text:
One of the wonderful things about online video sites like YouTube is that it makes it possible for small-scale productions to reach huge audiences in ways that would not have been possible even just a few years ago. A good case in point is the Baman Piderman show, which is the creative love-child of Alex Butera and Lindsay Small.
Lindsay and Alex were kind enough to do an interview with us, so be sure to keep reading after you sample a taste of the show:
As you can see, the web-toon (sorry, Piderman made me say that), is a wonderfully surreal and hilarious take on a couple of well-known superheroes. Baman and Piderman are "best fwends" who live in a phantasmagoric world where they generally hang out, occasionally solve minor-to-medium problems, and mostly are just nice to each other. That last point is important, since there is an unexpected warmth and decency woven into the writing and characters of the show. Sure, Baman and Piderman are two-dimensional caricatures, but they have more depth than you'll find in a lot of "serious" movies, TV or other fiction.
At first glance, you might think that the artwork of the series is crude, and the humor inane, but you would be very wrong in that judgment. Wait until you and your kids are in a suitably goofy mood to appreciate the silliness, and I guarantee tears of laughter and hiccups for all. In particular, the Hab Da Sleepover and the Tell Da Joke episode will have you howling.
Alex and Lindsay were kind enough to answer some questions about Baman and Piderman for us. As you'll see, they are not only creative geniuses, but also so darn nice that you'd be happy to have them come over-da-house anytime.
Lindsay and Alex Do Da Interbiew:
GeekDad: What was your source of inspiration for Baman and Piderman? Is there a story behind how the series came to be?
__Alex: __As part of an assignment for a class back when we were both animation majors, we went to go see a very, very avant garde play at the ICA in Boston.
__Lindsay: __Lots of wailing and characters dancing out their feelings to more wailing.
__A: __The short was made in protest. There had been a drawing of a fat spiderman in one of our sketchbooks a long time ago that I had done, and one of the stipulations of the assignment was you had to use characters you've already drawn.
__L: __We used to pass a sketchbook back and forth over the summer back when we weren't yet living together. I was a huge comics nerd working at a comic shop at the time, and Alex would draw things to make me laugh.
__A: __The other stipulation of the assignment was that you had to use three props from the play, hence the phone, bed, and sandwich. The first video got posted on YouTube with color and sound effects a year later, and went viral after being posted on the "Drawn!" blog. Mondomedia approached me around then and asked me to make more of them, so I started on a second episode. After starting a third episode, I showed it to Lindsay...
__L: __It was the worst thing I had ever seen.
__A: __It was terrible. I'm not a writer, so I asked Lindsay to work on them with me.
L: I said no! But then I agreed. I have been writing them in full since then, and we split all the other work 50/50.
GD: The Squigglevision style of the 'toon appears crude at first glance, but it doesn't take long to realize just how hard you work on the artwork, and just how talented you two are. What led you to choose that particular animation style, and how do you feel about it 12 episodes later?
__L: __Something I think is really fun is complexity within simplicity. When we're animating really technically impressive things in Baman Piderman, I think that fact is made funnier by the crude drawings. Essentially it's a big, ongoing visual gag. We both can draw pretty well but it's sillier if we don't.
__A: __The style was really born from the concept. We want it to feel lazy and dumb, since that's part of the humor and I feel like the art reflects that.
GD: What is your favourite style or period of art, and how have you tried to incorporate the values of that style into your work?
__A: __ My favorite films are Ghost in the Shell, the Cowboy Bebop movie, and FLCL. There's always some influence of that in my work. I also really enjoy Ukiyo-e block prints. I can't say there's been any deliberate incorporation into Baman Piderman.
__L: __I'm a big fan of the UPA style of animation, and a more flat designed look. Most of my personal work is heavily influenced by poster art and '50s advertising. I love big, flat color and big, flat shapes. As for that influencing Baman Piderman... Alex stole the doopy hands and pointy feet directly from me.
__A: __It's true.
GD: Despite being surreal and whimsical, the series has a definite internal consistency in the physics of the world, and the continuity from episode to episode. Did you have that consistency planned out from the start?
__A: __I didn't, until Lindsay started working with me on the third episode.
__L: __As soon as I started working on the show I outlined the key events of the season and a list of internal rules to their world, including the Pumkin storyline and Tuba being a girl. The payoff of a gag is so much more rewarding to the viewer if you've hinted at it all along. Pumkin rotting over the course of several episodes was especially funny, because no one really noticed at first, but a few episodes in we're really concerned for the little guy. I think that's really cool for fans, to feel like you're watching something unfold. The main rule I set for Baman Piderman is that everything is canon. Nothing enrages me more in comics and movies when everything is undone because the episode ended, or ret-conning. In Baman Piderman, once something has happened it effects the show forever. We keep a running list of destruction to make sure it all stays broken.
GD: Can you describe the production process for a typical episode? How do the writing, storyboarding, animation, voices and sound effects, etc. all flow?
__A: __Lindsay will usually throw some of her ideas at me, then start working on a script. After she finishes the script, we both work on storyboards. We revise the storyboards and add some more jokes before I record the voices. After editing the recording, we start animating. I animate and Lindsay does revisions. After animation Lindsay fixes the timing. Next, I add all the sound effects while Lindsay colors the episode. During all this we listen to a lot of music.
__L: __And stay up very late. Usually Alex eats a lot of cookies and I drink 50 cups of tea. Sometimes we bicker over animation in scenes, which we settle by eating more cookies and drinking more tea.
GD: What tools and hardware do you use to create the animation for the series?
A & L: We use Adobe Flash for animation, Audacity to import and edit audio, and After Effects for exporting.
__GD: __In your mind, how do you describe the characters of Baman and Piderman? And who do you imagine as a typical Baman and Piderman fan?
__A: __Baman and Piderman are lazy, fat, elastic, blob-children that care only about friendship.
__B: __Pumkin is the straight man, he enjoys novels and is very shy. Tuba is very patient and charming.
__A: __The fans are anyone who has an open mind.
__L: __I think they are very cool people, these fans. I hope to meet some sometime.
GD: YouTube and other online sites make it possible for artists to reach an audience in ways that were almost unthinkable even just a few years ago. How do you feel about that as animators? Do you have any predictions on how this will affect the world of animation in the future?
__A: __It's so wonderful to see how people react to your work as soon as you finish it. As opposed to TV animation or movies, you really get to hear the individual voices of your viewers with no communication boundaries. We both make a big effort to answer every email and personal message we get, and connecting with people on a personal level like that gives me so much inspiration and drive to keep making the shows better and better. It's also really fun to play around with readability, in that we can hide things that move too quickly on the first viewing. When you animate something, you watch it over and over and tweak it and adjust it to a point where it becomes so familiar and so predictable that is seems much slower to you than when you first watched it. You always have to keep in mind that the audience needs time to react and see these movements for the FIRST time, and animate accordingly. With the internet we can play with this, in that every viewer is allowed to replay and rewatch segments over and over again. This gives us the ability to hide little events in the background or even put jokes into individual frames that don't completely register on the first viewing. It's like planting little Easter eggs; it's really fun to do, and we can see that people love it in the comments.
__L: __I think the internet is the most amazing thing to happen to creativity, period. The advent of communication across cultures instantly has given people, particularly young people, this amazing opportunity to create their own culture and humor and content, and ANYONE can participate. There is this emerging sensibility that you would never see on television or in movies. This is raw creativity, allowing people to post whatever they want and gain an audience instantly. This is something that was completely impossible until the internet. Before, you had to go through the proper channels to get published, and your content had to fit a specific mold and be censored in one way or another. Something like Baman Piderman would never work on television, but it lives happily on the internet like so many other wonderful, funny, horrible, beautiful, terrible things. I am constantly amazed and dumbfounded by the hilarity that happens on the internet. It is notoriously very difficult to make me laugh, but the stuff on the internet has me rolling every single day. I feel that the internet is causing an animation renaissance.
GD: How long do you expect or want the Baman and Piderman series to run?
__A: __A while.
__L: __Until it's not fun anymore.
GD: The GeekDad audience surely includes a few eager beavers who are interested in becoming animators themselves. Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for them?
__A: __ I started on flipbooks, but the computer is all I use now. There are great software programs out there to get your feet wet, and there are even some free apps if you have an iPod Touch or an iPhone that'll let you experiment. My biggest recommendation is to work quickly and loosely. Don't draw finished, clean looking drawings for each frame.
__L: __Animation is a labor of love. It's very hard and time consuming, so you have to really love what you're doing. Don't get discouraged while you're learning because it's tough! Don't feel like you have to do Disney to be good. Explore and experiment with different things. Use Flash as a lightbox and learning tool. Animate a lot of vomit; that worked for me in school anyway—I graduated with honors.
GD: The Baman and Piderman characters are obviously satirical and fair-use. Despite that, have you ever received any wrist slaps or stern glares from Marvel or DC?
__A: __Not yet, but we're not trying to tempt fate.
__L: __Actually I've heard some DC guys think it's pretty funny.
GD: Is there a question you wish I'd asked, but didn't? Pretend I asked it and answer away...
__A & L: __Maybe something about the unique humor?
__L: __We wanted to make Baman Piderman really unique, something that couldn't exist anywhere but the internet. I really value humor that doesn't follow the easy road. It's pretty simple to make a potty joke or have wacky violence carry a cartoon. Something that was important to me was to have Baman Piderman be funny to everybody, kids to adults, without ever being crass.
__A: __We try to hold up the standard that anyone can watch it and enjoy it without ever dumbing it down.
__L: __Talking down to kids is the most ridiculous thing ever.
A & L: Or what we do for day jobs?
A: I'm a storyboard artist at Soup2Nuts Animation, working on the PBS cartoon Word Girl.
__B: __For the past couple years I was a designer at Converse shoes for the Chuck Taylor women's team. Recently I moved over to work as a designer and animator at Hero4Hire Creative animation.


text:
this is a conundrum I have discussed many times before.
I blogged about it here and here. [that's how much of an issue it is, it's warranted TWO whole blog posts!] and if you are a good friend of mine, it is likely that you are sick of hearing about it by now, therefore you are excused from reading any further. kbye, besties!
I like to call this phenomenon, the "if there is any woman that has ever had brown hair and brown eyes, I am apparently identical to them" syndrome.
my husband has never previously expressed any symptoms of this queer phenomenon.
however, as we were sitting down to dinner last week, he stared at me for a little longer than usual.
and then he said it.
"you know, I figured it out. you look JUST like Demi Moore! only prettier. you're like a pretty Demi Moore."
I laughed. I reminded him that I've heard that one before. and then I listed off some of the other celeb comparisons I've had.
"I can see that! but Anne Hathaway is definitely your sister, not you."
*facepalm x 2*
I don't know why this bothers me [and my sister] so much, having countless dopplegangers.
but it does.
possibly because it feels like you're stripped of your individuality when you're compared to others? that your beauty only counts because you look similar to someone the media/general public has deemed as beautiful?? or simply because WE LOOK NOTHING LIKE THESE PEOPLE??!!?!?!?!!?
I don't know. I don't spend too much time analyzing these things, because they don't actually matter. it's just a pet peeve, and a rather ridiculous one at that.
my husband still thinks I'm hotter than Demi Moore [and all other celebrities], and that's good enough for me 🙂
Love — Rach

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Three involved in illegal "Occupy Central" of the main student leaders – Hong Kong "Zhongzhi" the Secretary-General Joshua Wong, Chairman of Luoguan Cong and the former Hong Kong Federation of Students (IUS) The Secretary-General Zhou Yongkang, suspected of the year before last September 26 to enter the Hong Kong SAR East Wing, Central Government Offices ago, the four counts charged, the case ruled in Hong Kong Eastern Magistracy today (21 May).
Joshua Wong and Zhou Yongkang convicted of "participating in illegal assembly,"Luoguan Cong convicted of "inciting others to engage in illegal gatherings" guilty, the court adjourned to August 15 sentencing.
According to Radio Television Hong Kong news, the magistrate Zhang Tianyan in deciding said Joshua Wong, Zhou Yongkang and other members of the public to climb the fence and push the gate into the east wing of the frontal behavior is disorderly and intimidating, it could lead to anyone "reasonably fear "and assembled will commit a breach of the peace, it will stimulate others to take the breach of the peace, and therefore ruled that the two men" involved in illegal gathering "guilty.
Court ruling also said that Luoguan Cong speak on stage is incitement, intent to incite those present to act according to his words, if people speak to act in accordance with its present, those who constitute disorderly behavior and intimidating.
It is worth noting that this year Luoguan Cong Legislative Council general election, candidates on Hong Kong Island.
September 26, 2014, Hong Kong Student groups' Scholarism "started one-day school students strike action, in the Legislative Council open meeting Tim Mei Avenue.After dark, the students gathered outside the government headquarters, sudden students climb over the fence into the civic plaza government headquarters, "Scholarism" convener Joshua Wong arrested.Luoguan Cong and Zhou Yongkang, who are the main student leaders.
According to Hong Kong "POO" involving unlawful assembly or intent to incite illegal assembly charges, a conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for up to 5 years.


text:
Jul 4, 2018
This week Gary and Gary discuss their recent wheelin trip out to the Naches & Manastash area of Washington where they encountered a group with a broken rig and aided them; and visited with friends who recently bought the Gold Creek Station below Chinook Pass. Shawn joins them in studio to discuss some listener feedback, play the Jeepword game, and as always the world-famous Jeep of the Week is announced. Tune in to hear a fresh new episode of the Northwest Jeepcast. Look for bonus content at patreon.com/nwjeepcast.
--Visit Northridge4x4.com for all your Jeep needs and listen for a special coupon code. Start your Amazon shopping experience at http://nwjeepcast.com/amazon to help support this show. And follow us @nwjeepcast on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.


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SIGNS of economic spring are all around: stocks are up, profits are surging and companies might even be hiring again.
Can the gurus be far behind?
Back in the bubble days, the gurus were everywhere. There were the market gurus talking up stocks and options and fanciful derivatives, and technology gurus preaching revolution in fat magazines like Wired, Red Herring and the Industry Standard.
In books like ''The Long Boom,'' by Peter Schwartz, Peter Leyden and Joel Hyatt, new economy gurus promised that high technology would smooth the ups and downs of the business cycle and lead to an age of endless prosperity.
There were also plenty of examples of that sum of all gurus, the Visionary C.E.O. -- leaders like John F. Welch Jr. of G.E., Bernard J. Ebbers of WorldCom and Kenneth L. Lay of Enron.
Then the business cycle reminded everyone that it was still there. The irrationally exuberant markets crashed and suddenly, the gurus were no longer a big part of the talking-head-ocracy.
''Basically, the only place you see the business gurus is on milk cartons,'' said Paul Saffo, a research director at the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, Calif.
Gurus, of course, serve a purpose -- as do cheerleaders, security blankets and Dumbo's magic feather. Some, of course, can offer real insight. But many offer only comfort and courage in an uncertain world. Their fractious community waxes and wanes with the ups and downs of the economy.
In hard times, their numbers dwindle and they tend to offer hope in the gloom. When the seasons seem ready to change for the better, they re-emerge, passionate about the Next Big Thing. And if the good times become too good, and the bubble bursts, they quietly move away from the spotlight (or, in a few cases, to jail), and bide their time until the economic season of hope comes around again.
To Mr. Saffo, whose nonprofit research group helps companies deal with uncertainty and risk, the guru class has had little choice but to seek a lower profile, given that so much of what it had to say during the boom of the 1990's was just plain wrong. ''The biggest mistake you can make is to confuse what you wish would happen with what you think might happen,'' he said.
But one of the grandest gurus of all, Tom Peters, a co-author of the 1982 best seller ''In Search of Excellence,'' says the field is too varied to draw simple lessons.
''Certainly the C.E.O.-as-hero took a hit,'' he said, but ''consulting academics'' like himself did not have so far to fall. ''If there is a guru industry -- which even though there clearly is, I'm not willing to acknowledge it, because it's such an awful idea -- there are presumably numerous flavors thereof,'' he said.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the associate dean of executive programs at the Yale School of Management, said that chief executives, especially, have shied from the spotlight. In a recent article for a McKinsey & Company quarterly, he wrote, ''The inevitable fall of the once breathless apostles of e-commerce -- such C.E.O.'s of 'the new economy' as Yahoo's former C.E.O., Tim Koogle, Priceline's Jay Walker and Webvan's George Shaheen -- also doomed the appeal of their self-promotional style.''
In an interview, Mr. Sonnenfeld said many of today's baby-boomer executives took the warning of recent history to heart, and ''have decided to try to minimize the cult of personality that had grown up around their predecessors.''
In fact, he says, the current crop goes too far, and needs to speak out as part of their role in leading their companies. ''It's very much part of the job,'' he said.
This new-found reticence, however, is only proper, said Thomas Frank, a social critic of the boom years. ''They should lose their guru cards after their performance in the 90's,'' he said.
To Mr. Frank, much of the guru-ification during the go-go 90's was, at its core, not an economic phenomenon but a political one abetted by journalists, in which business was portrayed as rational and trustworthy, and government was portrayed as ''the enemy of markets, arbitrary imposer of taxes and regulations.''
To Mr. Saffo, however, the audience that lapped up the rosy forecasts and exhortations shares equal blame. ''People only listened to the news they wanted to hear,'' he said.
There may be new siren songs on the way.
''It has been a period blessedly free of business guru books,'' Mr. Saffo said, ''but I also have no doubt that there is a huge wave coming in over the horizon, and we will be drowning in Guru Inc. before long.''
The wave is already rising. Clayton Christensen, whose 1997 book ''The Innovator's Dilemma'' vaulted him to instant guru status, is back with ''The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth.'' Mr. Peters, too, has a new book: ''Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age.'' And perhaps representing a new guru generation is Jerry Bowyer, a Pennsylvania radio and television talk show host, whose new book, ''The Bush Boom,'' claims that President Bush has repaired the damage done to the economy by Bill Clinton.
As gurus and their publishers start their engines, however, it might be worth noting one other book that is not likely to appear on any best-seller list. It is a 1959 children's classic: ''Will Spring Be Early? Or Will Spring Be Late?'' by Crockett Johnson. In it, a groundhog mistakes a flower in the snow as a sign of a very, very early spring.
''I have never made a better prediction than this!'' he says to himself, excitedly.
The other animals cheer him as a hero -- all except the grumpy old pig, who refuses to accept the single leading indicator as evidence of a broader trend. And in a moment that echoes the end of the great tulip bulb bubble of the 1600's, when a skeptic, according to legend, took a bite out of a bulb to mock the trading frenzy and crashed the market, the pig takes a bite out of the flower, and declares that it is made out of paper and wire.
''I have a prediction to make,'' the pig says. ''It's going to snow.'' And it does.
The word guru, by the way, comes from Sanskrit. It forms the root of another common English word: grieve.


text:
I vlogged today. It's the first one of 2013. I'm under the weather, so I feel blah, but I had the time so I went ahead and did it.
What do you think the big announcements are?
I vlogged today. It's the first one of 2013. I'm under the weather, so I feel blah, but I had the time so I went ahead and did it.
What do you think the big announcements are?
Entwined Publishing is turning two this month. Can you believe it? I can't. It has been a crazy few years, but I'm so excited for the journey ahead as we grow even more. In celebration of our mile marking day, Jodie at UniquelyMoi has organized a fun event that starts January 27th. Watch her blog for all the details. Also we are running a daily contest on Twitter from January 27th through February 2nd.
How do you enter?
Just tweet. Copy and past these messages and a random person will be drawn daily to enjoy one of our novels.
#Happybirthday #Entwined @entwinedpub I want to win a free ebook today
#Happybirthday #Entwined Follow @entwinedpub tweet and win a free ebook
#Happybirthday #Entwined @entwinedpub is giving away a free ebook a day, tweet to win
**Or make your own tweet,just make sure to use the hashtags #Happybirthday and #Entwined and mention @entwinedpub
The winner will be retweeted by @entwinedpub and contacted with details. Have fun with it and go wild.
I've said with every book that I've written how important music is to my writing. It is a vital component
to my creative process. I tell myself the characters' story through a mix tape of songs. Butterfly Kisses
was no different. This playlist consists of songs for specific scenes and some that captured the overall
theme of the book.
Parlor Mob – Into the Sun
Duce – Nobody Likes Me
Brand New – Good to Know That If I Ever Need Attention
LMFAO – Without You
Demi Lavato – Mistake
Justin McRoberts – One
Miike Snow – Silvia
He Is We – Our July in the Rain
Birdy – Shelter
Ryan Adams – Lucky Now
Animal Kingdom – Strange Attractor
Sia – Breath Me
Skylar Grey – Invisible
Cobra Starship – Don't Blame the World it's The DJ's Fault
Enrique Iglesias – Ayer
Ashes Remain – On My Own
Isaac Haines – Steal
Jesse Thomas – Fire
Graham Colton – Everything You Are
Sara Bareilles – Gravity
Grouplove – Colours
Pearl Jam – Just Breathe
Safety Suite – Anywhere But Here
Graffiti 6 – Free
Parachute – The Mess I Made
Safety Suite – Life in the Pain
Graham Colton – Best Days
This playlist along with all of my writing playlists are available for download on iTunes
and Spotify. I would have to say the most impactful song of the whole playlist is Safety Suite's Life in the
Pain which is my love song to Lacey. It is a theme song to the whole series really, she has a lot of lessons
to learn throughout these books, and I'm proud of where she ends up.
Thanks for following my blog tour. I'm giving away a e-book and iTunes gift card. Enter below for your chance to win.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Seriously, I am blaming my foggy head and cold meds for this one.
Join the event for the blog tour, you don't want to miss the give aways!
The Points Matters contest had an amazing turn-out. I counted almost a thousand total tweets for the contest. But like all good things it came to an end last night at midnight with a few tweets sliding in at the last minute.
That being said I'd like to announce the winners.
In honor of Entwined Publishing's birthday, we are giving a gift to you. If you own a Kindle of any kind form, you can get all three of my titles for free this weekend. From now through Monday the 30th, download your ecopy of:
Generations 1: Book of Enlightenment
Please enjoy our titles. We have great things coming this year, new authors and wonderful promotions. If you like the books please tell your friends. Also if you aren't already participating check out the Points Matter Contest.
The DEETS:
The grand prize:
A Signed printed copy of both, The Ocean and Generations 1: Book of enlightenment
All the swag that goes along with it including: poster of each, postcards and bookmarks too.
Two second prizes:
A signed Printed copy of The Ocean and swag,
A signed Printed copy of Generations and swag.
Two third prizes:
The Ocean swag package: Poster, postcard and bookmark
Generations swag package: Poster, postcard and bookmark
The DATES:
January 23, 2012 – Feburary 13, 2012
The POINTS:
I'm following @miacastile & @entwinedpublish to win a signed copy of one of their books http://bit.ly/A3jZ12 #Happybdayentwined
@miacastile I want to win swag and a signed copy of The Ocean http://bit.ly/A3jZ12 #Happybdayentwined
@miacastile I want to win swag and a signed copy of Generations 1: Book of Enlightenment http://bit.ly/A3jZ12 #Happybdayentwined
@miacastile I LOVE BOOK SWAG http://bit.ly/A3jZ12 #Happybdayentwined
Or any other tweet sharing the contest, just make sure you include @miacastile and hashtag #happybdayentwined. Each tweet earns you 1 point so the more tweets = the more points you gain.
Generations Book of Enlightenment
You will gain 1 point for each like and comment you make on each trailer.
The FINEPRINT (that's not so fine):
Each action will earn 1 point. There is no maximum number of points you can earn, however there is a minimum of 25 accumulated points to qualify. this contest will begin Monday January 23, 2012 and continue until February 13, 2012 with the winners announced later that week. Keep track of your points and posts.
The WELL WISH:
Good luck. I think this will be a lot of fun, and look forward to connecting with you.


text:
Document Type
Book Chapter
This item is available under a Creative Commons License for non-commercial use only
Publication Details
In 'The Syntax and Semantics of Prepositions', (ed.) P. Saint-Dizier. Kluwer Publishing.
In this paper we present a framework for interpreting locative expressions containing the prepositions in front of and behind. These prepositions have different semantics in the viewer-centred and intrinsic frames of reference (Vandeloise, 1991). We define a model of their semantics in each frame of reference. The basis of these models is a novel parameterized continuum function that creates a 3-D spatial template. In the intrinsic frame of reference the origin used by the continuum function is assumed to be known a priori and object occlusion does not impact on the applicability rating of a point in the spatial template. In the viewer-centred frame the location of the spatial template's origin is dependent on the user's perception of the landmark at the time of the utterance and object occlusion is integrated into the model. Where there is an ambiguity with respect to the intended frame of reference, we define an algorithm for merging the spatial templates from the competing frames of reference, based on psycholinguistic observations in (Carlson-Radvansky, 1997).
Recommended Citation
Kelleher, John D. and van Genabith, Josef, "A Computational Model of the Referential Semantics of Projective Prepositions" (2006). Conference papers. 76.
Included in
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Commons, Computational Linguistics Commons, Semantics and Pragmatics Commons


text: Advent 2015 is quickly approaching. Advent is the holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a time in the church calendar where we focus on the coming of Christ, both as we celebrate his birth and await his return. This year will begin Advent a little early as we start on Nov. 22nd to allow us plenty of time for all the wonderful celebrations of Advent and the Christmas season. Our focus for 2015 is the Christmas Is Not Your Birthday worship series click here for more information on this series. As usual we will be celebrating Advent by lighting the Advent Wreath, if you or your family would like to participate in this tradition please contact Rev. Vick at email@example.com.


text:
We understand that is the week of Thanksgiving and that everyone is busy, but if you could spare some time tomorrow, that would be great. Tomorrow is our last letter writing meeting of the year. We typically don't have a meeting during the last week of the year, instead participating in Amnesty International's annual Write-a-Thon (details can be found below).
Details for Tomorrow's Meeting
Who: Our Amnesty International chapter and those interested in human rights
What: To write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience worldwide
When: 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Where: Hartford Coffee Company on the corner of Roger and Hartford, one block off of Arsenal
Why: Because people need our help and we can make a difference
How: Just show up to the meeting! We'll provide the paper, pens, and pertinent information on each of the cases. Be thankful that you are able to do something for others, and not be in a position where you need activists like us writing letters on your behalf!
Letter Writing Topics
- Families left homeless in Brazil
- Human rights organization attacked in San Salvador
- Shi'a community at risk of forced eviction in Indonesia
- Political activist detained in Yemen
Write-a-Thon Event Details
Our goal this year is 200 letters! So please join us to write for rights at our Annual St. Louis Write-a-Thon! Please RSVP on Facebook (by clicking the link) if you are attending or thinking about attending. Even if you don't want to sit with us and write letters, you are welcome to come to the brewery, have a meal, and sign a few of our petitions.
Who: Our Amnesty International chapter and anyone else who wants to do something good for someone else this holiday season.
What: To write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience worldwide
When: Saturday, Dec. 7 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Schlafly Bottleworks – 7260
Southwest Ave. @ Manchester. Maplewood, MO 63143
Why: Because people need our help and we can make a difference, and because it's fun
How: Just show up and enjoy great company, food, and beer (food and beer not free). We'll provide the paper, pens, and pertinent information on each of the cases.
If you can't attend the Write-a-thon, then please subscribe to this blog for updates! We will be posting the focus cases for this year's event, so you can follow along and write letters on your own time. We'll give you all the information you need to write the letter and to send it to the appropriate person. If you're going to write letters on your own or attend our event, then please pledge your commitment on the Amnesty website. Our goal is 200 letters, but Amnesty's goal is to have 75,000 people writing letters. Please join the event in any way you can! Your voice has power, and many people around the world need it.


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Program Category: PhD Programs
Chair: Alan Stewart
Director of Graduate Studies: James Eli Adams
Associate Director of Graduate Studies: Matthew Hart
Website: english.columbia.edu
Degree Programs: Full-Time: MA, MPhil, PhD Full-Time/Part-Time: Free-Standing MA
The Department of English and Comparative Literature has played a significant role in the history of literary study in the United States and abroad since its inception. With a large faculty of renowned scholars and dedicated teachers, the department offers a wide range of courses in traditional and emerging fields of literary and cultural study.
Students may apply for either the free-standing MA program or the sequential MA/MPhil/PhD program. Students should not apply to the free-standing program if they wish to advance beyond the MA in the English and Comparative Literature department at Columbia: the free-standing program is terminal.
In the MA year, students take eight courses, which must include the Master's Seminar and the Colloquium in Theory and Method. MA students must also complete the Master's Essay and demonstrate proficiency in one foreign language. No advanced standing will be granted toward the MA for graduate work completed at other institutions. All sequential students are evaluated at the conclusion of the first year in order to be recommended to continue to MPhil studies. To complete the MPhil, sequential students take six more courses and fulfill a second language requirement before taking the oral examination in preparation for beginning work on the PhD dissertation. Students are expected to finish the PhD within six years of their initial enrollment as an MA candidate.
All students in the doctoral program receive full financial support through year six as long as they make satisfactory progress. Teaching and research experience are considered an important aspect of the training of PhD students. Thus, graduate fellowships include some teaching and research apprenticeship.
For a more detailed description of the program and current information on courses, faculty, and any changes in requirements, see the department's home page.
Certificate in Comparative Literature and Society
The Institute for Comparative Literature and Society (ICLS) awards a certificate in Comparative Literature and Society. For more information, see the ICLS website.
Special Admissions Requirements:
In addition to the requirements listed below, all students must submit one transcript showing courses and grades at each school attended, a statement of academic purpose, a writing sample (a course paper, term paper, etc.), and three letters of evaluation from academic sources.
All international students whose native language is not English or whose undergraduate degree is from an institution in a country whose official language is not English must submit scores of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or IELTS.
For more information, refer to our Admissions Information and Frequently Asked Questions pages.
|Deadline for Fall Admission:
|Thursday, December 19, 2019
|Resume Requirement:
|Writing Sample:
|Writing Sample Number of Pages:
|GRE General:
|Degree Programs:
|Full Time
|Letters of Recommendation:


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PTCL PENSIONERS PROTEST CAMP AT ISLAMABAD DAY 3 Islamabad (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is one of the very old and gig institution of the Pakistan. In 2006 Pervaiz Musharraf's Government privatized it. Now is in the hands of UAE's Ettisalat group. There are almost 40000 PTCL pensioners. They are …Read More »
PTCL PENSIONERS COURT CASE UPDATE MAY 2017 Hearing of Review Petitions filed by PTCL/PTET/FOP & Contempt filed by Mr.Sadiq Ali etc fixed for hearing on 09-05-2017 before Supreme Court Bench-III comprising :- Mr.Justice Gulzar Ahmad Mr.Justice Mushir Alam & Mr.Justice Dost Muhammad Khan at S#7. Pray for early dismissal of …Read More »
PTET and Bank Al-Falah Sign Partnership for Pension Payment to PTCL Pensioners
PTET and Bank Al-Falah Sign Partnership for Pension Payment to PTCL Pensioners Yesterday an important contract has been signed between the Pak telecom Employees Trust (PTET) and The the Bank Al-Falah Limited. Now PTCL pensioners will get their pensions from the Bank Al-Falah Private Limited. At the present the total …Read More »
PTCL's COURT CASE UPDATE
COURT CASE UPDATE: Hearing of Review Petitions filed by PTCL/PTET/F.O.P & Contempt of Court case filed by Mr.Sadiq Ali etc fixed for hearing in the Supreme Court on 03-05-2017 (May 3, 2017). Pray for dismissal of Review Cases and recovery of our dues at the earliest. Regards, Muhammad Tauqeer (28-04-2017)Read More »
Historical Orders of Lahore High Court Regarding PTCL Employees and PTCL pensioners
Historical Orders of Lahore High Court Regarding PTCL Employees and PTCL pensioners پی ٹی سی ایل ورکروں کیلئے خوشخبری۔ لاہور ہائی کورٹ کا شاندار فیصلہ۔ BPS پے اسکیل اور پنشن میں 2010 سے تمام اضافہ جات ادا کرنے کا حکم۔ confined to existing pcy end pension ct. the tiM0 …Read More »


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Bags, Cases and Racks | Product code: DJC-B | ID: 234103
Estimated delivery 2020-08-13
DJ controller bag. Fits the DDJ-RB, DDJ-SB, DDJ-SB2. It comes with pre-cut egg-foam to fit your DDJ-WeGO3. The bag's protective egg-foam and fleeced lining prevent damage from vibrations and shocks. Color: Black
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Do you own Pioneer Dj DJC-B/WEGO3+BAG or have you had a chance to try it?


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- Created by: Avneet Chauhan
- Created on: 18-06-13 16:32
What are the dramatic moments within the narrative
The relationship between man & woman
VOLVER- Raimunda's husband killed by his 'daughter', husband masturbating in front of wife when she refuses to have sex with him,
AYMT- Louisa leaves her husband as he cheats on her repeatedly, the scene of the ********* that changes Julio's and Tenoch's relationship and future, the impromptu childish sex scene between Julio and his girlfriend shows their age, nature, and adolescance.
VOLVER- Supernatural. Comedy moment e.g. hiding under the bed, Irene prefers being a ghost
AYMT- When Tenoch makes Julio beg, and spits "peasant" at him, it shows the class division of Mexico. The boys represent the deep devision of Mexico as a country, and it's identity crisis. Tenoch does not pick up his phone despite it being beside him, and Julio's family takes part in demonstrations.
What are the subtle moments within the narrative?
Women's status in family and society
VOLVER- Women have the role of breadwinner and homemaker. Raimunda has a job, and makes the food. For example, Raimunda and Paula come back from cleaning her parent's grave to find Paco at home drinking beer and watching television. It is up to Raimunda to make the food in the house. She does not complain about her status, and accepts it. She left La Mancha to Madrid to escape traditions, yet they have followed her to a supposedly modern city.
AYMT- Louisa does not accept her status as a woman. In the doctor's surgery, she reads the magazine article asking her if she is a "fully realized women". This scene foreshadows her death, as she is unsure about her feminity. The magazine believed She thinks about the present, time, being awake- a woman afraid to accept her freedom. Luisa didn't agree. Yet, after this scene, she escapes from her life with Jano, her husband and "accepts her freedom", proving the article wrong.
Lack of male representation and depth
VOLVER- The only males present are Paco, and the filmaker, which weakens the 'empowering women' argument. Their characters aren't developed, yet the lack of presence of men shows subtly how little men are needed in a narrative.
AYMT- Tenoch and Julio are obviously the lead male characters in the narrative. However, they rely on the company of women to keep their friendship alive. There is awkwardness when the girlfriends leave, and this is when they decide on the improptu road trip.
What genres are present in the films? What convent
City vs. Suburbia
VOLVER- La Mancha close to Madrid geographically, but is culturally far. More traditional as the characters would rather believe in ghosts than accept that issues like incest occured.
AYMT-The suburbian life is unknown to those in the city. They do not care much of the issues happening. Even though Mexico is industrialising and people are migrating, there is severe poverty and disorder.
VOLVER- Marital relationships, family relationships, mother/daughter, sisters
AYMT- 'Charulastra's' friendship, Louisa, homosexual friend
Romance/ erotica
VOLVER- Paco masturbates in front of his wife, Raimunda. There is incest as Raimunda's fathr rapes her. Paula's adopted father, Paco, almost rapes her too.
AYMT- Threesomes at a party which Tenoch and Julio attend, and one with Louisa. Tenoch and Julio both have seperate sex scenes with their girlfriends, and with Louisa.
CONVENTIONS: Narrative structure in AYMT is Hollywood, and VOLVER follows Todorov's structure, but the characters are not conventional.
How are the audience encouraged to identify with p
The audience identifies with characters weaknesses and sacrifices made throughout the films.
Penelope Cruz- she sacrifices her life for her family. For example, she is ***** by her father, yet still gives birth to Paula. When Paula is nearly ***** by Paco, and she kills him, Raimunda is able to put aside her emotions of the event that occured, and clean up the mess.
The mother (Irene)- she hides for many years in La Mancha as a ghost, but returns at the death of Augustina. She doesn't want to intrude in Raimunda's life, as she blames herself for the **** between her husband and daughter, and the affair.
Louisa- she has sacrificed her life for others: first her mother, then Jano. Now she is dying, she forces herself to be free. The audience and the characters are unaware of this, apart from the one scene where her death is foreshadowed at the doctor's appointment. The fact that she doesn't tell anyone of her illness shows she is making another sacrifice.
The girlfriends- escaping their life in Mexico, a country with extreme poverty and an identity crisis, to seek new adventures and thrills. Young audiences may identify with this behaviour.
How is female empowerment not achieved? How are me
Lack of male representation and depth
VOLVER- Only male characters are Paco and film-maker (potential love interest), two-dimensial, not developed, intentions are unclear. Weakens argument of female empowerment.
AYMT- Tenoch and Julio rely on women so friendship succeeds. Young, innocent, need support of women in lives to seem 'macho' (Louisa comforts Tenoch after first sex scene).
Female character's actions
LOUISA (AYMT)- the audience sees Louisa crying and depleated a lot, and believe this is due to her seperation from Jano. It is because of her impending death. If she told the boys, the argument of empowerment might have seemed stronger to the audience as she's accepting her situation. Yet, it looks like she is running away from life.
VOLVER- The audience feel frustated with the traditions of La Mancha, and that Irene is never openly revealed to the society as alive, and that Paula is Raimunda's sister and daughter.
Influence of Hollywood
VOLVER- Status as a Spanish film and independent art-house film lowered as it has Penelope Cruz as the lead female actor and she has international recognition.
AYMT- Narrative structure: despite an A story of the characters, and B story of Mexico's political situation, it is 3 acts and genre based, mostly being a coming of age drama.
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We summarize the finale of the 2019 Tour de France, along with a discussion of some unusual gear and bikes that were spotted at the Tour. We also dive into how the so-called 'busiest bike lane in America' was once considered a bad idea, how one group in congress is proposing federal funding for bike transit, and finish up with an emphasis on the need for mental health care for professional athletes.
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Author: Dr. Chris Cantwell, Imperial College London
Fluid dynamics is one of the application areas driving advances in supercomputing towards the next great milestone of exascale – achieving 10^18 floating-point operations per second (flops). One of the major challenges of running such simulations is the reliability of the computing hardware on which the tasks execute. With saturation of clock-speeds and growth in available flops now being primarily achieved through increased parallelism, an exascale machine is likely to consist of a far greater number of components than previous systems. Since the reliability of these components is not improving considerably, the time for which an exascale system can run before a failure occurs (mean time to interrupt, MTTI) will be on the order of a few minutes. Indeed, the latest petascale (10^15 flops) supercomputers have an MTTI of around 8 hours.
Algorithms and software therefore need to be developed with resilience in mind and designed to be tolerant of failures when they occur. As part of the ExaFLOW project we have been examining how this might be achieved with computational fluid dynamics, without adversely affecting the performance or scalability of the code, and testing out prototype implementations in Nektar++. One particular concern at exascale as the size of memory per processor, which is currently on a downward trend. We have therefore been seeking solutions which provide resilience in a memory-conservative manner.
Fluid dynamics codes can be broken down into two phases: the initialisation phase in which the discrete differential operator matrices are computed, and the time-integration phase in which an initial condition is advanced in time; the latter is by far the predominant computational cost of large-scale transient simulations of engineering interest. The data for such transient problems can also be split into a static component and a dynamic component. The static component primarily comprises of the matrix systems and does not change during the course of the simulation. In contrast, the dynamic data is that which changes, for example the flow variables.
Our prototype approach, now implemented in Nektar++, uses a proposed fault-tolerance extension to the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard called User-Level Failure Mitigation (ULFM), combined with a memory-efficient approach to represent and duplicate the static data. ULFM provides the critical functionality to not only detect failures among the processes participating in simulation, but to recover from such failures too through transitioning the computation associated with the failed node onto a spare node in the system. Multiple spare nodes consequently provide greater resilience to additional failures. Memory efficiency and performant recovery is achieved through recording only the result of each MPI communication during the initialisation phase; this can then be used to reconstruct the failed process on the spare node entirely independently of other processes, eliminating expensive collective communication. An additional advantage of this approach is that it can be potentially applied in a moderately non-intrusive manner to existing codes. To date we are able to run flow simulations which can recover from as many sequential failures as there are spare nodes, with a memory overhead of only 10%.
While we have an initial working prototype implemented for our incompressible Navier-Stokes solver, further work is needed in a number of areas. In particular, we will be looking to benchmark our prototype on a number of ExaFLOW test cases to assess its scalability on current systems and predict is efficacy and suitability for exascale computing when it arrives.
If you want to find out more about the contents of this article, please contact Dr. Chris Cantwell


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Glidetrack Hybrid Test Shoot in Coney Island, Brooklyn New York
So I finally tested my new glidetrack hybrid…I went to Coney Island one beautiful day and to say the least I LOVE IT.. We decided to go to Coney Island located in Brooklyn New York for its various landscapes, and wide spectrum of people… Soooo Armed with the GTH, Panasonic TM 900, and a couple of Light Stands..We were ready for anything..
Out the box, The GT was very easy to assemble, the track seemed durable, clean, and the bearings on the mount were gliding fast by just tilting this bad boy in any position on the track…Hoping to encounter the unexpected, our first attempt to using it was just that.. Standing in front of an abandon Roller Rink on the Board Walk, Lens set to it's widest position and it was dolly time…NOT!!!! Rule #1, having the 1m GT, if your subject is Bigger than said length, and lens is at it's widest point, little to no movement will occur…That's the only real rule besides making sure that in all your fun: do not get the Dolly IN the shot.
The GT Hybrid was able to shoot Horizontally and Vertically, in fact the only shot that we didn't try was a Overhead Dolly. I would honestly recommend this product to anyone looking to step up their production value.. Easy to use, Light weight, and you are limited basically to your imagination. Those lil tilts and pans will add to any shot, which in the long run means more business, a happier client, and a more Creative You..Enjoy..
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In early summer, this classic evergreen shrub bursts into flower with thick, white and waxy blossoms that release an intoxicating aroma that can perfume an entire garden. The gardenia was named for physician and botanist Alexander Garden, a resident of Charleston, S.C. [source: Thigpen]. This sophisticated white flower has inspired several perfumes, including Chanel's Gardenia and Marc Jacobs Eau de Perfume.
Gardenias reach 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) tall and 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) wide. They like rich soil, light shade and frequent watering, and are susceptible to aphids, mealybugs, mites and whiteflies. Gardenias may require a little work to keep them healthy and insect free, but the rich, sweet aroma is worth the effort!