's equipment, I wonder if a change in what consumers are choosing to use could be a part of this as well. I don't know for sure, but I would guess that more and more people are using sound bars, and the like, which have minimal controls and settings rather than fancy surround receivers, which often have features like "night mode" to compress the dynamic range as well as centre channel adjustment, enabling you to bring up the level of the centre channel to help improve dialog intelligibility.
As we bring this article to a close I wanted to bring together some conclusions we can draw from this study into dynamic range and intelligibility in TV mixes.
Starting back at the very beginning, we need to look at how actors are now being trained now to make sure they capture the techniques learnt by old-school actors before it is too late.
I believe that most of the issues with location sound could be solved before a frame is shot, if people made sensible decisions from the outset, including how the script can impact on intelligibility as we looked at in my article Intelligibility Explained - We Don't Just Hear With Our Ears.
When it comes to the mix, the area where to do have some input, let's look at the loudness and dynamic range of the dialog stem, let's have dialog just on the centre channel, lets look at the LRA and see if we can come up with some genre-specific recommendations that will work within the unified standards and finally let's take another look at the downmix issue to see if there is a better way.
As for music and SFX levels, it seems lots of directors wants the music as loud as possible for different reasons. Perhaps they have learned the dialogue, which means they can still 'hear' it, and for some, loud music compensates for bad storytelling.
In the current specs, there are no tools to restrict a really demanding and unconvinceable director. To resolve this, we could specify LRA limits, both overall and to the dialog and perhaps add Short Term value limits into broadcasters delivery specs to all content, not just for short-form content as we have now in the EBU R128 spec.
But should we be tightening the delivery specs so that directors cannot do what they want to do? Surely it is for the people at the top of the food chain to make it clear all the way down the pecking order that intelligibility and appropriate dynamic range are important and that doesn't always have to be done with rules and regulations, is there not a place for education?
As I have said, this is a multi-issue problem and needs multiple solutions. Actors need to articulate clearly in a believable way, sound recordists need to be able to do their job well and directors need to respect their advice. Then when it comes to the edit and mix, directors need to make sure that they don't ask for music and other sounds to obscure the key narrative elements, and support the mixers when they say that it will not work for the consumer.
Directors may need reminding that the aim of any production is to tell a story in sound and vision, rather than making pictures with a bit of sound. Producers, directors and writers should all remember that ultimately we are making a product and if the customer cannot enjoy that product then the product isn't going to sell and/or get the ratings.
Realism needs to be left at film or art school, what we do is not realistic, everything we do is false, so please let's not try and retain realism for the aural half of TV productions. After all, my Mum only gets to watch this once. Surely if people can't hear, they will turn off?


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Anu Emmanuel was written about all over and she suddenly shot to fame thanks to Agnyaathavaasi.
Ever since news about her being cast opposite Pawan Kalyan was out, she became the most sought after heroine in Tollywood, or so it appeared.
There was much gossip doing rounds at the time. It was said that director Trivikram had suggested Anu's name for Naga Chaitanya's film with Haarika Hassine Productions.
Then there was a rumour that she might get a chance to act opposite NTR Jr, once again in Trivikram's direction.
However, since Agnyaathavaasi has ended up being a huge disaster, its impact is also being felt by Anu.
As per latest news from Tollywood, Anu is unlikely to act opposite NTR. While three to four names are being considered, Anu's name surely does not figure in the list.
Goes without saying, it is success that matters most in film industry.


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John R. Saunders
The true story of top student and athlete, Christopher McCandless, who after graduating from Emory University in 1992, abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness.
A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
John Wick is forced out of retirement by a former associate looking to seize control of a shadowy international assassins' guild. Bound by a blood oath to aid him, Wick travels to Rome and does battle against some of the world's most dangerous killers.
A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.


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"With more than 10 million downloads, The Fast and the Furious is the most renowned title in mobile racing today," said Don Ryan, COO, Oberon Media, I-play's parent company."Gamers won't be able to put down their phones while using the game's advanced features, and they'll love the new cinematic sequences. The Fast and the Furious: Pink Slip is sure to attract even more users to the best mobile driving experience available."
In The Fast and the Furious: Pink Slip, it doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile to score "street cred" or your opponent's car. Using such game features as the revolutionary betting system, users can win their opponent's car and add it to their garage. With the emphasis on four different types of challenging races -- point 2 point, drift racing, drag racing and police chase -- The Fast and the Furious: Pink Slip is easy for users to play, but difficult to master. Gamers have access to 32 different vehicles, including muscle cars, import, exotic, sports and performance cars, and the game features cars, key scenes and characters from the past three blockbuster films.
Through an agreement with the Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group, I-play is the developer and publisher of The Fast and the Furious mobile franchise. To date, the partnership has yielded five gaming titles: The Fast and the Furious; 2 Fast, 2 Furious; The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo, The Fast and the Furious: Fugitive, and now, The Fast and the Furious: Pink Slip. The game series has won multiple awards and is known for the high-quality gameplay. The Fast and the Furious games are available to download from Cingular, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and Nextel. The gaming titles are also available directly for download from I-play.
About Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group
Universal Pictures Digital Platforms (UPDPG) is responsible for global digital product development, production, licensing, distribution, and growth strategy for the extensive catalogue of Universal's properties across new and emerging digital platforms, including mobile, video game consoles, personal computers, and other portable devices. With a worldwide mandate to help shape the digital future of Universal Pictures, the Group has offices in Universal City, California; London, England; and Tokyo, Japan.
Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group is a unit of Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures. Universal Pictures is a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric and 20% owned by Vivendi.
About I-play
I-play, the publishing division of Oberon Media, Inc., is the world's leading multi-platform casual games publisher. With powerful franchises and massive distribution across the three most popular entertainment screens -- online, mobile, and interactive television -- I-play content reaches global consumers, and delivers fun, entertaining, accessible content to casual gamers of all ages. I-play's PC publishing division, formerly Oberon Games, is based in Seattle and created the hit Dream Day Series, as well as the first casual games for bestselling author James Patterson and legendary mystery author Agatha Christie, including the Causal Connect 2008 Game of the Year, Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile. I-play's mobile division has delivered some of the biggest selling franchises in the mobile space, including the world's #1 best-selling racing franchise, The Fast and the Furious, based on the blockbuster movies. I-play's interactive television group, formerly PixelPlay, creates and distributes games featuring top brands including Centipede, Missile Command, Asteroids, Monopoly, Scrabble,Boggle, and Yahtzee. I-play is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Seattle, San Mateo, London, and Dunfermline, Scotland.
About Oberon Media
Oberon Media, the world's leading multi-platform casual games company, is the first company to deliver global, integrated casual games solutions across three platforms-online, mobile and interactive television-and at retail. The Oberon Gaming Portal is the industry standard and has been adopted by the world's leading digital and media companies, such as Microsoft, Comcast, Verizon, MTV Networks, Electronic Arts, MySpace, France Telecom and NHN. The Gaming Portal combines casual game content, merchandizing and features to fulfill our partners' specific needs. Oberon Media's game publishing division, I-play, works with the industry's best and award-winning game developers to produce the top-selling casual games, which are played across online, mobile, console and iTV platforms in more than a dozen languages. Founded in 2003, Oberon Media is headquartered in New York with offices in North America, Europe and Asia, and is backed by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Oak Investment Partners and Lehman Brothers.


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Presenting this first floor one bedroom flat located within walking distance to Harrow Town Centre and near to a whole array of shopping facilities and just a short walk from Harrow-on-the-Hill tube station (Metropolitan line).
This one bedroom flat is located within an imposing Edwardian detached building and the flat comprises of an entrance hall, open plan living room and kitchen, double bedroom and bathroom, recently refurbished throughout and benefits from a section of private rear garden. Early viewings are highly advised.
Call to arrange an immediate viewing.
Misrepresentation Act 1967
These particulars are believed to be correct but their accuracy is not guaranteed nor do they form part of any contract.
Simply fill out the form below or alternatively call us on 020 8459 2530


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Credit given to Jacek Kolodziejczyk @iacoski.com for the design.
I wouldn't feel comfortable having A-Pillars on a closed cockpit formula car, in case of a crash.
Regardless of that, I'm loving this! This reminds me of something out of F-Zero.
If formula cars went this direction in the future, I'd support it.
What are your thoughts? Love it or hate it?


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- Parallel Between 'Hunt For Gawain' and 'Sir Gawain And The Green Knight'
- Sir Gawain And The Green Knight – Сustom Literature essay
- Chilvary
- Gawain essay
- Analysis Of Sir Gawain
- Gawain stays in Lord Bercilak's castle and Bercilak decides to go hunting for three days. Bercilak made a bargain with Gawain and so everything Bercilak kills on the hunt will be given to Gawain. In return, Gawain would give to Lord Bercilak everything that he gets from Lady Bercilak. "'Whatever I earn in the woods
- Sample essay topic, essay writing: Sir Gawain And The Green Knight - 1092 words
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:Sir Gawain Faces Temptation Sir Gawain was known as a noble and honest man who was willing to stare death in the face to protect King Arthur. However, the courtly Sir Gawain is submitted to the unexpected-not
- Sample essay topic, essay writing: Chilvary - 807 words
Chivalry was a major quality that people wanted to live up to between the twelfth and fifteenth century. Chivalry meant that a person had to be brave, courteous, generous, gallant, show respect for women, and have excellent manners on a daily basis. Chivalry was a hard quality
- In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the three hunts of Bercilak were similar to the three seductions of Gawain. Bercilak and Gawain made a bargain at the castle. Bercilak said «Whatever I earn in the woods will be yours, whatever you win will be mine in exchange.» (Gawain 81) The Green Knight tells Gawain
- Sample essay topic, essay writing: Analysis Of Sir Gawain - 1327 words
.. y evolves. She obviously represents a certain theme within the story. Lustful greed penetrates Gawain's shield during the time with Lady Bercilak. His pride reaches far beyond that when he takes her sash only for his own survival reasons.
He takes the green sash
8 March 2014. Author: Criticism


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This Sugar Skull Girl tee design is for the goth people that celebrate the Day of The Dead and who enjoy monarch butterflies.
The concept is to show a girl or rather a woman with her face painted up like a sugar skull for the Day of the Dead celebration. As for the butterflies, they are a design element that represent life and freedom which is in complete contrast with the Day of the Dead theme. While these are monarch butterflies, I do not see any connection between this and MK Ultra as I think this is just an innocent work of art. Or is it? Maybe that is the purpose of the aforementioned contrast in the theme. I'll let you be the judge.
Now for the artwork, the composition is nice focusing on the girl's face. First, you will notice that this is mostly Black,White, and Grey. The only non-neutral color is the Orange of the girl's eyes, makeup, and on the butterflies. Which adds another kind of contrast. The second thing you might notice is the girl's expression. For a lack of a better term I will describe this as being rather deadpan. Finally, the other elements float around her such as the butterflies and some White splatter effect, tying this piece together nicely.
As for the Print, this turned out okay. It is not the best print but it is far from the worst. It is average for the DTG industry. This score is a result of the muting of the orange compared to the thumbnail.
Sugar Skull Girl Tee Design By Bomazu.
Is available on T-shirts, Sweatshirts, Tank Tops, Baseball Tee, Phones Cases, Art Prints. Many color choices are available depending on what style is chosen.The review breakdown is as follows:


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Comcast Gets Flak for Spiking Ad
Comcast Corp.'s rejection of advertisements protesting a possible U.S. war with Iraq illustrates the need for federal rules to restrict the size of media companies, a consumer advocate said Wednesday.
"Comcast's rejection of an anti-war ad underscores the problem we have in the United States because of media consolidation," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "An ever-decreasing number of conglomerates control access to TV."
According to the Associated Press, a group called the Peace Action Education Fund planned to pay $5,000 to have six 30-second ads run on Cable News Network in the Washington, D.C., market around the time of President Bush's State of the Union address.
"Comcast runs advertisements from many sources representing a wide range of viewpoints, pro and con, on numerous issues of importance to the public," an MSO spokesman said. "However, we must decline to run any spot that fails to substantiate certain claims or allegations. In our view, this spot raises such questions."
Chester's group advocates for retention of various media-ownership rules that the Federal Communications Commission is considering relaxing or eliminating.
Chester said media-ownership caps would ensure that "a diverse marketplace of ideas" would not "be held hostage by giants like Comcast."
The FCC is nearing a decision on new cable ownership limits. Chairman Michael Powell said Wednesday that he didn't see a direct link between ad policies and the size of a cable company.
"I don't think that necessarily is attributable to being big or not," Powell told reporters. "Issues like that have been around public policy and the commission since the beginning of time."
Powell also expressed doubt that the agency could investigate Comcast's decision.
"I really don't want to comment on whether I think Comcast has done a good thing or bad thing. I am skeptical that we have much authority about what ads they carry," he added.
On the group's Web site (www.awvf.org), the ad's sponsors noted that Comcast has apparently run other anti-war ads, though apparently not on the same night as the State of the Union speech. The organization said it asked Comcast for a formal explanation of why the ad wasn't run.


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Here, I share, a simple true story because, well, that's all that is needed …
"Are you happy," he asks?
With that, I sigh a big sigh, and look-up to the almighty high and in an inaudible whisper I utter his question out loud, "Am I happy?"
It's as if I'm imploring myself to determine the answer. I then chuckle lightly as I grapple for the strength to continue, or to will an honest answer to come forth.
A moment later, I offer, "I find happiness in a pretty sunset, or a flower that blooms, right now, because that's all that I have. I'm in so much physical pain." I choose then to look to him quietly, as I hold back the tears that I know will surely follow if I speak even one more syllable.
Without words, he ascends from his chair, makes his way around the back of mine, to gently lay his hands on my shoulders.
I feel the heat of his palms, face-side down, on my shoulders beside my neck. Within seconds the tension leaves my shoulders, my arms become billowing marshmallows, and the fire in my stomach subdues.
He continues like this, gently massaging my shoulders as he exchanges pleasantries with others in the room.
After a few moments I glance to him, and simply mouth thank you. He knows that I'm grateful. This I know for certain. In response, he gently pats my head, caresses my cheek and moves away.
The Short Morale of the Story
With this extremely short exchange I came to know, or was reminded of, four elements:
(1) Happiness is transitory and finding it in the "now," in small things (e.g. a flower's full bloom or a sunset) is all empowering.
(2) There is healing power in human touch (through the light force that we all hone).
(3) We, as light beings, amazingly have the ability to understand, communicate and create magical things together (without words!).
(4) Finally, we just need to remember how to do all of these things, and more often. With that, the journey continues …


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The #1 Reason Why A Degree Will Never Be Enough
From the time we are young, we're taught that education is the only way to have a thriving life. As we leave high school we're handed a catalog of careers to choose from in hopes that they will lead to promising careers and plump paychecks. We're told to find jobs that will leave us stable and secure. We do all these things in hopes of living a successful life only to find ourselves nine times out of ten working in careers where we're barely getting by or we're just downright unfulfilled. Why? Because we were so caught up in success that we failed to consider the most important thing that's contingent on our success… purpose.
Studies show that only 47% of college graduates find a job related to their degree and about 85% of people in the world hate their job. They feel disconnected and disengaged because they're not doing work that matters. They're not operating in their purpose.
The truth of the matter is that 20 to 50% of students enter into a degree program "undecided", 75% students don't know what jobs are fit for them, and 46% don't know what they want to do with their degree. And this not knowing isn't because of their lack of education or poor teaching, it's because they don't know what they were designed or called to do.
You can enroll in all the degree programs and take all the courses in the world, but if you don't know why you were put on this earth and what you were specifically designed to do, you'll always be lost and confused. You'll always be looking for the next thing. It's not success that you're looking for, it's purpose.
Colleges and universities are higher educational institutions designed to prepare you for vocational career paths. They're constructed to provide you with the training to excel in your career choice, but unless you know your purpose, how can you move forward in selecting the right career, a fulfilling career, a career that has meaning and purpose?
The thing is, you can't. Selecting a career or degree program without knowing your purpose is like a playing a game of Russian roulette: you never know what you're going to get and you better hope and pray that things work out in your favor.
So many people see college degrees and careers as primary avenues to success and fulfillment, but what if these things were only meant to be secondary or supplementary to God's purpose and plan for our lives? Maybe a higher form of education is needed.
Universities are known for handing out degrees and certifications, but they can't provide a student with education that transcends beyond a career or degree. A different kind of education is needed. An education that helps you uncover your purpose and then equips you with the life skills that will be foundational to whatever degree or career path you choose. College and degrees will enhance and round out your skill set, but only purpose can give you direction and vision.
That is why I created Life Designer U™— a coaching and higher educational platform designed to teach you the life and spiritual skills needed to fashion a fulfilling and purpose-driven life.
This platform gives you education beyond a career or degree. It's higher education for life. Through ongoing video training, coaching, life classes, and courses, you'll be educated and equipped to fashion and pursue a life of meaning and purpose. The curriculum covered in the university ranges from personal & spiritual development, purpose & work, finances, business, and so much more. Click the button below to learn more about Life Designer U.
When we look to careers and degrees as our primary means to success and fulfillment, we'll always end up devoid. It will never be enough. But when we decide to look to our Maker for purpose and solely pursue Him, we'll be able to finally fashion and design a life that we and He love.


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Little Company of Mary Hospital Hospice Volunteer Training to Take Place in April and May
Little Company of Mary Hospital (LCMH) invites members of the community to become a Hospice volunteer. The Hospice Program at LCMH provides compassionate care to patients with a terminal diagnosis. Patients are cared for in their homes surrounded by the people who love them.
The Hospice program at Little Company of Mary Hospital is one of the first in the area and has been serving the terminally ill in their homes since 1976. The program provides spiritual, medical, emotional and social support to those in the final stages of life – and their families.
"It is our goal to help our patients find comfort and peace in their final days," explained Ann Putlak, R.N., Resource Nurse at LCMH Hospice. "The volunteer plays an important role in our ministry to the dying. They listen, reminisce and reassure the patient through caring touch and kind words. The volunteer also provides support to the family, allowing them to run errands or to take a break from 24-hour caregiving."
Hospice volunteers are trained and supervised and can work in the patient's home, the nursing home or in the hospice office where they provide administrative support to the Hospice team.
"Hospice volunteers are full of love, compassion and patience," Putlak continued. "They have such a strong desire to be there for the hospice patient, especially at such an important time in their lives."
The Little Company of Mary Hospital Hospice Program is planning for an expansion of its Hospice services with a Volunteer Vigil Program, which is utilized when there is no family, or only one person available at the bedside of a dying patient. Volunteers are available to sit with the patient for his or her final hours. This program can be made possible at LCMH with the help of dedicated Hospice volunteers.
Training will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on April 30th and on May 7th at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Room WP8501 (West Pavilion, 8th Floor, 2800 West 95th, Evergreen Park). Attendance is required at both sessions. Please note that reservation for these training sessions is required. If you are interested in becoming a Hospice Volunteer and want more information, or if you are unable to attend both sessions, please call Ann Putlak at 708.229.6901. Thank you for considering becoming a Little Company of Mary Hospital Hospice Volunteer.


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Peter Mark Kendall
STARmeterSEE RANK
Down 568 this week
Peter Mark Kendall was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents emigrated with his three older siblings from South Africa in 1985. He attended McDaniel College, where he received a BA in Theatre and Jazz Studies. He then received his MFA in Acting from the Brown University/Trinity Rep Program. Since graduating in 2013, Peter has starred on Broadway... See full bio »
More at IMDbPro » Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro


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CAUTION: The Pelican Products RALS models 9460 and 9470 contain sealed lead acid batteries that can generate hydrogen gas when charging. It is imperative that these products are charged, as instructed, with the case lid open to allow any gases to escape as charging with the lid closed poses a significant hazard. Failure to abide by this instruction could result in injury and/or damage to property. Please refer to the warnings provided in the instructions for the unit and on a decal affixed to the inside of the case adjacent to the cavity where the charger unit is packed.
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Most* items are shipped using Australia Post; a flat shipping & handling fee of $9.95 is charged at checkout (*except bulky orders, see below). Please contact our Customer Service Team if you have any special shipping requests. Please note; any items that are contained in a commercial quotation by our Sales Team are not included in our $9.95 standard shipping rate offer.
Some items are not able to be shipped via Australia Post due to size and/or weight restrictions, but they can be collected from our Collingwood Store free of charge or the Bulky Freight charge will be shown below.
Most items are held in stock in Collingwood, occasionally we run out of stock of some items. We will notify you advising when your order will be available for collection.
External Territories:
The following External Territories may not be shippable, and must be quoted in advance. Please call or email instead of ordering online.


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Just an FYI- if you get annoyed with the voicemails and text messages coming from your Mom &/or Dad, they are not trying to be controlling, they just want to make sure you are alive and well. Just text them back and let them know you are OK and when you might see them again.
As sad as it sounds now, Jeremy and I (Mom) had an understanding if we (Mom or Dad) had not heard from him in a day or so, I would send out a pre-made text, it said, "Jeremy are you alive and well?", He knew if he got that message, we were thinking and worrying about him and we just needed to know that his was OK. He did learn to just send me a quick yes or sometimes a little longer message telling me where he was and what he was up to, or if we were lucky we would get a call back. I recommend setting up something like this for other families; it did help cut down a lot of tension for all of us.


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Beloved Davenport Grocery Owner Passes Away, Fate of Store Uncertain
NaDonna Norris, owner of Davenport Grocery on the east side of Wichita Falls, passed away suddenly this past weekend just days shy of her 50th birthday.
Friends and patrons of Davenport Grocery lined the steps and railing of Davenport with flowers and messages in honor of NaDonna, who many called the cornerstone of the town. Stephanie Phillips, Principal of Booker T. Washington, noted NaDonna's generosity, regularly donating to the school. According to Principal Phillips, NaDonna would make monetary and food donations, including monthly birthday bags and 20% of proceeds from fundraisers.
Local residents held a meeting at the Martin Luther King Center on Monday night to address concerns that the store would be closing without NaDonna. Josie Rose has known the Davenport family and shopped at the store for over fifty years,
This is the rock. This is the rock. I couldn't describe it any better. When anybody leaves Wichita Falls and goes away for 15, 20, 30 years the first thing they do when they come back is come looking for Davenport.
A family member told KAUZ that they don't have any plans for the store as of yet, and they're taking it one day at a time.
A memorial service for NaDonna will take place Thursday, which would have been her 50th birthday, at 4pm in the auditorium of Booker T. Washington. Organizers have asked that those wishing to attend bring at least five balloons each so they can be released in her honor after the service.


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Welcome to Orca! We are pumped you're taking the plunge into social selling. In this guide, I'm going to help you get everything setup and running with your first social selling campaign.
Download and Installation
Orca is a desktop app. You can start the download here.
The download should start automatically, but just in case it doesn't, you can select your operating system at the bottom of the page and the download will start.
Once the download is finished, install and run the app. The app will appear in the menu bar.
Clicking on the icon will open a drop down.
If this is your first time using Orca, you'll be prompted to Login and will be taken through a quick 4-step on-boarding process.
Let's get your account set up.
Account Setup
With the drop down open, click Login.
A new window will open where you can select the Google account you want to use to with Orca. If you're using Orca for personal use, you can create an account with your personal email. Otherwise, we highly recommend signing up with your email.
After selecting an account, you'll begin on-boarding.
Step 1. Setting up your team
If you're flying solo, feel free to skip this step to create an individual account. You can always add team members later.
To create a team, enter the name of your organization and click Create Organization.
Step 2. Connecting your Linkedin account with Orca
After creating your team, you'll need to enter your Linkedin login credentials.
Don't worry, your information is safe with us. Your password is stored in an https encrypted environment; and is only used by our bot to login to your Linkedin account to help run your social sequences.
Note: Your campaigns will not work without your credentials.
Step 3. Invite your team
After you've successfully entered your Linkedin credentials, you'll be able to invite your team to Orca.
If you're assessing the tool for the team, you can skip this step.
You can always come back to this step after you've made the decision to move forward with Orca.
Step 4. Billing and payment
To start your 7-day trial, enter your credit card information.
And there you have it, your account is setup and ready to go. In the next guide, I'm going to show you how to set up a Search on Linkedin campaign.
Cheers! 🎉


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The fifth grade year is designed to serve as the bridge between lower school and middle school. Students begin using a planner and practice the organizational skills that set them up for success in the years to come. Fifth grade content includes:
- Reading – students follow the reading workshop model, participating in a short mini-lesson followed by independent reading, guided reading groups and book clubs.
- Writing – Fifth graders use the Traits Writing Program, which is also used at the Middle School level. The focus is on key qualities of writing including: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions and presentation
- Math taught through Math Connects
- U.S. History and Government
- Science taught through weekly visits to the SHA science lab; at fifth grade, students also prepare a project for the annual science fair.
Fifth grade is the culminating year of TaL Am. Students continue to cover Judaic content in Hebrew. Chumash covers the enslavement in Egypt, the redemption, Matan Torah, and the civil laws of Parshat Mishpatim. Students focus on decoding and reading pesukim, identification of roots of words and learning meaning of Torah from context. Students continue their study of holidays; begin learning Dinim and study halachot. Navi focuses on the complex and inspiring book of Judges. Students study the analysis and logic of each Mishnah and round out their studies with general Jewish.