text:
Creative Capital: The expat who is bridging worlds through videos and kidswear
American Courtney Arcese manages a team of filmmakers from Singapore and the US, and uses her resort wear collection for kids to enable female designers and manufacturers. And she's also a mother of two.
You would think running a transcontinental studio, and managing a team spread over two countries and three locations would be enough to keep anyone busy, especially someone with two kids. Not for Courtney Arcese, founder of Lovebrain Films.
In 2018, she launched the children’s clothing company, Wild Sundays, that offers cute and cheerful clothes for little ones three years and under. There are a number of things I really like about Wild Sundays. Firstly, the prints are adorable. Secondly, Arcese uses the business to enable other mums as well as female designers and manufacturers. Thirdly, she’s made sustainability a priority in how she’s both producing and packaging her products. And of course, they’re well made.
Here's how Arcese is pursuing her creative journey.
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF.
I am originally from Minnesota, but lived in New York City for six years before relocating to Singapore. I was always creative but I never connected my passion for video, content creation and fashion until much later in life.
Before I found creative jobs, and ultimately a creative career, I was always expressing myself through my personal style. I coloured my hair pink, then blue. I got tattoos of artwork that inspired me, and wore vintage clothes that I felt represented my mood that day. Now, as a mother of two small boys, I have a lot less time to do crazy things to my hair, but I'm always trying to add a bit of my own flare to any outfit.
HOW DID LOVEBRAIN GET STARTED? DID YOU START IT IN THE US OR HERE?
I started Lovebrain Films right after I received my own wedding video in 2012. I was already creating video content for a travel web series at the time and when I got my wedding video, I said to myself, "ummm, I could have totally made this".
From that moment on, I was on the hunt to find couples who would let me film their weddings to build my portfolio. Wedding videography was quite expensive in the US, so it was easy to find willing couples. After three weddings under my belt, I built a website and started marketing my services. Today, Lovebrain Films is a global brand with 12 filmmakers spread throughout New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. My editing team and I are based here in Singapore.
DID YOU SPECIALISE IN WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHY BECAUSE YOU’RE A ROMANTIC OR YOU SAW A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY?
I'd love to say I'm a romantic at heart, but in truth, I saw a massive business opportunity and wanted to capitalise on it.
When I started in 2012, wedding photographers had already saturated the east coast in the US, but wedding videography was still quite new. I wanted to present honest, candid wedding films that captured the movement and energy of a couple's most important day. In short, no tripods, no directing – just fly-on-the-wall, handheld filmmaking that focused on natural smiles, laughs and moments from happy couples. Because there weren't many videographers doing this at the time, we saw a rapid response from referrals, and a lot of those were from the photographers themselves.
HOW AND WHY DID YOU SCALE LOVEBRAIN?
In the first year, I filmed four weddings and by the second year, I'd jumped to 42 weddings. By the third year, we were hitting 70 weddings and have continued to hit the number each year. I had to grow Lovebrain because I wasn't able to single-handedly manage all the work that had landed in my lap. Bringing on freelance filmmakers during the peak wedding seasons, where we'd have three to six weddings each weekend, was paramount to monetising the inquiries flowing through the website.
Adding on a full-time editor allowed me to step away from post-production and look at big picture plans such as expanding to other cities, bringing in non-wedding-related work and hiring filmmakers for other projects during slower months. The greatest challenge has been, and will most likely always be, finding filmmakers who are artists themselves, and adapting their filming styles to emulate the Lovebrain Films look we are selling to couples and small business clients.
WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BEST AND MOST TRAUMATIC MEMORIES SO FAR?
There have been some really epic moments for us, from Star Wars Stormtroopers at a reception to exotic destination elopement getaways. But I'd have to say, on a business level, there was a weekend in September 2018, when the entire Lovebrain crew – the east and west coast teams along with me and my two Singapore-based editors – was in New York City for six weddings.
We went out and had a proper company outing to celebrate our growth and for everyone to formally meet each other. As an entrepreneur, I felt incredible pride in bringing all these people together in NYC for three days. Seeing their faces in one room, celebrating the time and artistry they've put into Lovebrain, and helping me build this company – that was a big personal moment for me.
I used to book back-to-back weddings in the early days. Once, I had scheduled a wedding in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and a wedding the following day in Brooklyn, New York. Because I wasn't familiar with New England flights, I didn't know that very often, flights to and from Nantucket got cancelled due to weather.
After the Nantucket wedding, I laid in my hotel room with extreme anxiety, not sleeping a wink, and praying that I wouldn't miss the opportunity to fly back to New York City the following morning. I felt a year’s worth of stress compounded into that one long night. Fortunately, the flight departed on time and I made it to Brooklyn.
READ: Creative Capital: Calligrapher Clarence Wee can take your Goyard passport holder and make it unique
YOU ARE ALREADY RUNNING ONE CREATIVE BUSINESS. WHY START ANOTHER?
I am often asked where the motivation to start Wild Sundays came from. I have stepped away from filming and editing to focus on the operations and management side of Lovebrain. Because of this, it created an itch to flex my creativity.
My first son opened my eyes to a whole new world of inspiration and opportunities focused around children. Using my child as my muse, I sought out illustrators to create prints that I wanted to dress him in. I designed pieces that I thought would be perfect for those tropical holidays my "mum community" took around the region with their families.
I focused on working specifically with women and mothers for Wild Sundays endeavours. Today, we use only female illustrators for our customised Wild Sundays prints, and work with a mother-led manufacturing team in Bali to produce our clothes.
HOW DIFFERENT WAS SETTING UP WILD SUNDAYS FROM LOVEBRAIN?
I've always been a person with persistence and drive, so I'm not afraid of hard work. But I have heard so many no's along the way with Wild Sundays, specifically when it comes to convincing retailers to carry our relatively new brand. Retailers, especially small independent shops, don't like taking risks with new brands. So this has moulded our sales strategy to focus more on pop-up shops and B2C sales.
I've also had to follow my gut instinct more and pass on a few opportunities that seemed very enticing. For example, an established retailer, which has several locations in the region, had recently approached us to carry our brand. But we decided to give it a miss because of the consignment requirements and payment schedule.
TELL US ABOUT THE DESIGNS OF THE CLOTHES AND HOW THEY ARE MADE.
As the creative director of the brand, my job is to seek out independent illustrators who can place special focus on the brand's "resort wear" aesthetics. I provide the art direction, but ultimately, the print is custom-made by the designer. In terms of production and manufacturing, I go to Indonesia to source fabric.
I work as hard as possible to find organic cotton whenever available, while still trying to keep costs down. The prints are screen-printed and then checked for colour and quality. From there, the clothes are produced and shipped directly to Singapore and the US.
DOES SUSTAINABILITY PLAY A ROLE IN DESIGN, MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTION?
Absolutely. One of the things we've focused on is to avoid single-use plastic as much as possible. This has been a priority for us since the inception of Wild Sundays. We have produced reusable totes for shoppers. So whether you purchase our collection at Boutiques Fair, a retail outlet or online, we always provide a free tote as an alternative to a plastic shopping bag.
And we encourage kids to colour the bags and make each one unique. It's been so fun seeing our Wild Sundays totes make their way around Singapore. For the future, we are looking at ways to repurpose the fabric scraps into hair scrunchies and headbands.
WILD SUNDAYS CATERS TO CHILDREN UP TO AGE THREE. WILL YOU MAKE CLOTHES FOR OLDER KIDS?
Because Wild Sundays started out as a "project", it was too daunting to produce such a wide range of sizes initially. But we are currently expanding our collections to cover ages zero to eight. Also, the next most-popular feedback is that dads want to match their sons and daughters in our tropical, button-down shirts. So we're also working on that as well. Stay tuned!
WHAT’S BEEN THE BEST SURPRISE IN RUNNING WILD SUNDAYS?
Seeing our clothes worn on the streets of Singapore and beyond. Mum-friends also send me pictures of kids in Wild Sundays clothes. It absolutely brightens up my day seeing something that someone has taken so long to produce make its appearance in public. We've been tagged on social media a few times for a first birthday and the child is togged in the Bahru collection from head to toe. I really love it!
IS BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR EASY IN SINGAPORE?
Yes and no. Being an entrepreneur in Singapore is easier as the retail scene and creative services here are less saturated than in New York City. You can get a lot more traction here because there is a lot less competition.
On the flip side, being an entrepreneur isn't as well received in Singapore as in the US. People are more brand focused and more cautious to work with expats as many are transient. So it's been a bigger challenge to acquire new customers. On the other hand, everyone in New York City is doing something and the demand for independent creatives, artists and business owners is much greater there.
But at the end of the day, every city has its list of advantages and disadvantages; it's what you do with the advantages to help you overcome the challenges that will set you apart from the rest. That is what I tell myself every day.
WHAT’S YOUR SECRET TO JUGGLING TWO BUSINESSES AND FAMILY?
It's a lot of hard work, determination and fantastic time-management skills. Also, hiring reliable employees that are autonomous is priority No 1. I set aside designated work time each day for myself to focus on the businesses, but I've also hired a studio manager to handle many of the daily needs the businesses require. It allows me to use my time for the top level, macro needs, and not focus on the short-term tasks.
Also, when your kid is sick, you drop everything. At the end of the day, family comes first. One of the greatest gifts being a business owner is the flexibility to prioritise family.
WHAT’S THE DREAM FOR BOTH BUSINESSES?
I'd love to see Lovebrain continue to expand into new cities, and into other areas of film and content creation. We've recently begun taking on smaller commercial projects, and hopefully as we grow, we'll be able to take on even bigger productions and projects. The dream is to ultimately expand into a proper production company, creating branded content and commercials for companies globally.
For Wild Sundays, I'd love to participate in a children’s wear trade show and spend more time exploring the wholesale market. We're still so small, but it'd be a beautiful dream to have the opportunity to sell our clothes in bigger markets within the region. Because we're a resort-wear brand, to distribute to a resort and hotel brand would be incredibly exciting. Additionally, collaborating on limited-edition collections with social-media-influencer mums is also something we'd love to try in the future.


text: Somebody on my Facebook friends list posted the E-Card pictured to your right. I must admit, as an animal lover, I chuckled. Then I realized something. Why aren’t we doing this? I know, you’re thinking that’s cruel. It’s a human rights violation. Not if they volunteer it’s not. How bout’ we offer prisoners (we’re talking serious offenders here, not someone convicted of petty crimes) a chance to earn some redemption by volunteering to be a guinea pig for drug trials? Prisoners could be rewarded with extra privileges like TV time or snacks. NOT a reduced sentence. It’s a chance for an incarcerated person to give back to society, save an animal and help pharmaceutical companies create life saving drugs. Unfortunately, the government would never allow it. It makes too much sense!

domain: sociology


text:
Entertaining Christmas story, in which the representation of the characters on the eve of the New Year come in an incredible adventure.
On the ball to the princess rushes witch-blizzard and kidnaps the new year. Good Storyteller and his friends decide to save the holiday.
The audience will meet with your favorite characters of fairy tales, which are in the fairy forest, trying to save the New Year, will find themselves in funny situations.
Welcome necessarily triumph over evil, the magic comes Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden, the clock strikes twelve and the New Year is bound to come.
Duration: 1 hour

domain: literature


text:
"I never thought I would be able to live a normal life until he came along. He was the one who saved me and I would do anything for him, even if it means to die."
Every multi-millionaire girl needs a knight in shining armor, a man who possesses special skills, a man who is bound to do everything just to protect her, and a man who is the envy of many! What happens when your extraordinary butler speaks... Chinese?
Yoo Youngjae was born into a heavily-debt family. Since forever, he had been forced into hard labor. Whether an indentured servant or a butler, he endured it all. Now at the age of 19, Youngjae has given up every ounce of hope for freedom. After the owners of the mansion he serves suddenly die, three spoiled young girls inherit the house— Bang Minah, Lee HyoRin, and Kim Lim. Now, Yoo Youngjae really loses all hope w


text: Barco del Corneta is an spanish wine brand whose logo is a white paper ship. It is located in the little village of La Seca, where there is a long tradition of wineries buried under many of the patios and houses in the town. Being able to take advantage of the existing cave was one of the priorities of the project. For this reason, a new production warehouse was proposed. The main problem to be solved was to integrate a large volume, such as an industrial warehouse, in an urban environment, in the historic center, which would accommodate all the work to be carried out in the winery.

domain: design


text:
DICAMILLO BAKING CO
Il Leone Bicotti Jar
Made of ceramic. Hand painted in a Tuscan village. Lion-shaped handles. Holds 13 ounces of assorted, individually wrapped classic and French chocolate-covered biscotti and macaroons. 6"Dia. x 12"T. Jar made in Italy; biscotti made in the USA. Allergen Information: Contains dairy and nuts. Please note: Packaged food cannot be returned. Call 1.888.888.4757 if you have questions about packaged items.
DICAMILLO BAKING CO
Albicocca Biscotti Jar
Made of ceramic. Hand painted in a Tuscan village. Holds 1 lb. 2 oz. of assorted, individually wrapped biscotti, almond macaroons, and chocolate-covered biscotti. 9"Dia. x 12"T. Jar made in Italy; biscotti made in the USA. Allergen Information: Contains dairy and nuts. Please note: Packaged food cannot be returned. Call 1.888.888.4757 if you have questions about packaged items.
Four Ruby "Winter Frolic" Party Plates
Ceramic stoneware. Embellished with hand-painted artwork applied in multiple layers of decals. Dishwasher, microwave, and oven safe. Assorted party plates sold as set of four; each, 8.5"Dia. Set arrives in signature holiday gift box. Imported.
Four Christmas Salad Plates
Exclusively ours. Let the merriment begin when you serve a holiday meal, dessert, or appetizers on these festive salad plates. Each plate in this set of four assorted plates features a different yet complementary design. Made of 100% white clay. Hand painted. Dishwasher safe. Each, 8.75"Dia. Made in Italy.
Four Nantucket Assorted Appetizer Plates
Handcrafted of earthenware. Hand painted. Dishwasher and microwave safe. Set of four includes one of each color and design shown; each, 9"Dia. Made in Portugal.
Four Forum Dinner Plates
EXCLUSIVELY OURS. Developed using antique techniques that have been updated for modern production by OperaNova. Handcrafted of hand-painted, chip-resistant, Italian ceramic. Oven, microwave, and dishwasher safe. Service includes four four-piece place settings in four assorted colors. Dinner plate, 12"Dia. Salad/dessert plate, 9"Dia. Cereal bowl, 7"Dia. x 2"T. Mug holds 8 ounces. Serving bowl, 12.25"Dia. Platter, 13.5"Dia. Made in Italy.

domain: artistic


text:
decided: July 2, 1980.
IN RE: APPEAL OF MT. LEBANON, PA. FROM THE 1976-77-78 TRIENNIAL ASSESSMENT OF THE BOARD OF PROPERTY ASSESSMENT, APPEALS AND REVIEW UPON THE PROPERTY AT 131 MARKHAM DRIVE, IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF MT. LEBANON, PA. JAMES W. STEVENSON, JR. AND FRANCES M. STEVENSON, APPELLANTS. IN RE: APPEAL OF MT. LEBANON, PA. FROM THE 1976-77-78 TRIENNIAL ASSESSMENT OF THE BOARD OF PROPERTY ASSESSMENT, APPEALS AND REVIEW UPON THE PROPERTY AT 131 MARKHAM DRIVE, IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF MT. LEBANON, PA. MT. LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA, APPELLANT. IN RE: APPEAL OF MT. LEBANON, PA. FROM THE 1976-77-78 TRIENNIAL ASSESSMENT OF THE BOARD OF PROPERTY ASSESSMENT, APPEALS AND REVIEW UPON THE PROPERTY AT 131 MARKHAM DRIVE, IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF MT. LEBANON, PA. BOARD OF PROPERTY ASSESSMENT, APPEALS AND REVIEW, APPELLANT
Appeals from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in case of In Re: Appeal of Mt. Lebanon, Pa. From the 1976-77-78 Triennial Assessment of the Board of Property Assessment, Appeals and Review upon the Property at 131 Markham Drive, In the Municipality of Mt. Lebanon, Pa. James W. Stevenson, Jr. and Frances M. Stevenson, No. GD 77-02995.
John Michael Studeny, with him Guy L. Warman, Guy L. Warman and Associates, for James W. Stevenson, Jr. and Frances M. Stevenson.
James H. Roberts, with him Edwin L. Klett, Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellot, for Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
John M. Silvestri, for the Board of Property Assessment, Appeals and Review.
President Judge Crumlish and Judges Wilkinson, Jr., Mencer, Rogers, Blatt, Craig and Williams, Jr. Judge MacPhail did not participate. Opinion by Judge Blatt. Dissenting Opinion by Judge Mencer. Judge Williams, Jr. joins in this dissent.
[ 52 Pa. Commw. Page 508]
This is a tax assessment appeal by James and Frances Stevenson (taxpayers) from the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. The municipality of Mt. Lebanon (Mt. Lebanon) and the Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment, Appeals and Review (Board) have cross-appealed, and the appeals have been consolidated here for argument and disposition.
The taxpayers are owners of and live on the property at 131 Markham Drive in Mt. Lebanon. In 1975, the tax assessor of Allegheny County fixed the assessment on the property at $24,000 for the triennial period 1976-77-78. The taxpayers appealed from this assessment to the Board, which, after a hearing, reduced the assessed valuation to $16,000. Mt. Lebanon then appealed the Board's action to the court of common pleas, where the taxpayers intervened. A trial was held, after which the court held that the fair market value of the property as of January 1, 1976, was $44,000 and that application of the assessment ratio of 50 percent in effect within the taxing district meant an assessment of $22,000.
As to the fair market value, the taxpayers argue that Mt. Lebanon failed to meet its burden because its
[ 52 Pa. Commw. Page 509]
expert witness was not competent to testify as to the value of the subject property. This assertion is based on the fact that the witness' inspection was made more than one and one-half years after the valuation date and did not include an interior inspection. Our Supreme Court has stated, however, that:
[I]n all such questions of competency there is no fixed or absolute standard; the witness is required to have only such knowledge of the value of the property as could be reasonably expected in the particular case. . . .
Stevenson v. East Deer Township, 379 Pa. 103, 106, 108 A.2d 815, 816 (1954) (emphasis added). Here, the Board reached its assessment decision and Mt. Lebanon appealed therefrom in February 1977. The expert's inspection took place in the summer 1977, but it appears that this minor delay was occasioned by the taxpayer's refusal to allow an interior inspection of the subject property. Indeed, a motion by Mt. Lebanon to allow entry was denied by the court on June 17, 1977. Moreover, the taxpayers, after successfully opposing the motion to allow entry, are hardly in a position to attack the expert's valuation as not including an interior inspection. Finally, the taxpayer's own testimony supplied the missing details as to the interior and, in most instances, confirmed the expert's necessary speculation thereon. We believe, therefore, that the expert's testimony was competent. And when his valuation of $68,000 is compared with the taxpayers' valuation of $36,000, it is clear that the trial court, as fact-finder, was entitled to find a fair market value of $44,000.
The taxpayers also argue that the court below erred in excluding testimony and evidence directed to the issue of uniformity of assessment. With this argument, we agree. The Board purports to assess real estate at 50 percent of its fair market value.
[ 52 Pa. Commw. Page 510]
[Our Supreme Court has] pointed out, however, regardless of the purported percentage generally used by the taxing authority, that where a taxpayer shows that other properties in the taxing district are assessed at less than the generally applied ratio of assessed to market value, he is entitled to have his assessment reduced to reflect the same ratio of assessed to market values as actually applies to other properties.
McKnight Shopping Center v. Board of Property Assessment, 417 Pa. 234, 239, 209 A.2d 389, 391-92 (1965). Here, the taxpayers attempted to testify as to a study they had made of the common level ratio of assessments to market value in several other parts of Allegheny County. The taxpayers also attempted to present the testimony of one Gordon Mulleneaux and a report prepared by a county government committee on which he served dealing with assessment practices and policies and containing all real property sales in Allegheny County and the ratio of assessment to sale prices in 1974 and 1975. The court rejected this testimony and evidence, explaining in its opinion that the study was not representative of the district because it referred to only five of the 131 municipalities therein and that the Committee report was submitted to the State Tax Equalization Board and was therefore inadmissible. In so concluding, however, we believe that the court below erred.
In Brook Building Tax Assessment Case, 391 Pa. 94, 137 A.2d 273 (1958), our Supreme Court held that the taxpayer had met its burden of proving nonuniformity "by producing evidence of the market value of its property and of similar properties of the same nature in the neighborhood and by proving the assessment of each of those properties and the ratio of assessed value to actual or market value." Deitch Co. v. Board of Property Assessment, 417 Pa. 213, 218, 209
[ 52 Pa. Commw. Page 511]
A.2d 397, 400 (1965). Later in Deitch, supra, the Court elaborated:
The evidence supplied by the taxpayer in Brooks illustrates one method by which a taxpayer can meet his burden of proving a lack of uniformity, but we do not consider it to be the only method. It would be equally satisfactory to produce evidence regarding the ratios of assessed values to market values as the latter are reflected in actual sales of any other real estate in the taxing district for a reasonable period prior to the assessment date. Thus, for example, the taxpayer's expert witness or witnesses could select a number of recent representative sales and offer testimony with respect to such sales as proof of the ratio in the taxing district. We do not, of course, mean to suggest that the taxpayer must produce evidence with respect to every recent sale in the district. Furthermore, any other competent evidence of an overall current ratio based on sales within the taxing district which is available may be introduced.
417 Pa. at 223, 209 A.2d at 403; see McKnight Shopping Center, supra; Calcagni v. Board of Assessment Appeals, 38 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 525, 394 A.2d 663 (1978); Appeal of Cabot 95 Trust, 27 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 214, 365 A.2d 1332 (1976); Valley Forge Golf Club, Inc. Tax Appeal, 3 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 644, 285 A.2d 213 (1971). We believe, therefore, that the proffered evidence should have been admitted. Furthermore, while it is true that reports of the State Tax Equalization Board (STEB) may not be used in a tax assessment appeal, Hoffman Tire, Inc. Tax Appeal, 35 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 395, 387 A.2d 134 (1978), the record does not support the conclusion that the report in issue here was prepared by or for the
[ 52 Pa. Commw. Page 512]
STEB so as to bring it within the prohibition noted in Hoffman, supra.
The taxpayers also argue that the court below erred in failing to consider the assessments on comparable properties within their neighborhood. Again, we agree. Mt. Lebanon's expert testified to the fair market value of several neighboring properties, whose accuracy was stipulated by the parties, were later introduced by the taxpayers in addition to the assessments on a number of other properties in the neighborhood. The court refused to consider this evidence because the owner did not establish the fair market value of any of the properties. While we agree with Mt. Lebanon's argument in its cross-appeal that "raw" assessments are not probative and should be excluded, we note that, as to the several comparable properties, fair market value was established by Mt. Lebanon's expert. Comparison of these market values to the assessments on the property, as the taxpayers assert, suggests a common level ratio lower than the purported 50 percent. Therefore, while the assessments by themselves were not probative, where the market values had been established, the lower court should have considered the evidence of nonuniformity.
Finally, Mt. Lebanon insists that this evidence, as well as the taxpayers' study of the five municipalities, is too narrow to be probative. It cites Pittsburgh Miracle Mile v. Board of Property Assessment, 417 Pa. 243, 247, 209 A.2d 394, 396 (1965), for the proposition that "[t]he pertinent ratio is that which prevails in the entire taxing unit, not merely in a portion of the district." We note, however, that in Pittsburgh Miracle Mile the ratio figures pertained to only one municipality within the district. Therefore, although the neighborhood figures by themselves might not establish the common level ratio in the taxing district, we believe that this evidence together with the taxpayer's
[ 52 Pa. Commw. Page 513]
study and Mulleneaux's county-wide study could, if accepted, establish the common level ratio.
We must therefore reverse the court of common pleas and remand the record.
And Now, this 2nd day of July, 1980, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in the above-captioned matter is hereby reversed and the record is remanded in accordance with the foregoing opinion to allow the Appellants the opportunity to present evidence concerning the assessed values of comparable properties in the vicinity of the Appellants' property and to allow the Appellants the opportunity to present evidence concerning the common level ratio of assessments to market value on properties in other parts of Allegheny County.
Reversed and remanded.
Dissenting Opinion by Judge Mencer:
I respectfully dissent.
The majority properly concludes that "the trial court, as factfinder, was entitled to find a fair market value of $44,000" for the property in question. The majority correctly states that the trial court applied to the fair market value of the property "the assessment ratio of 50 percent in effect within the taxing district." Yet, the majority reverses the trial court and remands the record for the presentation of additional evidence.
It is my understanding that all properties within the taxing district are assessed at 50 percent of their fair market value. If this is true, there is no uniformity problem. It is not my understanding that some properties are assessed at 10 percent, some at 30 percent, and others at 50 percent.
The problem, if there is one, lies with fair market value determinations. Thus, if two properties located
[ 52 Pa. Commw. Page 514]
next to or near each other have comparable worth but appreciably different assessments, the explanation is simply that the fair market value determination for one of the properties is more realistic or "fair" than such a determination for the other property. Since both are assessed at a 50-percent ratio, a question of uniformity in that regard cannot arise.
Here, we should affirm the trial court, since we have concluded that it was entitled on this record to find a fair market value of $44,000 and that it applied thereto the assessment ratio of 50 percent in effect within the taxing district.
We must be mindful that here we are passing on the correctness of the assessment of the property of James and Frances Stevenson and not the correctness of their neighbors' assessments.
Judge Williams, Jr. joins in this dissent.
© 1998 VersusLaw Inc.

domain: law


text:
Win 2 Interrail Global Passes: Terms and Conditions
Version: 2.0 / 20 April 2023
- Article 1: Organizer and Give Away Participation Eligibility
1.1. The Prize Draw is organized by Eurail B.V., a private company with limited liability, with its registered office at Leidseveer 10 (3511 SB), Utrecht, The Netherlands, listed in the Commercial Register of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and Industry under number 30206952.
1.2. The Prize Draw is open to all natural persons of 16 years or older at the time of entering in the Prize Draw. Employees of Eurail B.V., and their relatives, sponsors or other persons directly related to Eurail are excluded from participation.
1.3. Amongst the requirements to travel with an Eurail/Interrail Pass (hereinafter referred as “the Pass”), a valid passport or ID card, and potentially a visa, is required. For further information on the requirements of traveling with the Passes please visit https://www.interrail.eu/en/support.
1.4. In case the participant is a minor (up to and including 17 years of age), consent from a legal representative is required to participate in this Prize Draw. Eurail B.V. reserves the right to request proof of consent from a legal representative prior to issuing of a prize.
1.5. An unaccompanied minor (up to and including 17 years of age) must be in possession of (and be able to show this upon request to any participating carrier) written permission from a legal representative.
1.6. There are additional costs to be able to use the Pass, including but not limited to reservation costs and travel insurance. Those costs must be covered by the traveller. Eurail B.V. is not responsible and does not cover any direct or indirect costs associated with the use of the Pass, unless explicitly agreed in the general T&C found at https://www.interrail.eu/en/terms-conditions.
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2.3 The winner must complete the booking form with the traveller information within 14 calendar days of receiving the booking form via email.
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2.5 The Prize will be processed and delivered to the customer within 21 calendar days of receiving the correctly completed booking form.
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2.7 All decisions made by Eurail B.V. regarding this Prize Draw shall be considered final; no correspondence will be entered into about the prizes and how they were awarded.
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HARWICH ─ An extra inning wasn't a plus for the Harwich Mariners, who fell 4-2 in their season and home opener to the Y-D Red Sox. Three days later, however, the Mariners found their stride and got a little payback when they bested the Sox on their home turf 5-2, kicking off the roller coaster ride that is Cape League baseball.
The excitement was palpable at Whitehouse Field on June 14 as the Mariners got their season started by inviting members of Harwich-Chatham Little League teams to join their Cape League counterparts on the field for the National Anthem.
It was a tough start for pitcher Chris Gau and his fellow Mariners as the Sox led off with a triple and a run scored to take an early lead before the top of the first closed with a strikeout. Unfortunately the Mariners weren't able to match Y-D's run in their half of the inning, and the Sox carried their lead into the bottom of the third when Harwich made it onto the scoreboard.
Nick Dalesandro was the first to reach base for the home team, advancing on a walk before another walk from Travis Moniot put Dalesandro on second. With two outs and two on, Joey Bart stepped up and swung into a double to push across Dalesandro, tying the game at 1-1.
After a scoreless fourth both teams scored again in the fifth, the Harwich run coming from Andrew Moritz, who came home on a putout from Cobie Vance, again tying the game, this time at 2-2.
From there the game remained deadlocked in spite of scoring chances for both teams, the tie sending the game into a 10th inning that proved positive for the visitors when Y-D's Michael Cassala scored an unearned run on a single by teammate Kyle Isabel, who then scored an earned run on a sac fly for the win.
The following night was an equally tough one for the Mariners, who fell 9-0 in nine inning to the Wareham Gatemen at home. Bradley Debo and Cameron Simmons were the only Mariners to have any luck at the plate, with Debo going 1-for-3 and Simmons going 1-for-4 in the loss.
But the proverbial tide turned for the Mariners on Saturday when they traveled to Red Wilson Field in South Yarmouth and handed a 5-2 defeat to the Red Sox.
The first Harwich run came in the second inning when Dwanya Williams-Sutton came home on a single to right by Jordan Verdon to put the Mariners ahead 1-0. The Sox evened the score in the bottom of the fourth, but the visitors weren't going down easy on this night, as their fifth inning would prove.
Nick Dalesandro led off with a single to start the inning, coming home almost immediately on a double hit by Simmons to give Harwich a one-run edge. Simmons then extended the lead when he came around on a single from Debo, with Ryne Ogren's double two batters later bringing in Debo and Williams-Sutton to cap off the four-run inning.
Although Y-D added another run to its tally in the bottom of the fifth a solid Mariner pitching lineup kept the game in Harwich hands. Starter Matthew Frisbee went 4.1 innings in which he allowed seven hits and two runs with three strikeouts, with Austin Hansen stepping in for 1.2 innings, earning the save with three hits allowed and two strikeouts. Reliever Brian Christian stepped in for two innings with two hits and two strikeouts before giving way to Teddy Rodliff who earned the save in the ninth.
At bat Simmons went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, as did Debo, with Ogren going 1-for-4 with an RBI and Dalesandro going 1-for-4 with a run.
Sunday saw the Mariners back at Whitehouse Field for a doubleheader against the Hyannis Harbor Hawks in which the Harwich home team played to a 6-0 win in the opening game and a 0-0 tie in the second.
Pitcher Tyler Baum earned the win with three strikeouts and just two hits and one walk in six innings of work, while the Harwich bats were lit.
The Mariners scored twice in the opening inning of game 1 when Andrew Moritz came home on a Debo putout for the first run, with Simmons coming in on a Matt Vierling single to put Harwich ahead 2-0 after one.
Both teams were held scoreless through the fourth when Bradley Debo made it 3-0 for the Mariners before the home team struck again in the fifth, this time plating three runs to take a commanding lead. A single by Debo brought in Moritz and Moniot, with Vierling's sac fly giving Simmons another opportunity to score, giving Harwich a thrilling victory.
Moritz ended game one going 2-for-4 with two runs, while Moniot went 1-for-2 with a run. Debo went 2-for-3 with a run and three RBIs, with Vierling going 1-for-2 with two RBIs.
The second game only saw a smattering of hits and no runs between the two teams, with Harwich starting pitcher Dylan Grove lasting six innings with three hits and two strikeouts. Closer Cole Aker had one strikeout.
Kyler Murray came close to winning the game for Harwich in extra innings but was caught stealing, leaving the score tied at zero.
Opening day excitement was further fueled by the news that 2016 first baseman Pavin Smith became the seventh overall draft pick, headed to Arizona after hitting .318 in 38 games with the Mariners that included four home runs and 18 RBIs with an on-base percentage of .394.
The Mariners travel to Bourne for a 6 p.m. game tonight (June 22) at Doran Park, then head to Chatham tomorrow for a 7 p.m. game against the Anglers before hosting Orleans back at Whitehouse Field beginning at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.


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Ideas for Destruction, Weapons, Maps.
Destruction is a thing that only some games dare to put in, but it looks like you got in under control, but still, you should have destruction very detailed, like a grenade launcher doesn't do the same amount of damage to a building as a rocket. Weapons, just get inspiration from Gmod community, they have some real detailed weapons. Maps, should be interactive, like if your map includes a crane, let the player use the crane. Or if it has a big truck of oil or any cars, let them drive it. If their playing at a nuclear plant, have lots of explosions triggered by buttons. But can only be triggered twice or once per minute? I don't know, just some ideas.

domain: hobby


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Green thinks Barkley is jealous of his success. Buck used Boss Jia to return to Green
Schalke 04 has lost 30 league games across the season, only 1 game away from the Bundesliga record
African swine fever reappears in South Korean farm three months later
The countdown to the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships 2021/2022 World Table Tennis Championships
The US "first case" is constantly advancing? The Fort Detrick Biological Laboratory has repeatedly exposed suspicious facts...
Sun Xingmin will receive three weeks of military training or need to shave his head and will return to London at the end of May
Research finds that depression and anxiety may make Alzheimer's disease prematurely onset
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Last Activity:09-27-2007 11:37 AM
Posted in thread: Basic Shotgun Question on 09-27-2007 at 04:37 PM
On double barrel shotguns, do they usually have the ability to make both barrels fire at once?
Would this produce quite a bit of kickback?
Posted in thread: Ak pistol grip on 09-27-2007 at 04:34 PM
Are there any AK's that come with a pistol grip?
Posted in thread: Cz452 on 09-27-2007 at 04:27 PM
Has anyone got a CZ452, I have heard they are very accurate; is this accurate?
Posted in thread: Bushmaster M17S vs Steyr AUG on 09-27-2007 at 04:24 PM
Bushmaster M17S vs Steyr AUG, what are key differences?
Posted in thread: Josey Wales on 09-27-2007 at 04:04 PM
What pistols does Clint Eastwood use in "The Outlaw Josey Wales"?


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In keeping with Soviet-era traditions, Thursday's parade was organized by trade unions and honored the working man. But it also celebrated Russia's annexation of Crimea and was seen as part of President Vladimir Putin's efforts to stoke patriotic feelings.
Marchers held up signs saying "Let's go to Crimea for vacation" and "Putin is right." Russian flags fluttered through the crowd.
In past years, Communists and others have tried to keep up the May Day tradition with parades and rallies in central Moscow, but their numbers have steadily dwindled.


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These round alphabet labels measure 4" around and are designed to stand out! All letters of the alphabet and numerals 0-9 are included. The letters are backed in black and the letters are in white. You can either print these on white cardstock for a clean look, or print them on brightly colored cardstock, and the white portions will be the color of the cardstock.
These letters will make a cute addition to any classroom! You can use these to make a Boggle board, label baskets, and many other things.
For best quality, print on cardstock and laminate.


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John Marin (American, 1870-1953) Sunset Near Stonington
- Sold for:
- American & European Works of Art - 2878B
- Date / Time :
- January 22, 2016 4:00PM
John Marin (American, 1870-1953)
Sunset Near Stonington
Signed and dated "Marin 45" in pencil l.r., identified on a label from Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, affixed to the frame backing.
Watercolor on paper, 11 x 14 in. (27.8 x 35.4 cm), framed.
Condition: Minor soiling to edges of sheet, laid down on mat board support.
Provenance: Ex-collection Dorothy Norman, New York.
Literature: Sheldon Reich, John Marin: a Stylistic Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1970), cat. 45.26 (as Setting Sun), p. 740.
Exhibitions: Expression and Meaning: The Marine Paintings of John Marin, Eaton Fine Art, Inc., January 8-March 6, 1999.
It has been suggested that this watercolor and also lot 362 are in their original frames. No further condition issues to report.
The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging. Condition requests can be obtained via email (lot inquiry button) or by telephone to the appropriate gallery location (Boston/617.350.5400 or Marlborough/508.970.3000). Any condition statement given, as a courtesy to a client, is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Skinner Inc. shall have no responsibility for any error or omission.


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Celebrating a Life: Planning Memorial Services and Other Creative Remembrances
A guide of alternatives to traditional funerals, commemorating lost loved ones in a meaningful, personal way.
Today, many people are forgoing the trappings and timeworn rituals of typical funerals, and are instead opting to celebrate their loved ones’ lives. With careful planning, services like these can truly honor the person who has died—and both comfort and uplift those who attend.
Celebrating a Life offers sensitive guidance on every detail—venue, food and drink, music, flowers, eulogy, program, mementoes—all with the aim of making sure the memorial service’s honoree is remembered just as he or she would have wished. Checklists and an extensive resource directory provide much-needed help to those who have very little time to make arrangements. As author Faith Moore says, this book is not about regrets, but about reimagining how we say good-bye.
“In a caring, practical, and authoritative way, Faith Moore tackles a very difficult topic. Her direct and warm advice is a fabulous resource. This book is a must-read for anyone who will face the inevitability of honoring and celebrating the life of a deceased love one.” —Peggy Post, director of the Emily Post Institute and author of Emily Post’s Etiquette, 17th Edition
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domain: library


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Why it’s TIME for UberX to Take Flight at Chicago’s Airports
At least 15 minutes. Sometimes 25. And on the worst nights, I’ve waited more than an hour. After a long day traveling on an airplane, the last thing I want to do is wait in a long taxi line at O’Hare airport.
But this week, I, and many other Chicagoans, could get more of my time back if aldermen vote to allow rideshare services to pick-up passengers at Chicago’s airports. The time has come.
While more than 30 airports around the country already offer rideshare, Chicago is among the handful of cities that does not. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed changing that with a plan that would allow Uber and Lyft to offer another transportation option at O’Hare and Midway. The fees collected for those rides would contribute an additional $20 million in sorely-needed revenue to city coffers.
But this isn’t just about my conveniences and helping the city budget. It’s about economic opportunity for more Chicagoans.
Uber drivers can drop passengers off at the airports, but are then forced to drive back into the city with an empty car, often costing them more than an hour stuck in traffic. If they can drop people off, they should be able to pick people up and turn that wasted time into money.
And while taxis claim they should continue to own exclusive rights to airport pick-ups or else they’ll go out of business, it hasn’t turned out that way in the past. After Uber began serving San Francisco International Airport, the number of people using taxis there slightly increased, even as rideshare services collectively provided hundreds of thousands of additional trips per month. The facts show adding the option of rideshare at the airport increases the number of people using for-hire transportation — not the other way around.
But let’s face it, taxicab companies and medallion owners will never welcome competition from rideshare- at the airport or anywhere else. And they, along with some others, have turned their nose up at the economic opportunity provided by companies like Uber and Lyft, saying it’s not full-time work with typical benefits.
They’re right about one thing — the majority of rideshare drivers do not use the Uber platform as a primary source of their income. In Chicago, more than 50 percent of Uber drivers use the app less than 10 hours a week to earn extra money.
Attacking these flexible opportunities ignores the economic reality in Chicago and across the country. U.S. wages are continuing to stagnate and participation in the labor force is changing. In Chicago, Uber is creating new economic opportunities in many areas and communities. More than 20 percent of uberX drivers live on Chicago’s south and west sides. Forty percent are African-American, and more than 25 percent are Hispanic. More than 30 percent are women!
Approving rideshare access at Chicago’s airports will support these drivers and empower them to earn more money. It will also give travelers like me another choice to get home from the airport.
I can take Uber from the airport in New York, Washington, DC, just about everywhere I travel, even Hawaii! If Chicago wants to continue to be a world-class destination, rideshare services must be allowed to satisfy high consumer demand. The time has come!


Gigabyte’s latest gaming monitor uses an AI algorithm to combat burn-ins. But the exact workings of this OLED Care remain a mystery. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do yourself to combat burn-ins.
With an OLED monitor, you can enjoy every game or Web page you have open. OLED screens consist of tiny pixels, which light up independently of each other when current passes through them. This makes for beautiful contrasts and sharp images.
That something would happen to the beautiful screen is therefore the terror of every user. Especially when it comes to burn-ins, the burning in of pixels due to daily use. When a particular image, such as our site, is open for a long time, there is a chance that the colors will burn in. Even on other pages, you will then continue to see the WANT logo. The Gigabyte brand now says it has the solution for that: an AI algorithm to prevent burn-in.
Auros CO49DQ OLED
Gigabyte released their latest gaming monitor last week. With its 49-inch screen, the Auros CO49DQ is not only a yucky monitor, the 5120×1440 resolution makes it razor sharp.
For the real monitor freaks, some additional figures: the Auros CO49DQ has a refresh rate of 144 Hz, supports 10bit colors and has AMD Freesync Premium Pro. The latter ensures that the monitor, which, by the way, also has a curve of 1800mm, is less choppy.
AI algorithm remains mysterious
What Gigabyte is really showing off is their AI algorithm to combat burn-ins. They remain mysterious about exactly how it works, though. Even in the manual for the Auros CO49DQ, Gigabyte does not go into detail about how this OLED Care technology, as they call the AI algorithm, works.
Gigabyte talks about pixel shift and sub-logo dim in the manual. But what exactly do those two features do? The first feature sometimes shifts the image a bit, which prevents static images. With sub-logo dim, logos and, for example, the Windows taskbar become less bright. So both features should prevent burn-ins. These techniques are not entirely new. Many other OLED screens have the same features. No matter how razor-sharp the Auros CO49DQ may be, what exactly the AI algorithm does remains out of sight (screen).
When the monitor will go on sale and how much it will cost is not yet known.
What can you do yourself against burn-in?
Algorithm or not, as a user there are also a few things you can do to protect your OLED screen from burn-ins. By the way, this also works well for OLED television screens.
#1 Turn off the picture regularly on your OLED
You probably didn’t see this tip coming, did you? As gnarly as it sounds, it is the best option. When you’re not using the screen, turn it off. This allows the screen to refresh and recalibrate the OLED pixels.
# 2 Enable a screensaver
If turning off completely doesn’t work, there’s always the screensaver. On many modern TVs there is an option to enable a screensaver, on monitors it is a matter of fiddling around in your computer settings. These moving images ensure that there is no static image which increases the chances of burn-in.
#3 Keep your screen out of the sun
The warmer a screen or TV gets, the faster static elements can burn in. When it gets very hot indoors, screens’ processors are put to the test quite a bit. Especially with intensive use. Therefore, try to keep your OLED screens out of full sun on hot days. This can be as simple as closing the curtains. It’s even super if the display is in an air-conditioned room. Either way, make sure the screen does not get too hot and turn it off for a while if necessary.
Fortunately, burn-ins are rare and almost all modern screens have gadgets to prevent burn-in. But still: no matter how fan you are of us, that beautiful WANT logo doesn’t need to be burned into your brand new screen. Right?


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Picketing during a legal strike is not discrimination, says Tribunal
Tribunal resists effort to establish a separate regime for control of picketing in certain types of workplaces
In Yuill v. Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 1521.02, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario rejected a claim that employees of a group home discriminated against its residents by picketing during a legal strike.
In 2009, the mostly female employees of a community living association providing support for intellectually delayed adults went on legal strike. They picketed their worksites, which included four houses where the employer provided residential services to groups of disabled adults. Their union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 1521.02, negotiated a picketing protocol with their employer, Community Living Association (Lanark County), which provided that people who lived in the houses, their families and other visitors would not be delayed or obstructed at any time. The protocol also included limits on the amount of time that managers and replacement workers could be delayed at the picket line.
However, a sister of one of the residents did not like the fact that any picketing was taking place at the workplace where her brother lived. She filed a human rights complaint on behalf of her brother alleging that picketing of any kind outside a “group home” constituted discrimination with respect to services, contrary to s. 1 of the Human Rights Code, and with respect to the occupancy of accommodation, contrary to s. 2 of the Code. The complaint maintained that picketing, even if lawful and peaceful, had a differential impact on the residents of the group home because it took place where they lived and because their intellectual disabilities made it difficult for them to understand what was occurring. In addition, picketing drew attention to the “group home”. Even though the agency’s operations were long established, the sister alleged that the picketing could reveal the presence of a “group home” on the street, and potentially create opposition from neighbours to the presence of disabled people in their community.
The Tribunal’s decision
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario held a summary hearing in order to determine whether the complaint against CUPE should be dismissed on the basis that it had no reasonable prospect of success. The same day, the Tribunal also considered a similar complaint involving another union, OPSEU, and a different assisted living agency which had a legal strike in 2007.
As is the practice in summary dismissal hearings, the Tribunal assumed that all of the facts alleged in the complaints were true [Had the complaints proceeded to a hearing on the merits, the claimants would have been required to prove their facts as alleged; the unions were prepared to adduce evidence contradicting the claims made in the complaints].
On July 16, 2012, the Tribunal dismissed both complaints on the basis that, even assuming the facts as alleged by the claimants to be true, there could be no violation of the Code. It held that the Code had no application since neither the unions nor their members were providing or offering services or accommodation to the complainants within the meaning of ss. 1 and 2 of the Code:
When picketing and on strike, the unions and their members were acting not as service providers or assisting with the occupancy of accommodation. They had expressly withdrawn their services, and were protesting the employer’s failure to reach an agreement with them … They had no role in providing or regulating services or accommodation but were union members, protesting and expressing their views about their employer’s actions. Although, like a neighbour, passer-by, or other protester, they could do things to affect the applicants’ services and living requirements, this is, in my view, not a sufficient link to engage the Code.
Moreover, the claim here is against the unions as organizations. The unions have no role as service or accommodation providers at any time. The unions’ role is to represent their members in their workplace interests, not to serve the clients of the homes.
The Tribunal also noted that picketing is at the core of the right to freedom of expression under s. 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and is also protected by the right to freedom of association under s. 2(d) of the Charter. To the extent there was any ambiguity about the application of the Code, it should be resolved in favour of not impacting those Charter rights.
The Tribunal also observed that interpreting the Code to apply in these circumstances would have the effect of creating a separate legal regime to regulate picketing and labour relations – in addition to labour relations legislation and the common law:
While [the claimants’] attempt to limit their submissions to situations of community living and picketing, the logic they rely upon is not nearly so narrow. There are numerous situations in which legal picketing could affect peoples’ homes, or have a particular impact upon them because of a protected ground under the Code. The claimants’ logic could require unions to show that their picketing of seniors’ homes, mental health facilities, women’s shelters or public housing accommodated the residents to the point of undue hardship. It would, in essence, set up the Tribunal as a separate regime for control of picketing in certain types of workplaces, in addition to the common law and labour relations laws. Indeed, their logic could apply not only to the union’s actions in picketing, but to strikes or lockouts themselves, which may have many of the same effects on the claimants. In my view, it is important to be cautious about these consequences, in particular given the careful balance between the rights of management and unions that labour relations law establishes.
Finally, the Tribunal noted that its interpretation of the Code did not mean that the claimants had no legal recourse. Their concerns could potentially be dealt with in other types of legal proceedings (the courts routinely regulate picketing) or perhaps even by a claim made under the Code against the actual service providers (employers) or government which funds the services. However, claims like these against unions were not covered by the Code.


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Republicans blamed Democrats for lingering budget problems while Democrats said Gov. Chris Christie hasn't done enough to help taxpayers.
Dr. Ana Gomes says the New Jersey Death with Dignity Act fails on many levels and believes physicians should focus on alleviating the suffering of patients instead of helping them commit suicide.
Three months after a train derailment in Paulsboro, Conrail has announced it will build a new movable bridge.
Assemblyman John Burzichelli has sponsored the New Jersey Death with Dignity Act, which would allow terminally ill patients with six months or less to live to end their own life under certain ...
Paulsboro residents are still under a shelter in place order after Friday's train derailment and chemical spill as officials continue to monitor the situation.
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text:
Creatinine Blood Test (cont.)
Siamak T. Nabili, MD, MPH
Dr. Nabili received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), majoring in chemistry and biochemistry. He then completed his graduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His graduate training included a specialized fellowship in public health where his research focused on environmental health and health-care delivery and management.
William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
In this Article
- What is creatinine?
- Why is it important to check blood creatinine levels?
- What are "normal" blood creatinine levels?
- What are the reasons for elevated blood creatinine?
- Are there any symptoms associated with elevated blood creatinine levels?
- Take the Quiz: Kidney Disease
- Pictures of High Blood Pressure - Slideshow
- Pictures of Type 2 Diabetes - Slideshow
What are "normal" blood creatinine levels?
Normal levels of creatinine in the blood are approximately 0.6 to 1.2 milligrams (mg) per deciliter (dL) in adult males and 0.5 to 1.1 milligrams per deciliter in adult females. (In the metric system, a milligram is a unit of weight equal to one-thousandth of a gram, and a deciliter is a unit of volume equal to one-tenth of a liter.)
Muscular young or middle-aged adults may have more creatinine in their blood than the norm for the general population. Elderly persons, on the other hand, may have less creatinine in their blood than the norm. Infants have normal levels of about 0.2 or more, depending on their muscle development. In people with malnutrition, severe weight loss, and long standing illnesses, the muscle mass tends to diminish over time and, therefore, their creatinine level may be lower than expected for their age.
A person with only one kidney may have a normal level of about 1.8 or 1.9. Creatinine levels that reach 2.0 or more in babies and 10.0 or more in adults may indicate severe kidney impairment and the need for a dialysis machine to remove wastes from the blood.
What are the reasons for elevated blood creatinine?
Any condition that impairs the function of the kidneys is likely to raise the creatinine level in the blood. It is important to recognize whether the process leading to kidney dysfunction (kidney failure, azotemia) is longstanding or recent.
The most common causes of longstanding (chronic) kidney disease in adults are high blood pressure and diabetes mellitus. Certain drugs can sometimes cause abnormally elevated creatinine levels. Serum creatinine can also transiently increase after ingestion of a large amount of dietary meat; thus, nutrition can sometimes play a role in creatinine measurement.
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Icon bearing the portrait of Ivan IV V...
They Called Him 'Ivan the Terrible'
McConnell, James Edwin (1903-95)
Ivan the Terrible (1530-84) (gouache o...
English School, (20th century)
Ivan the Terrible and son
Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich 'the Terrible...
Vasnetsov, Victor Mikhailovich (1848-1926)
Ivan the Terrible and his Son on the 16th November, 1581, 1885 (oil on canvas)
Repin, Ilya Efimovich (1844-1930)
Ivan the Terrible (engraving)
American School, (19th century) (after)
English School, (19th century)
Death of Ivan the Terrible (engraving)
Bathory at Pskov, 1872 (oil on canvas)
Matejko, Jan (1838-93)
Tsar Ivan IV conquering Kazan in 1552, 1894 (oil on canvas)
Shamshin, Petr Mikhailovich (1811-95)
Ivan the Terrible
Hook, Richard (b.1938)
Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584) (colour ...
Ivan and Boris
Doughty, C.L. (1913-85)
The people of Kazan submittting to Ivan the Terrible (engraving)
Ivan the Terrible -
Ivan the Terrible (gouache on paper)
Ivan IV the Terrible, Tsar of Russia (...
Russian School, (19th century)
Ivan IV Vasilyevich (1530 1584), Ivan the Terrible
Ivan The Terrible in old age (litho)
Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia, 189...
Russian School, (20th century)
Engraving depicting Ivan III 'The Terr...
A Finnish sorcerer foretelling the imminent death of Ivan the Terrible (engraving)
Baehr, Johann Karl (1801-69)
The return of Ivan the Terrible to Mos...
Valda, John Harris (d.1941)
The return of Ivan The Terrible to Mos...
Portrait of Ivan IV the Terrible (Mosc...
A Boyar's Execution during the Dreadful Reign of Tsar Ivan IV (1530-84) (gouache on paper)
Vladimirov, Vasili Vasil'evich (1880/81-1931)
Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584), Portrai...


Film archives traditionally consist of stacked film reels in cold storage. But the holdings of archives for animated film also include production materials such as props, dolls, sets, screenplays, storyboards and other written and visual documents, as well as the estates of studios and filmmakers. Archives have long been (wrongly) viewed by the general public as a dusty, stodgy affair they are not considered particularly sexy. With digitization, however, and above all with the omnipresence and universal availability of the internet and Web 2.0, archives’ working methods (including new tools, etc.) and the public perception of them are changing, with no end in sight.
At the same time, dwindling state cultural budgets frequently lead to funding cuts and the closure of longstanding, well-equipped institutions or even studios. There is a danger that the ongoing discourses and achievements of these institutions will be aborted and forgotten as they disappear from the scene.
And another risk threatens from a different quarter: in March 2012, the Encyclopedia Britannica announced that it would discontinue its print edition after 244 years, being published henceforward only as a fee-based online offering. [cf. infographic on OpenSite ]. Responsible for this move are presumably both rising printing costs and the slow publishing cycle for the traditional reference work, along with the fact that many users and students simply expect today to find everything on the internet, doing all their research there and in particular in Wikipedia, making it difficult to motivate them to consult other sources. Many people therefore don’t even take into consideration stocks of knowledge that can only be accessed physically at a certain location. “If it Doesn’t Exist on the Internet, It Doesn’t Exist” is how Kenneth Goldsmith, operator of the avant-garde portal UbuWeb, once put it, already sensing the trend back in 2005. If Google can’t find it, then it must not (or no longer) exist. Older content and knowledge stores, i.e. anything that is only available in analogue form, threaten to become lost because they are simply being ignored.
This example makes it more than clear what enormous importance the Internet/WWW now lays claim to in the realms of education and entertainment compared to books, cinema and television, and it also points to the conflicting field in which archives (and other institutions) currently operate.
How are animated film archives responding to this new situation? Ultimately, the question of who archives what, how and why is being framed anew by the internet, and the balance of power is also shifting.
Digitization promises anytime, anywhere availability and infinite storage capacity. Everything can be saved, and one never has to decide what to weed out and discard which at first sounds like a wonderful boon. But this attitude also harbours serious disadvantages, evident nowhere as clearly as on YouTube. The video platform is in a sense a cultural (world) memory, the worlds largest film archive. Almost everything is here, and yet it is impossible to find anything. A video that causes a sensation today is perhaps already gone again tomorrow. Due to its size, complexity and legal problems, YouTube eludes any attempt at systematic research. This places higher demands than ever before on human and technically supported selection processes.
A trend that can be observed everywhere is that digitization is causing what were once largely discreet institutions and concepts such as archive, museum, gallery, festival, library, sales, shop, online film database and community to converge or enter into new partner constellations or alliances. Archives are coming up with diverse and in some cases contradictory solutions for dealing with these opportunities and challenges. Some of these strategies arise spontaneously and rather chaotically, and others develop organically, while a few are even planned long in advance.
Archives are undergoing a radical transformation and expansion in their function. In concrete terms, this means that their agenda no longer entails only the safe and proper storage of material that is currently no longer in use, but also the need to publicize older material and make it available in the present-day context. A related aim is to cultivate new target groups in order to ensure that the necessity of the archive will be recognized in the long term.
Up until now it has been the case for many a film that after its festival career it had (nearly) come to the end of its value chain (1). But “films are made to be seen”, as the documentary film distributor Onlinefilm.org (2) declares with jaunty defiance. One of its missions is thus to rediscover and re-release documentaries that have already run the gauntlet of the usual commercialization (festivals, television, etc.). Selected films featured at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen have been hosted on the Kulturserver (culture server: www.kulturserver.de) since 2011 and administered by Onlinefilm.org. The site’s so-called Videothek (video library) (3) is a database of films that ran in the Oberhausen programme and can now be viewed online. The filmmakers themselves decide whether to offer their works as stream or download and what price to charge for a viewing. This strategic alliance between filmmakers, festival and online platform pursues various objectives: it is an additional source of revenue for filmmakers, it contributes to the Festival’s branding and it functions as a “year-round film market” (4).
The International Festival of Animated Film in Stuttgart (ITFS) also began early on, in a prescient move, to include a question on the festival entry forms about non-exclusive digital distribution rights. In cooperation with Reelport and the Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart (city library), ITFS successively makes the (more or less complete) group of films chosen by the selection committee each year available in its Online Animation Library (5). Accredited festival guests can access the films anywhere, anytime for up to three months after the festival using their festival log-in. The Online Animation Library thus functions for the industry like a kind of temporally extended film market. Stuttgart citizens with a library card can even watch a special selection of films at viewing stations in the city library. For further impressions of the Festival, see the video podcasts on its own YouTube channel (6).
The Czech Anifest International Festival of Animated Films (7) doesn’t have a film database, but does archive items including lectures, the films in its internet competitions, spots and festival reports. Similar attempts to document impressions of the festival can also be found for a number of other animated and short film festivals, for example the Filmfest Dresden (8).
New aesthetics and new playback devices for animation (9) have extended the scope of archives. But new forms and aesthetics also require a different kind of archiving.
On the one hand, analogue films and their accompanying materials must be converted into digital form and it must be ensured that these holdings remain available in the long term (database, metadata), but on the other hand, so-called “born digital” films must also be archived adequately.
Two strategies for digital archiving have crystallized out: migration and emulation. In migration, data is transferred at regular intervals to new data storage media, a process in which data is also ordinarily lost an untenable state of affairs for archivists. In emulation, which is employed primarily for more complex digital objects, the original playback environment is emulated on newer devices (10).
As we have already been aware for a long time from archiving computer games, not only the data storage media (floppy disks, CDs, DVDs etc.) must be stored and regularly migrated, but also the hardware used to play them, such as game consoles etc. But because these devices eventually wear out don’t last forever even when carefully maintained and stored, it is imperative to “preserve” them almost as a kind of software that is able to simulate the original device on a different one (usually faster and more powerful), a strategy that is also known as “emulation”. The dilemma is that the archivists must copy data for this purpose that is protected under the usual European copyright laws (11).
Early computer games have therefore often been revived by fans who emulated the obsolete hardware or operating systems in order to play bygone favourites on modern, fast and powerful computers. Classic games were reverse engineered in Adobe Flash. These fan-made products represent valuable resources, especially for periods in which computer games were not yet viewed as part of our cultural heritage.
These problems are exacerbated for works conceived from the outset in a transmedia environment, or for projects that gradually expanded into different media. The question is then which medium a specific project should be stored in, and where/when the work begins and ends. A film archive thinking along traditional lines namely soon comes up against its limits when confronted with preserving a project that is conceived as, or is meant to develop into, a universe. A prime example is the “Matrix” trilogy by Andy and Larry Wachowski, a very promising feature film project that got off to an auspicious start in 1999 but came to a rather tragic end in the third episode, “Matrix Revolutions”. The first part impressively showcased what were at the time astonishing techniques made possible by computer animation. Procedures such as motion capture and bullet time thus became known to a wide audience.
From an archiving point of view, it is sufficient only at first glance to contemplate how to archive three feature films. This is because, on closer scrutiny, the cinematic trilogy “The Matrix” was only the beginning: the “Matrix” cosmos also went on to also include an “Animatrix” DVD with nine animated short films by various, primarily Asian, filmmakers who were invited by the Wachowski brothers to make short films that relate thematically and stylistically to “The Matrix”. And then came the action game, “Enter the Matrix”, which was commercially successful albeit controversial due to numerous bugs that brought it negative reviews in gaming circles. The game formed a content link between “Matrix Reloaded” and “Matrix Revolutions” and contained scenes that had been cut from the film “The Matrix”. Also part of the growing cosmos was the short film “Final Flight of the Osiris”, extracted from “Animatrix”, which ran in Germany as supporting film before the science fiction feature “Dreamcatcher” and astonished viewers in 2003 with the hyperrealism of its virtual characters. Various websites (12, 13) appeared that were devoted to the (pseudo) philosophical discourse the film inspired. An entire generation dressed in long Matrix coats. A wide variety of cross-references and allusions could be found amongst all the different media formats and events. They in turn inspired parodies on the internet such as e.g. “The Meatrix”(14). This all resulted in a complex narrative cosmos that no longer played out in a single medium, but rather started in one medium and then proceeded to wander back and forth between several.
Transmedia projects in which content only unfolds its full potential through the interplay of multiple media are not an isolated case anymore, but increasingly the calculated standard. Such developments are still in their infancy in the short film field, but examples are multiplying quickly for instance “iPLOK!”, an interactive series for tablets and smartphones.(15) Here the user is prompted, by systematically touching certain areas of the screen, to move the figure Plok through various episodes (thus causing the story’s plot to unfold). The format is not new and was in fact originally designed for the Web. The 58 linear versions consisting of twelve sets with four parts each, and ten more for Christmas-time, are archived by creator David Berlioz on a YouTube channel, where they generate further revenue (16). Whereas the user can spend several minutes enjoying the interactive episodes, the linear clips are only about half a minute long. The original version won several prizes, including the Grand Jury Prize for Best Internet Animation Project at the MIFA in Annecy in 2001 and the award for Best Internet Animation at the SICAF in Seoul in 2001 (17). In order to archive “iPLOK!”, one would have to preserve the various linear and nonlinear versions in the various media and corresponding end devices.
The TV series “om und das Erdbeermarmeladebrot mit Honig” (Tom and the Slice of Bread with Strawberry Jam and Honey), dubbed by the late actor Dirk Bach, who passed away unexpectedly on 1 October 2012, is likewise at home in more than one medium, having in the meantime added a website, app, Facebook page and occasional live events. Anyone feeling inspired by these developments, can, as a homework exercise, come up with an idea for storing the oeuvre of the virtual band Gorillaz for example (18).
The Internet has also spawned, or at least fostered, its own animated works. If such “born digital” Web and real-time animations are to be archived in a way that is faithful to the original, this requires the preservation of the right software to play them back. The first machinima film, “Diary of a Camper” (1996), for example, is available in the Internet Archive (19) in the original demo file format, but as this can only be played with the computer game “Quake 2″, for all those who do not have access to a copy of that game a video is also available for playback on common video players. As can be learned from the history of computer games, fans and collectors are often the first to archive a new medium.
For live and performance animation and live visuals e.g. Pierre HÃ©bert (20), usaginingen, Friedrich Kirschner â€“ it is typically the case that these are in a certain sense unique each time they are performed and are hence impossible to conceive of without the presence of the filmmaker. The work consists here not only of the finished film, but also the process of performing/filmmaking â€“ in some cases with the participation of the audience or other actors. This also applies to live projections like those in “A Wall is a Screen” (21). In this unusual presentation made up of short films and a walk through the city, the films are each tailored to the specific location where they are screened and there is thus a closely calculated interaction between the films, their projection, and the respective city as projection location. Here again, we must reconsider what archiving actually means. At best, all of these art forms can be documented on video. This is indeed the format often chosen by the artists themselves and then published on the Web.
There are three archives that have long been active in the online realm and are therefore one step ahead of the game. The “Internet Archive” (22) in San Francisco has been scouring the World Wide Web at regular intervals since 1996 and storing the respective current state of websites. Since 2001 these snapshots amassed by the Internet Archive have been available online on the “Wayback Machine”. The stored versions are flawed and incomplete, as for example pictures and films are often not saved along with the site, or the owners of domains prohibit storage for various reasons. Nevertheless, the Wayback Machine is a remarkable resource for the history of the World Wide Web.
The Internet Archive has also been collecting films since 2002 and making them available online. The selections include films that are in the public domain under US law, such as teaching, education and propaganda films from the Prelinger Archives, as well as cartoons and amateur films in various formats and qualities. The goal is to make all of the films in the Internet Archive available to researchers in high quality, but also to stimulate further research, for which reason the films are published under a Creative Commons license. By using rankings and numbering the downloads, it is possible to bring a bit of order to the huge archive when browsing.
Very early on, even the National Film Board of Canada (23) made efforts to revive its own older contents and make them available for e.g. educational purposes. The archive is a treasure trove for productions funded by the NFB. Countless animations and documentaries can be streamed and downloaded and/or purchased on DVD for prices starting at $1.95. The NFB has in fact always supported multimedia and internet-based projects.
UbuWeb (24) is another exciting resource, providing online access to hard-to-find and out-of-print avant-garde material. UbuWeb is completely independent and works without financial support, relying instead on donations and volunteer work and taking advantage of bandwidth donated by various partners. Founded by the poet Kenneth Goldsmith, the portal originally collected only text-based forms such as poems and visual poetry. With increasing visual material on the Web, however, it was only logical (and almost natural) to gradually add poems photographed off the page and later also audio files and films. UbuWeb lists a very colourful conglomerate of interesting finds, among them a number of experimental films by for example Rosa von Praunheim, Clemens von Wedemeyer and Richard Kentridge, but also early rock shows by Patti Smith, works by Joseph Beuys and media art by Jodi. In terms of its approach, UbuWeb is more interested in fringe artistic production than in the “perceived” or commercial mainstream. The site continues to grow, while flirting with, and at the same time warning of, its possible imminent overnight closure due to its anarchic approach.
Initiatives to put film footage online and archive and present it on YouTube or Vimeo have also been undertaken by filmmakers (e.g. PES), companies and studios (e.g. Aardman (25), Studio Filmbilder (26) and film archives such as the British Film Institute (27), while others incorporate content into their own websites via Vimeo. YouTube’s partner programme can moreover be a profitable way to generate additional revenue from films that have already passed through the festival circuit.
Amateur communities that play no part in mainstream culture, or which consciously distinguish themselves from it as subcultures, also mostly archive their own films. Examples are skateboarding films (28), Brickfilms and the demo scene. Other underexposed animation genres that are rarely seen in exhibitions or at festivals have likewise unfolded their dazzling diversity only on the Web. The French website Flipbook.info by Pascal FouchÃ© currently presents (as of 2 October 2012) 6,930 flipbooks, created from 1892 to today (29). Just how versatile the genre of animated supporting film is becomes clear when perusing the collection “Forget the Film, Watch the Title” (30).
The projects presented here all represent attempts to archive animations from the Web and on the Web. They cover only a tiny fraction of all that is possible, but they can nonetheless serve to make us more aware of the kinds of upheavals facing film archives today and how rich and diverse their strategies can be.
Even if technological advances and software development never stop tempting us with new promises (e.g. 3D scanners, visual search, image search), it doesn’t mean that all archives are now charging full steam ahead to pursue digitization on all levels. On the contrary, some archives are turning the tables and only digitizing their holdings sparingly. They have only a minimal online presence. Instead, they put on special programmes and exhibitions at festivals and advertise the exclusivity of the material they manage: certain films can simply only be viewed here and now. The archives indirectly highlight in this way the auratic qualities of a work of art.
What can be said of all archives is that the financial situation won’t be getting any better in future. Just like in film financing, archives must find creative ways to preserve their stock and to build a loyal audience (31). Where might animation archives obtain further ideas on how to handle the kind of material described here? What’s needed is interdisciplinary collaboration that brings various disciplines and institutions to the table, so that not everyone has to reinvent the wheel, but can instead benefit from the experiences of others. Looking to media art and computer games (32) is to be recommended in particular, as all of these problems have already been encountered in those fields for a much longer time and on an exponentially greater scale.
(1) For festivals that exceed a certain scale, the number of films (videos, DVDs) submitted annually and their accumulation year after year pose challenges to festival offices of limited size (Oberhausen receives around 6,000 submissions a year). The Filmfest Dresden is in the fortunate position to be able to store part of its holdings at the German Institute for Animated Film (DIAF).
(9) On the new aesthetics in animated film, see also the article “Animation on the Move” Short Report 2012 (AG Kurzfilmfilm e.V.).
(10) Cf. Astrid Herbold: Die ewige Aufbewahrung des Internets. http://www.zeit.de/digital/internet/2012-08/internet-archivierung/komplettansicht
(11) Cf. on this problem the texts by Andreas Lange, director of the Computer Games Museum in Berlin. “Pacman im Archiv: Computerspiele als Kulturgut”. In: http://www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de/site/40209296/default.aspx, or an interview with him: “Why Preserving Video Games is Illegal”, http://thenextwebcom/insider/2012/04/22/saving-the-game-why-preserving-video-games-is-illegal/
(12) Animatrix. http://www.intothematrix.com/
(13) Calling up the Matrix website for the cinema feature today, in 2012, leads one to a virtual void. (www.warnerbros.com/landing). One can only hope that Warner Bros. has saved these materials somewhere.
(31) The Zurich media scholar Barbara Flückiger succeeded for example with a crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo on 21 July 2012 to raise nearly 20% more than the targeted $10,000 for the project “Database of Historical Film Colors”. Up to then, she had financed the project entirely out of her own pocket. Her database, which includes more than 200 historical colour processes, is conceived as the starting point for further research.
(32) Cf. e.g. Andreas Lange: Strategy Paper. Results from the KEEP workshop Joining Forces. International Expert Workshop About Digital Preservation (Berlin, 1 February 2012). Andreas Lange kindly made this paper available to the author. For more information on KEEP, see: http://www.keep-project.eu/