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Julie Taymor most recently directed the play 'Grounded', starring Anne Hathaway, at the Public Theater in New York City. She also completed a cinematic version of William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', starring David Harewood, Max Casella and Kathryn Hunter, and filmed during her critically acclaimed, sold-out stage production that ran at Theatre for a New Audience's new home in downtown Brooklyn. The film was shown at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Mavericks in Film Programme and released last summer. In 1998, she became the first woman to win the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, and won a Tony for Best Costumes, for her landmark production of 'The Lion King.' The musical has gone on to become Broadway's all-time highest grossing show and the fifth longest-running show in Broadway history. Her 1996 Broadway debut, 'Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass,' earned five Tony Award nominations. Other theatre credits include 'The Green Bird,' 'Titus Andronicus,' 'The Tempest,' 'The Taming of the Shrew,' 'The Transposed Heads' and 'Liberty's Taken.' Her feature films include 'Titus,' starred Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange and Alan Cumming; the biographical film 'Frida,' starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina, which earned six Academy Award nominations, winning two; the Beatles inspired 'Across the Universe,' nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy; and her Helen Mirren-starring adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest,' which had its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival following a world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival. Beyond the theatre and screen, Taymor has directed five operas internationally, including 'Oedipus Rex' with Jessye Norman, for which she earned the International Classical Music Award for Best Opera Production and an Emmy for a subsequent film version; as well as 'Salome,' 'The Flying Dutchman,' 'The Magic Flute' (the abridged English version, which inaugurated a PBS series entitled "Great Performances at the Met"), and Elliot Goldenthal's 'Grendel.' Taymor is a 1991 recipient of the MacArthur "genius" Fellowship and was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater.
Julie Taymor's new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for Theatre for a New Audience was, in a way, 30 years in the making. Back in 1984, she inadvertently planted the idea in Founding Artistic Director Jeffrey Horowitz's head that she should direct the play some day.
At that time, Taymor was a young but highly experienced theater artist who had been living in New York for a few years after spending some four years studying and making theater in Indonesia, with earlier stints elsewhere in Asia and Europe. She quickly began making waves in the downtown New York theater scene—and making them with beautiful, billowing fabric, like the sheet that changed from a huge tablecloth into the undulating Red Sea in Elizabeth Swados's The Haggadah in 1980. That project also featured Taymor's life-size puppets of disputatious rabbis and their wives; leaping shadow frogs, flies, and pestilent plagues; a looming straw Angel of Death. Horowitz was only one of many producing directors knocked out by the work who invited Taymor to design a show. Specifically, she made masks, puppets, and costumes for Theatre for a New Audience's 50-minute version of Midsummer that ran at the Public Theater. Afterwards (as Horowitz tells it), Taymor idly mentioned to him that had she directed the production, she'd have done it differently.
Though Horowitz was not about to mount Midsummer again any time soon, he hired Taymor to direct The Tempest two years later—the production that, as he has said, put the Theatre "on the artistic map" with its enchanting intelligence: Ariel as a Bunraku puppet, Stephano and Trinculo as commedia dell'arte characters, Caliban encrusted in clay. From then on, Taymor had a home at Theatre for a New Audience. (Another relationship blossomed out of the 1984 Midsummer: a friend of the composer Elliot Goldenthal had urged him to go see Taymor's work in that show. They quickly became regular artistic partners—he provided the music for The Tempest and virtually all subsequent productions—and, eventually, life partners.)
Theatre for a New Audience regulars will well recall the psychologically rich and robust reading of her Taming of the Shrew (1988), the terrifying stylized violence of her Titus Andronicus (1994), and the whimsy of her production of Carlo Goldoni's philosophical fable, The Green Bird (2000). And by the way, she kept a bit busy in the meantime, plying her theatrical wizardry in opera houses, film studios, and iconic productions like Juan Darien and, of course, The Lion King.
To open Theatre for a New Audience's first home, Horowitz is making good that 30-year-old notion. With A Midsummer Night's Dream, Taymor reenters Shakespeare's world of magic, menace, marriage, myth, and transformation, this time as director. We discussed her approach to the play just as rehearsals moved from a midtown studio into the inspiring space of the newly christened Polonsky Shakespeare Center.
SOLOMON: Julie, this is the first production in Theatre for a New Audience's new home. They invited you to direct it, given your long and happy relationship with the theater, going back some three decades. So that's a logical choice. So is the play itself. Why do you think A Midsummer Night's Dream is the right play for blessing the new space?
TAYMOR: It has a history of doing that. From what I've read, the New Amsterdam on 42nd street opened with A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1903. And other theaters as well. The actual play is about a marriage. It was probably created for a wedding ceremony. And in a way, when one creates a new theater, it is like a wedding between the public and the new space. The end of A Midsummer Night's Dream is literally the blessing of the house. Titania, Oberon, and the Fairies—in this production they're called the Rude Elementals, but the Fairies, in most productions—are there to bless this new house.
So it seemed an apt ritual for our new theater, here. My instinct is to do tragedies, normally. I love Titus Andronicus. I think Titus is a completely realistic play, completely. There are some parts that are hard to make work, but basically just go to any war state that we have now and it's not any less grotesque. And I'd love to do Macbeth. I love King Lear and the other more serious of Shakespeare's plays. But I think that this one just felt like the right joyous celebration to open Theatre for a New Audiences' new home.
SOLOMON: Yes, it is a joyous celebration and was part of a wedding celebration as far as we know historically, and yet there are some sinister elements in this play.
TAYMOR: Of course, because that's natural to Shakespeare. He is basically presenting to you love in all its glory, warts and all. He is saying: This is every aspect of love. As Titus was a complete investigation, a dissertation, on every kind of violence that can possibly be perpetrated, this is every kind of love. It's love at first sight, innocent love, love twisted by the mind, love twisted by drugs, love twisted by lust, love twisted by jealousy, by a marriage on the rocks, love twisted by violence. You've got the Duke of Athens ready to get married to his Amazonian bride, whom he most likely raped and conquered.
He says: I won thee with violence—I wooed thee with violence and won thee by my sword. So what I love about Shakespeare is that he doesn't create a kind of goody-two-shoes view of marriage or of love. He says, beware of love and enjoy it, but it's ephemeral, it's quixotic, it's unreliable, it's transformative, it's not to be trusted: all of these things. And we try and create marriages, and rules, and codification of what is an irrational state of being, an emotional state of being. As soon as you try to put a harness on it, it will sometimes rear its head and gallop away; you'll lose control.
So the point is that it's not easy to control. Then, there's the other aspect of the play, which for us in this day and age is tough, which is that he has conquered this queen, and she doesn't become unconquered. And Titania is kind of given her comeuppance, in a way, by Oberon having her juiced and having her fall in love with a beast. She is humiliated and runs right back into the arms of Oberon and gives up her Indian boy. That is the symbol of their disharmony.
SOLOMON: Is that something you're trying to undercut in some way? When you directed Taming of the Shrew, as I remember, you found a kind of counterreading an angle different from the one from which it had been regarded for many years.
TAYMOR: Well, I think that Shakespeare's too smart a guy. He was very apt at writing the truth about everything.
I think that he saw what middle-age marriage is like. And he understood in The Taming of the Shrew what it is to be a smart woman and just not want to put up with bullshit. So Kate is called a shrew, but is she really? Isn't she just more loud, more angry because of the situation of her life, that she can't make a choice of the man she wants? I'm not bothered by the female part of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm not exploring that. I think the characters and situations are rich enough that one doesn't need to lay a whole other level on top of it. I really like to just uncover in these plays what is already there.
SOLOMON: That reminds me of what Theseus says about the Pyramus and Thisbe play he's about to see at the end of Midsummer: "never anything can be amiss / When simpleness and duty tender it." Then he asks the audience to fill in whatever may be lacking with their imaginations, something that has always been characteristic of your work. Ever since the first piece of yours that I saw in the early 1980s, I have always been struck by how you can create such wonder and beautiful spectacle with, if I may so call them, simple tricks of theater. And this approach seems especially apt for this play, which is so much about the workings of the imagination. Would you describe some of the techniques you're using here, how they involve the audience, and how far you can go in creating illusion before doing too much for the audience?
TAYMOR: Yes. When I have been interviewed about Lion King, I have often talked about filling in the blanks, that you don't need it all. The Globe Theater, the theater that Shakespeare worked in predominantly, was an empty space, most likely. What is so profound is that the language fills in those blanks and creates the battlefields and the court, and the throne rooms, and the taverns; he uses language. But for me as a director, his language is also extremely visual and therefore it also inspires me to create visuals.
What Es Devlin, the set designer, and I are trying to do in the design and the concept here, is that everything comes from a bed sheet, everything. It starts with a bed as a most obvious and simple image, of a man—in this case a he-she because our Puck is
whatever gender you want to call Puck—sleeping. And from that moment, the trees that push up that mattress are the dream that infiltrates our minds when we go to sleep, takes over. And then the Rude Mechanicals come and literally take ropes with hooks, very mechanical, very banal, very in your face.
They hook up the corners of the bed sheet, they raise it up into the sky, and lo and behold, there are clouds. So these Rude Mechanicals who are working men of
Athens or New York City, they are our crew, they are our theater makers, our behind-the- scenes carpenters, tailors, Bottom the Weaver: These are the guys who make magic happen. They take from nature and they make tables out of trees and chairs out of trees. They make costumes out of the sky. It's this constant back and forth between the poetic, the ephemeral, the spiritual, the intangible, irrational world, and the banal, direct world.
Also, the forest comes alive. Now, does it come alive with every single plant and green leaf? No, of course not. We're using black and white bamboo rods. It's extremely sculptural. Between the rods and the sheets, that's pretty much the elements of this production. There are one or two cases where we have some furniture, but that's for the Rude Mechanicals, who are the practical guys. The rest is constantly moving canopies that become wedding tents, that become tablecloths. I've worked in that vernacular before with [The] Haggadah at the Public Theater. The tablecloth in the Passover ceremony just spread out and became the Red Sea. Or The Tempest where the sail was the shadow screen at the same time.
Midsummer is on a bigger scale. You're seeing all of the ropes. The theater is very exposed. And we're using lights and projections. So you may get literal trees, but they're on moving fabric. It's not like a static image; it's on something that's changeable and moving. It's very ephemeral and dreamlike in that sense, and extremely hard to control. We are doing our best, but it is humans, and ropes, and wind, and air. And so it has a kind of changeable, quixotic quality.
SOLOMON: That does seem to fit the sense of the play itself: the forest is unpredictable and—
TAYMOR: Well, that's the point. This day of midsummer madness that Shakespeare was riffing off of, is like any of those things in topsy-turvy. In most cultures there is at least one day where everything turns upside down. What he did with this night is to put everybody into an unsafe place where anything can happen.
What's more, Demetrius is the only one of the lovers that is never unjuiced. It's a small, but important twist that the love juice reveals the simple truth of his love for Helena. The drug melts away societal notions of money and beauty, the notion that Hermia is the more appropriate mate. It is only in this state that Demetrius' first yearnings for Helena can be rediscovered.
SOLOMON: And isn't he the one who keeps referring to rationality to talk about the sudden love that he experiences?
TAYMOR: Yes, completely. They're always talking about what is rational. And even Bottom talks about that. The beauty of Bottom's dream is, I think, at the heart of what Shakespeare is also saying: Don't explain it. Don't analyze your dreams. The dream is somehow connected to the unfathomable, which is God-like, and we as humans shouldn't go there. I mean, we shouldn't try to control that, as well. I love that. I think that's beautiful.
And that's why children are so important to this production because they're pre-control.
SOLOMON: You're using children as the Fairies—right?—or the Elementals, as you are calling them.
TAYMOR: Yes, there are 20 prepubescent kids. They not only play the Fairies, as written, but also play the forest. They're the trees, the creatures, dogs, does, snakes, bats, moths. They are the wind, they're your mind. They're Puck's posse, who terrorize the Mechanicals when Bottom changes. They're an incarnation of the emotions of the lovers. They're the nightmare of Hermia. They are the elements.
SOLOMON: Were you jumping off of the scholarly conjecture that historically, in the original production, the Fairies were indeed played by children?
TAYMOR: No. I don't care what other productions did, though I would imagine that they would have been children. I think it works better with children, just the idea of it, the energy.
Most initiation ceremonies all over the world are when you're 13 or so, when you finally start to have sexuality that is recognizable and separates boys from girls, and they have to control their nature. That's what we call it: our nature. So I wanted that feeling. What has been amazing in the rehearsals with these kids is the sheer joy they get out of a trap opening, or a line coming down.
I mean, seriously, the unfettered, sheer, pure, direct, emotion.
SOLOMON: Isn't that the thrilling thing that theater lets all of us do—I mean, don't we get to have that sort of childlike wonder?
TAYMOR: Well, that's what I hope. It goes to a DNA part of us that relates to the first shadows on the wall that were made into foxes and rabbits. Where we suspended our disbelief and we said: "Oh, yes, I know it's a hand with a light behind it casting a shadow; but no it's not, it's a fox, it's a rabbit."
SOLOMON: "How easy is a bush suppos'd a bear," as Theseus says.
TAYMOR: Yes. That's exactly what it is.
SOLOMON: So let's talk about shadows, since it's an element that you have long used in your work, and was such a significant part of your early study in theater. Oberon is the King of Shadows. The actors are referred to as shadows, most famously in Puck's epilogue. How are you pulling up the shadow element and physicalizing that?
TAYMOR: We are doing a lot of shadows because, obviously with fabric, if you're doing projections, you can't help but have shadows. But there are deliberate shadows, as well. I never see any evidence that Oberon is called the King of the Fairies. It's not in the text anywhere, and King of Shadows is. But I think when the actor playing Puck says, "if we shadows have offended," Puck is talking about the actors. The actors in Shakespeare are shadowing our lives.
They're shadowing us with a different perspective. And you can like it, or you might not like it. And you might find it fearful. Shakespeare was bringing up the magical world of fairies and elves, which in that time, probably would have been considered dangerous and, like you said, sinister, and anti-Christianity. This is a world of animism and of old fairytales and ancient beliefs that would come from the country.
He was treading on dangerous ground. There's a part where Oberon says: 'We are spirits of another sort. We're not the negative spirits.' Even though there's darkness in Titania and Oberon, really Oberon is very positive. He's trying to help Helena, and help the lovers find their true loves.
SOLOMON: Let's talk a little about the acting. I know in the past you've worked with the idea of ideographs, of a kind of essential, distilled-down gesture that helps define the inner experience and thematic concerns of characters in a physical way. Is that guiding your work here, as well?
TAYMOR: I don't know if I've worked on that, not as much as in the past. I think this has been really more just finding the parts. It's very physical, though. It's not dance-y, but there are moves that are highly stylized. And surely for the character of Puck we have talked about the physicality, and the physicality of Oberon and Titania. That's just how I work. But I wouldn't say that I'm asking them to find an ideograph in the way that I might have done in the past. Not in the same kind of codified way.
SOLOMON: What qualities are the actors you cast bringing to the roles?
TAYMOR: David Harewood as Oberon brings explosive power, incredible sexuality, but there's also fun and joy and devilishness. He's not just the big, bad Oberon. He's loving, and it's a very complete character that way. But he's jealous, he's got all of that. And our wonderful Tina Benko as Titania is stunning. She has got incredible imperial queen-like nature to her, very chiseled, but also has a low-brow bawdiness, and a very human side. Those characters have to straddle the more stylized idea, something that is more abstract, more an essence of being the Fairy Queen, or the King of Shadows, and not just the humans.
They are not humans. But that doesn't mean—not unlike the Greek Gods—that they're not operating with completely human emotion, which they are. So that's always with these characters, the hardest thing.
As Puck, Kathryn Hunter is such a transformer physically, and she can do so many marvelous things with her body. I am using it. We are really using it. She's astounding and can contort, and can jump on Oberon, and can move around. Everything she does comes from the character. She operates from the script. The words, the language move her. It's always organic.
I've read many times that the four lovers are indistinguishable, but I didn't find that at all. They're very clearly defined. Lysander is a poet, a rebel. Perhaps this is the reason why Hermia's father, Egeus, doesn't want him to marry his daughter. Lysander speaks in such forward language, and is a romantic and a wild boy. It's clear that he's the 'hippie.' He's the one that the father does not want. Whereas Demetrius is straighter, stiffer, he's almost—we're not doing this, but the Wall Street banker's son—a son-in-law who could be like a mini Egeus.
And he's a liar. He's given his love to Helena, and sees somebody else and his eyes turn, for what reason we don't know. But if you go with those ideas, then, when you're casting, you can find actors who have such differences that make the characters even more definitive individuals.
SOLOMON: We're running out of time, so let me ask you one last thing. People know this play; they have expectations of it. They also have expectations of you that maybe can feel a little burdensome. Are there any preconceptions you'd like to disabuse people of in advance?
TAYMOR: One of the reasons I've never directed A Midsummer Night's Dream, was because I felt like it was what people thought was up my alley because of The Lion King and puppetry, and all that. And that's why I gravitate more toward the human plays, the plays that don't have this world of magic and other-worldly creatures. But our Rude Elementals are extremely human in that they don't have accoutrements that make them Fairies. They're children. And it's their energy and their essence that makes them these characters, not objects that they're holding or anything like that.
I couldn't imagine—unless you use puppets, which would work very well—how else would you do those characters?
Some people set the play in the streets of LA and street people are the fairies. There's all that kind of stuff that's been done a lot. Or, you place it in Haiti, or you place it in Brazil or something, so you use another cultural reference to be able to understand the Fairies. That's totally acceptable, it's great, it's just we're not doing that. We're not placing it in a time period or place. It's really its own time and place and space.
SOLOMON: And maybe all importantly the space of the theater.
TAYMOR: Really all importantly. You're extremely aware of the theater. Everything—the scaffolding, the ropes, the wires—you're going to see through these things. And we're really using the height and the depth of the new theater. The mechanics of the theater are part of the magic.
ALISA SOLOMON is a teacher, writer and dramaturg living in New York City. She directs the Arts and Culture concentration in the MA program at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Her criticism, essays, and political reporting have appeared in a wide range of magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Nation, Forward, Theater, and Village Voice (where she was on the staff for 21 years). Her book, Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theater and Gender (Routledge, 1997) won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. She is the co-editor (with Tony Kushner) of the anthology Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Grove, 2003). Her new book, Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof, is just out from Metropolitan Books (Holt).


text: What do you feel like on the inside Find out from me if you are jelouse Honest Have fun Enjoy Byeee Luv ~Alyssa~<3 XOXOXOXOXO Gymnasticschickk52298 published on August 09, 201132 responses 1 3.3★ / 5 Questions in vertical order Have you ever been jelouse No I'm honest all the time :) Yes :( Depends :/ Do you think your better than other people? Yes! :) No Maybe Do you want your bffs Boyfriend to like you and not her? Yes! No! I would never do that to my bff Depends Do you feel like you want more attention from everyone Sometimes Yes maybe no Do you hate anyone even people you don't know Yes No Depends Do you hate asian black people or none None No asians Blacks Yes Do you honor your parents Yes No

subset: commoncrawl


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I created my third hot sauce yesterday! I wanted to try something seasonal and I decided to go with pumkin habanero.
I found some recipes online but mostly created this on the fly.
6 Habaneros - Roasted
.6 lbs canned pumpkin
1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups water
Salt (to taste)
Cinnamon Sugar (to taste)
The flavor came out with a nice sweet taste almost like pumpkin pie but it also delivered the kick I was looking for with the habaneros. I would definitely recommend this! It yielded 3 full 8 oz. jars.
If anyone has any additional tips on pumpkin sauces or has any other feedback, let me know!
Also, if you try it...good luck!


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That hurts.
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Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Today on The Michelangelo Signorile Show on SiriusXM PROGRESS ch.127
Monday, March 13, 2017
Today on The Michelangelo Signorile Show on SiriusXM PROGRESS ch.127
Following the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, both white nationalists and the Religious Right appear energized and are gearing up to assert their influence on the American political system.
Both groups vociferous supported Trump's candidacy during the campaign and both contingents are thrilled at Trump's unexpected victory, as well as the authoritarian bent he's quickly brought to the executive branch. However, according to a new report from People For The American Way, Trump is not the sole leader that both of these cohorts vocally support, and that many of them believe that Russia is the only one country, and Putin is the only leader, worth emulating. Joining me today to talk all about the report and how the American Right learned to Love Moscow is the report's author is Casey Michel, a journalist who has worked in both the US and the former Soviet Union.


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Love means never having to say you're sorry. Advertising, however, has a lot of apologising.
Brands want to build a relationship with people, and just like real relationships, there are going to be rough patches. And break ups. And make ups.
There are so many things that can turn people off from a brand - a bad customer service experience, poor product quality, a change in policy, an offensive ad or something as little as a change in the packaging or logo. (Or is that just me?)
Then brands have to do the ultimate "please forgive me" crawl and beg customers to like them again.
Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. (I've never forgiven Walmart for their hundreds of indiscretions but for some reason have forgiven Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie for being generally horrible.)
Sometimes the apology 1. Gets people more mad 2. Let's people who didn't know you effed up before know that you effed up. So it can work against you in the end. Especially coming from a big brand with rich shareholders and owners who you and I both know don't give a damn about us. Tell them MJ)
And sometimes the things people are complaining about aren't really that serious. (Like being mad Ellen is gay, and that time Samuel Jackson said damn.)
At the end of the day, as a creative, you want to save your brand (and your job) so you do what you can to make amends and get back on people's good side.
Assignment: Think of any brands that need to give an apology right about now and come up with a campaign to help them regain the public's love.
Here are three examples of apology ads that aren't the worst.
JC Penney


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Wednesday, 29 Jul 2009
MEDIA RELEASE Issued
29 July 2009 Schools First award applications now open
Exciting new awards initiative for schools
Applications are now open for a new and exciting awards initiative designed to reward excellence in school-community partnerships. Schools are invited to apply for a Schools First award that will help them build strong partnerships with groups and organisations in their local communities.
Research shows that strong school–community partnerships can make a positive contribution to young people's educational outcomes, including improved skills, greater engagement with learning, more positive attitudes, and improved transitions into the workforce, further education or training.
'This is an excellent initiative because it encourages schools to draw on the wide range of knowledge and skills that exist in their communities to improve outcomes for students,' said Professor
Geoff Masters, CEO of ACER. 'It also benefits communities by helping to develop resilient young people who can contribute positively to their communities.' Schools can apply for two kinds of awards: Impact Awards, which are for schools that can demonstrate an excellent school–community partnership; and Seed Funding Awards, which are for those schools wanting to set up such a partnership.
There are 68 Impact Awards worth $50,000 each and 20 Seed Funding Awards of $25,000 each. Winners of the local Impact Award could win an additional $50,000 as a state/territory winner. The national winner is eligible for an award of between $500,000 and $1m. These awards represent a substantial financial commitment to the development of high quality school–community partnerships.
Award applications opened on 1 July 2009 and close on 14 August 2009. The Awards will also be available in 2010 and 2011.
The Schools First initiative is the brainchild of two not-for-profit companies (the Australian Council for Educational Research and Foundation for Young Australians) and the National Australia Bank (NAB).
To find out more about Schools First and to download application forms, awards criteria, guidelines and Terms and Conditions visit www.schoolsfirst.edu.au or call 1800 649 141. Articles describing ACER's role in Schools First can be read in the Summer 2008-09 and Winter 2009 editions of Research Developments, available online at www.acer.edu.au/resdev/


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Mill Turn is a complete multi-tasking CAD-CAM software that combines all of the powerful CNC programming functionality of both Milling and Turning into a single streamlined machining solution. BobCAD-CAM's multi-tasking CNC software delivers high-performance features in an easy to use interface, designed to meet the complex programming demands of Mill Turn machining.
The newly redesigned user interface features a modern, ribbon-style UI. The intuitive organization of the new interface simplifies the process of discovering and remembering where important functions are located. Also, as the software grows any additional functions you add will already be organized into familiar groups. Discover all the exciting and powerful new features in BobCAD-CAM V31.
Use toolpath operations for OD, ID, Front Face or Back Face turning with any turret or spindle.
Use 2D and 3D toolpath operations on the Face, OD or index location of your part with more control and options than conversational or conversion codes.
Choose from Longhand code, Y-axis mode, or polar interpolation formats. This gives you the control to choose the best output supported by your machine and for your operation.
Programming on your main or sub-spindle with your upper or lower turret using BobCAD's sub-machine work-groups.
Use cross drilling to automatically find and program holes that intersect with your part's centerline. This feature eliminates the need to select holes individually.
Use your machine's Mill head for 5-axis positioning and contour Milling, unlocking true 5-axis programming on your Mill Turn center.
Check for collisions with your machine components, turrets, adaptors, and tooling. This gives you peace of mind that your toolpath is error & collision free.
Add a custom programming block before & after tool changes or at the end of operations. Used to control turret location, part catchers, steady rests and more. Also used to store programming blocks for part transfers and other Feedback Web results auxiliary functions.
Customize Tool and Adapter locations with mounting orientations. Use the shelf to store common tooling used in recent projects. Easily unmount and change station locations to optimize configurations.
Make copies of your toolpath based on an array, translate, rotate or points. This allows you to program multiple instances of a single feature, setup or group.


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Softball team prepares for ninth-consecutive winning season/
After a tough end to a successful year, Sonoma State softball is revving back up to prepare for the upcoming season.
On Feb. 3, the team will begin its quest for a ninth-consecutive winning season, as the players travel to Las Vegas for the annual Desert Stinger Tournament. It will be their first chance to make their 2016 season-ending loss to Chico State a distant memory.
Last year was solid overall, as the Seawolves made Regionals for the eighth-straight time and finished third in a strong CCAA appearance. With eight departing seniors, others will have to step up to repeat that level of success.
Among those who have graduated are 2016 All-Region selections Mandy Llerena and Carlie Daniel, two players that sophomore pitcher Brielle Vidmar believes were key.
"Carlie was our doubles queen…I believe she tied the [school] record for most doubles in a season," Vidmar said. She describes Llarena as a pitcher that the team "could always rely on."
This year's team may not be short on talent, but building up that type of unwavering trust will take time. There are 10 new players on the Seawolves roster, including four freshmen and six transfers. There is plenty of optimism surrounding the team, however, and it all starts with coach Jennifer Bridges, who has led the program to seven great years in as many tries.
"Coach B brings out the competitor in all of us," said junior catcher Sarah Langley. "She's always having us compete in practice, if it's a non-softball related game or a bunting [competition], she always brings the fire out of us. If you aren't a competitor, Coach B will help you grow into one."
While lighting a fire is important, Bridges' drills are about more than instilling intensity in her players.
"She puts on practices that are specific to skills that we need in order to succeed," said Vidmar, "and she'll work with you individually if there's a skill you're struggling with."
With so many new faces, this approach will be especially key. While Bridges believes that the experience of the six junior transfers will help ease the turnover, she realizes her demanding coaching style will be an adjustment for everyone.
"The hardest transition for the new players is the work ethic and expectation of our program…trusting that it's ok to push yourself past where you think your limits are," Bridges said.
Besides shifting personnel, injuries may be the Seawolves' greatest obstacle. Health was a factor at several points last year, and the problem still persists as this season approaches. Senior Ashley Long and sophomore Alee Balanon are expected to miss the entire year, while seven other players are dealing with minor to significant bumps and bruises.
Every team deals with injuries, and ever-changing rosters are a part of college sports. Langley pointed out how the latter may actually benefit the Seawolves this year.
"There's always a major loss on the other top teams' rosters," Langley said. "[Our new players] bring a fresh outlook to the game mentally, offering their own experiences…this has allowed us to grow even stronger."
Power and speed were already roster strengths, and Langley believes some of the newcomers package these two skills in a way that adds to the team's other major on-field strength: versatility.
"Every person brings something really unique and important to the team," Langley said.
Of course, as it always has been under Coach Bridges, the Seawolves' consider their biggest strength to be their intangibles. Considering the consistent success they've had during her tenure, no one is expecting that to change.
"We communicate well and we go all out," Vidmar said. "We aren't afraid to make a mistake, we just always give 100 percent."


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At Dyer, Dyer, Jones & Daniels, Attorneys at Law, you can rest assured that your case will be handled by a skilled professional who not only has multiple years of litigation, negotiation, arbitration and mediation experience, but who also possesses the distinct qualities of a successful attorney.
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Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Ferrari Testarossa
Produced between 1984-96, the Ferrari Testarossa is the archetypal red-braces symbol of eighties supercar excess - imagine it parked up in the City between a Countach and a 930 Turbo, its slash-cut side-strakes glinting in the light. It's an impressive image, but one that's anchored in a time period that, frankly, is a little embarrassing.
Which is a shame for the Testarossa... but not for anyone who might be in the market to buy one. You see, the image has unduly damaged the reputation of the flat-twelve-engined behemoth but, when all's said and done, it's still a Ferrari, and an immediately recognisable one at that. Being born in Maranello guarantees four things: 1) fabulous performance, 2) unparallelled handling, 3) exemplary build quality and 4) that wherever you go, people will be impressed.
But because the Testarossa image is rather Gordon Gekko these days, you can pick one up for around £35,000. That's the price of a new Mercedes SLK, for example. And what do you get for your money? A 4.9-litre all-alloy flat-twelve producing 390bhp and 361lb.ft, 0-60mph in 5.2s and a top speed of 181mph.
Of course, the best thing about the Testarossa is that it embodies everything a true supercar should be, in that it's utterly ridiculous. It's far too wide, the visibility is terrible, there isn't an elegant way to get in or out and you'll need to change the cambelt every couple of years, which will involve taking the whole engine out and will cost you two grand a time. All of these points are, of course, positives - if you're in the market for a £35k car, get a Testarossa. Get one now. You had a picture of one on your wall when you were a kid, admit it - now's the time to live out your über-ostentatious supercar fantasies.
Cortina Auto-Bobbing
Jim Clark driving a mkI Cortina down a bobsleigh run. Is this a good idea...?
Yes. Of course it is.
Yes. Of course it is.
What not to buy
Some vintage TG footage - the world's smuggest man, Quentin Willson, tries to steer you away from such classics as the Ford Scorpio and the, ahem , 'Rover A Hundred', via the most agonisingly cliché-ridden script you've ever heard. Irritatingly hilarious.
Sorry, just how does a falling girder depreciate...? And how can you tell if a bison has a migraine?
Sorry, just how does a falling girder depreciate...? And how can you tell if a bison has a migraine?
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Driven - Ford Focus 1.6
The Ford Focus has a good chassis. Everyone knows that, right? It's a monumental victory - they've made a utilitarian mass-market car that handles, bringing driving joy to the masses.
This was true of the mkI Focus. It handled in a sublime manner - chuckable yet predictable, playful yet planted, with an eager range of powerplants from the little 1600 Zetec through the diesels and up to the top-of-the-line performance models. So the mkII should be more of the same. But it really isn't.
I'll ruin the ending for you right now: there is no twist. This story doesn't end well. The new Ford Focus 1.6 is a fundamentally bad car. So bad, in fact, that when cruising on the motorway it's entirely possible to forget that you're driving it at all. I felt a strong temptation to take my hands off the wheel and grab a magazine from my bag, just for something to do - I didn't feel like I was driving the thing. Thankfully, the thrashy little engine makes a colossal noise at anything above 60mph, so there's no danger of falling asleep.
It's as if every individual element of the driving experience has been pinpointed by Ford and systematically blunted, one by one, to ensure that this is a car that caters specifically for people that have no interest in driving. The steering has a dead-spot an inch and a half wide in the centre, making it genuinely possible to wiggle the wheel from side to side like you're driving the Playbus, with absolutely no reaction from the front wheels. The finesse and poise of the mkI are totally absent - you don't so much corner in this car as waft... and not in the way that you might in a Bentley. You waft in a manner that suggests the spring cups have been stuffed with marshmallows. It's like they've deliberately tried to make it unpleasant and uninvolving. Actually no, unpleasant is too emotive a word. There's just nothing to the way the Focus handles. It's bland. It's beige.
The process of changing gear is agonisingly torturous - a snatchy clutch that seems angry at you for bothering it, mated to a floppy gearbox that has such a comically long throw that changing from third to fourth involves moving the knob a good six or seven inches - and, sadly, you need to do it irritatingly frequently. Why? Because Ford's engineers have inexplicably seen fit to scoop out the innards of the 1.6-litre engine and replace it with something spinny and pointy bearing a Moulinex plaque. And everyone knows that blenders have a stupidly narrow torque band.
The interior is a depressing and bleak place to be. On the plus side, it's hugely spacious, the aircon's pretty good and the stereo is, well, not bad. But there are about thirty different kinds of plastic in there, ranging from the sort you'd find in a tin of biscuits to something you'd expect to have 'Aerobie' emblazoned upon it. It feels like a first-time design study by a group of enthusiastic but misguided sixth-formers on a tight budget, rather than the sort of thing you'd expect to receive in return for 14,000 of your hard-earned pounds. The benefit of this, of course, is that it suitably lowers your expectations - you already know, before turning the key, that the whole experience is going to be a big let-down.
It was a vicious bastard too. The fiddly passenger seatbelt clasp took a sizeable chunk out of my wife's arm (seriously, she's got a scar), while I walked away with a bruised leg from the aggravatingly intrusive driver-door armrest. It clearly hated us as much as we hated it. Still, at least we'd only borrowed the wretched thing - imagine how those poor sods who've actually bought one must feel...
Top Deer
Hyundai in sense-of-humour shocker. Lovely.
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Steve McQueen's Porsche 911
In the spring of 1970, Steve McQueen resided in France for a short period while filming the movie 'Le Mans'. While there he ordered himself a brand new Porsche 911S, for use both in the film and for personal countryside blasts. When the movie wrapped up he decided he wanted to keep the car, so he sent it off to Stuttgart for some more US-friendly gear ratios before having it shipped to his California home. However, he already had a '69 911 that he'd spent a small fortune installing a bespoke stereo in - he was that kind of guy - so the new Porsche was surplus to requirements.
Buying it from McQueen in 1971 from a small ad in the LA Times, the new owner used it as a daily driver for the next 34 years before selling it to a local 356 enthusiast. The car is still in its original spec today, featuring all of the options picked out by McQueen four decades ago: air-conditioning, leather seats, tinted windows, Fuchs alloys, driving lamps and US-band Blaupunkt stereo. It hardly needs saying that the man had taste.
Nürburgring 24hr - video
This gorgeously edited video captures the emotion, the excitement and the passion of a gruelling event at arguably the world's least forgiving circuit. Truly a work of art - be sure to watch it in fullscreen.
24 HOURS IN 19500 FRAMES from tim hahne on Vimeo.
Monte Carlo Escort
The mkII Escort is one of SuckSqueezeBangBlow's favourite cars and, as mentioned many times before, won more rallies at world, national and international level than any other car ever, including 17 WRC victories between 1975 and 1981.
One unusual and little-known variant is the Monte Carlo-spec Escort, built in 1978 to campaign in '79. There were three cars built to this spec at Boreham, with super-lightweight hand-fabricated shells. The cars had a much longer and wider track than other competition Escorts, with revised rear axle location and front suspension pick-up points. It's rumoured that the arches were made deliberately huge to try to disguise this fact, with drivers instructed to park away from other Group 4 Escorts in the paddock!
The engines were highly-tuned BDAs with Kugelfischer fuel injection, producing 272bhp, and were chassis-mounted to allow them to sit lower and further back in the body. The cars also featured huge AP Racing brakes, unique ultra-thin window glass and arches substantial enough to allow 10" wide wheels at the front and a faintly ludicrous 13" wide at the rear.
Campaigned by Bjørn Waldergård, Hannu Mikkola and Russell Brooks, they weren't so much rulebreakers as imaginative interpretations of the book. They are extremely sought after today, with Brooks' car currently being offered at an eye-watering £98,500. If that's stretching the budget a bit, Montescort can build you an Escort to full Monte Carlo spec. But at 350+ man-hours per car, it's not going to be cheap...
Jetta on airbags
Simple but effective - take one mkII Volkswagen Jetta, fit a VR6 engine and banded Corrado steels, then let the airbag suspension do the talking. Click here for more.
Focus RS500 at the Nordschleife
There's a lot of speculation surrounding the Focus RS500's prowess. Not only does it have to be worthy of the hallowed RS badge, following a distinguished line of Escorts, Capris and Sierras (OK, and a couple of slightly less good Fiestas), but carrying off the RS500 name is not a task to be taken lightly. The respect and reverence of the Sierra RS500 Cosworth is strong enough to ensure that any car that tries to emulate it, or at least follow competently in its footsteps, needs to be pretty damned impressive.
As we can see from this footage of Mikko Hirvonen throwing it around the Nordschleife, Ford may have just about pulled it off.
His relaxed attitude suggests a rather more forgiving nature than the Sierra RS500... although he is used to throwing monstrous rally cars through forests. We'll have to wait until Ford lend us one before making our own decisions.
As we can see from this footage of Mikko Hirvonen throwing it around the Nordschleife, Ford may have just about pulled it off.
His relaxed attitude suggests a rather more forgiving nature than the Sierra RS500... although he is used to throwing monstrous rally cars through forests. We'll have to wait until Ford lend us one before making our own decisions.
Indy 500 wipeout
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Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's Facebook announcement on the 19th of September, declaring his return to politics, ended months of speculation about his possible comeback. Even though he vowed to quit politics for good after losing the 2012 presidential elections to François Hollande, he now sees it as his duty to save the socialist-lead country from 'unprecedented anger and despair'. In his announcement, he only mentioned his candidacy to the presidency of his political family (the French centre-right party, Union pour un Mouvement Populaire-UMP), but there is little doubt that this is only the first step towards his ambitions to run for presidency again in 2017. In a country struggling with a stagnating economy with unemployment rates at an all-time high of 10.2 percent[1] and the continuous rise in popularity of the far-right Front National, Sarkozy as a president would need to provide solutions to the economic problems and win back radical voters. It is worth examining what his chances of bringing real change to France are and if, after his controversial past, he would still have the support of his party and voters to do so.
Starting with the economy, Sarkozy's concerns about France's current policies are shared by the vast majority of the country. The fact that Hollande's popularity sank to 13% this September – a record low among French presidents of the post-war period – can be largely attributed to his constant failures to achieve economic progress. The government's 0.4 per cent growth forecast for this year is far from the 1.5 per cent that would be sufficient to begin shrinking the double-digit unemployment rate. Hollande's campaign promise to reduce the budget deficit to the EU-designated limit of 3 per cent did not succeed[2] either ; in fact, Brussels is now ready to reject France's 2015 budget, which would include a budget deficit of 4.3 percent.[3] Hollande was also criticised by the European Commission for choosing the route of tax increases to try to lessen the deficit: instead of the €30 billion of extra tax income from raising corporate taw, income tax and VAT, the receipts from all three taxes amounted to a mere € 16 billion in 2013, creating a €14 billion black hole in public finances.[4]
Following such negative figures, it is evident that Sarkozy would attempt to cast himself as a saviour who can restore hope and achieve economic progress. However, it is worth looking at France's situation during his quinquennat, from 2007 to 2012, to see that the present problems were at least as serious then. Despite his campaign promise to reduce France's budget deficit, in 2012, it stood at 4.8 percent,[5] much higher than the permitted 3. Even though unemployment did not reach the same levels currently plaguing Hollande's presidency, Sarkozy still did not manage to keep his promise of bringing it under 5 percent : compared to 8.4 percent in 2007, unemployment had reached 9.8 percent by 2012.[6] One cannot ignore the effects of the financial crisis on these figures; although France resisted the initial shock in 2008, the country could not be spared from its impact by the midterm. While Sarkozy declared to have 'learned from his mistakes,' analysts criticised his newly outlined plans to save France by saying that there is nothing fundamentally fresh in them. Though he proposed to raise the retirement age to 63 and promised tax cuts, he avoided giving specific details, leaving it hard to predict what his concrete plans are.[7]
Apart from his economic policies, it is impossible to ignore other factors that influenced his reputation as a president, such as the many and still-emerging scandals, making him the most unpopular holder of the position before Hollande (with 36 percent of popularity in 2012).[8] His nickname, "le président bling-bling," suggests the French nation's disapproval of his ostentatious lifestyle, including yacht parties with media boss Vincent Bolloré, a 55,000-euro watch and a supermodel ex-wife.[9] More recently, his name has appeared in seven pending scandals, including the Azibert affair, for which he was detained by police and questioned for 15 hours at the beginning of July. The authorities are trying to establish if Sarkozy tried to get Mr Azibert, a well-placed judge, promoted to Monaco in exchange for information on the investigation of the financing of his 2007 campaign. If found guilty of the most serious of charges, including active corruption, he can face 10 years in prison.[10] Although he denies the allegations, such scandals can evidently ruin his chances of being considered once more as a serious candidate for the presidency.
It also partially explains why Front National's deputy leader Florian Philippot called him 'a great candidate' from their point of view, suggesting that he would not stand a chance to win back voters from the far right.[11] Recent polls provide support for his words; according to them, Marine Le Pen would defeat Sarkozy in the first round of the election.[12] His plans of 'creating a broad movement that can speak to the French as a whole' did not seem to convince the voters either. Two days after his return, 66% of them responded with a 'no' to the question if they want to see Sarkozy as a presidential candidate. He also faces competition within his party. To even get close to the presidency, he would first have to defeat ex-prime minister Alain Juppé in the presidential primaries; with Juppé's popularity at 47 and Sarkozy's at 35 percent, it is clear who the French would like to see win.
It is evident that Nicolas Sarkozy's return was not an unequivocal success and his scandals and mistakes made during his time as a president have a deeply negative effect on his future political ambitions. 74%[13] of the French do not find that he 'changed' and they are not ready to give him another chance; this shows the clear need for a fresh, emerging political figure, still in possession of the credibility Sarkozy has long lost.
[2] http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d8f9b6e8-399b-11e4-83c4-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3FpDWWRb6
[3] http://online.wsj.com/articles/eu-prepares-to-reject-frances-2015-budget-setting-up-clash-over-deficit-1412538765
[4] http://www.euractiv.com/sections/euro-finance/hollandes-taxes-blamed-frances-failure-commission-debt-targets-302546
[5] http://www.economie.gouv.fr/deficit-public-2012-chiffres-provisoires-de-l-insee
[6] http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241663019237708.html
[7] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nicolas-sarkozy/11136192/Nicolas-Sarkozy-outlines-plan-to-save-France.html
[8] http://www.lejdd.fr/Election-presidentielle-2012/Actualite/Impopularite-historique-pour-Nicolas-Sarkozy-502708
[9] http://www.english.rfi.fr/economy/20120506-why-did-sarkozy-lose-french-presidential-election
[10] http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2014/09/04/ecoutes-de-nicolas-sarkozy-gilbert-azibert-auditionne_4481535_3224.html
[11] http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/19/us-france-sarkozy-idUSKBN0HE1N820140919
[12] http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/1.614440
[13] http://www.lesinrocks.com/2014/10/09/actualite/nicolas-sarkozy-campagne-convainc-pas-11528849/


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Artificial Titanium Heart Device
Artificial Titanium Heart Device
In January 1986, Dr. O.H. Frazier of the Texas Heart Institute (THI) initiated clinical trials for the Thoratec HeartMate IP LVAS (implantable pneumatic). THI was the first center to take part in these studies, and its surgeons and researchers played a key role in establishing that the pumps could sustain patients with heart failure. In October 1994, final marketing approval was received from the US Food and Drug Administration.
The pneumatic (air-driven) LVAS is a titanium alloy pump that weighs 570 grams and consists of a blood chamber, an air chamber, a drive-line, and inflow and outflow conduits. Each conduit is a titanium cage that contains a 25-mm porcine (pig) valve within a woven Dacron™-fabric graft. A flexible polyurethane diaphragm separates the blood chamber and the air chamber. Textured surfaces within the blood chamber promote the development of a cellular lining, which helps prevent blood clots and infection. With a stroke volume of 83 milliliters and a maximum pumping rate of 140 beats per minute, the IP LVAS can provide flow rates of up to 12 liters per minute.
The last photo shows our current stock of Artificial Heart devices. These pieces are useful research objects for physicians or engineers, and make a useful historical catalog for your research museum.


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Independence Day Party, July 4, 1979, U.S. Ambassador's Residence, Moscow
(left to right): Kenney Richardson, Manny Zapata, Charles (Cookie) Cook, Mike Matthews, Willie Magee, Bob Bednarz (standing), Larry De Marco, and Paul Staff.
(left to right): Kenney Richardson, Manny Zapata, Charles (Cookie) Cook, Mike Matthews, Willie Magee, Bob Bednarz (standing), Larry De Marco, and Paul Staff.
"At curtain rise, six musicians are standing in front of a luminescent tapestry of atomic spirals, symbols, and words rotating and flashing. The crowd that has gathered to hear them is packed arm-to-arm, scarcely able to move. Everyone is pouring sweat. The temperature seems to be over 100 F. All these neatly dressed people are excited to be here, and hearing the famous Americans. But something between suspicion and curiosity immobilizes their faces, and they stare at the stage with strange eyes. Caught at just one instant, in the permanence of a photograph,this audience appears to be stunned,or horrified,or sleepy,or sad,or perhaps thinking,"you've got to be kidding!" Then Willie Magee,who once played guitar in Harlem's famed Apollo Theatre, motions the Electro-Harmonix Work Band to begin with a certain number by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, in C, all at once 98 decibels of "Shake Your Body" are echoing through Sokolniki Park and nearby Red Square and bringing the news to the better part of downtown Moscow.
Paul Staff in goggles, satin, and American flag motif shirt waits for his cue and then swings in acrobatically from the band pavilion's dome-like ceiling, narrowly missing the lead guitarist Larry DeMarco's eye (it bleeds; the show goes on).The president of the company,Mike Matthews, is putting down a heavy lead on the electric piano through the all-time best-selling electronic music accessory, the "Small Stone," alongside the bass of Kenney Richardson. Charles (Cookie) Cook on drums completes the ensemble. And though the group has never played together before, and has not practiced one song before their performing debut, by the end of this two-week Russia gig all bands members will agree that this was the hottest, most energetic, most memorable music experience of their lives." (more of this story... PDF LINK)


text: Hi, >>"john" == john <email@example.com> writes: john> Manoj Srivastava writes: >> Umm, would debian-devel be a better place for this topic? john> Why? Everybody there already knows how to build a package. john> This should be discussed where those of us thinking about john> becoming developers can see it. Au contrair, people wanting to become developers should probably lurk on the debian-devel lists (which can be quite helpful), and spare people on this list the technical trivia (nost of which is useless to the community at large). Moreever, the debe=ian-devel list is *supposed* to be for questions such as these. manoj -- I think most expert systems should be referred to as "that-guy-in-the- corner-who-everyone-hates-but-can-answer-the-weirdest-questions systems". Or more succinctly, "nerd systems". Peter da Silva, email@example.com Manoj Srivastava <url:mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com> Mobile, Alabama USA <url:http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/> -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to email@example.com . Trouble? e-mail to email@example.com .


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Hard on the heels of its Marat/Sade production, in which graphic sex and violence led many members of the audience to make an early exit, the RSC is now serving up this exceptionally worthy, wordy drama about the King James Bible.
No one is going to walk out in disgust, but I suspect that not a few will find themselves nodding off with boredom.
The dramatist David Edgar has always had a big thing about committees. Some of his plays largely consist of people sitting around a table, jawing interminably.
Here, at least, they mostly stand up, and there is even a touch of naughtiness when one of the clerks working on the new translation pays a servant girl to reveal her nether regions. It's all done very tastefully, though.
This is a play in which you need to do your prep. I spent more than an hour before it started reading Edgar's "afterword" to the published text and the programme notes describing the religious and historical background to King James I's decision to form a committee to produce an authorised English Bible. Yet I still found the piece hard work.
We move backwards and forwards in time, from 1610, when the King James Bible was nearing completion, to 1536, when William Tyndale was imprisoned in Flanders following his own earlier English translation, and then forward to Elizabethan times, when stained-glass windows were being smashed and images of the saints obliterated. The piece then ends as it began, in 1610.
There is a baffling array of clergymen, all with differing and disputatious points of view and very little in the way of individual character. And there is even a long scene in which one of the leading translators, Lancelot Andrewes, the Bishop of Ely, debates at length with Tyndale's ghost, who was strangled and burnt at the stake almost 70 years earlier but whose proscribed English translation formed the basis of much of the King James Version.
Though the director, Gregory Doran, has come up with a brisk production, he cannot disguise the fact that the play is dry and verbose, and I fear its analysis of the English Reformation will seem arcane and irrelevant to many in our present secular age.
Nevertheless it is good to hear some magnificent biblical passages from the K J B in a play that also allows that fine actor Oliver Ford Davis to give us another of his anguished clergymen as Lancelot Andrewes, haunted by the guilt of an earlier betrayal.
There is a strong, movingly spiritual performance, too, from Stephen Boxer as Tyndale, who in producing an English Bible wanted it to be possible for a ploughboy to hear and understand the word of God, unmediated by the clergy.
Written on the Heart also serves as useful reminder that though the Anglican Church often seems pathetically wet and woolly today, not least in its response to the current protest outside St Paul's, Christianity in this country once had a dangerous, fundamentalist rigour about it.


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The Arctic blast sweeping the UK is taking its toll on vehicle batteries across the country, with motorists frustrated by vehicles that refuse to start on freezing mornings.
However, there are some steps you can take to help keep make sure your battery doesn't let you down during the coming days and weeks, even in the most severe weather.
For a start it is worth remembering that batteries usually only have a lifespan of around five years, so if yours is already older than this, it is highly likely it is going to fail as temperatures plummet further this winter. And even relatively new batteries can let you down during the winter, because of the extra demands put on them by the constant use of the heater, windscreen heaters, seat warmers, lights, not to mention mobile phone, iPod and sat nav chargers.
There are also signs to look out for that indicate when your battery is getting weak and may need replacing before it gives up completely. A sluggish starter motor when the ignition key is turned or headlights that dim when the engine speeds drops to an idle, are both warning signals that your battery could be on its last legs.
To give your battery a helping hand and ease some of the pressure, it is a good idea to make sure that non-essentials like seat warmers and windscreen wipers are turned off before turning the ignition on. Equally important is to make sure everything is switched off before leaving your car, such as internal lights which will drain your battery.
If you suspect your battery is on the way out, don't let it struggle on because eventually it will let you down and that could cause you a lot of hassle and expense because it means you will need to have it replaced as an emergency or cause you to miss an important appointment.
Also remember etyres supply and fit a wide range of batteries to suit all vehicles and budgets and our mobile fitting service means we come to you to fit your new battery, so you don't have to worry about how on earth you are going to get to a garage or fast fit centre when your car won't start!
etyres highly competitive prices include fitting, disposal of the old battery and VAT, plus all etyres batteries are supplied with a three year guarantee.


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Catherine Reding, Sightlines Initiative Members Newsletter 2014 Children's Imagination: Creativity under our noses a book by Ursula Kolbe.
This thoughtful, inspiring and beautifully presented book, particularly intended for families, sets out to illustrate to adults just how creative children are and can be. It is a passionate celebration both of children's potential for creative endeavour, and of the role of adults in supporting and nurturing them. Ursula Kolbe uses her observations of children (aged between one-and-a-half and ten) at play showing instances of their curiosity, imagination and creative thinking; her thoughtful analyses help the reader to understand the processes underlying children's thoughts and actions. The book is divided into two parts, exploring two important questions: firstly, "What sparks children's imagination?" and secondly, "What can we do to nourish and support their creative thinking?"
I hope that this book finds its way into the hands of parents who, seeing their own children brimming with curiosity and imagination, would like some guidance and encouragement in how to respond. I hope it helps to give parents the confidence that children don't need expensive clever toys to be creative, that they don't need hours of art lessons, or models or instructions to follow. That what they do need is the nurturing care of adults willing to give them time to dream, to wonder, to explore and create, to try things out and make mistakes; and for those adults to recognise just how "inventive, resourceful and creative their children really are."
Excerpt from Sightlines Initiative Members Newsletter (UK), October 2014
Read full review
Pam Oken-Wright, Amazon Books
In the middle of the tug of war between the grace of childhood and the desire of others far from the child to measure his mind, parents and teachers of young children can find clarity in "Children's Imagination, Creativity Under Our Noses." In this gentle, beautiful book, Ursula Kolbe shows stories of children making their imaginations visible in many different media. Through photographs, images of children's work, and short, accessible explanations and interpretations, she shows what can happen when we give children time and space to explore materials and to engage the imagination. Kolbe shines a light on small, ordinary things that might be overlooked, like the power of the size or shape of a canvas to inspire ideas ("Space speaks to the imagination," she says, on page 31), or what can be learned from paying attention to the child's language-in-process as he draws, as well as to the product (p. 47). At the end of each chapter, Kolbe holds a conversation with parent, Susan Whelan, offering a second perspective on the stories just told. The stories in this book are mostly about children at home. But everything in the book will inspire teachers of young children, too. In the penultimate chapter, "Reflections to build on," Kolbe says, "And, as we've seen, creative thinking depends on purposeful engagement. Moreover, a steady diet of adult-chosen one-off activities denies children opportunities to find the extraordinary in the ordinary for themselves." (p. 73). It seems to me that helping adults see the extraordinary in children's "ordinary" making is the work of this book.
Tania McCartney 2014
At the end of each section, Ursula enters into discussion with Susan Whelan who shines a motherhood light on the concepts that unfold. I found this 'conversation' between two very creative, child-centric women absolutely fascinating.
Children's Imagination is a must-read for parents, educators and anyone intent on harnessing and growing the emotional intelligence and creative depth of children. The imaginative concepts featured in this book will help adults open the door to any child's creative core, offering them learnings that will last right through adulthood, and, I truly believe, aid and abet the happiest life possible—that lived by the heart."
Reena Bilen, 2014
I loved reading this book as I found it both instructive and inspiring. I especially liked the format of the book with case studies of different children and their play. Also useful was the addition of a parent's perspective which I could completely connect with. This is provided by local Newcastle mum of three Susan Whelan. Through their written conversations, Ursula and Susan discuss the key points of the chapter and I found this really helped with my understanding of concepts.
Table of Contents Book Excerpt
How to Buy


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PROMOTION PERIOD: 1 July - 19 August 2018
1. Buy $5 worth of UFC Refresh products to participate in the draw.
2. WhatsApp to +65 8813 8600 in the following format, UFCREFRESH<space>Name<space>NRIC<space>Address<space>Receipt No.
Example: UFCREFRESH Jason Chia S1234567G Marsiling Drive Block 19 #10-70 S730019 RM12345
A pair of tickets to Rainforest Lumina (x100 winners)
1. This promotion is open to all residents of Singapore except the employees and families of Lam Soon Singapore Pte Ltd, its associated agencies and all other partners.
2. Entries must be received by 2359 hrs of 19 Aug 2018 via WhatsApp Messaging to +65 8813 8600 from a locally registered mobile number. Each entry must include the participant's particulars and photo of original receipt with minimum $5 purchase of UFC Refresh products made during the eligible promotion period from 01 Jul – 19 Aug 2018 and the participant's particulars required.
3. The draw will be conducted on 23 August 2018, 4pm at 3000 Marsiling Road Singapore 739108.
4. Multiple entries are allowed. Each original receipt is eligible for one (1) WhatsApp entry only. Multiple WhatsApp entries with the same receipt is not allowed. Entries that are duplicate, incorrect, unclear and/or participant's particulars are not provided, incomplete, and/or inaccurate will be disqualified.
5. Each participant is entitled to win only one (1) prize. All winners will be notified via WhatsApp messaging and a redemption letter for prize collection will be posted to the Singapore mailing address provided.
6. Winners will be chosen randomly. One hundred (100) winners will win a pair of tickets to Rainforest Lumina. All winners must produce proof of identity together, original copy of redemption letter and original receipt during the collection. Any unused or uncollected ticket(s) cannot be refunded for cash.
7. Prizes may be collected by the winner or person authorized by the winner in writing. A copy of the winner's NRIC and the winner's authorization letter must be presented during prize collection.
8. Prizes which remain unclaimed by any winner within 1 month after the announcement of the winners shall be conclusively forfeited, and the forfeited prize will be dealt with at Lam Soon Pte Ltd discretion in accordance with applicable laws.
9. Lam Soon Singapore Pte Ltd may at its discretion, elect to determine another winner should any winner fail to be contacted for any reason, in accordance with the contest mechanism.
10. The prize is not transferrable or redeemable for cash or any other prizes. Lam Soon Singapore Pte Ltd reserves the right to substitute the prize with other prizes of similar value at any time without prior notice.
11. The decision of Lam Soon Singapore Pte Ltd on all matters relating to or in connection with the contest is final, and no correspondence will be entertained.
12. By participating in this draw, you consent to the use and/or disclosure of your personal information contained herein for internal and/or external marketing purposes in a manner it deems fit, whilst according your privacy or confidentiality with the highest priority.
13. Lam Soon Singapore Pte Ltd reserves the right to amend or change the terms and conditions of this contest at any time without prior notice. In the event of any inconsistency or discrepancy between the Terms and Conditions and the contents of any marketing and/or promotional materials relating to the contest, these Terms and Conditions shall prevail.
14. Entry into the contest will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.
For additional RedMart's Terms and Conditions, please visit https://about.redmart.com/universal-terms-for-special-promotion-activities for more information.


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I have joined about 4 extra social network sites and I must say that its time for me to start writing them all down. I'm starting to feel the way this doll looks. I'm sure it will pay off soon. I hope…
I hear that, can I borrow that face for awhile
Lol you sure can!


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I'm thrilled with this new chapter in my recording career. My album is also on release in the U.S. and other territories, and doing well. The new one will follow soon. I'd like to thank all of you for your continued support.
Terms & Conditions : Contact Us
All Content Copyright 2018 Eve Graham


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Since 1896 The
men of Building Removal
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Contact Us
Where do I get a house from?
Do I need Council approval?
How much does a house cost to shift?
What is included in the contract?
When can you shift my house?
How long does the actual shift take?
When do I have to pay?
Can I shift the building on to a sloping site or basement?
I just want to shift the house on the same site so I can subdivide – do you do this?
Do you do repiling?
Can you shift a house on to peat or filled sites?
What can I do to the building before it shifts?
Do you buy houses for removal?
What if I have other questions?
Where do I get a house from?
You can purchase a house directly from us which will have the delivery included in the price. Most often these buildings are situated in our yard in Hamilton which you can walk around at your leisure and compare.
Go to the Buildings for sale link to see what we currently have available. If we have not currently got what you are looking for in stock, you can contact us with your request and we will email you back when something similar comes available.
You may know of someone who is selling a house for removal privately, in which case we are more than happy to price for the relocation portion only. When buying privately, establish with the vendor who is obtaining the demolition consent allowing the house to be removed, which is required by some councils (especially if in heritage areas), who is responsible for disconnecting the services (power, sewer, water, phone, gas, etc), who is providing egress from the site, eg. Removing trees and fences and also who is clearing the site after the house is gone. Also find out when the house must be gone from the site and that you have enough time to get consents. If not the house might have to come via our yard.
When choosing a building removal company, make sure you select a well established firm with a good reputation. Ask around, chances are someone you know will be able to recommend a company. Make sure also, that you are comparing apples with apples – do all of the companies include insurance for the full duration of the contract (including contract works, transit and public liability and for how much), do they include fixing the piles to the bearers, etc?
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Do I need Council approval?
Most councils are happy for used buildings to be relocated into their district, but most will require a "resite report", where a building inspector or consultant views the building and does a basic report stating that they are happy with the basic condition of the building and what improvements need to be undertaken after the building arrives on site. A time limit of 6 – 12 months is normally allowed to complete the work as outlined in the report. The report generally costs $150 – $400 plus travel if council do it themselves or $300 - $600 if a private entity is to do the inspection. Some councils require their own inspectors to view, others allow a council inspector who is closer to the house to view if you are some distance away, and some will allow a private builder or consultant to complete the report. This report will form part of your consent application to council and can be done at the start while you are having your plans drawn up. Ask your local council for a resite report form (councils often have their own names for these reports, eg. Inspection of a Second Hand Building).
All buildings will require a building consent. Councils each have their own application form which will need to be filled in with appropriate information. Along with the form you will need to submit a current CT (Certificate of Title – which can be obtained from Land Information New Zealand or your lawyer should have a copy if the land was recently purchased or purchase online from www.qv.co.nz or www.zoodle.co.nz. It helps to get the "diagram" version) and various drawings drawn to scale including a floor plan, site plan, drainage plan and foundation plan with bracing calculations. Photos taken from each side with heights shown should suffice as elevations. More drawings will need to be provided if you are adding to or altering the building.
Many councils (eg. Hamilton CC, Auckland CC, Waikato DC, etc), but not all (eg. Western Bay of Plenty DC, Hauraki DC, Waipa DC in some cases, etc), require a resource consent for relocated buildings as well, so make sure you ask your local council if one will be required. Often the drawings completed for the building consent will be sufficient. Sometimes there is an extra form to fill out and fee to pay also. Waipa District Council in most cases will require you to get your neighbour's permission in writing (although this may be changing in the future).
The drawings for consent applications are normally drawn by a draughtsperson or architect. Some of the drawings may be able to be completed by a builder. A Licensed Building Practitioner (Design) will now be required to sign off nearly all consent applications. Maybe some exceptions for small buildings or garages. You will also need to supply Council with the Licensed Building Practitioner (Carpentry) number for the building and foundation work. Please ask us for our LBP numbers to put on the building consent application.
Some councils are now requiring engineering geotec reports (to test the stability of the soil for foundations and/or for effluent drainage for a septic tank (in rural areas)) to be done as part of the building consent application. Likewise a few Councils are now requiring soakage tests for stormwater disposal (ie. some encourage soak holes now instead of hooking up to the Council mains, so tests are required to prove whether the soakage on your site is good enough or if you have water tanks, then the distance and size of the overflow trenches required).
Building consents should be approved within 20 working days after all the information is received by council and resource consents should also be approved within 20 working days after all the information is received by council. At times, many councils struggle with a lack of staff so consents can take a bit longer, although this also depends on the number of applications they are dealing with at any one time. Councils will also often come back with questions about the consents (or even simple things such as missing page numbers on drawings!, in which case they stop the clock and don't start it again until all new or revised information is "officially" received. So don't be surprised if your consent actually takes 5 - 6 weeks or longer if it takes a while to get the information back to Council.
Don't worry though, we can guide you through the process - it is not as difficult as it looks!
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How much does a house cost to shift?
We can give you a quote free of charge. If you are just wanting an estimate we can probably give you an idea over the phone. The more information you are able to provide, the more accurate we can be. If you are able to get answers to the following questions it is helpful:
– Dimensions of the building - width (at the base and overall including eaves), length and overall height (floor plan is even better)
– Type of wall cladding (eg. weatherboard, Hardiplank, brick, etc) and roofing (corrugated iron – long run or 2 piece, decramastic tile or concrete or clay tile)
– Internal stud height (eg. 2.4 metres = 8 feet)
– Age
– Chimneys or extra concrete work (eg. porches, concrete floors, etc)
– Number of piles if you can see them (size of joists & bearers if possible)
– Is the existing site flat or sloping
– Is there good egress from the site (eg. are there trees that can't be trimmed, power poles, down a ROW, etc)
– Is the proposed site flat or sloping
– Is there good access to the proposed site (eg. are there trees that can't be trimmed, power poles, down a ROW, etc)
– Is the ground at the new site good bearing (eg. not peat, swampy, filled-in gully, etc)
A sketch floor plan and/or some photos that can be emailed, faxed or posted would be helpful.
If the numbers from the estimate sound suitable, ask us to come and give a written quotation. We will visit both the existing site and the proposed site and give a written quotation free of charge. Because of physical constraints and the number of requests we get, it may be a little while before we can visit your job. Your patience is appreciated.
A single piece house that is of light weight cladding with a low pitch iron roof on a flat site will cost less than a large villa with high stud height on a sloping site.
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What is included in the contract?
We will give you a written quotation which will outline what we will do and what are your responsibilities.
Our quotes (unless requested otherwise – we're happy to do as little or as much as you would like) include for preparatory work (such as demolishing the chimney, freeing the house from concrete porches, etc), the shift of the house to the new site, transportation permits from the various authorities (eg. Telecom, Power Authorities, Rail, LTSA, etc) (not to be confused with council building consents), new standard foundations, insurance cover for the house for the duration of our contract and affixing the house to the piles with galvanised steel fixings.
If the house is too wide to travel the route in one piece, we will brace it up and cut it where required (this will be stated in the quotation). At the other end we will structurally tie the two pieces together leaving you to do the finishing off work.
If the house has a higher stud, or steeper pitch roof then we may be required to lower the roof structure (again will be stated in the quotation). But don't worry, we will re-erect it again at the other end! A concrete or clay tile roof will have the framing re-erected but the reinstatement of the tiles will be up to your roofer. You may wish to re-roof with a new longrun metal roof at this stage. In some cases the roof might be extra high but the various power line authorities and Chorus for the telecommunication lines might allow the shift to proceed without lowering the roof but insist on providing escorts for the shift to come along and push up wires where required. They charge for this of course, however it can be cheaper than lowering the roof. Definitely a case by case basis and very dependent on the route the building will take and how far it is going..
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When can you shift my house?
We are not able to book in your shift until the building and resource consents have been approved by Council. After the consents are issued, contract signed and deposit paid, we book the shift in the next available slot. Lead-in times vary so contact us for the current status.
If you are under time constraints to remove the house and your consents are not yet issued, we may be able to relocate the building temporarily to our yard while awaiting consent issue. This will add to the final cost but may be a way of making the project work.
If we are purchasing the house, we may be able to move it off your site sooner as the demolition consent is all that is required to take the building to our yard.
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How long does the actual shift take?
If the house is straight forward eg. one piece, lightweight cladding, low pitch iron roof on a flat and accessible site to another local flat and accessible site with good access, it will take 2-3 days, whereas a large villa could take up to 3-4 weeks. And no... you can't live in it while it is being shifted or repiled!
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When do I have to pay?
A 50% deposit is required in order to book in the shift with the balance to be paid within 14 days of completion of the contract.
If you are purchasing a used building from us, a 20% deposit is initially required to secure the house. If you have land already and intend to continue immediately with the project, no more is payable until 10 days prior to the building being delivered, when the balance is due. If you are still in the process of purchasing land, waiting for titles to come through or just not quite ready to shift, there are is another option. Approximately eight to ten weeks after the contract is produced, a further 40% is due. The building can then remain in the yard indefinitely (within reason!) until you are ready for it to be delivered. A storage charge of $100 plus GST per week will come into affect, which also covers insurance. The balance is due either ten days prior to delivery, or under a prearranged agreement agreed at contract stage. If your bank is not willing to part with the full amount at that stage, talk to us about another option.
Financing establishments are becoming more familiar with the resiting of used houses, but some may still require some coaching. If your bank/financier has doubts, ask them to contact us so we can run them through the process, or we can find you a friendly bank/financier that will be able to help.
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Can I shift the building on to a sloping site or basement?
Yes. Obviously this will be more expensive than a dead flat site, but it can still be done. A building can also be placed on longer piles for a basement or on to full height wall framing (provided by yourselves).
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I just want to shift the house on the same site so I can subdivide – do you do this?
Yes, no problem. With land values increasing all the time, it is often worth shifting the house on the site to make way for subdivision, a driveway or just because it was built the wrong way around not facing the sun! We have even shifted buildings as little as 300mm just to make it comply for subdivision. Buildings can also be turned say 90 degrees if this helps and assuming there is enough room on the site. Remember to allow for extending your services, building consent (resource consent generally not required except for the actual subdivision process), new baseboards and patching the chimney hole, etc.
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Do you do repiling?
Yes. You may have an old villa on original totara piles which is sinking. Before you start renovating, it is best to get the foundations in order which could save thousands of dollars in the long term. We demolish the chimney and free the house from concrete porches, etc, then lift it, remove the old piles and replace with new foundations. You may wish the house to be at a higher level for views or simply to allow more ventilation and crawl space underneath. We can also lift for a basement.
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Can you shift a house on to peat or filled sites?
Yes. If the peat is shallow (ie. say less than 1 metre), then we can normally treat it like a standard foundation but with deeper piles (slight extra cost). If the peat is deeper then piles will need to be driven before the house arrives on site. After testing the ground, an engineer can recommend how deep the piles are likely to be. Either you can provide the foundation, or we can price for the profiling, supply and driving of the piles and cutting the tops. If the piles are going to be very deep (say more than seven metres), it may be worth installing new bearers beside the existing ones, so fewer piles are required. If you are wanting to repile a house on peat, the house will need to be moved to another part of the site while the piles are being driven and then shifted back again. Otherwise if you want the house in a different part of the site, there might be enough room to go directly to the final position. Some parts of the Hauraki Plains are affected by marine clay. This requires a foundation known as a strip, floating or raft foundation, where the house is positioned or lifted and reinforced concrete strips and pads with piles cast into them are poured underneath. An engineer or council will suggest whether this is required. Unfortunately this is a more expensive project.
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What can I do to the building before it shifts?
You can do any preparatory work (eg. stripping wallpaper, sanding, etc), but we recommend you do not do final gib stopping, final interior painting, etc until after the house is in it's final position.
Also, wait until after the house is on site before running services (eg. drains, power cables, etc) across the site to their final positions.
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Do you buy houses for removal?
Yes. If you have a house for sale for removal, it is helpful if you are able to email or post us a photo and sketch plan if possible. We can give you an estimated price or visit the house in question and make you a written offer.
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What if I have other questions?
Please feel free to call us if you have any further questions or if you would like an estimate. Either ring, fax, email or call in in person and have a chat to one of our contract managers – we're all friendly! Click on the
Contact us
link for details.
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Relocatable Homes for Sale
Garages & Commercial
House Removal & Repiling
Opening hours on-site for viewings are 9.00am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday.
Ring any of these numbers if you live in:
(07) 843 7006
(09) 358 4462
(07) 871 4275
Te Awamutu
(07) 378 4250
We are located in Hamilton.
We are located behind Bunnings South.
21 Quentin Drive
Hamilton 3204
New Zealand