text:
Live outdoor music returns to the Pumphouse in Peacedale Friday with a special outdoor show featuring a pair of top regional acts.
On Friday April 23rd at 7PM, the jazz/roots/pop band Evening Sky will be performing two sets, with the second set featuring vocalist and show producer Tish Adams. They’ll be performing tunes from their just-released CD, One Mic, Two Weekends, recorded live last Spring at the beginning of the pandemic.
The outdoor series at Pumphouse Musicworks takes place with the audience seated at picnic tables under a tent. Ticket prices are reasonable – $15 for General Admission, and $80 for a reserved Picnic Table (includes up to 6 tickets). There will be an outdoor bar, food trucks, and free parking on the premises. Click here for tickets and further details.
Even more music: Return to the Pumphouse Saturday night for a show with The Honk with Tyler James Kelly. Click here for details.
More From What’s Up Newp
- What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Those Who Wish Me Dead”
- Renowned RI stone carver Nick Benson to create unique art installation at Farm Fresh RI
- Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project to resume training classes
- How America’s partisan divide over pandemic responses played out in the states
- WUN-ON-ONE: A virtual video conversation with Melanie Chartoff, comedian, actress, and author


text:
The purple powder is one of my favorite flavors . Its very smooth and sweet at the same time. Will order it again cause grape is my favorite.
We have shopped at The Sauce for years and love it ! Best prices anywhere!
Purple Powder | Best Grape Candy Vape Juice | Awesometown
Seriously the best tasting grape flavoured juice out there. I've tried a ton of their fruit flavours and they're all great but personally this is my favorite by far.
Great product love it will ne ordering more

domain: food


text:
Today, the current crisis facing the nation’s social security fund may be alarming for older Americans, but it’s an even scarier time for younger generations. A recent article in Bloomberg states that more than half of millennials say that they’d decrease their salary in lieu of additional retirement savings.
As the author noted, this may seem like a high percentage, especially as we consider the large amount of debt that many college graduates face. And while we may associate millennials as bad savers, it doesn’t mean that they’re not aware that the problem exists.
With many millennials out of work or finding part-time positions, saving for retirement may be an option that’s not easily achievable in today’s economy. And if a company is not mandated to contribute towards retirement, this leaves many Americans out in the cold.
Today, it’s estimated that an individual facing retirement should comfortably have saved at least 400,000 to live comfortably. It’s important to note that this number does not include the boost from social security income or a pension.
How does one go about saving for retirement when there are few structures in place? To start, younger generations must be more conscientious about saving annually for retirement. This isn’t always an easy or available options. Investing in a new system may be appealing for many reasons. And while the concept may seem new to many Americans, countries like Australia have adopted newer policies in the past after reaching a tipping point.
Perhaps the biggest reason millennials may be attracted to a change in retirement savings is linked to a timely event: their own parents’ retirements. As baby boomer parents and grandparents struggle through their own retirements, millennials are tasked with care-taking responsibilities. And unlike previous generations, baby boomers are staring at a tightened social security package. This means where they live and how they’re cared for often falls on their children.
The United States has operated under the same social security program since its inception by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935. In theory, the law provides small incomes for retirees through payroll taxes. But under the current system, the fund faces major deficits, as more and more retirees look towards the fund to keep them above the poverty line.
Due to the compromised position of the fund, it’s not unfair for younger generations to question if the fund will be able to provide benefits once they reach the retirement age.
Exploring new options to secure one’s future is absolutely an essential goal in today’s economy. Still, the question remains. If the option existed today, would you take a pay cut for future financial stability?

domain: finance


text:
The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow, but they grind exceedingly fine.
We. Will. Get. There.
Pennsylvania County Sues Dominion Voting Systems for ‘Unauthorized Python Script’ & ‘Foreign IP Address’
Fulton County, Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against Dominion Voting Systems this morning for a “breach of contract”.
By: Kanekoa The Great, September 21, 202:
The county says that it became “aware of severe anomalies” with Dominion Voting Systems during the 2020 election after it was unable to reconcile “voter data with votes actually cast and counted”.
Speckin Forensics Laboratories based out of Lansing, Michigan, was retained to acquire forensic images of six hard drives in Fulton County, Pennsylvania on July 13-14, 2022.
The private forensics firm, whose “examiners have presented testimony in over 30 states”, produced a county commissioned a report on September 15, 2022, which revealed “several deficiencies” that directly contradict the “contractual terms and conditions” provided to Fulton County by Dominion Voting Systems.
The report alleges that Fulton County’s log files show “an external IP address” located in Quebec, Canada, and that an unauthorized “python script” had been installed after the certification date.
Moreover, the system’s security patch had not been updated since April 10, 2019, and default usernames and passwords had not been changed since the time of installation.
The report says, “This python script can exploit and create any number of vulnerabilities including, external access to the system, data export of the tabulations, or introduction of other metrics not part of or allowed by the certification process.”
What’s more, an “external IP address that is associated with Canada” was found on the very same adjudication workstation that contained the “post certification python script”.
EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

domain: news


Avril Lavigne was born on September 27, 1984, in Ontario, Canada. Avril is a singer-songwriter who began her career at age 17. Her 2002 debut album, Let Go, went multi-platinum and contained the platinum singles “Complicated” and “Sk8er Boi.” It also made her the youngest female solo artist to hit number one in the U.K. Her second album, Under My Skin, was released in 2004, and her third album, The Best Damn Thing, came out in 2007. Her most recent number-one hit was “Girlfriend,” which went multi-platinum in 2007. So far, she has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. She has also won many international Kids’ Choice and MTV Video Awards for her work. Avril married Sum 41 guitarist Deryck Whibley on July 15, 2006, but they divorced in 2009. Avril’s fourth studio album is set to be released in 2011.
others are Reading Currently


text:
Seven miles separates Millington from Vassar, but both communities share the same story in that their school districts are struggling financially.
"Typically, you wouldn't ever think of doing (it), but it is a means for both districts to save income and keep the cost expenditures from hitting the classroom," said Superintendent Tom Palmer.
Vassar is facing a $800,000 deficit going into next year. Millington is more than $600,000 in the hole. These are two districts that are already working at a bare-bones level. On Tuesday night, they discussed a plan with parents, which calls for sharing some services between the two districts.
"As two independent school districts with a common purpose, I think that's the way we need to go," said a board member with the Vassar School District.
The districts already share the same superintendent. Palmer took over both districts when Millington's superintendent stepped down for personal reasons. It has worked so well, district leaders are now considering doing the same with the high school principal, sharing counselors and some other positions.
"Between the two districts, we've saved about $300,000 a piece in doing this," said Palmer.
But the move is getting mixed reviews.
"Fourteen-hundred kids is too many for a principal to be principal of," said resident Joann Helmbold.
"As long as we keep the best interest of the kids in mind, that's what we need to do," said Jessi Sexton, who has three kids who go to Vassar.
But leaders said it's a move that will keep Vassar the Vulcans and Millington the Cardinals.
"This is only about sharing of services, not about consolidation of districts by any means," said Palmer.
State funding and declining enrollment are blamed for this move.
The Millington School Board has already voted yes to the plan. Vassar will vote on it at its board meeting on Monday.
Copyright 2014 WNEM (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.


text:
HARARE, Zimbabwe—While the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted people’s way of life, UNFPA in Zimbabwe is determined to continue providing sexual and reproductive health services, including for young people.
Integrated sexual and reproductive health services need to be part of humanitarian and crisis response packages, and it is in such challenging times that these services are often disrupted, leaving many young people and women with limited choices. This can have a significant impact on their lives.
Before COVID-19-related lockdown measures were put in place in the country, many young people were benefiting from free services, like Ndanatsei Chimupiti, a young woman from Hopley in Harare, who could access services such as family planning and free HIV testing at Tariro Clinic and Youth Centre.
Yet due to the current lockdown, UNFPA and youth organizations as partners have had to rethink methods for reaching young people with sexual and reproductive health-related information and services, and find new innovative ways of engaging young people in the country.
To this end, UNFPA and its partners are now focusing on online engagement and mobilization. However, plans to disseminate information to those who are not online, for example through radio, are also in the pipeline.
Serving a population of 147,000, Tariro Clinic and Youth Centre offers sexual and reproductive health information and services to young people from Hopley. The need for young people like Ms. Chimupiti to have access to this is critical, including in times of crisis such as a pandemic-related lockdown.
Access to information and a comprehensive package of youth-friendly services enables young people to make informed decisions about their bodies and the future they seek for themselves. The services offered at Tariro centre have had a significant impact on the lives of Hopley community members, especially its young people.
“This clinic offers services like immunization, antenatal clinics, family planning, and testing for STIs (sexually transmitted infections) and HIV,” said Constance Mataire, Sister-in-Change at Tariro clinic. “People can access these services freely and this has [made] a difference to the community.”
The centre is making a concerted effort to offer integrated services that meet the needs of all. “We are going to reengineer our process to integrate all our services to ensure that all groups of people, such as young people or sex workers, are not being discriminated against or being left behind when it comes to access to sexual and reproductive health services,” said Dr. Collen Nyatsambo, District Medical Officer for Harare South, Harare.
Providing youth-friendly services
As countries grapple with ways to response to COVID-19, it is evident that a strategy for the successful delivery of integrated, quality sexual and reproductive health services to young people remains critical.
“How can we better deliver an integrated service for a population group that finds itself in the context of everyday challenges as they navigate the transition from adolescent to adulthood?” asked Dr. Julitta Onabanjo, then UNFPA Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, now UNFPA Acting Deputy Executive Director (Programmes), during a tour of Tariro Clinic and Youth Centre.
Young people aged 15 to 35 years make up the majority of the population in many African countries. There is therefore a need to ensure that young people of all ages, religious backgrounds, sexual orientation, whether urban or rural based, and living with disabilities, have access to a comprehensive package of youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services in their communities.
“When I see how many girls are here with babies, I can tell that the prevalence of teenage pregnancy is high,” said Dr. Onabanjo. “These girls should be in school. They should be waiting to have a real relationship and then start having babies. You can’t have children while you’re still a child.”
Not only is there a risk in terms of the outcome of the pregnancy but also in terms of maternal mortality. “A lot of the maternal deaths we see are among young girls, and this we cannot accept,” Dr. Onabanjo said.
A solution to end teenage pregnancy exists. Investments must be made and action accelerated to ensure young people have access to information and sexual and reproductive health services.
Health workers push for youth-friendly package
United Bulawayo Hospital (UBH) is one of Zimbabwe’s three centres of excellence for the integration of sexual and reproductive health, family planning, gender-based violence response, screening for STIs and HIV, and youth-friendly services.
“Since we started integration [of services] there have been so many benefits, especially for our clients as [this] has reduced the numbers of times they come to the hospital for different health services. They get them all at once,” said Abigail Mafaro, Nurse Manager at the hospital.
The feedback has been positive. It costs clients less in transport if they are able to get all the services they need in one visit, as opposed to multiple visits for each different service required.
“UBH has not only managed to improve fistula management among women but also as a tertiary hospital it has managed to cascade screening and raise awareness of cervical cancer among women, as 100,000 women have been attended to,” said UBH gynaecologist Dr. Harrison Rambanepasi.
“What we have seen here in terms of UNFPA support is real potential for full integration of sexual and reproductive health services, including HIV, adolescent and youth-friendly services and gender-based violence,” said Dr. Onabanjo during a visit to the clinic.
However, a number of gaps remain.
“UNFPA will be working together to make United Bulawayo Hospital a people-centred facility that responds best to the needs of all in terms of their sexual and reproductive rights,” Dr. Onabanjo said.
The hospital is also a health worker training centre on cervical cancer screening.


text:
According to the results of a recent public opinion poll, most Texans would welcome video lottery terminals at the state's five horse and three Greyhound racetracks.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has declared voters must approve an amendment to the state constitution before any of the 10 licensed horse or Greyhound tracks in Texas can install video lottery terminals.
As the Seabiscuit movie began winning over national audiences, two influential Texas racing associations renewed their commitment to the protection of Thoroughbreds.
The Texas Horsemen's Partnership has asked its 5,000 members to send e-mail or letters to Gov. Rick Perry and state legislators asking them to support a bill that would legalize video lottery terminals at the 10 licensed horse and dog tracks in the state.
Most Popular Stories
- Queen's Horse Tests Positive for Morphine
- Prominent Owner Borislow Dies at Age 52
- Sky Kingdom Returns to 1 1/2 Miles in Cougar
- Tonalist Begins Push for Eclipse Award
- Jerkens Aims for 'Wicked Strong' Saratoga
- A Timeline for Synthetic Racing Surfaces
- War Chant to Remain at Yarradale in Australia
- Adena Springs' Roberts Returns to Training
- Haskin: No More 'What Ifs' With Wise Dan
- Encouraging Starts to Saratoga, Del Mar Meets


Former SSA DG Arthur Fraser lays perjury charge over 'compromising lies'
Former State Security Agency (SSA) director-general (DG) Arthur Fraser has laid a criminal charge of perjury after a week of allegations of corruption and malfeasance against the SSA at the state capture inquiry.
“The falsehoods peddled during what our client considers the monumental compromise of the country’s intelligence by SSA officials have left him with no choice but to lay criminal charges against those who conspired to tell the nation blatant and deliberate falsehoods,” said Kgoroeadira Mudau Attorneys.
Fraser laid charges at the Hillbrow police station in Johannesburg on Sunday against:
- Sydney Mufamadi, chairperson of the high-level review panel that investigated the SSA;
- acting SSA DG Loyiso Jafta;
- a secret witness named as Ms K;
- Mr Y;
- commission advocate Paul Pretorius SC; and
- advocate V September.
“Lies were told to the nation under oath and before the inquiry and the entire world, with the assistance of those employed to help the nation discover the truth. We consider such to be beyond any reason and it compromises the security of our people and their state,” the legal team charged on behalf of Fraser.
Mufamadi, who led a panel review investigation of the agency in 2018, made allegations against Fraser at the inquiry last week, as did Jafta and Ms K. These include that Fraser enabled corruption and unaccountability involving at least R125m and allowed the agency to become a piggy bank for ANC factional battles.
Would you like to comment on this article or view other readers' comments? Register (it’s quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.


Lund – Malmö quadruple tracking contract
Prime Minister inaugurates Napoli Afragola station
ÖBB starts Pyhrnstrecke station upgrading
Weekly LCL service widens appeal of China-Europe rail route
Siemens to buy planning software company HaCon
Hupac orders eight multisystem locomotives
Montecargo privatisation cancelled
IONX and Ermewa agree telematics partnership
High-value chemicals travel from China to Europe by rail
DB Regio selected for Rhein-Neckar operating contract
Two international rail projects in the Western Balkans region are to benefit from European Union funding as part of a package of transport investment agreed at a summit in Trieste on July 12.
Under the Transport Community Treaty, the EU has agreed to co-fund seven projects with a combined value of €500m which would improve links connecting the region with EU member states. The package includes a mix of rail, road and inland waterway improvements.
Both rail projects are being funded as part of the TEN-T Orient/East-Med corridor. The largest single grant in the package will provide €70m towards the estimated €152·3m cost of completing the long-planned 200 km rail link between the Macedonian capital Skopje and Sofia in neighbouring Bulgaria.
Work on the project has proceeded in fits and starts since 1994. Macedonian Railways has refurbished the Skopje – Kumanovo – Beljakovci line, while funding was allocated a decade ago for work on the Radomir – Gyueshevo line in Bulgaria. The final stage is to close the 57 km gap between Gyueshevo and Beljakovci.
The other rail element in the package provides €28·4m towards a €56·4m programme of upgrading and electrification now underway in Serbia on the 98 km Niš – Dimitrovgrad section of the Beograd – Sofia main line.
Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc said the signing of the treaty opened up ‘a new era of co-operation between the EU and the Western Balkans’. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev added that it would be ‘a great benefit for the citizens of Macedonia’.
This article first appeared on www.railwaygazette.com
About this website
Railpage version 3.10.0.0037
All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is © 2003-2020 Interactive Omnimedia Pty Ltd.
You can syndicate our news using one of the RSS feeds.


text:
2 December 2016
Rival Sons - Hollow Bones
How many blogs can we put up in one day? Many blogs it seems, many blogs indeed and onto the next one which is by Rival Sons. We reviewed their last album 'Great Western Valkyrie' (our review cleverly linked here) when it came out and (apart from bemoaning the fact it was released on Earache records) we thought it was a good album. So now we are onto album number five called 'Hollow Bones' which was released in June 2016, so there has been a bit of a delay on this review. It has been getting good reviews and it also charted very well around the world. They are also the main support on the last Black Sabbath tour, which is not something to be scoffed at; so, how has this album turned out......
01 - Hollow Bones Part 1
With a brief drumroll, the band kick off into a blues rock explosion that you have come to expect from these guys. A little hint to Led Zeppelin, a little bit of Black Sabbath and a little bit of modern sensibilities as well. It is a straight up rock & roll anthemic opening and it sounds rather good, a little retro, but that is a given in the classic rock genre to be honest and when it sounds this good, you really do not give two shits.
02 - Tied Up
They are really going for it on this album with these two opening songs, the second song ‘Tied Up’ is a sultry tune about the dangers of love and how it can feel like you are all tied up in one person. It has a brilliant riff; the dark verses are spaces for the bass & drums to hold everything together and it is all tied together by a fantastic vocal performance from Jay Buchanan.
03 - Thundering Voices
Changing it up slightly with ‘Thundering Voices’ has anthemic verses and lighter/gentle chorus sections. The riff for this song is stupidly simple and as good as anything you will hear from classic rock this year. More blues rock with attitude and aggression. It is one of the best songs on here, definitely worth checking out.
04 - Baby Boy
‘Baby Boy’ is a decent number which does nothing wrong as it has a beat you can dance to, an attitude you could shave with and a swagger that will open any bar and get you a free beer. But it is also a filler track, so whilst it has all that game, it is short on being memorable at the same time.
05 - Pretty Face
More flat out rock which deals with falling in love and being jealous of a past lover and their new partner, it has a brilliant performance by bass play Dave Beste and the song is kept together so well by drummer Mike Miley. All the band sound on form here and whilst it is not the loudest song here, it is one of those songs that still in your memory.
06 - Fade Out
The painful side of the blues is on show here, the heart is not so much on display to be honest, but trampled, beaten and stamped into the floor by pointy shoes and knives. The guitar work by Scott Holiday is second to none on here, the haunting vocals of Jay Buchanan can cause pain at a hundred yards and it will be going down a storm on their live set; what a song, what a performance.
07 - Black Coffee
This is a Led Zeppelin song in all but name, it is the song where their influence bleeds through every note. This is not a bad thing to be honest, as it also have a little funky moment in the middle that is straight out of gospel territory and it has some little hooks that give it such an explosive feeling, a bit of fun and how does those vocals howl on this one!!!
08 - Hollow Bones Part 2
The second part of ‘Hollow Bones’ is a darker beat to the first part, it is also thankfully a different beast to that first number. I love the riff and how it sounds heavy without having any really weight behind it, it is just a joy of a song that makes the hairs on your neck stand on end and it is definitely one of the best riffs of 2016. It might stretch on a little, but you expect that from blues rock in places and it fits in well with the song.
09 - All That I Want
Ending the album with a gentle acoustic guitar, this love song is laced with strings, heartfelt emotion and a mournful soul of the eternally lost. For what it is, ‘All That I Want’ is a good number that I personally would not have ended the album, but it still sounds decent and for what it is, does nothing wrong.
I was surprised by this album, it did not sound as if it was a tribute or trying to re-create the acts of years gone by. It was spot on, to the point and beautifully created; the craftsmanship on this record is spectacular and it is one of my surprises of 2016. It is brief and it leaves you wanting more, something that a few artists could learn from to be honest. Whilst they are not reinventing the wheel and in some places, it does have a “heavy balloon” flavour that verges on tribute, it has enough of their own style and confidence for them to make it their own. When I am in the mood for this music, it will be amongst the first choices I will consider. Surprise of 2016 for me I feel....
8 out of ten – Oh, now you have my attention and maybe my time, money and heart
Top track – Fade Out
You can purchase Hollow Bones on Amazon here.
You can visit the Rival Sons website here.
You can visit the Rival Sons Facebook here.
You can stream Hollow Bones on Tidal here.
You can stream Hollow Bones on Spotify here.
You can stream Hollow Bones on Deezer here.
- ► 2018 (124)
- ► 2017 (149)
- Nine Inch Nails - Not The Actual Events EP
- Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
- Ensemble Modern - Ensemble Modern Plays Frank Zapp...
- Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 3
- Calling All Astronauts - Life As We Know It (Singl...
- The official Top 40 albums for ATTIWLTMOWOS as vot...
- Marc Richardson's Top Twelve Albums of 2016
- Hello Casanova - I'll Be Waiting
- Myke Clements - The King Is Here
- The ATTIWLTMOWOS Top 50 songs of 2016
- Jermyn's Top Twenty Albums Of 2016
- Eddie's top 40 album of 2016 (honestly, it is no l...
- Luke's Top 20 Albums Of 2016
- ATTIWLTMOWOS Album of the Year - Voting has starte...
- Steve Vai - Modern Primitive
- Last day mega blast round up - Devin Townsend, Hey...
- Rival Sons - Hollow Bones
- JAWS - Simplicity
- Sum 41 - 13 Voices
- NOFX - First Ditch Effort
- ▼ December (20)
- ► 2015 (267)
- ► 2014 (309)
- ► 2013 (499)
So, we have reached the end of the year and it's been an eventful 12 months! So much has happened, the standard of the records rel...
Who doesn't like an end of year list? No-one! They tell you they don't, but inside they secretly do. So, as we approach the e...
Rightly or wrongly, They Might Be Giants will always be viewed as a ‘One Hit Wonder’ in the UK, which is a shame. If you mention thei...
Ryan Hamilton is an all-round legend in my books. I recently conducted an interview with him for my radio show on NE1FM called Attentio...
Has it really been that long ago since I started this blog? The first post (cleverly linked here) was posted on the 2nd December (o...
Alice Cooper is a legend that really doesn't need any introduction, if you're new to the game then you've got a little bit ...
New Language (stylised NEW LANGUAGE) is a band I found out about early this year whilst looking for songs for my radio show. As with a f...
Ghost//Signals are one of my favourite groups in Newcastle right now, together with The NX, Dunes and Waheela. Last year, their second s...
Seems like an apt image for the year (the other was the Grim Reaper laughing), 2016 has been a bit of a shit year in some ways and in oth...
Welcome to the final round-up review of 2017! Similar to the Round-Up posts I put up earlier in the year, I’m going to be posting some bull...

domain: artistic


text:
David McPherson and Scott Brash were the joint winner’s in round nine of the $32,000 ( £20,291) Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) Challenge Cup Series in Florida.
The class, held at the FTI Consulting WEF yesterday (8 March), was split due to the high number of entries – 99.
And David and his own Silver Spring and Scott and Lady Harris and Lady Kirkham’s Sanctos Van Het Gravenhof the joint honours and prize money.
Just 10 combinations went through from the first round, with no faults over the course set by Venezuela’s Leopoldo Palacios.
Five jumped double clear in the jump-off and David and Scott had the fastest times – David and Silver Spring completing in 39.56sec to win section A and Scott and Sanctos in 39.74 sec, to win B.
Scott and Whisky Mac IV, finished third in Sec B with a four-fault round in 38.93 seconds.
“This is his [Silver Spring’s] first show in well over a year,” said David.
“It was a tough track; a really tight time. But he is as brave as a lion and has all of the scope; he is a lovely horse.”
Scott was delighted to have made it to the jump-off with each of his two mounts in the class.
He said: “Sanctos is a new horse for me, I’ve only had him since the start of January.
“The first few weeks I was just getting to know him. I changed his bit a few times and juggled about.
“Hopefully we’re on the right track now. He jumped very, very good today. Hopefully we can go on from here.”
- View showjumpers for sale with Horse & Hound

domain: sports


Source: Player’s Handbook
Prerequisite: Proficiency with light armor
You have been trained to a master the use of a medium armor and also the shields, with this dnd 5e moderately armored feat you can gain the below mentioned advantages:
- It can increase your Strength or the Dexterity score by 1, to the maximum of 20.
- You can also gain the proficiency by medium armor and also by the shields.
Know more about lightly armored 5e feat


text:
The question of who are the most intelligent people in rock music is a complex one that requires a thorough examination of various factors. To begin with, it is important to note that intelligence is a multifaceted trait that encompasses various abilities, including but not limited to problem-solving, creativity, and critical thinking. As such, measuring intelligence is not a straightforward process, and there is no definitive answer as to who the most intelligent people in rock music are. However, we can examine certain individuals who have demonstrated exceptional intellectual abilities in their musical careers.
One such individual is Brian May, the lead guitarist of the legendary rock band Queen. In addition to his musical prowess, May holds a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London, making him one of the most educated musicians in the rock genre. May has also been involved in various scientific projects, including the development of a new type of telescope and the study of interplanetary dust.
Another notable individual is Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of the progressive metal band Tool. Keenan is known for his introspective and thought-provoking lyrics, which often delve into topics such as spirituality, philosophy, and human psychology. In addition to his musical career, Keenan is also a successful winemaker and has established several vineyards in Arizona.
Thom Yorke, the lead singer of the alternative rock band Radiohead, is also renowned for his intellectual prowess. Yorke’s lyrics often tackle complex themes such as environmentalism, social justice, and the human condition. He is also a vocal critic of the music industry and has been involved in various political and environmental activism movements.
Lastly, we have David Byrne, the lead singer of the influential new wave band Talking Heads. In addition to his musical career, Byrne is also an accomplished author, filmmaker, and visual artist. His work often explores the intersections between art, technology, and society and has been widely acclaimed for its thought-provoking and innovative nature.
It is important to note that this list is by no means exhaustive and that there are numerous other intelligent individuals in the rock genre who have made significant contributions to music and other fields. However, the individuals mentioned above serve as excellent examples of how intelligence can manifest itself in various ways in the world of rock music.
- Brian May – https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/205013/queen-guitarist-brian-may-awarded-phd/
- Maynard James Keenan – https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/maynard-james-keenan-tool-puscifer-winery-interview-759350/
- Thom Yorke – https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/sep/27/thom-yorke-modern-boxes-technology-new-album-radiohead
- David Byrne – https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/03/david-byrne-american-utopia


text:
The Olmecs were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that the Olmecs derived in part from the neighboring Mokaya or Mixe–Zoque cultures.
The Olmecs flourished during Mesoamerica's formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished since about 2500 BCE, but by 1600–1500 BCE, early Olmec culture had emerged, centered on the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization, and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The aspect of the Olmecs most familiar now is their artwork, particularly the aptly named "colossal heads". The Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient America's most striking.
The name 'Olmec' comes from the Nahuatl word for the Olmecs: Ōlmēcatl in Nahuatl languages pronounced as /oːlˈmeːkat͡ɬ/ (singular) or Ōlmēcah in Nahuatl languages pronounced as /oːlˈmeːkaʔ/ (plural). This word is composed of the two words ōlli in Nahuatl languages pronounced as /ˈoːlːi/, meaning "rubber", and mēcatl in Nahuatl languages pronounced as /ˈmeːkat͡ɬ/, meaning "people", so the word means "rubber people".  Rubber was an important part of the ancient Mesoamerican ballgame.
The Olmec heartland is the area in the Gulf lowlands where it expanded after early development in Soconusco, Veracruz. This area is characterized by swampy lowlands punctuated by low hills, ridges, and volcanoes. The Tuxtlas Mountains rise sharply in the north, along the Gulf of Mexico's Bay of Campeche. Here, the Olmec constructed permanent city-temple complexes at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Laguna de los Cerros. In this region, the first Mesoamerican civilization emerged and reigned from 1400–400 BCE.
See main article: San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. The beginnings of Olmec civilization have traditionally been placed between 1400 and 1200 BCE. Past finds of Olmec remains ritually deposited at El Manati shrine (near San Lorenzo) moved this back to "at least" 1600–1500 BCE. It seems that the Olmec had their roots in early farming cultures of Tabasco, which began between 5100 BCE and 4600 BCE. These shared the same basic food crops and technologies of the later Olmec civilization.
What is today called Olmec first appeared fully within the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, where distinctive Olmec features occurred around 1400 BCE. The rise of civilization was assisted by the local ecology of well-watered alluvial soil, as well as by the transportation network provided by the Coatzacoalcos River basin. This environment may be compared to that of other ancient centers of civilization: the Nile, Indus, and Yellow River valleys, and Mesopotamia. This highly productive environment encouraged a densely concentrated population, which in turn triggered the rise of an elite class. The elite class created the demand for the production of the symbolic and sophisticated luxury artifacts that define Olmec culture. Many of these luxury artifacts were made from materials such as jade, obsidian, and magnetite, which came from distant locations and suggest that early Olmec elites had access to an extensive trading network in Mesoamerica. The source of the most valued jade was the Motagua River valley in eastern Guatemala, and Olmec obsidian has been traced to sources in the Guatemala highlands, such as El Chayal and San Martín Jilotepeque, or in Puebla, distances ranging from 200 to 400 km (120–250 miles) away, respectively.
The state of Guerrero, and in particular its early Mezcala culture, seem to have played an important role in the early history of Olmec culture. Olmec-style artifacts tend to appear earlier in some parts of Guerrero than in the Veracruz-Tabasco area. In particular, the relevant objects from the Amuco-Abelino site in Guerrero reveal dates as early as 1530 BCE. The city of Teopantecuanitlan in Guerrero is also relevant in this regard.
See main article: La Venta. The first Olmec center, San Lorenzo, was all but abandoned around 900 BCE at about the same time that La Venta rose to prominence. A wholesale destruction of many San Lorenzo monuments also occurred circa 950 BCE, which may indicate an internal uprising or, less likely, an invasion. The latest thinking, however, is that environmental changes may have been responsible for this shift in Olmec centers, with certain important rivers changing course.
In any case, following the decline of San Lorenzo, La Venta became the most prominent Olmec center, lasting from 900 BCE until its abandonment around 400 BCE. La Venta sustained the Olmec cultural traditions with spectacular displays of power and wealth. The Great Pyramid was the largest Mesoamerican structure of its time. Even today, after 2500 years of erosion, it rises 34m (112feet) above the naturally flat landscape. Buried deep within La Venta lay opulent, labor-intensive "offerings" – 1000 tons of smooth serpentine blocks, large mosaic pavements, and at least 48 separate deposits of polished jade celts, pottery, figurines, and hematite mirrors.
Scholars have yet to determine the cause of the eventual extinction of the Olmec culture. Between 400 and 350 BCE, the population in the eastern half of the Olmec heartland dropped precipitously, and the area was sparsely inhabited until the 19th century. According to archaeologists, this depopulation was probably the result of "very serious environmental changes that rendered the region unsuited for large groups of farmers", in particular changes to the riverine environment that the Olmec depended upon for agriculture, hunting and gathering, and transportation. These changes may have been triggered by tectonic upheavals or subsidence, or the silting up of rivers due to agricultural practices.
One theory for the considerable population drop during the Terminal Formative period is suggested by Santley and colleagues (Santley et al. 1997), who propose the relocation of settlements due to volcanism, instead of extinction. Volcanic eruptions during the Early, Late and Terminal Formative periods would have blanketed the lands and forced the Olmec to move their settlements.
Whatever the cause, within a few hundred years of the abandonment of the last Olmec cities, successor cultures became firmly established. The Tres Zapotes site, on the western edge of the Olmec heartland, continued to be occupied well past 400 BCE, but without the hallmarks of the Olmec culture. This post-Olmec culture, often labeled Epi-Olmec, has features similar to those found at Izapa, some 550 km (330 miles) to the southeast.
The Olmec culture was first defined as an art style, and this continues to be the hallmark of the culture. Wrought in a large number of media – jade, clay, basalt, and greenstone among others – much Olmec art, such as The Wrestler, is naturalistic. Other art expresses fantastic anthropomorphic creatures, often highly stylized, using an iconography reflective of a religious meaning. Common motifs include downturned mouths and a cleft head, both of which are seen in representations of were-jaguars.
In addition to making human and human-like subjects, Olmec artisans were adept at animal portrayals; for example, the fish vessel to the right or the bird vessel in the gallery below.
While Olmec figurines are found abundantly in sites throughout the Formative Period, the stone monuments such as the colossal heads are the most recognizable feature of Olmec culture. These monuments can be divided into four classes:
See main article: Olmec colossal heads. The most recognized aspect of the Olmec civilization are the enormous helmeted heads. As no known pre-Columbian text explains them, these impressive monuments have been the subject of much speculation. Once theorized to be ballplayers, it is now generally accepted that these heads are portraits of rulers, perhaps dressed as ballplayers. Infused with individuality, no two heads are alike and the helmet-like headdresses are adorned with distinctive elements, suggesting personal or group symbols. Some have also speculated that Mesoamerican people believed that the soul, along with all of one's experiences and emotions, was contained inside the head.
Seventeen colossal heads have been unearthed to date.
|San Lorenzo||10||Colossal Heads 1 through 10|
|La Venta||4||Monuments 1 through 4|
|Tres Zapotes||2||Monuments A & Q|
|Rancho la Cobata||1||Monument 1|
The heads range in size from the Rancho La Cobata head, at high, to the pair at Tres Zapotes, at . Scholars calculate that the largest heads weigh between 25and.
The heads were carved from single blocks or boulders of volcanic basalt, found in the Tuxtlas Mountains. The Tres Zapotes heads, for example, were sculpted from basalt found at the summit of Cerro el Vigía, at the western end of the Tuxtlas. The San Lorenzo and La Venta heads, on the other hand, were probably carved from the basalt of Cerro Cintepec, on the southeastern side, perhaps at the nearby Llano del Jicaro workshop, and dragged or floated to their final destination dozens of miles away. It has been estimated that moving a colossal head required the efforts of 1,500 people for three to four months.
Some of the heads, and many other monuments, have been variously mutilated, buried and disinterred, reset in new locations and/or reburied. Some monuments, and at least two heads, were recycled or recarved, but it is not known whether this was simply due to the scarcity of stone or whether these actions had ritual or other connotations. Scholars believe that some mutilation had significance beyond mere destruction, but some scholars still do not rule out internal conflicts or, less likely, invasion as a factor.
The flat-faced, thick-lipped heads have caused some debate due to their resemblance to some African facial characteristics. Based on this comparison, some writers have said that the Olmecs were Africans who had emigrated to the New World. But, the vast majority of archaeologists and other Mesoamerican scholars reject claims of pre-Columbian contacts with Africa. Explanations for the facial features of the colossal heads include the possibility that the heads were carved in this manner due to the shallow space allowed on the basalt boulders. Others note that in addition to the broad noses and thick lips, the eyes of the heads often show the epicanthic fold, and that all these characteristics can still be found in modern Mesoamerican Indians. For instance, in the 1940s, the artist/art historian Miguel Covarrubias published a series of photos of Olmec artworks and of the faces of modern Mexican Indians with very similar facial characteristics. The African origin hypothesis assumes that Olmec carving was intended to be a representation of the inhabitants, an assumption that is hard to justify given the full corpus of representation in Olmec carving. Ivan van Sertima claimed that the seven braids on the Tres Zapotes head was an Ethiopian hair style but he offered no evidence that this was an Ethiopian hair style at the appropriate time. The Egyptologist Frank Yurco has said that the Olmec braids do not resemble contemporary Egyptian or Nubian braids.
Another type of artifact is much smaller; hardstone carvings in jade of a face in a mask form. Jade is a particularly precious material, and it was used as a mark of rank by the ruling classes. By 1500 BCE early Olmec sculptors mastered the human form. This can be determined by wooden Olmec sculptures discovered in the swampy bogs of El Manati. Before radiocarbon dating could tell the exact age of Olmec pieces, archaeologists and art historians noticed the unique "Olmec-style" in a variety of artifacts.
Curators and scholars refer to "Olmec-style" face masks but, to date, no example has been recovered in an archaeologically controlled Olmec context. They have been recovered from sites of other cultures, including one deliberately deposited in the ceremonial precinct of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). The mask would presumably have been about 2,000 years old when the Aztec buried it, suggesting such masks were valued and collected as were Roman antiquities in Europe. The 'Olmec-style' refers to the combination of deep-set eyes, nostrils, and strong, slightly asymmetrical mouth. The "Olmec-style" also very distinctly combines facial features of both humans and jaguars. Olmec arts are strongly tied to the Olmec religion, which prominently featured Jaguars. The Olmec people believed that in the distant past a race of 'Were-Jaguars' was made between the union of a jaguar and a woman. One ‘were-jaguar’ quality that can be found is the sharp cleft in the forehead of many supernatural beings in Olmec art. This sharp cleft is associated with the natural indented head of Jaguars.
The Kunz axes (also known as "votive axes") are figures that represent werejaguars and were apparently used for rituals. In most cases, the head is half the total volume of the figure. All Kunz axes have flat noses and an open mouth. The name "Kunz" comes from George Frederick Kunz, an American mineralogist, who described a figure in 1890.
See main article: Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures.
Olmec-style artifacts, designs, figurines, monuments and iconography have been found in the archaeological records of sites hundreds of kilometres outside the Olmec heartland. These sites include:
Chalcatzingo, in Valley of Morelos, central Mexico, which features Olmec-style monumental art and rock art with Olmec-style figures.
Also, in 2007, archaeologists unearthed Zazacatla, an Olmec-influenced city in Morelos. Located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Mexico City, Zazacatla covered about 1sqmi between 800 and 500 BCE.
Olmec influence is also seen at several sites in the Southern Maya area.
Many theories have been advanced to account for the occurrence of Olmec influence far outside the heartland, including long-range trade by Olmec merchants, Olmec colonization of other regions, Olmec artisans travelling to other cities, conscious imitation of Olmec artistic styles by developing towns – some even suggest the prospect of Olmec military domination or that the Olmec iconography was actually developed outside the heartland.
The generally accepted, but by no means unanimous, interpretation is that the Olmec-style artifacts, in all sizes, became associated with elite status and were adopted by non-Olmec Formative Period chieftains in an effort to bolster their status.
In addition to their influence with contemporaneous Mesoamerican cultures, as the first civilization in Mesoamerica, the Olmecs are credited, or speculatively credited, with many "firsts", including the bloodletting and perhaps human sacrifice, writing and epigraphy, and the invention of popcorn, zero and the Mesoamerican calendar, and the Mesoamerican ballgame, as well as perhaps the compass. Some researchers, including artist and art historian Miguel Covarrubias, even postulate that the Olmecs formulated the forerunners of many of the later Mesoamerican deities.
Although the archaeological record does not include explicit representation of Olmec bloodletting, researchers have found other evidence that the Olmec ritually practiced it. For example, numerous natural and ceramic stingray spikes and maguey thorns have been found at Olmec sites, and certain artifacts have been identified as bloodletters.
The argument that the Olmec instituted human sacrifice is significantly more speculative. No Olmec or Olmec-influenced sacrificial artifacts have yet been discovered; no Olmec or Olmec-influenced artwork unambiguously shows sacrificial victims (as do the danzante figures of Monte Albán) or scenes of human sacrifice (such as can be seen in the famous ballcourt mural from El Tajin).
At the El Manatí site, disarticulated skulls and femurs, as well as the complete skeletons of newborn or unborn children, have been discovered amidst the other offerings, leading to speculation concerning infant sacrifice. Scholars have not determined how the infants met their deaths. Some authors have associated infant sacrifice with Olmec ritual art showing limp were-jaguar babies, most famously in La Venta's Altar 5 (on the right) or Las Limas figure. Any definitive answer requires further findings.
See also: Cascajal block. The Olmec may have been the first civilization in the Western Hemisphere to develop a writing system. Symbols found in 2002 and 2006 date from 650 BCE and 900 BCE respectively, preceding the oldest Zapotec writing found so far, which dates from about 500 BCE.
The 2002 find at the San Andrés site shows a bird, speech scrolls, and glyphs that are similar to the later Mayan hieroglyphs. Known as the Cascajal Block, and dated between 1100 BCE and 900 BCE, the 2006 find from a site near San Lorenzo shows a set of 62 symbols, 28 of which are unique, carved on a serpentine block. A large number of prominent archaeologists have hailed this find as the "earliest pre-Columbian writing". Others are skeptical because of the stone's singularity, the fact that it had been removed from any archaeological context, and because it bears no apparent resemblance to any other Mesoamerican writing system.
There are also well-documented later hieroglyphs known as "Epi-Olmec", and while there are some who believe that Epi-Olmec may represent a transitional script between an earlier Olmec writing system and Mayan writing, the matter remains unsettled.
The Long Count calendar used by many subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations, as well as the concept of zero, may have been devised by the Olmecs. Because the six artifacts with the earliest Long Count calendar dates were all discovered outside the immediate Maya homeland, it is likely that this calendar predated the Maya and was possibly the invention of the Olmecs. Indeed, three of these six artifacts were found within the Olmec heartland. But an argument against an Olmec origin is the fact that the Olmec civilization had ended by the 4th century BCE, several centuries before the earliest known Long Count date artifact.
The Long Count calendar required the use of zero as a place-holder within its vigesimal (base-20) positional numeral system. A shell glyph – – was used as a zero symbol for these Long Count dates, the second oldest of which, on Stela C at Tres Zapotes, has a date of 32 BCE. This is one of the earliest uses of the zero concept in history.
The Olmec are strong candidates for originating the Mesoamerican ballgame so prevalent among later cultures of the region and used for recreational and religious purposes. A dozen rubber balls dating to 1600 BCE or earlier have been found in El Manatí, a bog 101NaN1 east of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan. These balls predate the earliest ballcourt yet discovered at Paso de la Amada, circa 1400 BCE, although there is no certainty that they were used in the ballgame.
While the actual ethno-linguistic affiliation of the Olmec remains unknown, various hypotheses have been put forward. For example, in 1968 Michael D. Coe speculated that the Olmec were Mayan predecessors.
In 1976, linguists Lyle Campbell and Terrence Kaufman published a paper in which they argued a core number of loanwords had apparently spread from a Mixe–Zoquean language into many other Mesoamerican languages. Campbell and Kaufman proposed that the presence of these core loanwords indicated that the Olmec – generally regarded as the first "highly civilized" Mesoamerican society – spoke a language ancestral to Mixe–Zoquean. The spread of this vocabulary particular to their culture accompanied the diffusion of other Olmec cultural and artistic traits that appears in the archaeological record of other Mesoamerican societies.
Mixe–Zoque specialist Søren Wichmann first critiqued this theory on the basis that most of the Mixe–Zoquean loans seemed to originate only from the Zoquean branch of the family. This implied the loanword transmission occurred in the period after the two branches of the language family split, placing the time of the borrowings outside of the Olmec period. However, new evidence has pushed back the proposed date for the split of Mixean and Zoquean languages to a period within the Olmec era. Based on this dating, the architectural and archaeological patterns and the particulars of the vocabulary loaned to other Mesoamerican languages from Mixe–Zoquean, Wichmann now suggests that the Olmecs of San Lorenzo spoke proto-Mixe and the Olmecs of La Venta spoke proto-Zoque.
At least the fact that the Mixe–Zoquean languages are still spoken in an area corresponding roughly to the Olmec heartland, and are historically known to have been spoken there, leads most scholars to assume that the Olmec spoke one or more Mixe–Zoquean languages.
See main article: Olmec religion. Olmec religious activities were performed by a combination of rulers, full-time priests, and shamans. The rulers seem to have been the most important religious figures, with their links to the Olmec deities or supernaturals providing legitimacy for their rule. There is also considerable evidence for shamans in the Olmec archaeological record, particularly in the so-called "transformation figures".
As Olmec mythology has left no documents comparable to the Popul Vuh from Maya mythology, any exposition of Olmec mythology must be based on interpretations of surviving monumental and portable art (such as the Señor de Las Limas statue at the Xalapa Museum), and comparisons with other Mesoamerican mythologies. Olmec art shows that such deities as the Feathered Serpent and a rain supernatural were already in the Mesoamerican pantheon in Olmec times.
Little is directly known about the societal or political structure of Olmec society. Although it is assumed by most researchers that the colossal heads and several other sculptures represent rulers, nothing has been found like the Maya stelae (see drawing) which name specific rulers and provide the dates of their rule.
Instead, archaeologists relied on the data that they had, such as large- and small-scale site surveys. These provided evidence of considerable centralization within the Olmec region, first at San Lorenzo and then at La Venta – no other Olmec sites come close to these in terms of area or in the quantity and quality of architecture and sculpture.
This evidence of geographic and demographic centralization leads archaeologists to propose that Olmec society itself was hierarchical, concentrated first at San Lorenzo and then at La Venta, with an elite that was able to use their control over materials such as water and monumental stone to exert command and legitimize their regime.
Nonetheless, Olmec society is thought to lack many of the institutions of later civilizations, such as a standing army or priestly caste. And there is no evidence that San Lorenzo or La Venta controlled, even during their heyday, all of the Olmec heartland. There is some doubt, for example, that La Venta controlled even Arroyo Sonso, only some 35km (22miles) away. Studies of the Tuxtla Mountain settlements, some 60km (40miles) away, indicate that this area was composed of more or less egalitarian communities outside the control of lowland centers.
The wide diffusion of Olmec artifacts and "Olmecoid" iconography throughout much of Mesoamerica indicates the existence of extensive long-distance trade networks. Exotic, prestigious and high-value materials such as greenstone and marine shell were moved in significant quantities across large distances. Some of the reasons for trade revolve around the lack of obsidian in the heartland. The Olmec used obsidian in many tools because worked edges were very sharp and durable. Most of the obsidian found has been traced back to Guatemala showing the extensive trade. While the Olmec were not the first in Mesoamerica to organize long-distance exchanges of goods, the Olmec period saw a significant expansion in interregional trade routes, more variety in material goods exchanged and a greater diversity in the sources from which the base materials were obtained.
Despite their size and deliberate urban design, which was copied by other centers, San Lorenzo and La Venta were largely ceremonial centers, and the majority of the Olmec lived in villages similar to present-day villages and hamlets in Tabasco and Veracruz.
These villages were located on higher ground and consisted of several scattered houses. A modest temple may have been associated with the larger villages. The individual dwellings would consist of a house, an associated lean-to, and one or more storage pits (similar in function to a root cellar). A nearby garden was used for medicinal and cooking herbs and for smaller crops, such as the domesticated sunflower. Fruit trees, such as avocado or cacao, were probably available nearby.
Although the river banks were used to plant crops between flooding periods, the Olmecs probably also practiced swidden (or slash-and-burn) agriculture to clear the forests and shrubs, and to provide new fields once the old fields were exhausted. Fields were located outside the village, and were used for maize, beans, squash, manioc, and sweet potato. Based on archaeological studies of two villages in the Tuxtlas Mountains, it is known that maize cultivation became increasingly important to the Olmec over time, although the diet remained fairly diverse.
The fruits and vegetables were supplemented with fish, turtle, snake, and mollusks from the nearby rivers, and crabs and shellfish in the coastal areas. Birds were available as food sources, as were game including peccary, opossum, raccoon, rabbit, and in particular, deer. Despite the wide range of hunting and fishing available, midden surveys in San Lorenzo have found that the domesticated dog was the single most plentiful source of animal protein.
Olmec culture was unknown to historians until the mid-19th century. In 1869, the Mexican antiquarian traveller José Melgar y Serrano published a description of the first Olmec monument to have been found in situ. This monument – the colossal head now labelled Tres Zapotes Monument A – had been discovered in the late 1850s by a farm worker clearing forested land on a hacienda in Veracruz. Hearing about the curious find while travelling through the region, Melgar y Serrano first visited the site in 1862 to see for himself and complete the partially exposed sculpture's excavation. His description of the object, published several years later after further visits to the site, represents the earliest documented report of an artifact of what is now known as the Olmec culture.
In the latter half of the 19th century, Olmec artifacts such as the Kunz Axe (right) came to light and were subsequently recognized as belonging to a unique artistic tradition.
Frans Blom and Oliver La Farge made the first detailed descriptions of La Venta and San Martin Pajapan Monument 1 during their 1925 expedition. However, at this time, most archaeologists assumed the Olmec were contemporaneous with the Maya – even Blom and La Farge were, in their own words, "inclined to ascribe them to the Maya culture".
Matthew Stirling of the Smithsonian Institution conducted the first detailed scientific excavations of Olmec sites in the 1930s and 1940s. Stirling, along with art historian Miguel Covarrubias, became convinced that the Olmec predated most other known Mesoamerican civilizations.
In counterpoint to Stirling, Covarrubias, and Alfonso Caso, however, Mayanists J. Eric Thompson and Sylvanus Morley argued for Classic-era dates for the Olmec artifacts. The question of Olmec chronology came to a head at a 1942 Tuxtla Gutierrez conference, where Alfonso Caso declared that the Olmecs were the "mother culture" ("cultura madre") of Mesoamerica.
The name "Olmec" means "rubber people" in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec, and was the Aztec name for the people who lived in the Gulf Lowlands in the 15th and 16th centuries, some 2000 years after the Olmec culture died out. The term "rubber people" refers to the ancient practice, spanning from ancient Olmecs to Aztecs, of extracting latex from Castilla elastica, a rubber tree in the area. The juice of a local vine, Ipomoea alba, was then mixed with this latex to create rubber as early as 1600 BCE.
Early modern explorers and archaeologists, however, mistakenly applied the name "Olmec" to the rediscovered ruins and artifacts in the heartland decades before it was understood that these were not created by the people the Aztecs knew as the "Olmec", but rather a culture that was 2000 years older. Despite the mistaken identity, the name has stuck.
It is not known what name the ancient Olmec used for themselves; some later Mesoamerican accounts seem to refer to the ancient Olmec as "Tamoanchan". A contemporary term sometimes used for the Olmec culture is tenocelome, meaning "mouth of the jaguar".
See main article: Olmec alternative origin speculations.
Partly because the Olmecs developed the first Mesoamerican civilization, and partly because little is known of them (compared with, for example, the Maya or Aztec), a number of Olmec alternative origin speculations have been put forth. Although several of these speculations, particularly the theory that the Olmecs were of African origin popularized by Ivan van Sertima's book They Came Before Columbus, have become well known within popular culture. They are not considered credible by the vast majority of Mesoamerican researchers and scientists, who discard it as pop-culture pseudo-science.
Book: Adams, Richard E.W. . 1991 . Prehistoric Mesoamerica . Revised . Norman . . 0-8061-2304-4 . 22593466 . registration .
Book: Bancroft, Hubert Howe. Hubert Howe Bancroft
. Hubert Howe Bancroft. The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America: Primitive history. 1876. 1876. Vol. 5. D. Appleton.
Book: Elizabeth P. Benson
. Benson, Elizabeth P. . Elizabeth P. Benson. 1996 . 110. Votive Axe . Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico . Elizabeth P. Benson . Beatriz de la Fuente . To accompany an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, 30 June to 20 October 1996 . . Washington, D.C. . 262–263. 0-89468-250-4 . 34357584.
Book: Bernal, I . Coe, M . etal. The Iconography of Middle American sculpture . New York . The Metropolitan Museum of Art . 1973 . (see index)
Bruhns, Karen O. . Nancy L. Kelker . Ma. del Carmen Rodríguez Martínez . Ponciano Ortíz Ceballos. Michael D. Coe. Michael D. Coe . Richard A. Diehl. Stephen D. Houston. Stephen D. Houston . Karl A. Taube . Karl A. Taube . Alfredo Delgado Calderón . March 2007. Did the Olmec Know How to Write? . . 315 . 5817 . 1365–1366 . 10.1126/science.315.5817.1365b . Washington, D.C.. . 17347426. 0036-8075 . 206052590 .
Campbell, Lyle . Lyle Campbell . Terrence Kaufman . Terrence Kaufman . 1976 . A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs . . Menasha, WI . . 41 . 1 . 80–89 . 0002-7316 . 1479302 . 10.2307/279044 . 279044.
(1975) "Lodestone Compass: Chinese or Olmec Primacy? Multidisciplinary Analysis of an Olmec Hematite Artifact from San Lorenzo, Veracruz, Mexico”, Science, New Series, 189 (4205) (5 September 1975), pp. 753–760 (753).
Book: John E. Clark
. Clark, John E. . John E. Clark. 2001 . Gulf Lowlands: South Region . Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: an Encyclopedia . Susan Toby Evans . David L. Webster . New York . . 340–344. 0-8153-0887-6 . 45313588.
Book: Michael D. Coe
. Coe, Michael D. . Michael D. Coe . 1967 . San Lorenzo and the Olmec Civilization. http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/olmec.html . PDF online reproduction . Dumbarton Oaks Conference on the Olmec, October 28th and 29th, 1967 . Elizabeth P. Benson . Elizabeth P. Benson . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Book: Michael D. Coe
. Coe, Michael D. . Michael D. Coe . 1968. America's First Civilization: Discovering the Olmec. The Smithsonian Library. New York .
Book: Michael D. Coe
. Coe, Michael D. . Michael D. Coe . Rex Koontz . 2002 . Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs . 5th edition, revised and enlarged . . London and New York . 0-500-28346-X . 50131575 . registration .
Book: Miguel Covarrubias
. Covarrubias, Miguel . Miguel Covarrubias . 1977 . 1946 . Olmec Art or the Art of La Venta . Pre-Columbian Art History: Selected Readings . Alana Cordy-Collins . Jean Stern . Alana Cordy-Collins . Robert Pirazzini . Reprint of original paper . Palo Alto, CA . Peek Publications . 1–34 . 0-917962-41-9 . 3843930.
Book: Miguel Covarrubias
. Covarrubias, Miguel . Miguel Covarrubias . 1957 . Indian Art of Mexico and Central America . Color plates and line drawings by the author . New York . . 171974.
Book: Cyphers, Ann . 1996 . 2. San Lorenzo Monument 4 – Colossal Head. Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico . Elizabeth P. Benson . Beatriz de la Fuente . Elizabeth P. Benson . To accompany an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, 30 June to 20 October 1996 . . Washington D.C. . 156. 0-89468-250-4 . 34357584.
Book: Cyphers, Ann . 1999 . From Stone to Symbols: Olmec Art in Social Context at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán . http://www.doaks.org/Social/social07.pdf . PDF online e-text reproduction . Social patterns in pre-classic Mesoamerica: a symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 9 and 10 October 1993 . David C. Grove . Rosemary A. Joyce . David C. Grove . Washington D.C. . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection and Trustees for Harvard University . 155–181 . 0-88402-252-8 . 39229716 . dead .
Book: Nigel Davies (historian)
. Davies, Nigel . Nigel Davies (historian). 1982 . The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico . Pelican Books series. Harmondsworth, England. . 0-14-022232-4 . 11212208.
Book: Richard Diehl
. Diehl, Richard . Richard Diehl . 2004 . The Olmecs: America's First Civilization . registration . Ancient peoples and places series. . London . 0-500-02119-8 . 56746987.
Book: Filloy Nadal, Laura . 2001 . Rubber and Rubber Balls in Mesoamerica . The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame . E. Michael Whittington . Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name organized by the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC. . New York . . 20–31 . 0-500-05108-9 . 49029226 . https://archive.org/details/sportoflifedeath00emic/page/20 .
Flannery, Kent V. . Kent V. Flannery . Andrew K. Balkansky . Gary M. Feinman . David C. Grove . David C. Grove . Joyce Marcus . Joyce Marcus . Elsa M. Redmond . Robert G. Reynolds . Robert J. Sharer . Robert J. Sharer. Charles S. Spencer. Jason Yaeger . August 2005 . Implications of new petrographic analysis for the Olmec "mother culture" model . . 102 . 32 . 11219–11223. Washington, D.C. . . 10.1073/pnas.0505116102 . 1183595 . 0027-8424 . 16061797 . 209632728 . 2005PNAS..10211219F .
Grove, David C. . David Grove . September 1976 . Olmec Origins and Transpacific Diffusion: Reply to Meggers . . New Series . JSTOR reproduction . 78 . 3 . 634–637. Arlington, VA . American Anthropological Association and affiliated societies . 10.1525/aa.1976.78.3.02a00120. 0002-7294 . 1479294 . 674425.
Book: David Grove
. Grove, David C. . David Grove . 1981 . Olmec monuments: Mutilation as a Clue to Meaning . The Olmec and their Neighbors: Essays in Memory of Matthew W. Stirling . Elizabeth P. Benson . Elizabeth P. Benson . Michael D. Coe and David C. Grove (organizers) . Washington, D.C. . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Guimarães, A.P. . June 2004 . Mexico and the early history of magnetism . PDF online reproduction . Revista Mexicana de Física . Mexico D.F.. Sociedad Mexicana de Física . 50 . Enseñanza 1 . 51–53 . 0035-001X . 107737016. 2008-09-09. 2004RMxFE..50...51G .
Book: Haughton, Brian. 2007. Hidden History. New Page Books. 978-1-56414-897-1. registration.
(1996) "[Catalogue #]53. Figure Seated on a Throne with Infant on Lap", in Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, eds. E. P. Benson and B. de la Fuente, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.,, p. 218.
Lawler, Andrew . 2007 . Beyond the Family Feud . Archaeology . 60 . 2 . 20–25 .
Book: Magni, Caterina . 1999 . Archéologie du Mexique: les Olmèques . Paris . Éditions Artcom’ . 2-912741-24-6 . 43630189. fr.
Book: Caterina Magni
. Magni, Caterina . Caterina Magni . 2003 . Les Olmèques: des origines au mythe . Paris . Éditions du Seuil . 2-02-054991-3 . 52385926. fr.
(2002) Scientists Find Earliest "New World" Writings in Mexico, 2002.
(1987) Paléopaysages et archéologie pré-urbaine du bassin de México. Tomes I & II published by Centro Francés de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos, Mexico, D.F. (Resume)
(1999) "Olmec Ritual Behavior at El Manatí: A Sacred Space" in Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica, eds. Grove, D. C.; Joyce, R. A., Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., pp. 225–254.
Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard . Gabriel Haslip-Viera . Warren Barbour . Spring 1997 . They Were NOT Here before Columbus: Afrocentric Hyperdiffusionism in the 1990s . . 44 . 2 . 199–234 . Durham, NC . . 0014-1801 . 42388116 . 10.2307/483368 . 483368.
Pohl, Mary . Kevin O. Pope . Christopher von Nagy . 2002 . Olmec Origins of Mesoamerican Writing . Science . 298 . 5600. 1984–1987 . 10.1126/science.1078474 . 12471256 . 2002Sci...298.1984P .
Book: Pool, Christopher A. . 2007. Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica . Cambridge World Archaeology. Cambridge and New York. . 978-0-521-78882-3 . 68965709.
Pope, Kevin . 2001 . Origin and Environmental Setting of Ancient Agriculture in the Lowlands of Mesoamerica . . 11359011 . 292 . 5520 . 1370–1373 . 10.1126/science.292.5520.1370 . etal. 2001Sci...292.1370P .
"Art, Ritual, and Rulership in the Olmec World" in Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica: a Reader, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., pp. 369–395.
(2005) "Olmec People, Olmec Art", in Archaeology (online), the Archaeological Institute of America, accessed February 2007.
Book: Santley, Robert S.. Michael J. Berman. Rani T. Alexander. 1991. The Politicization of the Mesoamerican Ballgame and its Implications for the Interpretation of the Distribution of Ballcourts in Central Mexico. Vernon L. Scarborough. Vernon L. Scarborough. David R. Wilcox. The Mesoamerican Ballgame. Tucson. University of Arizona Press. 3–24. 0-8165-1180-2. 51873028.
(1999) The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World, Thames & Hudson, London, .
(1996) "Daily Life in Olmec Times", in Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, eds. E. P. Benson and B. de la Fuente, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,, pp. 262–263.
Web site: Skidmore, Joel . 2006 . The Cascajal Block: The Earliest Precolumbian Writing . . Mesoweb Reports & News . Mesoweb . 2007-06-20.
(2007) "Olmec-influenced city found in Mexico", Associated Press, accessed 8 February 2007.
Book: Matthew Stirling
. Stirling, Matthew W. . Matthew Stirling . 1968 . Early History of the Olmec Problem . http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/olmec.html . PDF online reproduction . Dumbarton Oaks Conference on the Olmec, October 28th and 29th, 1967 . Elizabeth P. Benson . Elizabeth P. Benson . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Stoltman, J.B. . 2005 . Petrographic evidence shows that pottery exchange between the Olmec and their neighbors was two-way . . 16061796 . 102 . 32 . 1183596 . 11213–11218 . 10.1073/pnas.0505117102 . etal. 2005PNAS..10211213S .
Book: Karl Taube
(2006) Farming, Hunting, and Fishing in the Olmec World, University of Texas Press, .
Book: von Nagy, Christopher . 1997 . The Geoarchaeology of Settlement in the Grijalva Delta . Olmec to Aztec: Settlement Patterns in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands . Barbara L. Stark . Philip J. Arnold III . Tucson . . 253–277. 0-8165-1689-8 . 36364149.
Book: Søren Wichmann
. Wichmann, Søren . Søren Wichmann . 1995 . The Relationship Among the Mixe–Zoquean Languages of Mexico . . Salt Lake City . 0-87480-487-6.
Wichmann, Søren. Søren Wichmann. Dmitri Beliaev. Albert Davletshin. September 2008. Posibles correlaciones lingüísticas y arqueológicas involucrando a los olmecas. Proceedings of the Mesa Redonda Olmeca: Balance y Perspectivas, Museo Nacional de Antropología, México City, March 10–12, 2005.. 2008-09-18. es. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20081002154243/http://email.eva.mpg.de/~wichmann/Olmecs.pdf. 2 October 2008.
Wilford, John Noble . 15 March 2005 . Mother Culture, or Only a Sister? . . 2008-09-19.
Williams, Howel . Robert F. Heizer . September 1965 . Sources of Rocks Used in Olmec Monuments . PDF online facsimile . Sources of Stones Used in Prehistoric Mesoamerican Sites . Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility . Berkeley . University of California Department of Anthropology . 1 . 1–44 . 0068-5933 . 1087514.
in a certain eraCoe interprets Tamoanchan as a Mayan language word meaning 'Land of Rain or Mist' (p. 61).
which no one can reckon
which no one can remember
[where] there was a government for a long time".

domain: history


Kids First: Aircraft Engineerby Thames & Kosmos
Be notified when this product is in stock.
Read the amusing story of two inquisitive kids and build simple models of the aircraft they discover on their hilarious family vacation. Along this roundabout trip, the kids build various flying machines to help the people they encounter solve problems and complete tasks. As you follow the story, you can build models of the 10 vehicles in the story. Large, colorful plastic building pieces make it easy for small hands to put the models together.
The sky is the limit with this beautifully illustrated storybook that doubles up as a fun engineering game. Children follow the book’s characters Ty and Karlie as they build 10 different aircraft to save the day. They construct a jumbo jet to help stranded passengers, a helicopter for a doctor who needs to see a patient on a remote island and even a rocket to help an astronaut.
Children can also experiment with their own aviation constructions, further enhancing STEM-related skills and comprehension.
- Learn simple engineering concepts
- Lays the groundwork for strong STEM-related skills and comprehension
- Improves visual-spatial and fine motor skills
- Enhances science and math skills and concept development skills
Includes 1 durable storage case, a beautifully illustrated 32-page storybook, and 71 brightly coloured building pieces.
Warning: Choking Hazard — Small parts.
Language – English


text:
This extra long lumbar pillow is an spectacular piece to add to a bed. This bright lumbar pillow is hand sewn from a vintage kilim rug making it a one of a kind piece.
Still have questions? Contact the Canary Lane concierge.
Jewel toned throw pillow made from a vintage Turkish rug. The soft twill cotton back makes it perfect for cozying up...


text:
Developing out of a series of public lectures given to a large audience of non-theologians, this is one of the most attractive introductions to theology which has appeared so far. Perhaps, as Dorothee Soelle points out, in fact, “”introduction”” is not the right word, for this is above all an invitation to share her enthusiasm for theology, her delight in the beauty and the power of religious and theological language and the themes it expresses. The book covers all the major areas of modern theology. After discussing the nature of systematic theology and comparing orthodox, liberal, and radical approaches, it looks at the use of the Bible in theology. Then follow chapters on creation, sin, feminist liberation theology, the understanding of grace, Black theology, Jesus, cross and resurrection, the kingdom of God and the church, the theology of peace, the end of theism, and the question of God. Each chapter is followed by a bibliography, and Dorothee Soelle, who is familiar with theology on both sides of the Atlantic, has herself revised these for the English-language edition.
Dorothee Soelle is one of the most widely read theologians of our time. She was Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City from 1975 to 1987. Among her numerous publications are Suffering (1975) and her magnum opus, The Silent Cry, which joins deep religious knowledge and wisdom with passion for social justice in a work destined to be a classic of religious literature.

domain: literature


text:
Oral Health Is Important to Overall Health
Oral health is important in its own right. But the mouth can also provide clues to many aspects of a patient’s overall health.
A comprehensive oral exam can be completed in 5 minutes or less, offering medical providers an opportunity to detect early indications of systemic diseases such as diabetes, HIV, Sjogren’s syndrome, and other conditions that can manifest in the head and neck region.
To learn more, read the JAMA Viewpoint article The Importance of Oral Health in Comprehensive Health Care by NIDCR Clinical Director Janice S. Lee, DDS, MD, MS, and NIDCR Director Martha J. Somerman, DDS, PhD.
Watch NIDCR's video overview about performing a concise and thorough oral exam.
The Concise Oral Exam

domain: health


text:
In its Aquarea L Series propane (R290) residential air-to-water heat pumps, which will be released in Europe by early April 2023, Japanese manufacturer Panasonic has designed a split model in which the R290 is kept outside, along with the main components.
Hot water is created in the outside unit and pumped into the home, where it is used for both space heating and to heat domestic hot water in a water tank, noted Enrique Vilamitjana, Managing Director of Panasonic Heating Ventilation Air-Conditioning, in an interview with Hydrocarbons21.com.
“This is a split type, but what’s moving [from the outside to the inside] is water, not refrigerant,” said Vilamitjana. Panasonic is calling this a “hydrosplit monobloc” design, encompassing a monobloc unit outside with compressor, condenser and evaporator that sends hot water to inside units. This is the first time Panasonic has used this design.
In addition to warming the indoor water tank, the hot water from the outside unit is distributed inside via a space-heating mechanism – whether a radiator, floor heating or a fan coil. In the summer, the heat pump can be used as an air conditioner, pumping chilled water into the home.
In northern climates, Panasonic recommends that installers include an antifreeze valve in the piping, allowing antifreeze to prevent water from freezing in the winter. Glycol could also be used, though it is not as efficient as antifreeze.
The design of Panasonic R290 heat pumps – which come in three capacities, 5, 7 and 9kW (1.4, 2.0 and 2.6TR) – makes them easy to install and maintain, said Vilamitjana. “It’s new, so we wanted to make it easy to install. This premade product facilitates the transition to heat pumps.”
While this is Panasonic’s first R290 heat pump, it is not its first with a natural refrigerant. In Japan, the company has for many years marketed the highly successful Eco Cute hot water heat pump.
Under its REPowerEU plan, the EU is making a major push to decarbonize home heating and switch to electric heat pumps, both to aid the climate and eliminate dependence on Russian natural gas in the wake of the Ukraine war.
At the same time, the EU F-gas Regulation is expected to pursue more aggressive f-gas phase-down targets that will make natural refrigerant heat pumps more attractive. Manufacturers of such heat pumps say they expect to meet the growing demand for their products, addressing concerns that an aggressive f-gas phase down will cause a shortage of refrigerant that will hurt the uptake of heat pumps.
Panasonic’s R290 heat pump will contain 1kg (2.2lbs) of propane, well below the European (EN) standard limit for R290 kept outside (4.94kg/10.9lbs). This remains unchanged in the new global IEC 60335-2-40 V7 standard released in May. However, that standard did increase the amount of R290 allowed in indoor units, with a maximum of 988g (2.2lbs) in rooms starting at about 23m2 (247.6ft2); the EN version is in the process of being updated.
Suited for older radiators
Vilamitjana noted that the R290 heat pump can generate hot water up to 75°C (167°F), which is sufficient to supply space heating for older radiators, in ambient temperatures down to -10°C (14°F). “In Northern Europe, where there will be a lot of retrofitting of buildings, people will be reassured with the 75°C temperature,” he said. “It’s also important that it can perform in low temperatures.”
At the same time the unit supplies the 25°C (77°F) needed for floor heating “so it can cover new uses or old houses with old-style radiators,” he said.
Panasonic will also be introducing the Aquarea K Series heat pumps that will use R32 refrigerant to cover needs in the market not addressed by the R290 units, said Vilamitjana. In particular, the K Series will serve larger capacities, up to 16kW (4.5TR) and cover longer distances from outside to inside (50m/164ft horizontally and 30–40m/98.4–131.2ft vertically).
But the R32 units will only be able to reach 70°C (158°F), not high enough (75°C) for old radiators, which could be served by the R290 units, he noted.
Because of challenges regarding component availability, higher production costs and safety measures, the R290 heat pumps will be 15–20% higher in price than the R32 units. “Some people might pay more for a lower-GWP product” like the R290 model, he noted.
At the same time, the R290 heat pumps offer A+++ efficiencies with a Seasonal COP (SCOP) of up to 5.12 and are “slightly more efficient than the R32 models,” said Vilamitjana.
Both types are up to 8dB(A) less noisy than previous models, which is particularly important in Northern Europe (north of Paris), he said.
Another key feature is connectivity to Wi-Fi and the cloud. “We believe that if we want to make our heat pumps future-proof, they should be connectable,” said Vilamitjana. Connectivity will allow the heat pumps to be easily updated and maintained, the latter being especially important for R290 units. In fact, Panasonic will offer preventive maintenance for the heat pumps. Consumers will also have electronic control of the products, which are smart-grid ready for photovoltaic power operation.
Other notable features of the R290 heat pump are Bluefin anti-corrosion covering for the outside unit and the 598 x 600 mm (23.5 x 23.6 inch) dimensions of the indoor unit, such that it can fit into a standard European kitchen like a household appliance.
“In Northern Europe, where there will be a lot of retrofitting of buildings, people will be reassured with the 75°C temperature.”
Enrique Vilamitjana, Panasonic


text:
Being myself an athlete (former French national level swimmer, triathlete, skydiver and still runner), I fully understand the challenges you are facing in your day to day practice and during competition.
Mental training is a component that some athletes dismiss, but is crucial in maintaining composure under stress and to improving athletic performance. While most mental coaches and sport psychologists act upon the mental, I also teach how to control your emotional state, which appears to be as important.
You can start to assess some key mental skills with the Wheel of Mental Performance.
I developed a unique approach which cross over coaching, mental training and emotions management to enable you to perform to your full potential and maintain a great Sport / Life balance, finding meaning and fulfilment beyond performance.
- Powerful Coaching conversations to draw out your internal mental and emotional roadblock and that you are not aware and create awareness (what’s most important for you? For what reasons? What are your biggest fear and what’s holding you back?) and to support you in taking real actions and keeping focused toward your goals.
- Mental Training (ie sport psychology coaching) is like taking your brain to the gym, to strengthen and stretch it just as you do with your body. I use various techniques like Personal goal setting, Power words (or Positive Self Talk), Positive Images (or Mental Imagery) and Present Focus, which have proven to be effective with top athletes including Olympic Gold medalists.
- Building Personal Resilience induce emotion-management techniques which directly impact your heart rate and physiology for an optimal physical, mental and emotional performance. These techniques, added to the possibility to receive objective, realtime feedback through some specific devices, allow the athletes to better self-regulate their tension and emotional responses, especially in challenging situations, and have proven to be very effective in improving performance and endurance in many different sport such as golf, tennis but also in team sports like soccer, basketball or hockey. As Tiger wood once said: “the guy who is controlling his emotions is going to win“.
My clients include:
- Michigan Lakeshore Aquatics team with Devon Nowicki, US National Champion in 2019 (100m breaststroke)
- Grand Valley State University cross country team (multiple US NCAA Division 2 National Champion)
- Mohamed Agili, African Game Champion in 2019 (400m free) and participant to the World Championships in 2017
- Pierrick Fournier – Junior European Championship finalist in 2019 (4*200m free)
- Elite and International referees at the French Handball Federation (FFH) and International Handball Federation (IHF)
My coaching is for:
- Serious and committed athletes looking for that competitive edge.
- Casual athletes wanting to improve their game and performance.
- Young athletes wanting to get more consistent results.
- Individual coaching,
- Group/Team coaching,
- Coach coaching,
Contact me to discuss about your goals or concerns and I’ll offer you some first suggestions and propose a you a customized program to support you.

domain: psychology


Q : Can you confirm that a French-Algerian meeting was held in Paris on cleaning up old French nuclear test sites in Algeria? Will France take charge of operations to clean up those sites?
A : The meeting you mention was held on May 19 and 20.
The French-Algerian working group on nuclear tests was established in 2008 by the authorities of both countries. Made up of experts, it is tasked with jointly studying the cleanup of former nuclear test sites in the Sahara, its primary concern being the protection of people and the environment.
The issue of French nuclear tests in Algeria is a complex one. Our two countries are working on it together with the utmost seriousness.
As a reminder, France carried out six nuclear tests in the Sahara between 1960 and 1962. It subsequently carried out an additional 11 nuclear tests between 1962 and 1966 after Algerian independence, with the agreement of the Algerian authorities.


text:
Yet another portrait of a Hindu man. Done with Corel Painter 2016+ Wacom Cintiq 27 QHD.
Córdoba is a city in the southern Spanish province of Andalusia. It was an important Roman city and an Islamic cultural center in the Middle Ages. It’s best known for La Mezquita, an immense mosque dating to 600 C.E. featuring a columned prayer hall and Byzantine mosaics. A 1600s Catholic cathedral now occupies the center of the mosque. “wikipedia”
Pamplona is the capital of northern Spain’s Navarre province. It’s best known for the Running of the Bulls (Fiesta de San Fermín). During this legendary multi-day festival in July, bulls are led through the city streets by daredevil runners. Pamplona is also a major stop along the Camino de Santiago, a medieval-era pilgrimage route, and home to Gothic-style churches including fortresslike San Nicolás. “Source wikipedia”
“Silence is argument carried out by other means”.

domain: geography


text:
For his latest, Swizz connected with Giggs and director Meji Alabi for the "Come Again" video. Catch that up top.
Poison counts J. Cole as an executive producer, a title Swizz said was earned organically. "[Cole] came to my record and pointed out different things, and just being on a phone call with him giving me different advice as a young spark in the music industry and me not being too cool to listen to him," he told Billboard. "Instead of just being like, 'Oh, that's what’s up' and being like, 'Let's give him some credit for what he really did.'"
The 10-track project marks Swizz's first solo album since 2007's One Man Band Man and also includes features from Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar, Pusha-T, Young Thug, 2 Chainz, and more. One thing it does not include is that long-teased Bono x MAGA West track. Swizz revealed over the summer that the song may land on his next project.

domain: celebrity


text:
POLK BOOM BIT
PRODUCT | USER INTERFACE | PACKAGING
The Polk BOOM Bit is the world’s first truly wearable Bluetooth speaker that clips securely to your clothing and seamlessly integrates with how you move, safely balancing all of your audio with your immediate surroundings. It’s dirtproof and shockproof with speakerphone capability, and features a standard USB for on-the-go charging—all housed in a ruggedly rubberized enclosure.
Initiate your project today by filling out a new client survey.

domain: design