We’ve come a long way from the days when pickup trucks were utilitarian work vehicles with minimal comforts, driven by people who needed them for work or couldn’t afford a car. There’s no better demonstration of this evolution than the beautiful 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab AT4X, as is immediately obvious by its $76,700 price tag (without dealer upcharges, as has become common nowadays). Figure at least $85,000 out the door with taxes and fees. For a pickup truck. But this isn’t any old flat-bed-plus-driver-compartment, the Sierra 1500 is a beast, powered by a massive 6.2L V8 engine and with every smart vehicle feature and technology you can imagine integrated into the drive experience. It’s also quite comfortable and has plenty of power to pull a trailer up into the mountains or get your boat to the lake with nary a hiccup.
GMC loaned me the Sierra 1500 for a week, asking me not to off-road, though it was darn tempting. The vehicle has lots of 4WD features, including a 2-speed autotrac transfer case, off-road suspension with 2″ lift, skid plates, front and rear locking differentials, hill descent control, mud-terrain tires and tons of towing and trailer smarts. But let’s start with a photo, shall we?
The exterior is Cayenne Red, with an Obsidian Rush interior. You can see that the Crew Cab offers a second row, eating up a lot of the truckbed, but gaining space for three adults in the back seat. Perfect for your posse or, if you’re actually using it as a work truck, the rest of your crew. The actual truckbed is 69.9 inches since this is the “short box” version of the truck. The full-size “standard box” bed, with the crew cab, is 79.4 inches, but, of course, that also lengthens the truck and adds weight, which lowers fuel efficiency.
You can see that the short box at just under 6 feet deep and almost as wide offers a decent amount of capacity for bikes, sporting equipment, boxes, a lot of bags of shopping, or even construction supplies. What’s really fun is that the rear tailgate has a secret addition, but let me first show the tailgate closed because it has a cool dual-gate design:
It’s a beautiful color in direct sunlight, and very eye-catching. But notice that the top portion of the tailgate, where the GMC letters are emblazoned, has its own cutout edge. That’s because you can drop it down separately to the full tailgate, offering a nice armrest for leaning while chatting with friends in the parking lot. Or, perhaps more importantly, with a push of a secret button, access to the Kicker audio system that’s built in to the tailgate!
Quite honestly, this is ridiculously cool and it was my truck-owning son who deserves credit for showing me how to access it. This is officially known as the GMC Multipro Tailgate with Multipro Audio System by Kicker. You can plug in an audio source via USB, 3.5mm AUX, or even connect via Bluetooth and then jam your tunes while being the coolest truck owner at the tailgate. Really a fun feature!
MOVING INTO THE INTERIOR
This is a big vehicle and most people will have to hoist themselves up into the cab, for which the step and interior handle are helpful! Once inside, it’s delightfully spacious, as you would expect with a vehicle that’s over 81-inches wide (by comparison, a Toyota Prius is almost 15 inches narrower). Every control has its spot and it’s all nicely laid out, albeit a bit overwhelming at first glance:
The steering wheel controls are standard for GMC vehicles and identical to the Chevy Bolt EUV I’m currently driving, for example. The infotainment system sports a big 13.4″ touch screen split into two areas (as you can see: The left 2/3 are wireless Apple CarPlay while the right portion is a GMC-controlled audio source control display. It also supports wireless Android Auto). It’s a bit hard to see in this photo, but the interior features leather with very attractive red accent stitching, most notable on the door armrests, as you’ll see in a few pics.
I have to admit, though, when I see controls by my left knee as are visible in the above image, I know that the designers have run out of space for control knobs, dials, and switches. Similarly, the trailer controls are split between those accessible from the infotainment system (like a really slick trailer camera), just behind the gearshift, and a few that are part of the toggle switch row just below the climate controls:
I have to wonder how many current Sierra owners could identify the function of each of these nine buttons, actually! Notice also in the above how dense the controls are overall, even the climate control system. Between seat functions (heat, cool, massage) and the actual temperature controls, there are a total of 20 buttons and two knobs, in addition to the 9 toggles immediately below it. Seems like flying the Space Shuttle might be easier than figuring everything out on the 2022 Sierra 1500 truck.
Look back up and behind the steering wheel and the main gauge control – in “classic” layout – is surprisingly simple and straightforward:
There are actually four display layouts for the main gauge area, along with adjustments and layout tweaks you can use to change the infotainment and heads-up display areas too. In fact, the heads-up display (HUD) spread across a whopping 15″ on the front windshield and, like so much in the vehicle, is exemplary with its clarity and usefulness. It’s complicated, but there really is a lot to like about the GMC Sierra.
Fuel efficiency? Well, remember earlier when I said it was powered by a 6.2L V8 engine? With that in mind, averaging about 17.2mpg isn’t too bad, though I surmise that if you hooked up a 4-horse trailer or a full-size camper – or a trailer full of lumber for a new cabin on your land in the woods – that efficiency would plummet. But that’s the tradeoff for having a big, powerful vehicle that has an almost 9,000-pound towing capacity. That’s 4 1/2 tons. The Prius we used for that earlier comparison? It’d be a breeze to tow, by comparison, weighing in at a paltry 3,010 pounds. Heck, you could almost tow three of ’em!
Speaking of displays and infotainment, I have to confess that with big vehicles like the Sierra 1500 I find the parking and reverse cameras enable a game I like to play called “can you perfectly center the vehicle in the spot?”
The introduction of the stitched-together “aerial view” is really revolutionary and, of course, makes this possible. But am I the only one who seeks perfection with my parking now that I have this camera, or do you find yourself doing this too?
MEANWHILE, IN THE BACK SEAT…
It’s worth noting that the Crew Cab isn’t a squished kids-only seating arrangement, as you can see:
I sat in the back seat and it’s surprisingly roomy. Possibly a bit cozy for three big adults, but certainly plenty of room for two or three children. They even get their own controls for adjusting airflow from the AC or heater, along with seat heating controls and power ports:
All in all, there’s really a lot to like with the Sierra 1500. It’s a full-size pickup truck, so parking it at the local Whole Foods or Yoga studio is going to draw a few glares, but if you need the space and power, it’s a top contender in its segment, and there are a startling number of configuration options. The RT4 trim package covered just about everything shown with this particular truck too, the only add-on was rocker protection, installed by the dealer. GMC works closely with ACDelco, so there are a million options, add-ons, and accessories if that’s something you seek, but that will also fairly quickly pop the price into the six-figure category. As-is, you can configure these to be under $50K but this RT4X truck? Pretty darn sweet.
SPECS: 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 4WD Crew Cab RT4X with 6.2L V8 engine, in Cayenne Red with Obisidian Rush interior. Base price: $73,300. AS DRIVEN: $76,790.
Disclosure: General Motors loaned me the GMC Sierra 1500 for a week of driving in return for this candid review. Thanks, GMC!


Source: The Detroit News
quote: WRONG. The RX-8 gets poor gas milesage because Wankels are inherently inefficient engines. I used to own a 1.1 liter RX-7 and that thing got maybe 17mpg if I was lucky!
quote: DOHC is much better for any engine. Chevrolet produces pushrod vettes for cost savings so they can hit a low price point to compete against the more expensive supercars.
quote: The ZR-1 engine was a marvel and produced far more horsepower than Chevrolet stated but it was expensive to put together and required high paid engineers to manually assemble.
quote: Pushrod engines can be put together with robots, and frankly American rednecks don't know or care about the difference between a pushrod and an overhead cam
quote: DOHC is much better for any engine.
quote: Sorry but your still wrong.


text:
Position: SP | Age: 30
Current Team: Rays | Best Fit: Dodgers
2017 Stats: 12-10, 3.66 ERA, 1.221 WHIP, 6.4 K/9
Not every recovery from Tommy John surgery is the same, and Cobb really had two seasons wiped out by his. Between 2013 and `14, he was quietly dominant (2.82 ERA), and he improved over the course of last season as he rediscovered his feel for his wipeout splitter-change. Dodgers president Andrew Friedman is well acquainted with Cobb's peak years with the Rays; Cobb would be perfect in the Dodgers' starting pitching mix.

domain: sports


text:
The Baldwin Cafe is essentially a re-brand of the old
that was in the same location. Like it's predecessor, the Baldwin Cafe focuses more on food than coffee.
Join the conversation
Coffee Dak Lak
Pilot Coffee (Union Station)
Tokyo Smoke (Broadview)

domain: food


text:
Sudbury native Linda Chorney's rocky road to a Grammy nomination, as well as the rerouting of Grammy rules and regulations after it – specifically because of her – makes for some wildly entertaining reading in her new book, the actual name of which can’t be printed here. But let’s call it "Who the Hell Is Linda Chorney."
Linda Chorney, the feisty singer-songwriter who was born in Boston, grew up in Sudbury, and now lives in Tucson, had a dream.
After 30 years of strapping on her guitar and singing songs from the heart at joints and dives and even some nice venues all over the world, she wanted to win a Grammy. With the release of her sixth album, "Emotional Jukebox," in 2011, she set that dream in motion, networking and using social media to get enough of the right people to hear that album. She got enough attention that she was nominated in the Americana category, alongside heavy hitters Ry Cooder, Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm, and Lucinda Williams.
Her nomination had the music industry "up in arms," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Helm won for his "Ramble at the Ryman."
That’s OK. Her rocky road to the awards ceremony, as well as the rerouting of Grammy rules and regulations after it – specifically because of her – makes for some wildly entertaining reading in her new book, the actual name of which can’t be printed here. But let’s call it "Who the Hell Is Linda Chorney."
She’ll be reading from the book, doing a Q&A session, and singing a few songs at the Goodnow Library in Sudbury on Thursday, May 23, and at the Porter Square Bookstore in Cambridge on Tuesday, May 28.
"I didn’t know I was going to write a book. The book came when I got the ‘Grammygate’ phone call," she said, referring to the controversy that swelled up around her nomination. "That’s when I said, ‘This is a crazy story.’ "
That’s an understatement. Reading Chorney’s book is like sitting next to her and listening to her chat about her tale – from the kindness of her anesthesiologist pal Dr. Jonathan Schneider, who provided the funding for making the record, to dealing with the psychotic, multi-mooded publicist that she rightly renames Sybil. But, like a good, intense chat, hers is nonlinear, jumping back and forth and in and out of points in her life that led up to her Grammy kerfuffle.
"I thought it was important to show where I’ve been but I didn’t want to do that all in one chunk," she explained. "I wanted to kind of break it up, which is why, on occasion, you take part in my virtual time machine travel."
Chorney wrote the book over a 16-month period, taking some time in the process to do a little recording and play a few gigs. But the book was her priority because "the most important thing was for the truth to come out about what happened and what I went through."
Some of it wasn’t very pleasant, while some of it was hilarious. Chorney made sure to tell it the way it was.
"I’m a perfectionist," she said. "I read the book at least six times, from cover to cover. It was very similar to making an album, where you have to say, ‘Is this done? Is it soup yet?’ The hardest part was letting go. But I had let it go."
Of course, the act of writing it was no picnic.
"My first editor was Karen Doyle, who was a classmate of mine in high school. Then my cousin, Robin Russin, who teaches screenplay writing, edited it."
It was Russin who, at a few junctures, told Chorney there were some tidbits she included that shouldn’t be there, that she would have to change a few things. She did. But it was Doyle who "would have preferred a few less f-bombs," said Chorney, laughing, mainly because she left all of them in.
"If you consider there are 144,000 words there, and I only used it 200-something times, I don’t think that’s bad," she said.
But between the cursing and the song lyrics and the decidedly odd situations Chorney found herself in, she definitely learned some lessons, many of them having to do with people who were out to harm her career.
"I learned to trust my instinct immediately," she said. "I believe this book is good for anybody to read. I don’t think you need to be in the music business to enjoy it. In general, in life, if somebody does something, no matter who they are or how they can allegedly benefit your life, if you sense a red flag, do not be intimidated by their power. Get as far away from that person as you can. Don’t allow other factors to get in the way of your instincts. If you are sensing something [bad] about somebody, you’re probably right."
Today, with another record on the way, Chorney has also started to write another book.
"It’s a book about trying to make the movie of what happened to me," she said. "It’s about my pursuit of finding [director] Cameron Crowe to make the movie. So it’s the steps I’m taking to try to find him. It’s me getting leads on people to try to get the film made. I want Sandra Bullock to play me. I kind of want me to play me, but I’ve been told that in order to have a big film be a success, you have to have somebody else play me. So I would sing, and Sandra Bullock would lip-sync to it. I already have the whole thing planned out."
Linda Chorney will appear at 7 p.m. on May 23 at the Goodnow Library in Sudbury and at 7 p.m. May 28 at Porter Square Books in Cambridge. Both events are free.

domain: entertainment


text:
Get 50,000 Membership Rewards Points Limited Time offer from American Express Premier Rewards Card
That’s right, get a limited time offer invitation to apply for the permit rewards gold card from American Express and get 50,000 membership reward points after you spent $2000 in purchases on the card within the first three months.
Also with the card, you were in three times points for airfare purchased directly from the airlines, two times points at US gas stations and supermarkets, and one times points on everything else but to make purchases work.
The good news is you can transfer your membership rewards points to airline miles or hotel points at a value of one cent per point. Another way is to use your points to purchase gift cards, to get full value every 1000 points should be equivalent to a $10 gift card.
American Express has also been known to have the most airlines and hotel partners, so there’s a good chance that you can transfer your membership rewards points to the hotel or airlines of your choice. As a rule of thumb, always doublecheck with your frequent flyer program or hotel rewards program to ensure that you can transfer your points.
There is an Annual Fee of $175 but the good news is they waive the fee for the first year!
I checked to see if you could apply for this offer with no rsvp code, but it appears that American Express targets these offers with an RSVP code, so if you don’t have one, you are out of luck. It never hurts to call though, here is the number to call to apply 1-877-203-2288.
Offer Expires October 31st 2014
Compare the top Excellent Credit Card Offers - CreditSoup Balance Transfer Cards
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Also, I get commissions for purchases or applications made through links in this post. View our full Advertiser Disclosure Here

domain: travel


Joe Elefante is not on some nostalgia trip. He is a thoroughly modern musician with a talent for harnessing the passion of fellow enthusiasts for the big band sound that once dominated its era the way hip-hop and rock 'n' roll have ruled theirs.
A few jazz dinosaurs still roam the Earth. But the big band, that budget-busting aggregation of 12, 15 or even 17 players, is caught in an economic ice age.
However, one young dinosaur is determined to break the ice, playing just 30 minutes drive -- or 30 light years worth of notice -- from Broadway.
Talent and Distinctiveness
The Cecil's Big Band has all the elements to stave off extinction, including a talented, charismatic leader, Elefante, a piano player and band leader.
"Perfect pitch, he has a great ear," said Dennis Argul, a trombonist in the band. "He has great colors when he writes for the band. And he's a lovable guy, too. I mean, willing to give whatever he needs to give to the band to be a success."
Joe Elefante's Cecil's Big Band has a sound of its own, its leader said.
"We don't sound like anybody else," Elefante said. "You should go see anything that's itself and nothing else, you know? There's nowhere else you can see the Joe Elefante Big Band except for Cecil's."
The band also features a slew of talented soloists, like lead alto saxophonist Bruce Williams, saxophonist Craig Yaremko, trumpeter Freddy Hendrix and trombonist Rick Stepton, who often tries to describe his band's sound to his elderly mother.
"Every Monday night I call her and I say, 'Mom, I'm going to my favorite $5 big band,' Stepson said. "And she says, 'What kind of music is it?' I say, 'Well, it's sort of like in between Buddy Rich and something really modern.' "
What It Lacks
The Cecil's Big Band does lack one final component of success -- a modern audience to match the crowds that used to turn out for the big bands of the past.
"More often than not, we outnumber the audience," Elefante said. "What can you do? You can't put a gun to people's heads and force them to come hear your band. As far as how we deal with it, when there's four or five in the room, we have a really hard time getting it up for four or five people. But if we can get even a dozen, 15, you know, it's just a show. You just do your show."
Stepton has done shows with big band names like Buddy Rich, Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson. He's one of two veteran major leaguers playing for Elefante's youthful team.
"I love playing on this band," he said. "I think I'm lucky to be my age, and to be welcomed in this band. And to me, it's a privilege and not the other way around. I'm in the process of growth, and what better way to grow than to surround yourself by younger people?"
'Keeps Me Alive'
Legendary jazz critic Nat Hentoff, who writes about big-band jazz in his book, "American Music Is," came to hear the Elefante band the night ABC News recorded them. It is fair to say he was pleased.
"Wow," he said. "It was so exciting to hear that sound again.
"The sound was like a typhoon," he added. "I almost had to hug the wall. And it's that kind of power. But it was more than the power. The mixture of the two older guys who are part of the old scene, which is never old, and the younger guys in their 20s and 30s, I'll tell you, it's music that keeps me alive."
When it comes to keeping the band really alive, the crucial element is having a regular place to play. Providing that place is Cecil Brooks III, the respected jazz drummer, record producer and -- for the last year and a half -- proprietor of the club Cecil's in the New York City suburb of West Orange, N.J.
"The arrangements are much tighter," Brooks said. "You can hear … a lot of the cohesiveness is coming together."
But is he making a buck on Monday nights?
"Well, not at the moment," Brooks admitted. "It's just not economically feasible to be able to pay 17 guys to come together. But a sympathetic club owner with empathy toward musicians, who happens to be a musician, can deal with the bumpy road and can go along for the ride until we get there."
Excitement and Romance
Big bands didn't always lack for an audience. Starting in the late 1920s, big bands like Duke Ellington's became dominant in jazz -- and by the mid-1930s, dominant in American popular music.
"They were rolling through the night like lit-up trains, going to big cities, rural towns, playing proms," Hentoff said. "And they brought two things: They brought excitement and also romance, because they played for dancing."
This was key for the big bands like Benny Goodman's or Artie Shaw's. People bought records and tickets for the bands they danced to.
"The big bands created dreams," Hentoff said. "My fantasy was some day there'd be an opening in the Ellington reed section and Duke would say, 'Why don't you try out?' "
Yaremko, the saxophone player, lives that dream of playing professionally in a big band each Monday.
"I get my soloing opportunities and that's great," he said. "But to make the saxophone section sound grand, and to see where that role is within each composition, is really, really important and helps contribute to just make the band sound great."
Yaremko's chance to play in the Cecil's Big Band reed section forced him to restructure his Mondays.
"I always definitely like to make sure I practice," he said. "I have to play alto, soprano saxophone and flute. So obviously, [I need to] try to hit all those horns, make sure I'm feeling good with that. And then, actually, [I] usually spend most afternoons on Monday teaching. So my head's in the music, and by the time I get here I'm really, you know, psyched to play."
Bass trombonist Argul teaches mornings and afternoons Monday through Friday at Newark's High School of the Arts. Although his Monday is more complicated than Yaremko's, it comes to the same conclusion.
"I teach here until 3:30, usually -- 3:00, 3:30," he said. "I have a wife and four children -- all girls. So, my next stop is there, usually. Drive to soccer practice and pick up from this dance practice. And if I pick up and drop off the right child at the right place at the right time, it's a victory.
"And then I leave my house at 8:00, get to Cecil's by 8:40, prepare for the gig and hit," he added. "As an art form, big band music is not on every street corner in every town, so the opportunity to play that kind of music on a regular basis excites me."
Sound of Surprise
Like the classic big bands, Joe Elefante's Cecil's Band can play hot or sweet, as in flugel horn player Hendrix's tune "For Sarah."
"I think that Freddy Hendrix's flugel horn sound is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard in my life," Elefante said. "It is absolutely amazing and it gets me every single time."
Elefante said his band always serves up what one critic famously called "the sound of surprise."
"Almost every solo" is surprising, Elefante said. "I'm so blessed, and I don't mean to grandstand, but just by having such great musicians in my band that are able to do anything, surprises me. At any point, they're gonna play something that they've never played before, at least never played for me. And that's what I love. I don't like safe playing. I'm not into safe."
Lead alto and soprano saxophonist Bruce Williams has had a lot to do with the Cecil's Big Band's survival. He books the club, hired Joe to lead its big band, and soon discovered that he had installed his own workshop and showcase.
"Playing in the big band really hones your skills," he said. "It helps you learn how to blend, work on the intonation, build camaraderie with other musicians. And also, you get to hear other people solo, and hear things inside the composition in terms of harmony and texture."
In the band, Williams is a star and a model.
"Bruce's playing is like a freight train," Elefante said. "It's awesome -- just got a lot of life. It's got a lot of fire. It's bright, alive."
"When Bruce Williams is soloing," added Yaremko, "I mean, you just want to sit there and clap your hands and … get into it. I mean, it's just really great to have that much energy going throughout the band and throughout the room."
Recently, Williams got his major league opportunity to play for a week at New York's famous Village Vanguard, a kind of Yankee Stadium of jazz venues.
"It means everything to me," he said, "because I love John Coltrane and Jackie McLean and McCoy Tyner, all these people that have played here. And I really aspire to be on their level at some point."
Opportunities like this are only going to come more often for Williams and Hendrix. And Elefante knows that their Monday nights in West Orange may soon be superseded by something better paying.
"I'm sure he'd like to be doing more major league work," Elefante said of Williams. "I'm sure he will be doing more major league work, but he's there. He's arrived. Freddy [has] gotten a couple of swings in the majors, but he's, he's about the top cat in triple A right now. Number one prospect."
Meanwhile, soloing, section work and just playing inside a swinging big band is opportunity enough for veteran Stepton.
"Sitting in the middle of the band is really overpowering," he said. "That sheer power and energy of all the harmonies, all the voices, all the sections, just propelling themselves forward in a musical way. … I guess it might be like being at a concert where you're in the middle of a crowd that's just screaming for whomever is there. And you know how that feels when you're surrounded by that? That's the way it sounds. It's like indescribable."
Up and Comers
Like most working musicians, Elefante also is a teaching musician, giving private lessons at his family's music shop.
"They don't have to be talented," he said. "They don't have to be motivated. They just have to want to be there and want to learn."
For his very best students -- the ones who are dedicated, musical and sharp -- Elefante has an invitation, a band they might join.
"You hear this thing in your head, and you hear all the colors and the sounds," he said. "And then to hear it actually come to life, it never sounds quite like it does in your head. It's always got a life of its own."
In agreement is the club owner. Brooks can't resist getting behind the drum kit.
"It's really magnificent to have that kind of force behind you, especially as a drummer," he said. "You get a chance to really experience the full wrath and power of being a drummer, playing with a big band. And I think it's a great experience."
'It's Got Fire'
Hendrix sees it as a sort of holy rocking.
"That's basically church, you know?" he said. "The band is our congregation. And the bandstand, that's where we jump for joy. That's where we scream and shout."
Hentoff, who's been listening to sounds like these for more than 50 years, hopes his grandchildren will be so lucky.
"There is no sound in any of music I know that is more galvanizing," he said. "No matter what's going on in the world, for at least the moment or the time you're listening, you're lifted out of yourself and back in, feeling just great."
Dinosaur alert. We have a spotting in West Orange today. And tomorrow, a big band could go thundering by near you.
"You can't match that sound," Elefante said. "It's powerful. It's dynamic. It's got range. It's got fire. You know, there's 17 different people contributing to it. That's what makes it so great."
ABC News originally reported this story Feb. 18, 2005, on "Nightline."


Compare HTC phone prices in Bangladesh
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In our muthophone site you can see the specification and compare all HTC smartphones prices from trusted online stores in Bangladesh.


OpenSprinkler › Forums › Hardware Questions › How (and where) to find a Valve for Opensprinkler PI › Re: Re: How (and where) to find a Valve for Opensprinkler PI
Would something like this be part of your solution?
It’s not quite what you are looking for but you may be able to adapt some ideas/parts from it.
That picture has a rain barrel. If you wanted to have an indoor rain barrel you could attach a pump to it. That would get you the pressure needed to connect regular valves to.


text:
Chatham House yesterday convened an expert roundtable to discuss Moscow's objectives in Ukraine and the policy options available to the West. The meeting, which drew together diplomats and leading experts on Ukraine, Russia and the EU, is summarised in a new paper, Western Responses to the Ukraine Crisis: Policy Options.
The expert panel make a number of recommendations, including that:
- The most effective near-term pressure that can be exerted on Russia will be financial and economic. Much of President Vladimir Putin’s power is predicated upon Russia’s financial stability. Russia is also far more integrated into the world economy now than it was at the time of the escalation over Georgia in 2008. Its growth had already faltered prior to this crisis, and the markets immediately exerted their pressure on Russia as a result of its actions.
- Freezing the assets of and denying visas to elite Russians suspected of money laundering or involved in the actions against Ukraine are likely to be measures that will influence Russian thinking and, possibly, the government’s behaviour. While retaliatory Russian measures are possible, more Russians need to travel to the West than those in the West need to travel to Russia.
- The West should immediately ramp up its counter-narrative to the Russian propaganda operation. Statements by President Putin and other Russian leaders, and reporting by much of the Russian media, about Ukrainian refugees fleeing to Russia, violence in eastern Ukraine and there being no Russian troops in Crimea can easily be exposed as lies. This should be done publicly, forcefully and immediately.
- The EU must not go back on its commitment to the Association Agreement with Ukraine. Conclusion of the agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with a newly elected government is essential for Ukraine’s future political as well as economic health.
- The EU should convey the message to Russian energy companies that ‘business as usual’ is not an option while intervention in Ukraine continues. The West should also bear in mind that it is more energy-resilient today than in the last decade. Its process of diversifying its energy imports away from an over-reliance on Russia continues, leading to a more inter-dependent than dependent relationship.
Notes to Editors
Read Western Responses to the Ukraine Crisis: Policy Options.
This paper is based on a meeting convened at Chatham House on 5 March 2014, held under the Chatham House Rule.
Watch Keir Giles, Associate Fellow on the Russia and Eurasia Programme, discuss the meeting and its findings.
Watch Sir Roderic Lyne, former British Ambassador to Moscow (2000-04), on the necessity for a united European response to the crisis.
More on Ukraine and Russia>>
+44 (0)20 7314 3687
+44 (0)7917 757 528
+44 (0)20 7957 5725
+44 (0) 7411 186 950

domain: news


text:
THE LITERARY WORK
A poem in thirty-four cantos, set in Hell in 1300; written in Italy between 1307 and 1314.
Written during Dante’s exile from Florence, Inferno maps Hell, which, according to the narrative, contains many of Dante’s political rivals, as well as wrongdoers from many periods of history.
Events in History at the Time of the Poem
Exiled from his native town of Florence, Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy, the first part of which is Inferno, as he wandered from city to city in northern Italy between 1301 and 1314. The poem reflects the political and social turmoil that plagued the region at the time.
Events in History at the Time of the Poem
In the early fourteenth century, Italian cities were engaged in making important decisions about their methods of government. The cities had a confusing array of choices, each championed by elements of society that were competing for control. Competitors included the popes in Rome, who wanted to incorporate the cities of Tuscany (an area of northern Italy) into the “Papal States”; the Holy Roman Emperors, German aristocrats who claimed an ancient right to rule Christendom; the local noblemen, who favored rule by a small, select group; and the rapidly rising merchant classes, who sought to establish a system of rule that would protect their newly acquired wealth. The personal vendettas and personality conflicts at the root of most of the trouble emerge clearly in the Inferno, as Dante, a staunch supporter of the Holy Roman Emperors, accuses—and punishes—individuals for the actions they have taken in public life.
The civic politics of Florence during Dante’s life were dominated by the strife between two rival factions, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. In general, the Guelphs represented ordinary citizens and were aligned with the papacy; the Ghibellines sided with the emperors. Dante came from a family of Guelphs, but he himself came to favor the Ghibelline cause, especially their promise to bring Florence within a stable empire.
The Guelphs and the Ghibellines were divided on the political issue of empire. Among Italy’s city-states, Florence provided the leading Guelph opposition to the idea of a pan-European state. The city fought to maintain and increase its own independence. Meanwhile, Dante was convinced that only under the wider authority of an empire could human beings enjoy the fullest freedoms and most moral lives. The sort of Christian empire favored by the popes in Rome did not appeal to Dante, however, primarily because he thought that the church was greedy, corrupt, and ambitious. In Dante’s Inferno, the fourth circle of Hell, reserved for the greedy, is filled with nothing but churchmen; the part of the eighth circle reserved for barratry (graft, including the buying and selling of church positions) is dominated by popes. Distrustful of the church and its leaders, Dante instead placed his hopes for political stability in the leaders of the Holy Roman Empire.
Florence during Dante’s lifetime was the fourth largest city in Europe, with a population of some 90,000. As the city became increasingly powerful, however, it also fell victim to increased corruption. Florence’s wealth was derived in large part from the trade and banking connections that it enjoyed all over the continent, from the city of London in the west to Constantinople in the east. Dante’s Hell is filled with people associated with the misuse of money and goods: usurers who lend money at interest, thieves, counterfeiters, and frauds.
Born into a nonaristocratic but respectable Florentine family, Dante had to assume responsibility for other family members after the death of his father. This new responsibility hurtled him into Florentine politics, where he reached his height of influence in 1300, when he was made one of the city’s seven prefects, or civic governors. The struggle for power in that city was such that prefects governed for only two months at a time—the city changed hands six times a year. During his brief term in office, the decision was made to banish the feuding leaders on both sides of the political conflict between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. This ban included two sets of Guelph families—the populist “Whites” and the pro-papal, pro-aristocratic “Blacks”—who had been in dispute with one another.
As part of a small city group, Dante went to Rome to negotiate with Pope Boniface VIII, who had been interfering in the dispute between the White and Black Guelph families. While Dante was in Rome, the new prefects of Florence, who assumed power during his absence, canceled the banishment of the Blacks. In addition, the new prefects exiled Dante for two years for his involvement in the original decision to exile the Blacks. When Dante refused to return to Florence to answer the charges against him, he was sentenced to death and permanently exiled from the city.
Of Dante’s life in exile not much is known with certainty; it is said that for a while he plotted the overthrow of the Florentine factions responsible for his downfall, but that effort did not last very long. He was for a time in the court of Verona. Dante died in Ravenna with his daughter by his side. She had become a nun and had taken the name Sister Beatrice. This name was significant, for Beatrice was also the name of Dante’s lifelong love.
According to another work by Dante, Vita nuova (1293-94), he was nine years old when he first set eyes on Beatrice and fell in love at first sight. Although she married someone else and died young, Dante’s love for her lasted the rest of his life. She figures prominently in many of his works, including those penned long after her death, and appears in works created throughout Dante’s marriage to another woman.
Beatrice’s identity and the relationship that she had with Dante have been a subject of considerable debate over the years. Although some critics wonder if the woman ever really existed, the consensus now is that she was the daughter of a powerful Florentine family, the Portinaris, with whom Dante had a passing acquaintance. As to their relationship, it should be remembered that marriage at that time did not necessarily exclude romance with a person other than one’s spouse. A highly ritualized form of romantic love
Inferno, Dante’s poem about Hell, forms one-third of the monumental epic known as the Divine Comedy. The other two parts are Purgatorio and Paradiso. which have Dante visiting the souls in Purgatory and Heaven, respectively. The term comedy may seem problematic since Dante’s trip through Hell is not a humorous one, but in fact the word is used in its classical meaning: “a story with a sad beginning and a happy ending.” Beginning in Hell and culminating in a heavenly vision of divinity, the Divine Comedy is in this sense a true comedy.
could exist between unmarried people. Often this sort of love was the subject of lyrical poetry in which the lady became an ideal, an unattainable object. In the Inferno, Beatrice is an angelic representative of the Virgin Mary, which puts a Christianized spin on a common romantic situation of the times.
Beatrice appears in the Divine Comedy as an image of spiritual love. Her largest role is in Paradiso, in which she helps guide Dante through Heaven. In Dante’s poem about Hell, the Inferno, she is one of three heavenly ladies—the Virgin Mary (Mother of Christ) and St. Lucy (to whom two churches in Florence were dedicated) are the other two—who watch over Dante. That Beatrice serves as a symbol of divine love marks a significant departure from the way in which Dante wrote of her earlier in his life. In the Vita nuova, Dante spoke of her in sacred terms, but in a manner that was rather shocking for the times; he appropriated wholeheartedly the language of religious devotion and applied it to a mortal woman. One critic points out that this action “approaches the limits of sacrilege” (Harrison injacoff, p. 36). The Divine Comedy treats Beatrice in a less controversial manner. While Beatrice has a heavenly role in the work, she is placed in an entirely Christian framework.
Pope vs. emperor
As one historian explains, “Italy in Dante’s time was a mass of self-seeking smaller states: the cities of northern Italy, the kingdoms of southern Italy and France … and the papal states. All had constantly shifting alliances” (Ferrante, p. 51). One subject of particular controversy concerned the amount of influence the popes in Rome ought to have in worldly affairs. The Holy Roman Emperor, who was in effect the king of all Christian lands (although this was a hard claim to back militarily), was supposed to be the ruler of rulers, and hence the king of the rulers of England, France, and Norway. But the pope, who had the sole authority to crown the Holy Roman Emperor, also claimed, on the basis of his absolute spiritual authority over all Christians, to be the supreme power in Europe. This tension is played out throughout the Inferno, primarily in the recurrence of evil churchmen in Hell’s many circles.
Matters came to a head in the late 1200s as Pope Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France (“Philip the Fair”) fought for control of Europe. Boniface’s immediate predecessor, Celestine V, was the only pope ever to abdicate; he lasted in the papal office for only five months. The College of Cardinals, the group of elite authorities and highest-ranking churchmen, had elected Celestine, a simple hermit, because they did not want to elect the most obvious candidate, the acidic and power-hungry Benedict Gaetani. When they eventually gave in and elected him, Gaetani took the name Boniface VIII. The new pope’s enemies, of whom there were many, accused him of forcing or tricking Celestine into resigning his duties.
One of Dante’s passages in the Inferno may refer to Celestine. There is some speculation that Dante places Celestine in Hell for relinquishing his sacred duties; he may be the person referred to in the lines “I saw and knew the shade of him who from cowardice made the great refusal” (Dante, Inferno, 3.59-60). While the identity of this person is not established decisively, the poem does accuse Boniface of tricking the old man into resigning. Canto 19, which takes place in Hell’s eighth circle, recites much of the political tension between kings and popes that dominated European society during Dante’s life. One of the sinners there, who cannot see because his head is buried, mistakes Dante for Boniface, and asks: “Are you already standing there, are you already standing there, Bonifazio? … Are you so quickly sated with those gains for which you did not fear to take by guile the beautiful Lady, and then do her outrage?” (Inferno, 19.52-7). The “beautiful Lady” referred to in this instance is the church.
Boniface and Philip first came into conflict when the French king insisted that he had the right to levy a tax upon the clergy who lived in his kingdom. Boniface was furious at what he saw as an attack upon his own authority and tried to excommunicate Philip, an act which amounts to denying a person all church sacraments, rituals believed to be necessary for the saving of one’s soul. Philip won this round of sparring, however, by cutting off the export of all money from France. Since Pope Boniface needed the rich revenues that came from the French clergy, he caved in and “allowed” Philip to tax the clergy in his country.
Round two began when Philip accused a French bishop (the priest responsible for church affairs within a certain jurisdiction, usually a city) of treason. Philip and the pope each claimed to be the final authority on such matters. Their battle escalated to the point where Philip’s men actually captured the pope and held him prisoner for several days before releasing him.
The power-hungry and unpleasant Boniface and the equally powerful French monarchy both earned Dante’s hatred; their perpetual wrangling and political maneuvering prevented the crowning of a rightful Holy Roman Emperor. Although the German Hapsburg dynasty continued to insist that it was entitled to the role of Holy Roman Emperor, the family had many rivals for the position. Nothing ever came of the Hapsburg efforts. Not until 1308 was another emperor (Henry VIII of Luxemburg) crowned in Rome; Boniface died in 1303.
The Poem in Focus
On Easter weekend, in the year 1300, Dante discovers himself at the brink of Hell. Afraid and threatened by a trio of wild animals, he feels relieved to see a figure approaching him from afar. He is wildly delighted to discover that this figure is Virgil, the great Roman poet and one of Dante’s literary heroes. The Roman poet has been sent by the heavenly Beatrice, Dante’s true love on earth when she was alive. Beatrice watches over Dante’s best interests from Heaven as he takes a tour of the Inferno, another name for Hell.
Dante’s Hell consists of nine concentric circles, with the widest at the top and the narrowest at the bottom, in the manner of a cone or funnel. In each of the nine circles live specific sorts of sinners, with the less serious offenders in the higher regions, and Satan, accompanied by Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius, in the lowest.
Virgil has been denied the possibility of going to Heaven because he was a pagan worshipper of many gods instead of one god. Along with a company of classical writers, philosophers, and legendary characters, Virgil inhabits Limbo, the least awful section of Hell. The first people that Dante meets are Virgil’s fellow poets: Lucan, Ovid, Homer, and Horace. They inhabit a self-contained city in which the citizens are unhappy but not tortured like the other residents of Hell. Also in the walled city that occupies the first circle of Hell are heroes and philosophers, including Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Socrates, and Plato.
From the relatively pleasant enclosure of the good pagans, Virgil leads Dante downward to the other circles of Hell. As the circles get smaller toward the bottom, the torments inflicted upon the sinners grow increasingly horrible. People are boiled in mud, transformed into hybrid snake-men, ripped to shreds by demons with pitchforks, embedded in ice, or subjected to having their brains eaten by lifelong rivals. Time and again among the sad company of the damned, the character of Dante recognizes people that he knew or had heard of from Italian politics and draws moral conclusions about the state of affairs in Italy.
Passing by horrific monsters and awful tortures, Virgil leads Dante to where Satan stands at the very center of the earth, embedded in ice from the waist down. Satan is a gigantic figure who is uglier than anything else in Hell. The two poets inch between Satan’s fur and the ice that surrounds him and end up on the other side of the world. Inferno concludes here. Purgatorio, the second part of the Divine Comedy, features Dante’s climb up the mountain that was pushed up at the point on earth directly opposite to where Satan fell.
Easter in the year 1300
Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed 1300 to be a Jubilee Year, the first such event in church history. It featured a festival that celebrated the church and the papacy. Since Boniface was an unpopular man, he may have ordered the festivities as a show of strength and unity.
Dante set the Divine Comedy on Easter weekend of 1300, the year in which he himself reached the estimated halfway point of a human life. According to Psalm 89:10 of the Bible, “Seventy is the sum of our years,” and Dante, born in 1265, was thirty-five when he wrote the poem. He set its beginning on Good Friday, the most solemn day of the Christian church calendar; on this day, says the New Testament, Christ died on the cross after being crucified.
Dante’s Hell is comprised of concentric circles, nine in all, each inhabited by a different kind of sinner, ranging from those who commit the relatively common sins, such as greed and lust, to the deepest circle of all, where Satan is punished for his treachery to God. The scheme is as follows:
The River Acheron
Circle 1: Limbo (for the unbaptized: Virgil, good pagans)
Circle 2: Carnality (sins relating to bodily desires)
Circle 3: Gluttony (sins relating to overeating and drinking)
Circle 4: Greed
Circle 5: Anger, sloth (laziness)
The River Styx
lower hell: the city of dis
Circle 6: Heresy (denial of or opposition to Christian teachings)
Circle 7: Violence (against others, against oneself, against God and nature)
Circle 8: Fraud (panderers and seducers, flatterers, those who lend money at a high rate of interest, diviners, barrators who buy or sell church or government positions, hypocrites, thieves, bad counselors, schismatics who separate or divide from the church, forgers)
Cocytus: The Frozen Lake
Circle 9: Treachery (traitors to family, to country, to guests, to lord or patron)
In Canto 34, line 117, Dante uses the word Giudecca to describe the lowest point of Hell. This word refers to Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus Christ, who inhabits the place with Satan, but it was also used in Dante’s time to describe the ghettos of European cities in which Jews were confined.
The poet’s next journey, into Purgatory, is related in Purgatorio. This journey takes place on Holy Saturday, the day on which Christ freed from Hell all the good people who could not go to Heaven until he opened the way. In Christian theology, Purgatory is a transitional place where souls that are not evil but are not yet holy enough to enter Heaven are purified. The final section of the epic, Paradiso, is set on Easter Sunday, the holiest day in Christian life, when Christ rose from the dead. In this section, Dante visits Heaven.
Virgil, the Latin poet (70-19 b.c.) who wrote The Aeneid (also covered in Literature and Its Times), the national epic for the Roman Empire, leads Dante through Hell and Purgatory. By associating himself with Virgil, Dante is perhaps making a claim for the comparable importance of his own work as a celebration of a Christian empire. This certainly fits with Dante’s lifelong political aspiration of seeing Florence and the other Italian city-states welcome the Holy Roman Emperor as the leader of a unified land.
Book VI of Virgil’s Aeneid features a visit to the underworld, and Dante makes use of the details and imagery in that work to describe Hell in the Inferno. Virgil explains to Dante that, no matter how virtuous he and others like him might have been while alive, they are sentenced to Hell because they were pagans who worshipped many gods and did not receive the Christian initiation sacrament of baptism:
“[T]hey did not have baptism, which is the portal of the faith you hold; and if they were before Christianity, they did not worship God aright, and I myself am one of these. Because of these shortcomings, and for no other fault, we are lost, and only so far afflicted that without hope we live in longing.”
In the upper circles of Hell, Virgil’s power is quite strong; he is able to command other spirits to do his bidding and is confident that Heaven approves of his role as Dante’s tour guide through Hell. As the two poets descend, however, Virgil grows less sure of himself; in Lower Hell, where they encounter the heretics (people who disagree with official church teaching), he must have angelic help before he is allowed to enter the gates of the City of Dis. This may be because, as a pagan, he is unfamiliar with church controversy and is therefore out of his league. With such scenes, Inferno shows how pagan figures stand in a Christian concept of the afterlife, and it also upholds the supremacy of the Christian religion. There is also an implied suggestion that, as a baptized poet of the church, Dante himself will surpass the works of Virgil and the other pagan poets.
The Divine Comedy is a thoroughly Christian poem, and so it is no surprise that allusions to and quotations from the Bible permeate the entire work. But quotations from Virgil are also plentiful. In Canto I, Dante states that whatever fame he has already earned has followed from his imitation of Virgil: “O glory and light of other poets, may the long study and the great love that have made me search your volume avail me! You are my master and my author. You alone are he from whom I took the fair style that has done me honor” (Inferno, 1, 82-7).
Dante was the most famous European poet ever at the time he died in Ravenna in 1321. Immediately upon his death, a whole industry of commentators swung into production; Dante’s poetry became the subject of translation, speculation, and inspiration. In 1371 the Florentines established a public lectureship on Dante; they appointed Boccaccio, the famous poet, to take up the position. Boccaccio made it only part way through a discussion of the Inferno before his worsening health forced him to resign his post.
Maps of Hell
One of the more interesting offshoots of the Divine Comedy is the spate of map-making that arose in the Renaissance. Some scholars took very seriously the dimensions of Hell that Dante mentions from time to time in the Inferno. Debating the various aspects of Dante’s description, they created detailed maps of the circles, ditches, walls, and rivers of the underworld. Two Florentine architects, Antonio Manetti and Filippo Brunelleschi, started the project. Christophoro Landino, who published a literary commentary on the Inferno in 1481, included Manetti’s figures in his own work, and the following twelve editions of the Landino commentary generally featured Manetti’s work. In 1506 Girolamo Benivieni discussed Manetti’s work and provided “the first drawings of Hell to qualify unambiguously as maps” (Kleiner, p. 25). Even Galileo Galilei delivered lectures on the subject of infernal cartography, or Hell-centered mapmaking. To this day, very few editions of the Divine Comedy appear without an accompanying map of Hell.
For More Information
Chubb, Thomas Caldecot. Dante and His World. Boston: Little, Brown, 1966.
Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy: Inferno. Translated by Charles S. Singleton. Bollingen Series 80. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970.
Ferrante, Joan M. The Political Vision of the Divine Comedy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
Hibbert, Christopher. Florence: The Biography of a City. New York: Viking, 1993.
Jacoff, Rachel, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Dante. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Kleiner, John. Mismapping the Underworld: Daring and Error in Dante’s ‘Comedy.’ Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1994.

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text:
Cost of living in Jundiai, Brazil compared to Ahmednagar, India
|Personal Care||+ 44%|
WARNING! This comparison is based on only a few data points. At this point it is only a guess. It is based on 212 prices entered by 17 different people.
These prices were last updated on July 13, 2017. Exchange rate: 20.403 INR / BRL
Do you live in Ahmednagar? We need your help!
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Cost of living in Jundiai (Brazil) is 101% more expensive than in Ahmednagar (India)
For example, you would need at least ₨82,469 (R$ 4,042) in Jundiai to maintain the same standard of living that you can have with ₨41,000 in Ahmednagar.
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We are a female DJ/Production Duo From South East London. Also known as Habit To Others – Abbreviated to HTO and affectionately known as the habits. We love house, we love beats, we love baselines, we love crazy synth sounds, Farzana loves toms (were not talking cats) and I (Lauren) love rolling beats & subs. We don’t label our music we don’t care for it to be in any sub genre of house but what we do want is for you to feel it and feel our passion in everything we do.
Keep it moving!
We are back at Cargo for a big bank holiday special with CONNECTED! Sunday 30th August!
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The River 93.1 Live
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Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.60.
A number of research analysts recently commented on NRG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “conviction-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 27th. Seaport Global Securities increased their price target on NRG Energy from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NRG Energy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 19th. Finally, TheStreet raised NRG Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, August 5th.
In other NRG Energy news, SVP David Callen sold 13,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.08, for a total transaction of $533,064.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,622,799.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.
NRG stock opened at $42.18 on Thursday. NRG Energy has a 12 month low of $28.22 and a 12 month high of $46.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.19.
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The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 2nd were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 30th. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.17%.
About NRG Energy
NRG Energy, Inc engages in the production, sale, and distribution of energy and energy services. It operates through the following segments: Generation, Retail, and Corporate. The Generation segment includes all power plant activities, domestic and international, as well as renewables. The Retail segment includes mass customers and business solutions, and other distributed and reliability products.
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American television actor who played Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and the eponymous medical examiner in Quincy M. E.
Best known for the characters he played in two television series, The Odd Couple and Quincy, M.E., Jack Klugman always preferred the intimacy of theatre or live television to a film set, on which one might never meet some of the other cast members. His mentor was Henry Fonda, who taught him that an actor can never lie and that he has a duty to help the other person on the stage, no matter what, rather than simply show off. “I’m never going to retire,” he once declared. “I want to die on stage saying, ‘The name of the murderer

domain: celebrity


The Bylines, Marianna Thielen and Reece Marshburn, are embarking on an adventure this August as they head to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland! The first set will be a preview of their 45 min show and the second a more casual chance to chat with them, ask questions, and they might even take requests. This is the listing of their show as it appears in the Fringe Festival’s Program:
Johnny Mercer award-winning songwriters, The Bylines, ask the question: can cohabitation and co-creation co-exist? See how this duo navigates good times and bad as they gig, write, and make music together, all while staying married – unless this is the show that breaks them. A humorous and heartfelt look at their lives, the show will focus on what it means to live as working artists in a world that often boils their existence down to two options: fame or struggle. An afternoon of original, jazz-inspired songs and stories about cardigans, the moon, and…what it’s for.
Doors at 6:30, Music at 7
Sliding scale $10-$25. For reservations, email email@example.com


In case there was still any doubt, Apple has confirmed that its new watch may have issues with tattooed wrists. The company broke the news with a support page for the Apple Watch heart rate reader, which details how to get the sensor to work.
Here’s the most important paragraph, which confirms the “tattoo-gate” rumors without offering an easy solution:
Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact heart rate sensor performance. The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings.
Apple goes on to suggest that you can still get a heart rate reading by connecting your watch to a Bluetooth chest strap or any other connected external monitor. However, that doesn’t solve the bigger issue with the Apple Watch. According to some tattooed people, the device also locks up every time the screen switches off, requiring them to constantly re-enter the password.
It seems unlikely Apple will come up with a way to fix its current smartwatch, though hopefully the company can find a solution in time for the second-generation model. The answer may be as simple as tweaking the device’s heart rate sensor, but for now we wouldn’t recommend picking up an Apple Watch if you have a large tattoo on your wrist.


When I chose to obtain a research paper and discovered that the writer has been blogging, I was happy to realize why it was written by him and that the writer was curious about what he wrote about. I read the article and the writer seemed to be an honest person and he wasn’t only trying to convince his readers to buy the merchandise and why. The only negative thing that I found in the article was the author’s email address from the connection, but there are other companies who allow paper writers their members to get addresses and a few allow website comments to their site.
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domain: economics


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WARNING: THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU HUNGRY
For Adventurous Eaters and Anyone Who Wants to Learn About Food Around the World
It’s a big, tasty world out thereand this book takes kids on a tour through the cuisines of 14 countries, complete with a recipe for each one.
What a great way to show kids that food isnt just limited to chicken nuggets and French fries. My favorite parts are the maps of said countries showing which ingredient originated where. Its amazing how the same ingredients can be put together in such different ways. And I finally found out what hummus and falafel are made off (chickpeas in different forms).
The food in this book does look amazing, I just have no interest in trying any of it. I am a very picky eater. So is my niece (Picky Eaters Unite!). Heres a bonus Frazz comics for all the picky eaters out there.
If you want to find out what real kids think about food from around the world, check out Kids Try/HiHo Kids on YouTube. The link below will take you directly to a playlist of kids trying food from different countries. Countries including Vietnam, Australia, Jamaica, etc.
This weeks Weird but True Fact about Foods
Until 500 years ago, no one outside North and South America had ever tasted chili peppers, chocolate, or tomatoes.

domain: hobby


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Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel has resigned. They said it is because of personal reasons. In the last few months, there was a dispute between the government
After October 15, your debit & credit card can be completely closed. The reason for this is the Reserve Bank of India’s decision, which
Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat on Saturday announced that elections will be held simultaneously in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana. In these
The Punjab Cabinet led simply by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday provided the go-ahead to the regularization of the providers of 8886
State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest bank, has made some major changes in the cash withdrawal rules from ATMs. SBI has decided to
Govt. made some changes in E-Way bill system. these all changes will came in to system from 1st of October 2018.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday held a vital hearing and upheld the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar card. The Supreme Court gave this ruling
Punjab Elections After the voting of the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samities held in Punjab on September 19, the results will be declared today (September
UPSC And Aadhaar Website hacked by hackers on Monday night
Due to rising fraud in bank accounts, State Bank of India has taken stern steps to further protect the accounts.

domain: law


The Gujarat High Court has granted an interim injunction against the current 53rd Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, barring him from selling, transferring... ...http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/gujarat-hc-bars-53rd-syedna-from-dealing-with-waqfs-public-trusts/article5928965.ece?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication
As a man dressed in a smart kurta and jacket walks by, I ask a bystander if he recognises the figure. Awed, he mumbles in a barely audible voice,... ...http://www.smartinvestor.in/market/Econnews-237299-Econnewsdet-Theyve_got_the_looks.htm
Valsad, Apr 18 (PTI) Five tribals were killed when a truck in which they were travelling overturned near Pandav Khadak village on... ...http://www.ptinews.com/news/4623120_Five-killed-as-truck-overturns.html
It is finally that time of the year when mango, the king of fruits, hits peak season, and Mumbaikars are looking at relishing its sweetness,... ...http://www.financialexpress.com/news/mumbai-continues-to-suffer-alphonso-woes/1241911/
SURAT: For the first time in the history of independent India, a section of people from Satipati community in south Gujarat have agreed to... ...http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/Drive-to-enrol-Satipati-voters-achieves-success/articleshow/33921578.cms
Akhil Bhartiya Baba Sahab Dr....


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- 1 What can I make with silk flowers?
- 2 What can I do with leftover silk wedding flowers?
- 3 How do you decorate with artificial flowers?
- 4 Is it tacky to use fake flowers?
- 5 What to do with fake rose petals?
- 6 What to do with all the flowers after a wedding?
- 7 What can I do with a bunch of fake flowers?
- 8 What can I do with an old bouquet of flowers?
- 9 What artificial flowers look the most realistic?
- 10 How do you make fake flowers look good?
- 11 Should I decorate with artificial flowers?
- 12 How do you make cheap fake flowers look expensive?
- 13 What is the best way to store silk flowers?
- 14 How do you clean silk flowers?
What can I make with silk flowers?
Here’s the top 10 things to do with artificial flowers:
- Floral Perfume Bottle. Do you have an empty perfume bottle in your vanity?
- Flower Napkin Rings.
- Make a Wreath.
- 3D Floral Wall Art.
- Floral Ice Cubes.
- Floral Balloons.
- Floral Monogram.
- Revamp Your Lamp.
What can I do with leftover silk wedding flowers?
Here are a few simple and unexpected ways to repurpose wedding flowers:
- Decorate the house with leftover flowers.
- Donate wedding Arrangements to retirement homes, hospitals, homeless shelters, or other organizations.
- Dry out your wedding bouquet.
- Make potpourri with flower petals.
How do you decorate with artificial flowers?
‘The trick with faux flowers is to keep the look simple,’ say One. World. ‘Stick to one or two colours and add in some fresh greenery to the display. Mix and match a variety of vessels in different materials such as glass, ceramic and metal, as well as wicker and rattan to keep things natural.
Is it tacky to use fake flowers?
Never ever use all fake flowers. That would be tacky. There’s absolutely no reason, budgetary or otherwise, for a groom to sport a silk flower boutonniere. Also remember, that you aren’t using real flowers just for their looks, they do provide the aforementioned delicate fragrance to your wedding day.
What to do with fake rose petals?
Perfect silk rose flower petals great for sprinkling in wedding tables, church aisles, baby shower, candy buffets, dessert tables, make a wonderful accent to photo shoots. The silk rose petals arrived stuck together, you need manually separated the petals piece by piece.
What to do with all the flowers after a wedding?
7 Smart Things You Can Do With The Leftover Flowers From Your Wedding, So You Don’t Waste Them
- Dry Them Out To Recreate Bouquets.
- Press Them Beautifully In A Book Or Two.
- Bring Them To A Professional Preserver.
- Send Them Home With Guests.
- Take Them To A Nursing Home For A Visit.
- Hand Out The Flowers To The Staff.
What can I do with a bunch of fake flowers?
20 Uses for Fake Flowers
- Flower Napkin Rings. 1/20. Flower Napkin Rings.
- Tulip Wreath. 2/20. Tulip Wreath.
- Floral Ice Cubes. 3/20. Floral Ice Cubes.
- Floral Wall Art. 4/20. Floral Wall Art.
- Floral Garland for the Nursery. 5/20.
- Flower Balloon Bouquet. 6/20.
- DIY Floral Monogram. 7/20.
- DIY Flower Chandelier. 8/20.
What can I do with an old bouquet of flowers?
What to Do With Dead Flowers: 17 Ways to Repurpose a Bouquet
- Make Potpourri. For a simple and inexpensive craft, try using your dead flowers to make some DIY potpourri.
- Frame Them.
- Make Candles.
- Create Wall Art.
- Make Bath Products.
- Create Flower Petal Beads.
- Make “Stained Glass”
- Make a Floral Surface Cleaner.
What artificial flowers look the most realistic?
For truly believable seasonal flowers —think silk stems of hellebores, dahlias, and cherry blossoms that would fool the bees—and houseplants, too, Terrain might have the best (you’ll be paying more for them, but it’s worth it).
How do you make fake flowers look good?
TIP #6: ADD WATER TO THE VASE – When using glass vases to display fake flowers, make sure to add water to the vase. This tip alone will make fake florals look more realistic. If metal ends of stems are visible, cut them off with wire cutters and then place in water.
Should I decorate with artificial flowers?
Decorating with faux flowers can still be beautiful and a few personal touches can really bring them to life. A high quality arrangement will last for years and can be used throughout your home year-round.
How do you make cheap fake flowers look expensive?
How to Make Cheap Flowers Look Expensive
- Separate Them into Different Arrangements.
- The Vase Makes a Big Difference.
- You Can Actually Toss the Stems.
- Try a Line-up of Bud Vases.
- Steal a Leaf Trick from Your Florist.
- Add Succulents.
- Put Two Bouquets Together.
- Use Filler, and in the Right Order.
What is the best way to store silk flowers?
My other little trick for storing artificial flowers and plants is to store them in a wrapping paper storage container. It is the only storage container I have found that is tall enough to store them without having to bend them or squish them. Plus it is quite large so it holds a lot of flowers.
How do you clean silk flowers?
Fill a large bowl with warm water, then add a drop or two of liquid dish soap. Swish the flowers around in the water a few times. Rinse the flowers gently with clean, cool water. Set the flowers on a stack of paper towels to dry.


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The Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge), K. J. Alphons launched the Guidelines by the Government of India on Adventure Tourism in New Delhi today. These guidelines on Safety and Quality Norms for Adventure Tourism in India have been formulated along with the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) in an effort to make adventure sports safer.Releasing the guidelines, the Tourism Minister said India has immense potential for adventure tourism ranging from the Himalayas to the coastal regions. Shri. K. J. Alphons said that these guidelines are a beginning to building adventure tourism in India and extended whole support to all stakeholders for developing this niche sector so as to tap the whole potential offered. The Minister also added that for India to be a well sought after destination, the facilities and support staff should be developed to global standards.Speaking at the event, Secretary Tourism, Smt. Rashmi Verma said that the guidelines have been formulated in consultation with all stakeholders like State Governments, Tour operators and now they need to be adopted so that India could be an internationally acclaimed adventure tourism destination.ATOAI President, Shri. Swadesh Kumr extended his gratitude to the Ministry and other stakeholders in bringing out the guidelines document and added that the association is keen to bring all the stakeholders involved into the organised sector.
The aim of this initiative is to help adventure tour operators understand and execute safety guidelines in a better manner. These guidelines cover land, air and water based activities which include mountaineering, trekking, bungee jumping, paragliding, kayaking, scuba diving, snorkeling, river rafting and many other sports. The guidelines have been framed for 15 Land Based, 7 Air Based and 7 Water Based activities which cover the entire gamut of Adventure Tourism available in India and that the guidelines codify the Standard Operating Procedures and instructions for Risk Mitigation and Emergencies as well as provide for details like Safety precautions, training required, insurance, etc. The information given covers some major areas such as the role of a guide, important equipment required, inspections and maintenance process, operating instructions, risk mitigation, medical safety etc. Detailed guidelines covered in the document focus on safety from every possible angle. It educates tour operators and other concerned agencies about important safety requirements and lesser-known dangers. In order to put a strong foothold in the field of adventure sports, better safety measures are mandatory. It is imperative that all adventure tourism stakeholders provide for better vigilance and strict adherence to these guidelines.


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‘You Just Proved How Much Of A Shame And Insensitive You Are’— Actress Dayo Amusa Blasts Yomi Fabiyi Over His Movie
Veteran Nigerian actress, Dayo Amusa joined the bandwagon of celebrities who have berated actor, Yomi Fabiyi over his newly released movie ‘Oko Iyabo’ which tells the story of se.xual assault case between an adult and a minor.
Dayo Amusa took to her Instagram page to point out that Yomi Fabiyi has proven how a shame and insensitive he is to issues of rape case by making a film that seems to mock someone in pain over how her daughter has been molested.
You would recall that comedienne, Princess is the foster mother of the little girl who was se.xually molested by actor, Baba Ijesha and granted bail after being detained for a month and over.
According to Dayo Amusa, she does not judge people because everyone has a way of responding to situations and she expressed her displeasure in the fact that Yomi Fabiyi had the effrontery to send the link to the movie to her via Whatsapp.
In as much as I choose not to speak openly about the ongoings but there are issues one must not keep quiet on. Seeing a video of a movie by Yomi Fabiyi today has proved how much of a shame and insensitive he is. You even had the effrontery to share the movie link with me on WhatsApp 😠
I don’t judge people as I believe we all see things and react to situations differently but Under no circumstances should someone’s pain and tribulation be turned into a thing of mockery.
Yomi just proved how much he lacks empathy. To what extent if I may ask, TAMPAN, Censors Boards and the court of law shouldn’t shy away from this. Ilu ti o sofin ni ko si ese. Anje ekuru ko tan!
I am disappointed.
LETS BE GUIDED O.


Class #20 (Thu., Nov 4)
Required Reading (everyone):
- Agent-Based and Individual-Based Modeling, Ch. 17–18.
You can download the ODD for the BEFORE beech forest model, which is described in section 18.3, from the class web site: https://ees4760.jgilligan.org/files/models/chapter_18/ch18_before_ODD.pdf.
I have also posted a list of published models in which observed patterns are important: https://ees4760.jgilligan.org/files/models/chapter_18/ch18_ex1_models_list.pdf


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It really does work
In today's volatile and uncertain climate, organizations make tremendous efforts to achieve objectives, subjecting themselves to high levels of stress and overexertion without any guarantee of success.
In such cases, it becomes necessary to evaluate the dynamics of the organization at a managerial and emotional level, in order to implement changes that will allow it to react in an agile and flexible manner and to remain competitive.
First of all, we conduct a systemic analysis. We observe the organizational dynamics and identify the critical points that are impeding the attainment of results and their causes.
We then share and disseminate the diagnosis obtained, which allows us to raise awareness in a respectful way of the causes of the blockages and the emotional dynamics that underlie its management.
The work concludes with an action plan that sets out the main lines of work, i.e., the changes that free up and give fluidity to the organization.

domain: sociology