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Commit to your writing: from the comfort of your home or while connecting with writers around the world.
Since our inception in 2014, Kahini participants have published over two thousand individual times in literary magazines; released over one hundred books; been featured in the Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, Best American Short Stories and Best American Science & Nature Writing anthologies; and been short-listed for the Caine Prize for African Writing. The Kahini model establishes new writers and provides established writers with ongoing community and inspiration in the writing life. Kahini membership provides:
- Unlimited access to writing retreats and conferences at six global locations, year-round;
- Personal consultations on your work through monthly written feedback or one-hour phone call on any piece of up to 5,000 words; and the
- Monthly subscription to Kahini magazine, chock-full each month with brand-new craft lectures, interviews, and artistic work from writers all over the world.
Retreats and Conferences
Included with your membership. Most members attend one or two gatherings a year; some attend nearly all. Annual events happen on the island of Kaua’i, Hawai’i; the Kāpiti Coast of New Zealand; and in the cities of Kolkata, India; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Kampala, Uganda.
For any member who wants, your full registration to Centrum’s annual Port Townsend Writers’ Conference, on the mainland United States, is also included.
All these retreats and conferences focus on craft, community, and inspiration.To attend, simply be a Kahini member for nine months, after which you have free access to any retreat or conference you wish to attend, year-round, as long as your membership is current.
The Kāpiti Writers’ Retreat and Port Townsend Writers’ Conference are large events for 72 and 168 people, respectively, full of workshops, craft lectures, panels, readings, freewrites, and much more, and put you in full immersion with ten to twenty of the best writers in the world.
The Kolkata, Desert, and Kampala Writers’ Retreats are each limited to 12 participants, and focus intensively on creating one new advanced work of art in one week.
The two Kaua’i Writers’ Retreats are elite workshops limited to only six writers each, focused intensively on creating one new advanced work of art in one week.
This is a service included as part of your membership. Revise and publish your work throughout the year with written feedback or a one-hour phone call on any piece of up to 5,000 words with Kahini magazine editor Jordan Hartt.
In the past five months alone, members doing these consultations have published twelve short stories, won two writing contests, and two writing fellowships.
At the heart of the Kahini community is Kahini magazine.
Each month you receive three new creative-writing craft lectures (and access to all archived lectures) by some of the best writers working today; eleven inspirational writing exercises based on the lectures; new interviews with vital, contemporary writers working in Africa, the Americas, Eurasia, and Oceania; and three new works of literary art in poetry, prose, or cross-genre work.
Please contact [email protected] or call directly 1-360-531-1472.
Editorial Membership: $175/month provides the magazine subscription, monthly feedback on up to 5,000 words either through a written response or one-hour phone call, and free admission to any and all retreats and conferences after nine months. Register for one year all at once.
Manuscript Membership: $1,750/month provides the magazine subscription, monthly feedback on up to 50,000 words either through a written response or five hours of phone conversation, and free admission to any and all retreats and conferences immediately.
Membership registration available here. Want to make a one-time purchase, instead? Please follow this link.
“Just what I needed. I can’t say enough. To be able to get this kind of writing community and have it be affordable and not competitive in spirit allowed me to be inspired, get a lot of work done, and make new friends. Thanks so much.”
“Several friends told me: ‘It will change your life.’ This was absolutely true! I have been a poet pretty much all my life and have published quite a bit in journals. Two years ago I won a major contest and had a book published. Since then I have felt my work was at a stand-still. I could still turn out and publish an competent poem, but I didn’t feel I was writing great poetry. What I experienced renewed my faith in my writing and gave me SO MANY IDEAS for what and how to compose. THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the hard work it takes.”
“I feel like I’m actually lit up, buzzing with inspiration. Everyone I pass by suddenly marks a story. Every lovely, disturbing image begs me to write a poem. Thank you for this gift.”
“The writing experiences you run have been the best of my life.”
“I was impressed with how approachable and gracious the teachers/authors were.”
“For me the highlights of the retreat was just being around writers who were all at different stages of their careers. For me, the big highlight was the positive feedback I gained from my tutor Jordan and the rest of his class. Because my project is such an arduous, long (possibly years), and big undertaking, it was good to get that positive shot in the mind to carry on and just do it.”
“This is a truly amazing experience. I felt proud to introduce yet another friend to the experience.”
“My Kahini Writers Retreat experience was a perfect blend of structured workshops, walks by the river, talking with other writers and having the time and space to write. The workshop I attended (led by Gary Copeland Lilley) introduced me to some poets I wasn’t familiar with and gave me the opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a poetic witness. There were some lively group discussions and I came away with a couple of first drafts to work on further. The retreat was a great opportunity to connect with other writers and produce new work. Oh, and the food was great!”
“This is where I met all the people who are closest to me.”
“Many thanks for the great organization and quality programming. The teachers and leaders are excellent and that is and should be the most important part.”
“Kahini is one of those unique (and very rare) spaces in the fine arts and literature world where everyone is invited to play–or speak would be the better word–regardless of race, age, degree, checkbook, or even gender. The workshop I attended, Inside, Outside, & Upside-down, on affiliations and disconections, provided a safe and more importantly, interesting space where I felt like I could exchange and openly share my own personal experiences without being workshopped, judged or edited. The other participants were extremely diverse–representing all walks of life and I feel like due to the energy and environment facilitated by Sam and Jordan–that we were all able to relate to each other, if only in the sense that we are all humans and that all of our stories and lives have value. I went into the workshop with an open mind but not really expecting to generate anything quality within such a small time frame but I feel like the short story that I left with is the beginning of several or perhaps even a novel. I left the workshop energized and with strong editing suggestions from the other participants that I still have material to work with, months later.”
“The workshop was thoroughly engaging and fun. Jordan was open and friendly and is clearly passionate about the art of writing. Being a part of so much sharing is always a valuable experience and sharing in people’s stories – both real and fictional was enriching. I look forward to more workshops, writing retreats and meetups soon!”
“Such a treat to learn more about the writing process from a practising writer and lecturer, who delivered with consummate skill and sensitivity. I came away with a finer perception of what is possible in my own writing.”
“Thanks Kahini for an intense and enjoyable weekend. I left with new friends, new love for the Kāpiti coastline, and – most importantly–new skills that will be of great use as I rewrite my novel. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“The programme was well considered and Jordan’s teaching style was focussed, impartial and the class well managed without feeling like we were being managed.”
“It was great to meet so many interesting and lovely people, and to critique each other’s work in a helpful, productive and respectful way. It was clear that everybody had a really positive experience, and I think some bonds were made that will continue to develop over the years.”
“Kahini is the opposite of your typical rote workshop. Brilliant authors and editors work alongside writers who are just getting started, in an environment of empathy, frankness, encouragement, and artistic risk. The result is fresh new writing, fresh discussion, and a whole lot of fun.”
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank YOU.”
“I really can’t thank you enough for this. It taught me so much about myself. Also, I spent many years in the event planning business and y’all have got this down. Very impressive. Thank you.”
“This is everything I’ve been looking for.”
Who We Are
Africa Director Wairimu Mwangi is a writer and founder of the Literature Africa Foundation. Her educational textbooks are used in schools across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ghana. She is passionate about quality education for all and believes that without books or material to read, literacy suffers and when literacy suffers, opportunities decline. She enjoys mentoring youth, storytelling, travelling, reading and meditating. Contact.
Africa Director Ssekandi Ronald Ssegujja is the founder of Writing Our World, an organization in Uganda that uses writing, debate and spoken word to give a platform to people to express themselves. He is an events’ organizer who also runs the the writers’ club ‘Coffee and Books’ that happens monthly in Kampala. In 2014, his story ‘Walls and Borders’ won the Eastern Africa Writivism Literary prize. Contact.
Oceania Director Kirsten Le Harivel is a writer, project/programme manager and mother. Although born in Scotland, she lives with her family on the Kāpiti Coast of Aotearoa. Her writing has been published in various international literary journals and she has an MA from the International Institute of Modern Letters. She has a background in programme and project management in the arts, youth, and refugee sectors. Contact.
Americas Director and Kahini Magazine Editor Jordan Hartt Jordan Hartt believes in the power of creative writing to transform lives and bring people closer together through mutual empathy and understanding. He has a whole annoying spiel on this and is therefore rarely invited to parties. Hartt facilitates the Kolkata Writers’ Retreat, the Desert Writers’ Retreat, the Kampala Writers’ Retreat, and the twice-annual Kaua’i Writers’ Retreat. All these programs are designed to provide ongoing craft, community, and inspiration for writers of all backgrounds and writing styles. The author of the story collection “Leap” and the forthcoming story collection “Drifting,” both available from Tebot Bach, Jordan is currently working on a long poem. Contact.
KAHINI MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTORS
Sheillah Abaho is a graduate of Makerere University with a Bachelor’s degree in Ethics and Human Rights. A human rights defender and promoter, lover of photography, avid reader, Abaho is keen on volunteerism and has worked organizing such literary events such as The Writivism Festival, the Kampala Writers Retreat, Coffee & Books, and the Babishai Poetry Festival. She has also worked with such organizations as the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, The Citizen’s Election Observers Network and the Uganda Youth Adolescent Health Forum in promoting Human Rights, and Writing Our World.
Kim Addonizio is the author of six poetry collections, two novels, two story collections, and two books on writing poetry, “The Poet’s Companion” (with Dorianne Laux) and “Ordinary Genius.” She has received fellowships from the NEA and Guggenheim Foundation, two Pushcart Prizes, and was a National Book Award Finalist for her collection Tell Me. Her latest books are “Mortal Trash” and a memoir-in-essays, “Bukowski in a Sundress.” “Writing is an ongoing fascination and challenge,” Kim says, “as well as being the only form of spirituality I can consistently practice.”
Sheila Bender’s passion is helping writers break out into new forms, revise effectively, generate more writing and facilitate the writing of others. In the last three decades, she has worked with hundreds of people helping them write personal essays, fiction, and more meaningful writer’s journals, in addition to book-length memoir, how-to books and novels. She is the author of the memoir, “A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief,” and the instructional book “Creative Writing Demystified,” available in e-book format. More of her instructional work includes “Sorrow’s Words: Writing Exercises to Heal Grief.“
Gary Copeland Lilley is a North Carolina poet living, writing, and teaching in the Pacific Northwest. His publications include four full-length collections, the most recent of which is The Bushman’s Medicine Show, from Lost Horse Press (2017), and three chapbooks of poetry. He is a graduate of the Warren Wilson College MFA Program, and been faculty at Warren Wilson College, the Great Smokies Writing Program at the University of North Carolina-Asheville. and the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, and has been a visiting writer at the University of Arizona, Colby College, and the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Sayantani Dasgupta is an essayist, a short story writer, and the author of “Fire Girl” and the chapbook “The House of Nails.” Born in Calcutta and raised in New Delhi, she has lived in the United States since 2006. Sayantani’s publications have won a Pushcart Prize Special Mention, and Dukool Magazine‘s 2016 Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Her essay “Oscillation” was the finalist for Phoebe Magazine‘s 2014 Creative Nonfiction Contest.
Recipient of Writing in the Wild and Centrum Writers’ Conference fellowships from the University of Idaho, E. A. Greenwell was the 2016-2017 PEN/Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Resident. His work has appeared in Boston Review, Terrain.org, Moss, and is forthcoming from Poet Loreand Common Ground Review. He lives in Eastern Oregon, where he works with tribes, NGOs, government entities, and private landowners to conserve land.
Ilya Kaminsky is the author of “Dancing In Odessa” and the forthcoming “Deaf Republic.” His poems have been translated into numerous languages and his books have been published in many countries including Turkey, Holland, Russia, France, Mexico, Macedonia, Romania, Spain and China. Ilya, who was born in Odessa, in the Ukraine, in what was the former Soviet Union, moved to the United States in 1993 when his family was granted asylum by the U.S. government. He has won the Lannan Foundation’s Literary Fellowship.
Jenifer Lawrence is the author of Grayling (Perugia Press, 2015), and One Hundred Steps from Shore (Blue Begonia Press, 2006). Her work appears in Bracken, The Coachella Review, Los Angeles Review, Narrative, North American Review, and elsewhere. She lives on Puget Sound, and edits the Seattle-based journal, Crab Creek Review.
Agatha Wanjiru seeks to impact people’s lives through making quality education accessible. She is actively engaged in civic leadership and believes in giving back to the community through Fly Sister Fly Foundation-a community based organization that works with girls in Samburu Kenya to improve the literacy levels of girls and discourage female genital mutilation and child marriage.
And We Give!
These locally owned, governed, and staffed NGO organizations work with youth in schools and communities throughout East Africa, including Tanzania and Rwanda.


Supporters of the Modi government are going ballistic over French warplanes.
They have pounded Facebook and Twitter with claims that Paris has added a free scheme to its Rafale deal with New Delhi.
France, says a post on a Facebook page titled Atal Modi with 1.7 million likes, has decided to gift 32 Jaguar and two Mirage-2000 fighter jets to India as a goodwill gesture.
India Todays fact-check team shot down the speculations flying high on social platforms apparently to praise the Modi government facing opposition fire for its 2016 order to buy 36 combat aircraft from Frances Dassault.
The fact-check found the so-called Jaguar add-ons to be a sheer propaganda.
According to the sources in the Indian Air Force, the IAF is already struggling to maintain its existing fleet of ageing Jaguars. Why would the air force be interested in getting more of these wondered a senior IAF official.
So where did the speculations of free Jaguars originate from?
The fact-check tracked them down to a French weekly magazine which quoted sources in the French government claiming a year ago that Paris intended to donate 31 Jaguar fighter jets to India.
Its a fact that India wants to replace its squadrons of fighter jets. As against the required 42, the IAF is left with just 31 squadrons of warplanes. With the first French Rafale multirole combat aircraft to arrive only by 2019, the IAF is in urgent need of spare parts, said a highly-placed official source.
Some 61 Jaguars are to be upgraded by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian navy and the air force, the IAF source told the fact-check team. Similarly for the three squadrons of Mirage-2000 fighter jets, genuine spare parts are not available.
The French retired their Jaguars in 2005 and replaced them with Dassault Rafael multirole fighters. The UK, Ecuador, Nigeria and Oman have also discontinued Jaguars.
Defence ministry sources told India Today that France has agreed to supply spare parts from its retired fleet of Jaguar fighter jets. They will be will be transported to India and we will only bear the freight charges, an official source explained.
From our investigation, it is clear that India is not getting Jaguar fighter jets from France but only their spare parts to keep our own Jaguars up in the air. Moreover, the freebie has nothing to do with the Rafale deal.


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HF W5GI Mystery Multi Band Antenna
- Brand: Wire Antennas UK
- Product Code: HF W5GI Mystery Multi Band Antenna
- Availability: 4
- Ex Tax: £65.00
The design of the Mystery antenna was inspired by an article written by James E. Taylor, W2OZH, in which he described a low profile collinear coaxial array. This antenna covers 80 to 6 meters with low feed point impedance and will work with most radios, with or without an antenna tuner. .Any length of 50-Ohm coax to shack. SO 239.
It is approximately 100 feet long, can handle the legal limit, and is easy and erect. It’s similar to a G5RV but a much better performer especially on 20 meters.
The W5GI Mystery antenna, erected at various heights and configurations, is currently being used by thousands of amateurs throughout the world. The “mystery” part of the antenna comes from the fact that it is difficult, if not impossible, to model and explain why the antenna works as well as it does. The antenna is especially well suited to hams who are unable to erect towers and rotating arrays. All that’s needed is two vertical supports (trees work well) about 130 feet apart to permit installation of wire antennas at about 25 feet above ground.
The W5GI Multi-band Mystery Antenna is a fundamentally a collinear antenna comprising three half waves in-phase on 20 meters with a half-wave 20 meter line transformer. It may sound and look like a G5RV but it is a substantially different antenna on 20 meters. The Mystery antenna presents a six-lobe pattern on 20 meters, gain broadside to the antenna, and also low feed point impedance to simplify matching the antenna to the rig. Additionally, the Mystery antenna is designed to work at least as well, on the other HF bands as a G5RV. In short, the Mystery antenna is a sky wire that incorporates the advantages of a 3 element collinear.An article written by James E. Taylor, COCOA- A Collinear Coaxial Array, published in 73 Amateur Radio, August 1989, describes a low profile collinear coaxial array.
According to Taylor, when you apply a RF voltage to the center conductor at the open end, the stub causes a voltage phase lag of 180 degrees at the adjacent coax shield. This happens because the RF is delayed by one quarter-cycle as it passes from left to right, inside the coax to the shorted (opposite) end. There’s another quarter-cycle delay as the wave passes back from right to left inside the coax and emerges on the shield at the open end. Add up the delays and you get a total time delay of one-half cycle, or 180 degrees. In essence, the coax section serves two purposes: it provides the necessary delay and provides part of the radiating element in a collinear array.

domain: hobby


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The Normans episode 3 – Normans of the South: Professor Robert Bartlett explores the impact of the Normans on southern Europe and the Middle East. The Normans spread south in the 11th century, winning control of southern Italy and the island of Sicily. There they created their most prosperous kingdom, where Christianity and Islam co-existed in relative harmony and mutual tolerance. It became a great centre of medieval culture and learning.
But events in the Middle East provoked the more aggressive side of the Norman character. In 1095, the Normans enthusiastically answered the pope’s call for holy war against Islam and joined the first crusade. They lay siege to Jerusalem and eventually helped win back the holy city from the muslims. This bloody conquest left a deep rift between Christianity and Islam which is still being felt to this day.
The Normans episode 3 – Normans of the South
The Normans are an ethnic group that arose from contact between Norse Viking settlers of a region in France, named Normandy after them, and indigenous Franks and Gallo-Romans. The settlements in France followed a series of raids on the French coast from mainly Denmark, but also Norway, and Iceland, and they gained political legitimacy when the Viking leader Rollo agreed to swear fealty to King Charles III of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, and it continued to evolve over the succeeding centuries.
The Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and the Near East. The Normans were famed for their martial spirit and eventually for their Catholic piety, becoming exponents of the Catholic orthodoxy of the Romance community into which they assimilated. They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, their dialect becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French, an important literary language which is still spoken today in parts of Normandy and the nearby Channel Islands.
The Duchy of Normandy, which they formed by treaty with the French crown, was a great fief of medieval France, and under Richard I of Normandy was forged into a cohesive and formidable principality in feudal tenure. By the end of the reign of Richard I of Normandy in 996 (aka Richard the Fearless / Richard sans Peur), all descendants of Vikings became, according to Cambridge Medieval History (Volume 5, Chapter XV), ‘not only Christians but in all essentials Frenchmen.

domain: history


Scooters have been getting bigger and better for the last five or six years, although the concept of a 250cc plus sized touring scooter dates back to 1950s Germany.
Suzuki have had a great deal of success in recent years with their Burgman 250 and 400 models, which has spurred on the creation of their biggest, most well equipped super-scooter so far; the Burgman 650. Can it compete against Honda´s mighty Silverwing 650, or the Yamaha T-Max 500?
Kevin Ash reports from the Burgman launch.
You can´t blame people for focusing on the Suzuki Burgman´s funky new transmission – there´s nothing else like it, after all. It´s a familiar scooter-style twist´n´go fully automatic, except you not only get two options on how you like that to be served (normal and power modes) you can also switch to manual mode and play around with a virtual five-speed gearbox using a bar-mounted rocker switch.
Yet this is to some extent the hors-d´oeuvre. It´s the Burgman´s main course of impressive features which will matter more to an owner in the end, so we´ll check those out first. The initial impression of a big, chunky machine is reinforced dramatically if you let it lean too far off-centre: this is one heavy two-wheeler!
In fact, the dry weight is a massive 238kg (525lb), which is more than any other machine in Suzuki´s current line-up (even the Hayabusa is only 215kg). But the mass is carried very low, more so than on a motorcycle, and as a consequence most of the time it´s not noticed.
Did she just shake her Burgmans at me?
What does make an impression instead is the exceptionally good ride quality (part of which will be due to that weight), the best on any of the superscooters including the Honda Silverwing and Yamaha Tmax. Large potholes will have the Burgman shuddering and jarring, but generally the ride is smooth and very well controlled. Stability too is very good (more credit to that weight), and up to 90mph it´s outstanding for this type of machine.
As you approach and enter the three figure zone the front begins to get vague and some gentle wobbling sets in when the indicated 120mph top speed is looming (a true 112mph), but with one reservation it´s not a concern. The concern was that a handful of other journalists at the Burgman 650´s presentation near Rome, experienced more severe wobbles – it didn´t happen to me but I did see one having to back off as it started to get out of hand. Below 100mph it was fine for everyone though, and as the Burgman isn´t exactly the first choice for most ton-up hooligan bikers it´s unlikely to affect many people.
It still shouldn´t do it though!
The brakes, surprisingly perhaps, aren´t linked, and there´s no ABS option (even the 400 Burgman has linked brakes), although the stopping force available is good and there´s reasonable feedback for a scooter – only when you´re charging downhill do you feel like you want more power, and that´s because of all that mass you´re carrying. It´s in circumstances like this, with a few twists and turns thrown in, that the Burgman´s slow steering can get in the way, you have to plan your cornering and learn to swing the beast majestically through the bends, as it will no more flick than a very sticky bogey.
Once again though, that´s really asking the Burgman to do things it was never designed for. Suzuki is aiming it at older bikers as a gentle tourer, even more than riders moving up the scooter scale, so benign handling is a plus point, not a nuisance.
And for touring there´s a lot to commend it. The space beneath the front-hinged seat is voluminous, enough to easily slip in a couple of full faced lids or a briefcase if you´re commuting (and VERY few scooters can swallow one of those), while the three compartments in the front fairing are much bigger than on most other scooters. Of course, adding panniers is ruled out by the width of the bodywork, but fitting a topbox would be easy enough and it shouldn´t affect the handling too much.
Comfort is outstanding, even for taller riders who often feel cramped on scooters. Engine vibration is almost zero and the screen works very well, despite not being adjustable, turbulence is slight and noise not excessive. As for the pillion, there´s practically enough room on the back to lay down and go to sleep, but even sitting upright, the footrests are well placed and wind buffeting isn´t severe.
Use me, cruise me
Oh yes, then there´s the transmission.
In fact, most of the hardware operates on the same principle as any other scooter – a V-belt and two pulleys, which expand or contract, to alter the radius of the belt, changing the gearing.
On most scooters the drive pulley diameter is varied by bob-weights on springs, so the gearing simply gets taller as the engine revs higher. On the Burgman this is controlled instead by a computer which tells an electric actuator on the drive pulley what to do. The driven pulley is spring loaded, so as the drive pulley expands the belt out, the driven one extends against the spring, ensuring constant belt tension.
This electronic control is far more sophisticated than the usual scooter set up and it should, in theory, make the transmission more efficient as the perfect gearing for any speed or revs can be determined by the transmission computer. Adding electronic control also opens up other possibilities – Suzuki has programmed in three different modes which you can switch between with some buttons on the left handlebar.
Normal mode is, well, normal. Turn the twistgrip and the scooter accelerates, sliding seamlessly up its infinite ratios more or less like any other scooter, although it holds onto the optimum revs for longer in the mid range, which improves efficiency and acceleration. It feels reasonably strong at first, as you´d expect with a fuel-injected, eight-valve 650 twin to power it, quicker than a T-Max and slightly faster than a Honda Silverwing, which was previously the fastest superscoot.
Then you push the power mode button: this enlists a new transmission map which lets the engine rev higher (generally about 1500rpm more) at any given road speed, meaning more power and torque at the rear wheel, and with that a sharper throttle response plus harder acceleration. Fuel consumption no doubt gets worse, but we had no chance to test that, although you´d want to use this most of the time anyway as the standard mode inevitably feels more lethargic when you switch back to it. You´d use that for gentle cruising when you´re not in a hurry and power mode for a bit of instant zip.
Then comes the bit we were getting all frothy about – manual mode. With this the electronics fix the transmission pulleys into one of five different non-variable ratios, copying the behaviour of a proper gearbox. So when you´re in first gear the transmission ratio stays the same (at 1.8:1) while the engine revs up the LCD tacho to the 8500rpm red line.
Then push the bar-mounted rocker switch (no clutch, and don´t shut the throttle) to select second – the revs will drop before spinning up to the red again. Keep this up and you´ll be flying.
It´s fun at first but you do have to work at it, keeping one eye on the tacho to change ratio before the rev limiter cuts in, and in the end the novelty wears off and it becomes a chore instead. The Burgman is no quicker in manual mode than in automatic power mode anyway, but what the hell, it probably added almost nothing to the cost to include it, and if you don´t use it much, it´s still there to impress onlookers.
So don´t be swayed by the manual transmission, look instead at what else the Burgman 650 has to offer, which is a lot. But look too at the Italian opposition in the form of the Aprilia Atlantic and Piaggio X9 – they´re only singles but performance is still impressive, and they´ll save you up to £1500. Against the Tmax and Silverwing, the Burgman looks good. Against the Italians, it looks pricey.
Get Suzuki motorbike insurance for the suzuki burgman 650.
|ENGINE||Twin-cylinder four-stroke liquid cooled, DOHC|
|BORE X STROKE||75.5mm x 71.3mm|
|CARBS||None, fuel injection|
|POWER||54bhp at 7000rpm|
|TRANSMISSION||Variable pulley automatic with electronic control, optional 5 virtual gear ratios|
|SEAT HEIGHT||750mm (29.5in)|
|DRY WEIGHT||238kg (525lb)|
|FRONT TYRE||120/70 x 15|
|REAR TYRE||160/60 x 14|
|TOP SPEED||115mph (est)|
|FUEL CAPACITY||15 litres|


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Who has carrie ann inaba dating christian dating augusta ga
He never once talks about dating and women in it, though. I'll look at the twitter posts to see what he has been doing.
I think he maybe is lost in life since he has lost his speed skating goals and training. I was subscribed to his twitter posts for a while but then unsubscribed.
While it took Kate Middleton five years to be introduced to the monarch, Harry has been keen on getting his new girlfriend facetime in with his beloved grandma — and opportunity struck earlier this month!
Related: Tabloid Ordered To Pay Kate 0K In Topless Photo Lawsuit!
Photo: Prince William Drops George Off For First Day Of School Solo A day after arriving on September 2, the duo traveled seven miles away to Balmoral Castle, the queen's summer residence, for the big courtesy — which Meghan passed with flying colors.
The source said of the introduction: The next encounter could involve the planning of a royal wedding.
Harry allegedly intended to propose during the African getaway — creating a ring using diamonds for a brooch that formerly belonged to his mother Princess Diana, no less — and select palace aides have already started prepping for an engagement announcement.
I read his autobiography months ago and it was a really good, inspiring read.Not only did he have perfect chemistry with Julianne Hough back in 2007, but he seemed to really love it.He's kind of seems to be going through the motions this time around. His ass is TOTALLY amazing, inviting, and most likely completely hairless. Apolo's ass was made for two things - rimming and fucking."I threw a surprise birthday party for a friend of mine and he was the first person who knocked on my door," Carrie Ann explained. She likes to throw parties where there’s music, so they had musicians, and he’s in the music industry as a composer. ” and she said, “I don’t care about the guy, I have to set up the party! “You never know, but it certainly feels very different than anything I’ve experienced before and I’m really grateful.”. I just felt, like, relaxed.” She asked him to help with the party, since she wasn't ready yet, and he helped her set up. “So it just shows, sometimes you let things go and they come right back.” Is he The One? Just from photos we can tell this Italian composer guy is hot, but if he’s also a respectful guy who helps with parties — and literally just walked into her life through the front door? Timing is everything in life and it sounds like this might be Carrie Ann’s time.
Search for who has carrie ann inaba dating:
In a brief blurb today, People reported that Kate is nervous and excited about her upcoming show.

domain: celebrity


NFL 2014 Week 17: Troubles of a Bully Named Suh
The National Football League playoff field is finally set. More than many NFL seasons, this one had many games that decided playoff spots. One was an elimination game: the Carolina Panthers finally won the woeful NFC Southern Division over the Atlanta Falcons, a result that probably means the end to the tenure of Coach Mike Smith. The Panthers became not only the second team with a losing record to make the postseason (Seattle in 2010 was the first) but the first to be six games under .500 with five to play. Going from 3-8-1 to 7-8-1 saved Carolina’s season. Now the team will even host a playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals. Even more amazingly, the Cardinals are not strong favorites to win despite that team’s much better record. While the Panthers came through at season’s end, the Cards, forced to start their third-string quarterback, lost their lead in the NFC West to Seattle along with several games.
Only one other team was eliminated from the playoffs on this last week of the season. The San Diego Chargers lost a surprisingly one-sided game to the Kansas City Chiefs, thus costing themselves the last wildcard spot in the AFC. The Baltimore Ravens snapped up the slot and will face the Pittsburgh Steelers, their rival since their days as the original Cleveland Browns (the team moved to Charm City in 1996 and the League created an expansion Browns team that started play in 1999). The Steelers won the AFC North crown by defeating the Cincinnati Bengals, who will play the Indianapolis Colts in the other AFC wildcard game next weekend.
In addition to the Panthers-Cardinals matchup, the other NFC contest next week is scheduled for Dallas. Until Sunday afternoon it remained unclear who the Cowboys would meet in that game. Everything hinged on the Green Bay-Detroit game. The victor would be champions of the NFC North and the loser went to Big D. The Packers won the game and the week off before their first playoff game. The Lions not only lost the game but saw yet another sign of bone-headed bullying from one of their best players.
Ndamukong Suh was the Lions’ first-round draft choice in 2010. A defensive tackle at Nebraska, he won a number of awards and was even a Heisman Trophy finalist his senior season. Despite standing 6’4″ and weighing north of 300 pounds, he has surprising speed (he was not only a football star in high school but a track one as well). He has not disappointed as a pro, making the Pro Bowl all but one of his five seasons in the League to date. He plays with the necessary aggression for his position. Unfortunately for the Lions, that aggressiveness is also his gigantic Achilles heel. Criticized by many other players, the media and many fans (some of them Lions fans) for his sometimes dirty style of play, Suh has run up another impressive stat: In his first five seasons the NFL has fined him a total of $420,669 by the NFL for 7 player-safety violations. In other words, he’s a sometimes-great player and a dirty one as well.
He showed this tendency late in the Green Bay game. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has an injured left calf. On one play, Rodger laid on the ground after a pass. Suh, backed up by his blocker, stepped on Rodgers. That step looked accidental; the one that followed, when he stepped backwards directly onto Rodgers’ left calf, did not. Known so well by his reputation, Suh was slapped on Monday with one-game suspension. That would mean he has to sit out the Lions playoff tilt with the Cowboys next Sunday. Although he announced he would appeal the punishment, Suh cannot reject another honor. He is this page’s final regular season winner of the NFL WOW (Weasel of the Week). Someone remind him not to stomp it.
– Louis Burklow (aka, Hollywood Country Boy), Senior Staff Writer, Phoenix Genesis
Feel free to link or print this: just include the PHOENIX GENESIS URL: http://phoenixgenesis.com/
copyright (c) 2014 – All rights reserved.


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Art therapy goes beyond simple drawing and painting, and uses any creative medium (such as pottery or sculpting) to process difficult emotions, when talking about things is too difficult or/and painful. An ideal alternative for people who can’t find a good therapist, art therapy is proven to stimulate the release of the feel-good chemical dopamine, so can help the neurons in your brain to feel better, and boost self-esteem and encourage self-care.
30 Days of Creativity shows how to develop a creative habit to allow a little more calm into your life. These easily daily practices can help unleash a creative spark and build the foundation of your artistic practice. With a mix of whimsical doodles, pages of expert advice and simple drawing guides, this book is designed to nurture your inner artist. Featuring calming lavender fields, tasty treats and blooming bouquets, each page is a celebration of things that bring us comfort and joy.
Watercolor for Relaxation offers 25 beginner projects from artist Angelica Torres to help you clear your mind and let go of stress. From peaceful landscapes to tranquil abstract patterns. See where to find non-toxic watercolour paints and ethically-made brushes.
Drawing on Anxiety is a beautifully illustrated art therapy journal to draw through anxious times. Full of guided prompts and grounding affirmations, this is a mindful and positive tool to explore your body’s natural response to stress. Kate Sutton deals on her own experience of dealing with anxiety to create a warm friendly journal, to encourage you to be kind to yourself, take a moment to explore your feelings.
Drawing on Grief is a uniquely creative journal and mindful keepsake, to draw on the soothing therapeutic power of drawing and creativity, to navigate the pain of bereavement. Kate Sutton draws on her own experiences of losing a loved one, to help others on this difficult journey. Contains written prompts such as writing a letter to your loved one, to help express the difficult emotions that bereavement brings.

domain: artistic


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lives and works in Berlin, having completed an apprenticeship and earned her degree
in Pforzheim, the major centre for jewellery design in Germany. After years of
intense and successful experimenting her work was recognized internationally and
rewarded; for example with the "Innovation Award 2000 at "Inhorgenta"
especially granular surface structure offers a haptic experience and is an ideal
condition for a transparent enamel inlay.
Colors, forms and material are in poetic, magical, fantastic harmony. The playful liveliness of the naturally grown flower cups
becomes real through haptic deformation. The tender colors let the viewer step into a magical dreamy world."
|Click on the pictures to bring up a larger image.
Ensemble of Gold with Citrines and Pearls
Ensemble of Silver with Pearls
Ensemble of Gold, Tourmaline, Coral and Pearls
Ensemble of Silver with Peridots and Pearls


A Jeep locker is a mechanism that locks the axel of your vehicle, allowing power to be distributed evenly between both wheels of the axel when driving. Using lockers on the front axle of your Jeep Wrangler or on both the front and rear axles at the same time is a possibility.
- A Jeep Wrangler locker works in the same manner as a differential lock on any other four-wheel drive vehicle would. In order to ensure that both wheels spin at the same pace and with the same amount of torque, it secures both wheels onto the same axle. Jeeps are able to crawl because of their lockers.
- 1 How do I know if my Jeep has a locker?
- 2 What is a Jeep Air Locker?
- 3 Do all Jeeps come with lockers?
- 4 Do all Jeeps have locking differentials?
- 5 Is the Rubicon the only Jeep with lockers?
- 6 Can you turn with lockers engaged?
- 7 How do 4X4 lockers work?
- 8 Do lockers help in mud?
- 9 Are diff lockers worth it?
- 10 How does a front Air Locker work?
- 11 What does an axel locker do?
- 12 Do you use lockers in snow?
How do I know if my Jeep has a locker?
Registered. A simple method to check is to climb under your Jeep and look at the pumpkin—the vent tube is a single rubber tube that comes out of your differential and is easily identified. If there is a second line coming out (which might be a cable, an air line, or an electric wire), it is likely that you have a locker in your home.
What is a Jeep Air Locker?
ARB Air Locker prevents the differential gears from moving, which, as a result, keeps the axle shafts from turning independently of one another when the device is turned on. As a result of the direct connection between the rotation of the ring gear and the rotation of both wheels, the vehicle always retains the highest amount of traction possible.
Do all Jeeps come with lockers?
What models of Jeeps are equipped with lockers? The Wrangler Rubicon is the only Jeep that comes equipped with a locker that has real locking differentials from the factory, and it is the most expensive. Lockers, on the other hand, may be put on a variety of different models, so you can choose a model that is more appealing to you and then add this function to have the best of both worlds.
Do all Jeeps have locking differentials?
What models of Jeeps are equipped with lockers and why? An all-wheel-drive Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is the only model available with a locker and real locking differentials out of the box. Lockers, on the other hand, may be placed on a variety of different models, so you can choose a model that is more appealing to you and then add this function to have the best of both.
Is the Rubicon the only Jeep with lockers?
What about Rubicon Lockers, do you know anything about them? The Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is the only Jeep model that is equipped with factory-installed lockers and axles in both the front and rear axle positions.
Can you turn with lockers engaged?
When differential lockers are engaged, they distribute power equally across the two wheels on an axle, regardless of how much resistance is there at each wheel. In order for the vehicle to have complete traction available at both wheels on the axle, this is beneficial. It may, on the other hand, impair the vehicle’s ability to turn.
How do 4X4 lockers work?
Automatic lockers are ones that lock and unlock in reaction to changes in the environment, such as temperature or humidity. They are designed to lock into a 50/50 torque split by default, but to unlock through turns, allowing the tires to go around a corner without scuffing, and then lock back into place when a torque difference arises between the front and rear wheels.
Do lockers help in mud?
Lockers will surely come in handy in the dirt. It will be difficult to drive left or right when the front is locked, and you may have to cut the wheel in order to free yourself from the jam. As a result, use as needed.
Are diff lockers worth it?
These devices give 100 percent lock and will disengage entirely, so driving would be exactly the same as driving a car with open differentials. However, having the option to lock the differentials on demand is fantastic! These are the most expensive kind of lockers available, but they are well worth the investment.
How does a front Air Locker work?
As a replacement differential carrier, the ARB Air Locker has two modes of operation: it can act as a standard differential or it can lock both rear (or front) axle shafts together, enabling the maximum driving torque to be delivered to both wheels. The driver has complete control over the locking function from the dashboard of the car.
What does an axel locker do?
Locking differentials (also known as “lockers”) are able to lock the axles together in order to provide 100 percent of the available torque to the wheel with the most traction on the road. The axles can, however, be physically locked together to force the wheels to revolve at the same speed when traction is required.
Do you use lockers in snow?
So, do lockers come in handy when it’s snowing? Lockers are beneficial in snow because they ensure that each wheel moves at the same speed. When you drive in unfavorable weather conditions, such as when it is snowing, having each wheel move at the same speed helps you establish traction and maintain control. When one tire loses traction, the other can spin freely if there are no locks.


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Sun Tea is a great way to make the Summer sun work for you!
Sun Tea is one of those things that I remember making all summer long when I was a kid. My mom is a huge tea drinker and we always had a glass jar of tea hanging out on the back porch.
It was my job to get it all together. Tea bags and water. A few sprigs of mint from the garden. A couple slices of lemon. Then Mom and I would find the perfect spot to perch the glass jar so that it would get a strong ray of sunshine all morning.
It’s the little things that you remember most about being a kid.
How to Make Sun Tea
It’s really easy. You need :
Fresh Mint and sliced lemons
Fill up your clean jar with water, add in your tea bags (pro tip: drape the strings over the edge of the jar so you can remove them easily later), mint and lemons.
Screw on the lid and set it in the sunniest spot you can find. It usually takes 2-4 hours for your tea to be done.
Why is Sun Tea so Good?
Because it doesn’t boil Sun Tea is more mellow than traditional, boiled tea. It works great with herbal teas, like this Raspberry Lime Sun Tea.
Because it doesn’t boil, you’ll need to keep your sun tea in the fridge once it’s done. It’ll keep for a couple of days.
How to Sweeten Sun Tea
So, maybe you like sweet tea like a good Southerner. Making sun tea sweet requires a little extra step, but it’s not difficult. Basically all you need is a simple syrup and why not make it really exciting?! I’ve added some fresh blackberries to the syrup to give this tea an extra fruity punch! You could use any fruit you’ve got laying around.
Add a little delicious blackberry syrup to the bottom of your glass and pour your tea on top! It tastes just like a sunny day!
- 4 iced tea bags
- 1 gallon water
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 2 sprigs fresh mint
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cup water
- 6 oz fresh blackberries
- Place the water, tea bags, lemon and mint in a one gallon glass jar and cover with a tight fitting lid or plastic wrap.
- Place outside in direct sun for 2-4 hours or until the tea is your desired strength. Keep in the fridge and use within 3 days.
- Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer until reduced by half. Strain into a small glass jar and cool completely before use. Store in the fridge.Add a few tablespoons to your glass before adding your tea. Stir and enjoy!

domain: food


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There could have been a whole bunch of attendees on the gathering regardless of metropolis restrictions throughout the coronavirus pandemic on such massive gatherings.
On this picture from video offered by NBC4 Washington, legislation enforcement work the scene of a taking pictures, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020, in Southeast Washington. (Picture: AP)
A dispute that erupted into gun fireplace at an obvious out of doors social gathering in Washington, DC, early Sunday left one individual useless and a few 20 others injured, together with an off-duty officers “struggling for her life,” in accordance with police.
A 17-year-old male died within the taking pictures that occurred after midnight in a southeast facet neighborhood the place folks had gathered for music and meals, Peter Newsham, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Division, instructed reporters.
“There was some form of a dispute,” Newsham mentioned. “A number of weapons had been produced.” He mentioned a motive for the taking pictures wasn’t clear.
The off-duty officer was taken by fellow officers to a neighborhood hospital, Newsham mentioned.
“She’s struggling for her life proper now,” he mentioned. He added that “the remainder of the gunshot wounds, so far as we all know, are non-life-threatening.”
No arrests had been instantly introduced.
There could have been a whole bunch of attendees on the gathering regardless of metropolis restrictions throughout the coronavirus pandemic on such massive gatherings, Newsham mentioned.
Nelson Bostic, a resident within the space, instructed WTOP the gathering seemed to be a celebration. After the burst of gunfire, he mentioned he noticed “folks laying on the bottom” and “ducking below automobiles.”
“It was horrible,” he mentioned.

domain: sociology


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Supreme Court case: Should you be able to vote without a photo ID?
Arguments over Indiana's voter-identification law, the most stringent in the US, will be heard Wednesday.
(Page 2 of 2)
The law was passed in recognition that Indiana is increasingly vulnerable to in-person election fraud, according to Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher. It was not enacted to undercut Democratic voters and candidates, he says.Skip to next paragraph
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In his brief to the court, Mr. Fisher says those who sued to overturn the law lack legal standing to bring such a suit because none of them has been harmed by the law. There is no evidence, he adds, any individual has ever been prevented from voting because of the photo ID law.
"How onerous can the law be if a major political party, two seasoned candidates, and four substantial political interest groups cannot find even one person injured by it?" Fisher writes.
Opponents of the law counter that no one has ever been prosecuted for in-person voter fraud in Indiana, and there have been no reports of anyone posing as someone else while trying to vote in an Indiana election.
"What the legislators who passed the Photo ID Law did know was that it would burden voting by a group of eligible voters who lack the requisite identification because they do not drive and have no other regular need for state-issued photo ID," writes Washington lawyer Paul Smith, in his brief on behalf of the Indiana Democratic Party.
Mr. Smith says the law will discourage or deter low-income, minority, disabled, and senior-citizen voters from going to the polls. "Because these voters tend to support Democratic candidates, there was good reason to think that the suppression of turnout caused by the new law would primarily harm Democrats," Smith writes.
"The law was passed by a party-line vote shortly after the Republican Party won control of both houses of the state legislature as well as the governor's office," Smith writes.
Lawyers for Indiana say the opponents' case is based on speculation. A published study of Indiana voter turnout since the photo ID law took effect shows that voter turnout increased statewide by about 2 percent. They say the study did not find any reduction in voter turnout in counties with higher percentages of minority, poor, elderly, or less educated residents.
Opponents of the law say that the offer of a free ID card does not necessarily reduce the burden on certain potential voters. For those who do not drive, merely getting to the state ID office involves an investment in time and logistics. In addition, gathering the necessary paperwork can be problematic.
They cite the case of Theresa Clemente, who moved from Massachusetts to Indiana in 1991. Earlier in the case, she testified that she made three unsuccessful trips to the state motor-vehicles bureau to obtain a free photo ID card.
Ms. Clemente arrived with her Social Security card, her voter-registration card, her property tax bill, a utility bill, and a credit card. She was told she must produce a copy of her birth certificate.
But when she returned with the document, she was told she needed a certified copy of the birth certificate.
The certified birth certificate cost $28 and was mailed to her 14 days later. When she returned to the motor-vehicles bureau, she was told that because her birth certificate used only her maiden name she must also provide a certified copy of her marriage license.
"For many affluent Americans it may be hard to imagine life without a driver's license, a passport, or other government-issued photo ID," writes Smith in his brief. "The reality is that, across the country, about 12 percent of voting-age Americans lack a driver's license," he writes.

domain: politics


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The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is the recipient of a grant from the Eugene F. and Elizabeth Hull Fund of the Manatee Community Foundation. The $10,000 grant will help support The Ringling’s upcoming collaboration with artist Rhodnie Desir.
Conversations in Motion: Rhodnie Desir is a multidimensional performance and exhibition that will open Nov. 14, 2021. Desir, a Canadian dancer and choreographer of Haitian descent whose work has focused on cultural investigations through dance heritage and provoking questions concerning the dancing body, will bring her Bow’t Trail project to the museum. The exhibition will be a digital and visual experience with four distinct areas of interest. Additionally, Bow’t Trail Retrospek: A Journey through the Dances and Rhythms of the Americas will be presented Dec. 3 and 4 in the Historic Asolo Theater. Community engagement elements of the collaboration will include outreach work with Booker High School students.


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British businessman Sanjeev Gupta, who heads the company which has bought the Whyalla steelworks, has said "the sky's the limit" when it comes to the site's potential but has kept his bid and job growth prediction under wraps.
Mr Gupta toured the Arrium steelworks today and met workers after Liberty House, which is part of London-based GFG Alliance, was announced the winning bidder.
Arrium was placed into voluntary administration by its directors in April 2016 and its sale has been approved by a committee of creditors.
Arrium employs 5,500 people across Australia.
Mr Gupta revealed his plans to invest "well over $1 billion" in the Whyalla business in the short to medium term and has "far grander plans" in his sights.
"There are long-term plans which could be far more exciting, far more grand in terms of steel capacity here," he said.
"Potentially this place has the infrastructure — the port, the layout, the mining, all of it to be a substantial steel plant of several million tonnes."
He again declined to say how much his company's winning bid for Arrium was but said the process would be completed by the end of August.
While he said jobs would be created, he declined to speculate by how many.
"It's not rocket science to work out if you have the raw material here," he said.
"... To make steel you need almost three to four tonnes of raw material, to ship the raw material to the other ends of the world and they can make steel competitively, we can't do it here that doesn't make any sense."
Mr Gupta thanked the workforce for its commitment which included taking a 10 per cent pay cut and vowed with the right passion and management the steelworks would reach its potential of being a world-class facility.
"The uncertainty in terms of the future of this plant is now over," he said his message to workers would be.
Mr Gupta said GFG Alliance was not looking for grant support from governments but "guarantees on our spend here".
Federal Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Arthur Sinodinos said Mr Gupta had "courage" to take on the business and federal and state governments would be supportive.
'I haven't sold a business yet'
Earlier today Mr Gupta downplayed the description that he would be the "saviour" of Whyalla during an interview with the ABC's North and West breakfast program.
"I've always been fascinated by the fact that Australia has all the natural resources to make steel but yet makes very little and exports and instead chooses to export iron ore and coal," he told listeners.
"So when the opportunity came to address that we were quite excited, we analysed it we saw a clear case."
He said the UK industry was focused on recycling.
"We have a very strong recycling business in Arrium, but we also have a clear opportunity for primarily steel making because Arrium has its own iron ore and of course Australia has also abundance in coal."
He said his company's immediate plans include investment in the steelworks' existing co-generation plant to bolster its energy capacity.
Medium-term plans involve redevelopment in steelmaking business, while longer-term plans were for expansion in energy generation, including renewable energy for the Whyalla operations.
"So we are already a substantial power company in the UK.
"We have 500 megawatts of operating power and another 500 megawatts under construction. Power sources range from coal to tidal to hydro to biofuel to biomass, wind. A whole array of power solutions, so we intend to use some of that to apply to Whyalla."
When asked whether GFG Alliance was in for the long haul, Mr Gupta replied "I've been doing this for 25 years and I haven't sold a business yet ... we are certainty in it for the long term".

domain: news


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View, browse and sort the ever-growing list of sessions by pass type, track, and format. With this Session Scheduler, you can build your schedule in advance and access it during the show via export or with the GDC Mobile App, once live. Sessions do fill up so please arrive early to sessions that you would like to attend. Adding a session to your schedule does not guarantee you a seat.
Henrik has worked in the games industry since 1994. In that time, he has worked at AAA companies such as Ion Storm and EA/Ghost Games, on TV Game Shows, on Casino Games and Industrial Robotics Simulators. In 2016, he restarted the Swedish IGDA chapter with a merry band of developers. Henrik has given talks on prototyping, creative culture and games programming to anyone willing to listen.

domain: entertainment


DATE/TIME TBA “Energy & exciting music from a band with talent to burn!" – Maverick Music Magazine 2014 SiriusXM World Group of the Year [...]
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Saturday, April 10, 2021 7:30 pm “A beautiful sensitive vocal performance…" – Neil Sedaka Star of the Original Production of Always…Patsy Cline Featured on [...]


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Along with the recent release of the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III / International Space Station (ISS) v5.3 data, the mission is debuting a portal on the SAGE website for public viewing level 2 solar data products: SAGE III/ISS Level 2 Quicklook Browse Images (nasa.gov). The new tool provides a quick and easy view into the publicly released data.
Primarily, the vertically resolved data are segregated by time progressing from the entire length of the mission to-date to monthly zonal means, to weekly curtains and culminating in daily groupings of individual profiles. The monthly zonal means combine both sunrise and sunset events, while all other images are grouped by the rising or setting of the sun as seen from the ISS. For all but a few days a year, the type of solar events are the same at the ground/atmosphere as they are from the ISS.
“The team designed the portal to display our data in images covering timescales including days, weeks, and months to tailor the experience for users wanting to deep dive into specific events or to get a broader overview of how SAGE III has observed changes in our atmosphere,” said SAGE III Lead Data Scientist Kevin Leavor.
There are two streams of data to view: publicly released (original data is available at the Atmospheric Science Data Center) and expedited pre-release results. The main difference between the two streams is the latency, which in turn is driven by the availability of ancillary meteorological inputs.
SAGE III takes measurements across the globe using a technique called occultation, which involves looking at the light from the Sun or Moon as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere at the edge, or limb, of the planet. Every time the sun, or moon, rises and sets, SAGE uses the light that passes through the atmosphere to measure gases and particles in that region of the atmosphere.
The ISS provides a unique vantage point from which to take these measurements. The coverage from the ISS occurs over 30 times per day, taking about a month to cover the Southern Hemisphere, tropics, and Northern Hemisphere.
The figures below highlight some of the views available for the released solar data products. Figure 1, from the latitude band of Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH), illustrates the initial appearance of the HTHH aerosol layer and its descent driven mainly by gravitational settling. Figures 2 and 3 are monthly zonal averages for the monthly data update in April 2023. The HTHH aerosol layer is mainly within the Southern Hemisphere, but has also spread to the Northern Hemisphere. The HTHH water layer has been distributed globally, more equally than the aerosol layer.
“We provide all of our species including gases, aerosols, and derived aerosol extinction ratios to leverage SAGE III’s strengths for our users, and visualize that information at a glance,” said Leavor. “Zonal regions are highlighted in our Mission Overviews to emphasize atmospheric events that have occurred over the entire coverage extent of the mission.”
This great addition to the mission website represents many hours of development by the SAGE III/ISS web and visualization teams.
“The SAGE III/ISS team hopes that this website is a tool for users to easily engage with science data produced by our mission. We are proud of our data product and what we’ve been able to do with it, and we want to share that with everyone,” said Leavor.

domain: geography


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The 1980’s saw climbing standards rise exponentially. At the start of the decade, 7b+ (5.12c) was cutting edge, but by the end of the 80s 9a (5.14d) was the new world standard.
A small group of climbers would do anything to climb full-time; sleeping in sheds underneath crags, shoplifting food and clothes, and living off the dole.
By the end of the decade, the sport had changed beyond recognition and set a paradigm for future generations.
These climbers were living outside the rest of society and went on to become the most influential figures in the history of British climbing.


Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot. Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielson, J.K. Simmons, Ciarán Hinds
Runtime: 242 minutes
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is here. That’s a sentence a lot of people thought no one would ever be able to say and almost everyone with an interest in either comic books and or film has a passionate opinion on whether the massively expanded version of the 2017 DC superhero crossover should or shouldn’t have been released and whether or not the fact that it has been is a good or bad thing for the entertainment industry. But regardless of how they feel about the long, complicated process of getting it out in the world one thing viewers should be able to rejoice about, if they could put their personal biases aside, is that Zack Snyder’s Justice League, or the Snyder Cut, as it’s more commonly referred to, is damn good. Not only is it an almost unbelievably vast improvement over the rightfully derided theatrical version but it’s a spectacularly enjoyable film on its own terms that makes convincing arguments in favor of both an interconnected DC film franchise and artistic freedom in blockbuster filmmaking. It’s a well-deserved, hard-won win for director Zack Snyder and he and everyone else involved should be proud.
For those who don’t know, the (relatively) brief version of the extraordinarily convoluted story of the Snyder Cut is this: in 2017, Snyder was deep into production on the hotly anticipated first live-action Justice League film when his daughter Autumn committed suicide. Snyder understandably chose to step away from the film for a time, not feeling up to the difficult task of finishing a superhero blockbuster that the studio (Warner Brothers) was watching extremely closely. Rather than delay the film to a later date so Snyder could finish it after having sufficient time to grieve, WB brought in Joss Whedon, who had just directed the first two Avengers movies, claiming that he would guide the film through the end of production and the editing process, as well as whatever reshoots or modifications were needed, but insisted that he would do so in accordance with Snyder’s intentions for the project. In reality, WB, disappointed with the critical and box office performances of Snyder’s past DC films wanted Whedon to use hasty reshoots to move the film away from the dark tone of its predecessors to more closely resemble a lighthearted Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, which they believed would make it more popular with audiences. The result was a Frankenstein’s monster of a film in which Snyder and Whedon’s styles clashed with one another and behind-the-scenes issues resulted in some truly embarrassing sights. It received a deserved critical thrashing and was a complete box office disaster. Although Justice League was almost immediately forgotten by the general audience, rumors soon began to swirl among dedicated fans (the most disappointed with the theatrical release) that Snyder was much further in the filmmaking process before leaving than had been let on and that he might have even completed an early cut of his drastically different version of the film. These fans immediately took to social media with calls to “Release the Snyder Cut”, and while industry officials and insiders stated either that such a thing didn’t exist or that its release was completely impossible, to paraphrase Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the bell could not be un-rung. Although parts of the Snyder Cut community became toxic, leading dissenters to label the entire group as such, the campaign (which has also done a ton of praise-worthy charity work, mostly for suicide prevention) continued to become more well-known and popular, with even unrelated celebrities and filmmakers contributing, until fans rejoiced in May 2020 when it was announced that Zack Snyder’s Justice League would be released on HBO Max, with Snyder even being given an extensive extra budget for post-production changes, including additional photography, to get even closer to his unimpeded vision.
The basic premise and plot are some of the few things that remain the same across both films. With Superman (Henry Cavill) dead following Batman v Superman, forces from the alien world of Apokolips led by Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) invade Earth in the name of Darkseid (Ray Porter). Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) work to build a team of superhumans, including Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller), and Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher), to defend the planet. In the course of the conflict, the team (which is never directly referred to as the Justice League) discovers a way to resurrect Superman, before the final battle with Steppenwolf. Although chunks of Snyder’s footage were used in the Whedon version that’s effectively where the similarities between the two end. Almost every measurable element of the film is entirely different, including the tone, editing, audiovisual style, and narrative arcs. But the most obvious difference is the length. Whereas Whedon’s version was required to meet a strict two-hour runtime, the Snyder Cut comes in at a whopping four hours and two minutes. That’s become one of the many things about the new film that is controversial but it does make an important point about the film, that being that it is a pure encapsulation of Snyder’s filmmaking style.
This is the quintessential Snyder movie not just because its crazy history has made it the most well-known but because it represents what its director chose to make with almost complete creative freedom and his most vast resources. That means it’s full of Snyder trademarks (the massive length being one, the extensive use of slow-motion being another) and while the legion of detractors will see that as a bad sign it makes for a much more rewarding and enjoyable experience than the corporate-controlled theatrical release and one of the more unique, even visionary comic book adaptations put to film. Because, while this isn’t the case for all of his movies Snyder’s style works for the Justice League, arguably more so than it did even his past superhero movies. But surprisingly enough it’s also one of his most accessible films. The basic heroic team-up premise means that the plot and approach to the characters is much more easily digestible than in either Man of Steel or especially Batman v Superman and I feel that if it had been released theatrically this Justice League would have been much more of a crowd-pleaser. Even the length, which will understandably be a deterrent to some potential viewers, is handled well. The film is divided into seven chapter-like parts (six regular ones and an expanded epilogue) that help give a sense of progress throughout the lengthy narrative (and make it ideal for home viewing). But it’s pacing is also simply excellent and while I did break my viewing up into two sessions I could see myself watching the whole thing in one go in the future. Viewers will be surprised at how breezily the film moves. It does start off gradually but this is ultimately for the best. One of the worst things about the theatrical cut was how inconsequential everything seemed. Here the methodical early chapters build up the threat of Steppenwolf’s invasion as something truly frightening which makes the final confrontations much more intense and as a result the heroes’ ultimate victories actually feel rewarding and earned.
Marvel prides itself on making its characters seem as down to Earth as possible (even in the movies not set on Earth) and I doubt DC or any other similar franchises will achieve the same degree of reliable success this has earned them but Snyder shows there is another way to approach this kind of material by treating the League like living gods. That doesn’t mean the characters aren’t relatable, because they are, but they’re also presented as majestic, larger-than-life figures and this gives the film a great sense of scale and importance. Under Snyder’s direction, the camera worships the heroes, notably in a low-angle shot of Batman perched atop a gargoyle and the lengthy scene of Aquaman stripping off his shirt as he calmly strides into a stormy sea. There are a couple of scenes throughout the film that could have been cut out or trimmed but they’re mostly moments that stop to ponder the significance of beyond human beings that make the world of the film feel unique and well-rounded so they do add to the experience. Part of the reason the Snyder Cut has more of an epic appeal is that in the years between the theatrical release and now the cast and characters have become much bigger deals. DC refused to copy Marvel’s gradual approach to building a cinematic universe and as a result, only Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had been properly introduced before the 2017 film was released, robbing it of the full team-up experience as audiences had no real investment in the other heroes. Since then Momoa has headlined the billion-dollar Aquaman solo film and Miller’s Flash made his most warmly received appearance in a game-changing cameo in DC TV’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, not to mention Cavill continuing to raise his profile with other blockbuster projects and Gadot starring in a second Wonder Woman film. Thanks to all this the Snyder Cut feels like more of a full-blown crossover of major stars.
The majesty Snyder brings to the characters also applies to the spectacle. Most of the major action scenes existed in some form in the theatrical release but Snyder’s versions are much longer, more detailed, and simply more skillfully shot. Snyder’s previous comic book movies showed that he knows how to stage superhero battles to make the characters seem as powerful as possible and the characters with strength-based powers like Superman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman once again come across as genuine forces of nature, with Diana getting probably the largest assortment of great action beats overall. But whenever the Flash does his thing it absolutely steals the show. To depict superspeed most filmmakers fall back on using slow-motion to show how things look to a speedster’s perspective and true to form Snyder definitely uses that trick plenty (and uses it well) but I also appreciated the choice to let some scenes play out in real-time, with Barry zipping around confused onlookers, only visible as a blur that saves them with actions they can’t even comprehend. The lightning he emits makes for some really striking images and a big moment for the character in the final battle is one of the film’s best. Snyder packs so much into the visuals of these scenes that it can be hard to comprehend it all but it’s not hard to appreciate the immense visual creativity on display.
The four-hour runtime is also predictably a great benefit to the development of the characters. Whedon gave Bruce a couple of very nice quiet moments but otherwise, his approach to the character was all wrong, with the reshoots forcing him into too many comedic beats that undermined his competence and felt out of character, with Affleck’s disdain for the new approach often painfully obvious. Aside from the absence of a few dialogues with Diana that I missed the Dark Knight is put to much better use in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Filled with new optimism after Superman’s sacrifice Bruce is still in a more lighthearted place than viewers are used to seeing him and Affleck’s charisma is on full display as he smiles and cracks wise more than Batman actors usually get to but the character is still going through an interesting struggle that builds on his portrayal in Batman v Superman. Bruce feels a tremendous amount of remorse for his quasi-villainous actions in that movie, especially his persecution of Superman, and the film ponders whether this is causing him to go about his quest to form the League with unhealthy desperation, with loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons) stating that “Your guilt’s overcome your reason.” Affleck is clearly much more invested in this material and his intense performance is a reminder of why he’s one of the great screen Batmen. Gadot is, as always, utterly perfect as Wonder Woman. Diana is still in the midst of a compelling struggle to get over the loss of Steve Trevor in her first solo movie (which came out just a few months prior to the theatrical release) but I also liked the addition of her mixed feelings about being isolated from her Amazon family, particularly her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) on Themyscira. Unfortunately, her arc doesn’t reach a totally satisfying conclusion. Both Diana and Bruce could use one or two more reflective scenes, though ultimately they still work as the movie’s anchors thanks to Affleck and Gadot’s work. Jason Momoa can’t play up Aquaman’s sense of humor to the same extent as he does in his solo movie but his wired energy makes the character a very interesting presentation. Arthur is still struggling with self-acceptance and his twisted relationship with Atlantis at this point and his bitterness leads him to be the team’s loose cannon, even if his compassion also shines through eventually in some sweet scenes. Flash and Cyborg are without a doubt the biggest beneficiaries of the contrast between the two versions of the film. Ray Fisher has been vocal about his disgust with how Whedon reshaped his role in the film and it’s easy to see why. Victor is arguably the most well-developed character in the Snyder Cut and Snyder himself has called him the heart of the movie. Significant screen time is devoted to Victor’s background and as a result, the conflicted dynamic between him and his father, Silas (Joe Morton) is much more complicated and compelling. Fisher’s work subtly takes Victor through a moving journey as he struggles to overcome his anger and trauma and his personal development is woven into the film’s climax beautifully. The character’s powers are also expanded on significantly in interesting ways, with one scene in which Victor hacks an ATM to give a single mother some much-needed money being one of the most touchingly human examples of heroism in the film. Ezra Miller’s performances as Barry Allen have been another point of controversy about DC’s films and viewers who truly can’t stand his portrayal likely won’t have their minds changed by his performance here but those who go in with open minds might be surprised at how enjoyable Barry is in the film, as I was. Miller is still responsible for a lot of comedic relief scenes and his performance still has the jittery, hyperverbal qualities that have become divisive but he does a better job of toning it down when the script calls for it than he did in the theatrical version. Snyder’s film also portrays Barry as more competent and complex than Whedon’s and between these points and the impressive visuals associated with the character I was very much looking forward to The Flash movie by the time the credits rolled. Out of the Leaguers Superman gets the smallest part, which is unfortunate given how Snyder’s DC films are on some level supposed to be a Clark-centric story. But Cavill is quite charming when the focus is on him, making a compelling case for why he deserves more outings in the role, and scenes he shares with Amy Adams’ Lois Lane and those which call back to Man of Steel are heartwarming.
Adams and Morton are both the most heavily featured and strongest members of the supporting cast, with the former in particular getting to play out a discreet but strong arc as Lois navigates grief. Jeremy Irons is again a more or less perfect Alfred but his role is mainly comedic. Steppenwolf is another character that benefits greatly from the original vision of the film being restored. Not only is the redesign of his CGI body much more intimidating and better animated but the character also has a motivation that’s at least coherent and understandable this time, even if he’s still not really a memorable antagonist. Due mostly to the vastly different runtimes there are more than a half dozen characters in Zack Snyder’s Justice League that don’t appear at all in the theatrical release, and many of them are major players in the DC universe. The most important is Porter’s Darkseid, whose imposing presence adds extra gravity to the plot, even if his role is mostly meant to set up the sequels we might sadly never see. Big-time Hollywood stars like Willem Dafoe and Joe Manganiello appear as Aquaman‘s Vulko and Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, respectively, with Man of Steel and Batman v Superman alum Harry Lennix reprising his role as Secretary of Defense Calvin Swanwick, whose true identity is revealed as a DC fan-favorite. But the highest-profile addition to the cast is Jared Leto, who reprises his version of the Joker from Suicide Squad. Leto’s role and most of Manganiello’s occur during an extended flashforward sequence in the epilogue, that while a tantalizing bit of world-building for those hypothetical sequels is honestly superfluous to the story of this film. Still, it’s undeniably thrilling to see Leto and Affleck face off and the former has improved on his unfortunate performance in Suicide Squad somewhat.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League won’t please everyone and a lot of potential viewers have a variety of understandable opinions on what it means to the worlds of DC, filmmaking, and the wider entertainment and artistic industries. But if they can put those aside and view it strictly on its merits as a film (superhero and otherwise) they will find a bold, uncompromising, and supremely entertaining creation completely unlike anything that’s come before it and is worthy of the historic characters it adapts.
- The film is presented in the 4:3 aspect ratio it was shot for as per Snyder’s wishes. It’s definitely a somewhat strange choice given that most viewers will be watching on home televisions but the film is immersing enough that it’s not really a problem.
- Other than the suicide prevention work the most important thing to come out of the whole Snyder Cut saga has been Fisher publicly accusing Whedon of unprofessional and abusive behavior on-set, which Fisher says was enabled and exacerbated by certain Warner Brothers executives. This has led members of the cast and crew as well as those of other Whedon productions to come forward and will hopefully lead to more change in Hollywood’s often toxic culture.
- Affleck will appear alongside Miller in The Flash (which also features Michael Keaton’s version of Batman), and Momoa and Gadot are both set for future Aquaman and Wonder Woman films and possibly more appearances. Beyond that, it’s unclear whether any of Snyder’s main cast, including Cavill, will reprise their roles going forward.
- Diane Lane delivers a really moving dialogue as Clark’s mother Martha roughly halfway through the film but a subsequent plot twist (which in and of itself is cool) lessens its impact.
- Zack Snyder’s latest film, Army of the Dead, is now streaming on Netflix and screening in select theaters.
Zack Snyder's Justice League
Zack Snyder's Justice League is worth the extended wait, presenting its director's unique and striking vision of DC's greatest heroes in a film worthy of them.


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by Anna Passero-Koennecke
Amaranthe’s fourth studio album, Maximalism, sticks to Amaranthe’s usual genre style of melodic pop metal with a touch of death metal via an unclean vocalist. The band is unusual in that it has three lead vocalists: a clean female vocalist, a clean male vocalist, and a harsh vocalist. Maximalism has a stronger pop feeling to it than a metal one, but the metal influence is still apparent. The album is overall lyrically simple and upbeat, starting out with the song “Maximize”. The track’s fast pace stays the theme of the album, which only slows down significantly for two of the twelve songs. The album is empowering, focusing primarily on success, strength, and pushing the limits. This, mixed with the strong, consistent beats, makes the album a great choice for someone looking to hit the gym.
Admittedly there is nothing particularly outstanding on the album. The three singles released could easily have been swapped out for any of the other songs from the album, as they are all of the same quality. That said, there is also nothing noticeably bad about the album. It knows its place as a simple and fun pump-up album and does that well. If you’re looking to find an album that will shake your views of the world, then you should pass on Maximalism. However if you’re just looking for something to dance or workout to that’s a little more heavy hitting than general pop music, Maximalism is worth a listen.


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Make your mark when you're wearing these silver druzy long-drop earrings from Christine Darren. Small and large round cut silver druzy stones start off the design while an elongated clear quartz teardrop shape finishes things off. These earrings fasten with post back closures for pierced ears.
Metal: Silver plated
Length: 3 1/2 inches
Width: 6/8 inch
* This item is final sale and not returnable.

domain: design


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Lonely Is the Night (Billy Squier-Lesson)
An older lesson I did for vanderbilly.com *NOTE* This video uses copyrighted material in a manner that does not require approval of the copyright holder. No copyright infringement is intended. The musical content is used under the FAIR USE policy, and is presented purely in good faith for the purposes of promoting information of an educational and historical nature only. All copyright claim is fully retained by the authors, publishers, and owners of the original.

domain: library


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Dave McGary (sculptor) (1958-2013)
About The Artist
"Amazing," "astounding," and "unbelievable detail," are some of the most frequent first words heard when people view renown artist Dave McGary's bronze sculptures of Native Americans. The works are masterpieces of anatomical and historic accuracy. They are also based upon real persons of American history. They are collected by individuals, corporations and institutions on a worldwide basis.
Dave McGary was raised on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. His art career began early in life. At 12, he sculpted in clay. At 16, he received a scholarship to spend a year in Italy studying the human form and the art of bronze casting. Shortly after his return to the U.S., Dave began working at a Santa Fe foundry, and began a friendship with a Sioux artist that contributed significantly to Dave's interest in sculpting the American Indian. Subsequently, Dave was adopted into the Ogala Sioux tribe and given the name Wambalee Tanka, "Big Eagle." But his adopted family on the reservation were more likely to refer to him as "Big Red Ears" because of his predilection for soaking up tales of their ancestors. A McGary bronze is a unique combination of American West and classic Renaissance art form of Italy.
Each work contains many elements of historical authenticity, emotion, artistic skill and bronze casting technology. This special combination has been recognized through the placement of works at a wide variety of governmental and corporate locations.
Among the permanent public installations is one that may be seen in Santa Fe's Grant Park. The 14-foot-high work depicts Don Pedro de Peralta and his surveyor as they lay out early Santa Fe. The artist has also been exhibited in a One-man Show at the Russell Senate Rotunda in Washington D.C.
Meyer Gallery is pleased to display the magnificent bronzes of renown sculptor Dave McGary.


Against the backdrop of former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh's allegations against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and NCP's state unit president Jayant Patil are scheduled to meet party supremo Sharad Pawar in Delhi on Sunday.
Patil gave this information, but said that the meeting was planned three days ago and it is aimed at discussing issues related to the Pandharpur Assembly bypoll scheduled next month.
Param Bir Singh, in his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday, has alleged that Anil Deshmukh wanted police officers to collect Rs 100 crore every month from bars and hotels, a charge the minister has denied.
Deshmukh belongs to the NCP.
Talking to PTI, Jayant Patil, who is also the state Water Resources Minister, said that the Delhi visit was planned three days ago.
"The Pandharpur Assembly bypoll is scheduled next month. Ajit dada and I decided to meet party workers in Solapur district to know their views over the selection of candidate and the party strategy, and then meet Pawar saheb in Delhi with the feedback before returning to Mumbai," he said.
"Accordingly, both of us are in Pandharpur to discuss issues related to the bypoll with party workers. We will then go to Delhi (to meet Pawar)," he said.
The Pandharpur bypoll is scheduled to be held on April 17. It was necessitated due to the death of NCP MLA Bharat Bhalke last year.


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I'm getting precariously close to finishing off the "They Shoot Pictures Don't They" list of the top 1000 movies ever made. This is illusory, since the thirty-odd films I have left to see are among the most obscure of the obscure, and include things like the fifteen-hour "Heimat" series and the experimental film "Out 1," which isn't available in my country in any form, and I have no plans to track down in the near future. I have to admit a certain sense of accomplishment getting as far as I have. However, I've been left with the nagging question. Why did I embark on this crazy journey to begin with? Why did I want to watch all these films and become the pretentious film snob I am today?
I mean, if I wanted to simply watch great films, I wouldn't have been so dedicated to watching every last title I could get my hands on. I'd have ignored all the Jean-Luc Godard and Robert Bresson titles after a certain point. Heck, I'd have probably picked a different list that wasn't so dedicated to being so diverse and all-encompassing. There are several other 1000 film lists I could have tackled that aren't nearly as challenging. However, I picked "They Shoot Pictures' because it was the most difficult, because it contained experimental films, and films from more obscure film cultures, cult films, and films that only the really dedicated cinephiles know or care about. I've watched films that most mainstream moviegoers would be hard-pressed to even identify as films. So what have I gotten out of it?
Well, it's mae me a much more informed and confident movie watcher, for one thing. I've been working my way through another list of films lately, the list I of all the films I still want to see from the previous year before I write up my "Best of" list. I'm down to about ten titles now, mostly foreign films since the bulk of December releases finally hit DVD over the last few weeks. This year, however, I noticed that the composition of the titles was a little different than usual. I usually make a point to watch all the Best Foreign Language Oscar nominees and all the Best Documentary nominees so I have a decent sampling of each before making my list. This year, I've seen three of the five Foreign Language Nominees, but have no desire to track down the last two, "Omar" and "The Missing Picture." I'd consider watching both when they become available, but they're not priorities.
Why? When I look back at everything I watched for 2013, I've seen dozens of foreign titles already. "Blue is the Warmest Color," "A Touch of Sin," "Le Passe," "Wadjda," "Borgman," "Heli," "Gloria," "Museum Hours," "Drug War," and many others. On my "to watch" list are a few more, including "The Wind Rises," and "Bastards." Over the last few years I've figured out how to follow the festival coverage, which critics have good recommendations, and which filmmakers to keep an eye on. I've figured out how to pick and choose among titles instead of blindly watching every awards contender that showed up on the radar. Of course, that was a good thing to do for a few years until I got my bearings and started developing - and I know how this sounds - a better sense of taste.
Context is vital to being able to navigate world cinema the way I want to, and thanks to "They Shoot Pictures," I now have some pretty good footing with just about every genre and film culture. I don't get intimidated by films from Brazil or Romania or sub-Saharan Africa because I've seen the foundational films from each school of filmmaking. Looking at the some of the prominent foreign titles from 2013, I don't think I would have gotten half as much from a movie like "The Great Beauty" if I hadn't been familiar with Fellini. And knowing Godard's "Band a Apart" was vital to understanding the final scene of "Le Weekend." I may not like Godard films, but I get a lot out of being familiar with his work.
The crux of it is that I love movies and the more I know about movies, the better I tend to enjoy them. This certainly isn't true for everyone, and I readily admit that becoming a film nerd has steadily decreased my tolerance of studio pablum. However, I still love a good Arnold movie, and I'm certainly not giving up superheroes or cartoons. I think it's better to say I've refined my tastes rather than replaced them wholesale. And in the process I have so much more cinema available to me than ever before, whole categories I would've passed by without a thought ten years ago.
And though the going got rough sometimes, it was a lot of fun getting here too.


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• A new low toxic dual-UADLLME coupled with microwave-assisted derivatization was proposed. • 4′-Carboxy-substituted rosamine was firstly used as derivatization reagent. • Simultaneous determination of PPD and PPT in rat plasma was achieved by UHPLC-MS/MS. • This method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetics study.
This paper, for the first time, reported a speedy hyphenated technique of low toxic dual ultrasonic-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (dual-UADLLME) coupled with microwave-assisted derivatization (MAD) for the simultaneous determination of 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (PPD) and 20(S)-protopanaxatriol (PPT). The developed method was based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) detection using multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. A mass spectrometry sensitizing reagent, 4′-carboxy-substituted rosamine (CSR) with high reaction activity and ionization efficiency was synthesized and firstly used as derivatization reagent. Parameters of dual-UADLLME, MAD and UHPLC-MS/MS conditions were all optimized in detail. Low toxic brominated solvents were used as extractant instead of traditional chlorinated solvents. Satisfactory linearity, recovery, repeatability, accuracy and precision, absence of matrix effect and extremely low limits of detection (LODs, 0.010 and 0.015 ng/mL for PPD and PPT, respectively) were achieved. The main advantages were rapid, sensitive and environmentally friendly, and exhibited high selectivity, accuracy and good matrix effect results. The proposed method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetics of PPD and PPT in rat plasma.

domain: chemistry