text:
After 17 years of professional music-reviewing, Noel Murray is taking the year off from all new music, and instead revisiting his record collection in alphabetical order, to take stock of what he's amassed, and consider whether he still needs it all.
I've been kicking around the idea for this series for about the last three years, and up until about a week before I finally pitched it to my editors, I'd conceived it very differently. The alphabetical trip through my collection was a last-second addition, and a good one as it turns out, since I've realized over the first six weeks that my original idea for what "Popless" would've been be–primarily me writing about music-withdrawal, plus some random revisiting of old favorites–wouldn't have filled much space each week. It would've gone something like, "Week Two: Still not missing new music much. Week Three: Missing new music just a little," and so on.
Still, the "stopping new music" factor remains a significant part of this project, so every six weeks or so, I'm going to take a break from the usual mini-essays and file a report on how life looks from inside the deprivation chamber. In brief, here's the first one:
Things aren't so bad.
Yes, there have been moments of weakness. A couple of weeks ago I read an upcoming schedule of new releases and saw that I'm going to be missing new albums by Sun Kil Moon and My Morning Jacket over the next several months, which is painful to contemplate. Also, the current buzz about Vampire Weekend got me tempted to click on a sample track…but I held myself back. And the other day I was in a big-box store and from the music section I heard what sounded like a new Death Cab For Cutie song–though on further research, it probably wasn't–and I stood there for a moment, unsure whether I should be enjoying the music or ignoring it.
(Full disclosure: I have bought one new album. I got They Might Be Giants' Here Come The 123s CD/DVD for my kids, and I've listened to/watched a little of it. Maybe it's because I'm starved for anything fresh, but the few songs I heard sounded pretty wonderful. Or maybe I'm just seeing and hearing through the eyes and ears of my six-year-old, who already thinks of numbers as his magical little friends, and whose face lights up when the integers start dancing across our TV screen.)
As for the "getting rid of the junk I don't need" part of the project, I'm making some progress, but I'm probably cutting slightly less than I otherwise might've, because I'm doing it in public. Each week I anticipate what the comments might be if I strike through some old bluesman–even if all I've only got by him is one lame track from a compilation–and so I hesitate to delete. I suppose I could cut anyway and just not tell you all about it, but that seems unfair. Thus far, the only tracks I've routinely breezed by without mentioning in the column include the following: Songs from Stephen Sondheim cast albums (which are often indexed in a strange way that makes them inconducive to inclusion in a list of bands and solo artists), mash-ups (which aren't by real bands in the first place), and the little TV and movie dialogue snippets that I've accumulated and stored over the years.
Pacing-wise, I've managed to keep a 700-tracks-a-week rhythm going, despite the setback of Sundance and some unexpected family business that sent me to Nashville for two days a couple of weeks ago. (Although I actually got a lot of listening done on the road…it was just writing that was hard.) Every few weeks though I flip through my collection to see if there are any CDs I still need to load into my hard drive, and in addition to finding some "As" and "Bs" I've missed (and will have to get back to at some point), I find I'm also adding another couple hundred tracks each week, which means that at my current pace, I probably won't get through my collection by the end of October. (In case you don't recall the parameters of the experiment, at the end of October I'm going to start buying the best-reviewed albums of 2008 and writing about them every week for two months to close out this series.) Come November, it looks like I'm still going to be sorting through the old pieces of the puzzle while I contemplate the new ones.
So far though, I don't think I've run out of things to say, even though I keep coming back to the same basic mix of indie-rock, classic rock, '70s/'80s pop, roots music and vintage R&B.; Every time I start a new column I panic a little, but then I look at the list of bands coming up (like this week's Bruce Springsteen, Built To Spill and The Byrds), and I feel a sense of calm. Thus far, the problem hasn't been finding something to write, but figuring out where to stop.
Pieces Of The Puzzle
Years Of Operation 1968-99
Fits Between America and The Bee Gees
Personal Correspondence Back when my best friend and I were finding out all we could about music by haunting used record stores and raiding our parents' record collections, he tried to sell me on the idea that Bread was rad, but I wouldn't buy in. I was pretty sure the only reason he liked Bread was because they were readily accessible in his dad's stack of LPs; and besides, I couldn't get behind any band that would record a song called, "Baby I'm-A Want You." I can embrace my wimpy side, but there are limits. Then, a couple of years ago, a bunch of acts I like recorded a Bread tribute album, Friends And Lovers, and somewhere in the middle of playing Josh Rouse's cover of "It Don't Matter To Me," I had a moment of clarity. In a fever, I wrote the following review: "The critical establishment of the '70s helped define rock's canon, by speaking out passionately against pretension, programmatic pop, and sickly-sweet soft rock. But those guys weren't always right. Time has shown rock critics' knee-jerk rejection of disco to be partly rooted in a kind of misguided purity, bordering on bigotry; and it's only a matter of time before the long-standing prejudice against California folk-pop falls away, and people start to realize the powerful fantasy world that bands like Bread represent. Friends And Lovers: Songs Of Bread is one of the best products yet to emerge from the insidious "tribute album" genre, in part because it has a better line-up than most of these things–the likes of Josh Rouse, Cake, Paula Frazer and members of The Posies contribute tracks–and in part because the musicians know why they're here. In Rouse's plaintive cover of 'It Don't Matter To Me,' the pop-folk hero sings at his highest and blankest while steel guitar, bass and drums ripple below; and suddenly it's clear how strong the pull of '70s AM has been on Rouse's entire career. Even when the bands mix it up some–like Call & Response does with their bossa nova flavored 'Baby I'm-A Want You' and Cake does with their wiggy southern-psychedelic 'Guitar Man'–Bread's ethereal melodies and tame romantic obsessions carry the song. These aren't put-ons or parodies. This is Bread reconsidered as the sound of rainy west coast days, calling out across the continents to transistor radios in sunny suburban kitchens."
Enduring presence? I bought The Best Of Bread shortly after Friends And Lovers came out, and I'm still digging it. I guess the "yacht rock" movement has never gained enough momentum for Bread's critical reputation to get resuscitated, but anyone who sings as well as David Gates–and with such a gift for slowly creeping melodies–won't stay in disfavor forever.
Years Of Operation 1988-present
Fits Between Pixies and Guided By Voices
Personal Correspondence For a time, it looked like Kim Deal's little side project was bound to outpace the Pixies in terms of chart success and lasting impact, but the pressure of making the band a going concern apparently overwhelmed the Kim and her already-messed-up sister Kelley, and over time, Frank Black's slow-and-steady approach has won the race. (Though the Pixies still reign over both of them…and have provided them both with a handy cash machine in recent years.) That said, The Breeders' Pod and the Safari EP were essential listening back at the dawn of the '90s, revealing how much Kim Deal's pop sense had helped mitigate Frank Black's shock tactics on the Pixies' early records–as well as how much occasional Breeder Tanya Donnelly could be offering to Throwing Muses. The band's big mainstream move Last Splash was beefier and more eclectic, but less fleet–with the exception of songs like "Cannonball," "Divine Hammer" and "Saints," all of which presented Deal as an alt-rock queen in waiting. One who ultimately refused her crown.
Enduring presence? Why isn't there a The Best Of The Breeders out there? Sure, they didn't record much–and their 2004 comeback album was weak–but the 14 or so top Breeders cuts would make for some exciting listening. Better than The Best Of Belly, that's for sure.
Years Of Operation 1995-present
Fits Between Billy Bragg and Dashboard Confessional
Personal Correspondence Conor Oberst rubs a lot of folks the wrong way with his floppy hair, sad eyes and searing self-absorption, but I tend to feel towards him and his music the way venerable old entertainers used to feel about the latest flash-in-the-pan pop star. "The kid's got talent!" I sputter, as everyone around me rolls their eyes and backs away. But he does! He really does! Oberst's main problem to date has been that his ambition often exceeds his ability. (Well, that and the fact that he's an insufferably pretentious emo-boy.) On the other hand, when he showed off a new maturity and control on last year's Cassadaga, the results were kind of dreary, and overshadowed by the more off-the-cuff songs on the preceding EP Four Winds. So maybe he needs to push himself and move out of his comfort zone in order to come up with anything worthy of passionate debate. Oberst's career peak to date was the simultaneous release of the reckless synth-pop experiment Digital Ash In A Digital Urn and the graceful country-rock effort I'm Wide Awake It's Morning, two albums that showed off the range of his gifts and obsessions, while still remaining concise and accessible. And though he still has the bad songwriter habit of falling back into the same cadence over and over again–a bush league maneuver–Oberst's got the skills and the fan base to come up a really timeless and enduring LP someday. I'm betting it happens sooner rather than later.
Enduring presence? In the meantime, I still have a soft spot for Bright Eyes, even at their most shrill, and I'm continually taken aback by the moments where Oberst's proudly blemish-y lyrics meet a melody and arrangement that make navel-gazing awkwardness a virtue. Example: My favorite Bright Eyes song, Digital Ash's "Light Pollution," a bitterly ironic and passionate reminiscence of a political-minded mentor who was undone by the capitalist sprawl he railed against. The beauty of the climactic line–"I bet the stars seemed so close at the end"–turns an angry moment into a fitting tribute.
Years Of Operation 1969-74
Fits Between The Band and The Blasters
Personal Correspondence As proof that you're never too old to discover something you should've known decades earlier, I offer my so-far brief, happy affair with Brinsley Schwarz, a band I'd always regarded as a footnote in the career of Brit-rock icon Nick Lowe (even though I'd never actually, you know, heard them). Last year–after, I add with some embarrassment, I'd interviewed Lowe about his excellent 2007 album At My Age–I stumbled across an article about Brinsley Schwarz that mentioned their album Nervous On The Road as the supreme artifact of the pub-rock era. Since I'd always wanted to venture further into pub-rock than my handful of Graham Parker records, I went looking for Nervous On The Road on CD. And since I never just dip a toe in where I can dive, as soon as I saw that all six Brinsley Schwarz albums were available on three two-fer CD sets, I bought the whole damn discography at once, and spent about a month playing them over and over and over in my car. Yes, even the band's much-maligned debut album: a shameless attempt to rip off Crosby, Stills & Nash that would be appalling, except that I like Crosby, Stills & Nash, almost as much as I like Nick Lowe. Of course Brinsley Schwarz does get better after they move past the CSN and Band homages and start working in some Van Morrison and British skiffle. Nervous On The Road and the final album, The New Adventures Of Brinsley Schwarz, are the work of a group of young musicians eager to embrace the variety of new sounds emerging on the radio in the UK in the early '70s, and it's no surprise that when the band broke up and Lowe went solo, he became the go-to guy for young punk and New Wave acts looking for a sympathetic ear in the producer's chair. Lowe new what it was like to fumble along, trying to find the formula for greatness.
Enduring presence? We've had box sets and revivals for nearly every underground rock movement of the '70s and '80s, so the time has definitely come for a pub-rock revival. I want new pub-rock-influenced bands, a sweeping Rhino box set, and some kind of oral history, perhaps assembled by Simon Reynolds. Get to it, zeitgeist.
Years Of Operation 1972-present (E Street era and solo)
Fits Between Woody Guthrie and Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
Personal Correspondence I've already written several thousand words on Springsteen for this site, so you'll forgive me if I don't wax rhapsodic here about how Bruce Springsteen has been a foundational part of my music-listening–and music-writing–since I was 14. Anyway, most of my personal Springsteen stories are either routine or are too involved to get into here. (I wrote a whole short story when I was 15 about the painful night when I bought Greetings From Asbury Park after being ditched by some cooler high school kids I thought I was hanging out with; and I still remember my anxiousness at 17 when I tried to hide from my punk friends that I'd bought a copy of Tunnel Of Love along with the latest by The Smiths and The Jesus & Mary Chain.) What I will say though is that over the past couple of weeks of Popless, I'm starting to realize something about my taste: I'm drawn to a lot of different styles of music, but I especially like when artists deliver something immediate, accessible and even primitive, but with the knowing touch of a theoretician. You can hear that approach all over my favorite Bruce Springsteen album The River and its spine-tingling outtake "Be True." This is rowdy frat-rock with adult themes, pitched to listeners who are too preoccupied with work, children and complicated relationships to rock the way they used to, but not to old to want to.
Enduring presence? Has Springsteen taken the new mantle of "The Hardest Working Man In Showbiz?" There aren't that many musicians of his era willing to hustle so hard to sell records: doing morning talk shows, touring the world, partnering with major media outlets…Springsteen may not be a chart-topping multi-platinum artist anymore, but he'll beat the bushes to roust out every fan he still has.
Years Of Operation 1956-59
Fits Between Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers
Personal Correspondence I saw The Buddy Holly Story on TV when I was 10 or 11 years old, and I remember being impressed by the scene where Holly fights for creative control in the studio, so that he can make records that sound like what he hears in his head. Even though the movie's an exaggeration, Holly was keenly interested in studio techniques, and was reportedly making moves towards becoming a behind-the-scenes producer/songwriter/mogul in New York City before fate intervened. His own music always maintained a core of "authenticity"–born of Holly's close study of bluegrass and roadhouse–but in general, he wasn't really about trying to recreate the visceral kick of a live rock show. Holly took the grammar of rock and country and delivered it with the sophistication of a mainstream pop singer. Just listen to "Love's Made A Fool Of You"–one of the first songs Holly wrote, but one of the last he recorded. It's almost wholly a studio construction, arranged and separated in such a way that the best the listener can do is imagine how it would sound in a club or a concert hall. It's a record, first and foremost–proud of its own artificiality, and how good it's going to sound on the radio in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere.
Enduring presence? Would Buddy Holly's albums in the '60s have been totally mind-blowing, or would he have become Pat Boone? Did music really die on The Day The Music Died?
Years Of Operation 1987-99, 2007-present
Fits Between Dinosaur Jr. and Soul Asylum
Personal Correspondence I have no recollection of why I bought the first Buffalo Tom album, except that it was on SST, a label I respected, and the band was from the Boston area, where a lot was happening at the end of the '80s. I also think I'd heard them compared to Dinosaur Jr., who at the time were arguably my favorite band; and I may have even heard their eruptive first single "Sunflower Suit" on college radio, where it fit snugly alongside early Flaming Lips and late Hüsker Dü. So I bought Buffalo Tom, and thought it was a passable sub-Dinosaur noisy rock record. I liked the band's major label debut* Birdbrain even better, though it still sounded a little derivative of other bands from the Boston scene. And then Let Me Come Over…holy shit, Let Me Come Over. I no longer think–as I did when I was 21–that Let Me Come Over is one of the greatest American rock albums of all time. It seems too clunkily earnest to me now; too drippy. But in cutting the aimless aggressiveness of the first two albums with a healthy dose of folk-rock, Bill Janovitz and company made a roots-bound alternative album with a far more forward-thinking approach than Uncle Tupelo's landmark debut No Depression. (Though, to Uncle Tupelo's credit, Still Feel Gone got to where Let Me Come Over got first, and in some ways more successfully.) The arc of Let Me Come Over, from the yowling "Staples" to the shaky ballad "Crutch"–the latter a song that recedes nervously whenever you try to get close to it–remains impressively eclectic and tuneful. I was happy that Buffalo Tom broke wide with album that followed, Big Red Letter Day, but for that album and 1995's Smitten, Janovitz streamlined the sound a bit too much, losing a lot of the human flaws and quirks that made their early work so lovable. Unlike most of their contemporaries, Buffalo Tom got radio play, TV exposure, and (I assume) the money that comes with it. But creatively, they peaked before anyone was really paying attention.
Enduring presence? A very good comeback album last year bodes well for Buffalo Tom re-entering the consciousness of rock fans. If someone wanted to start playing "Sodajerk" on commercials again, that would help too.
*Major label in this case equals Beggar's Banquet, where good bands have gone to die for decades.
Built To Spill
Years Of Operation 1992-present
Fits Between Neil Young and The Steve Miller Band
Personal Correspondence For about 10 years running, before marriage and children intervened, Scott Tobias and I would get together every March for the first weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament, and spend four days gorging on hoops, junk food, and a long line of chatter about movies and music. During the first halves of the games, we'd often put the TV on mute and take turns playing each other new bands we'd found. (One year, we both bought copies of The Trouser Press Guide To '90s Rock and spent the weekend looking up bands we wanted to check out.) Built To Spill was one that Scott turned me onto. He brought Perfect From Now On to me a few months after it had come out, and put it on while we were watching a game. I didn't pay it much mind until "Untrustable" came on at the end, and then I had one of those, "Hold on a second…who are these guys?" moments. Something about Doug Martsch's accusatory whine and insistent guitar just woke me up. Perfect From Now On became the defining record on 1997 for me, though it retrospect it's hard to extricate the many happy hours I spent playing that album from the time I spent with There's Nothing Wrong With Love, Ultimate Alternative Wavers and The Normal Years, all of which I gobbled up at the same time. (I had just discovered CDNow and I was working at a job that paid real money, so nothing I wanted to hear was off-limits. It was a golden age.) The more concise 1999 record Keep It Like A Secret was another five-star winner (give or take…there are a couple of clunkers on there), but after that, bandleader Doug Martsch seemed to freeze up some, and both his solo album and Ancient Melodies Of The Future showed a once-vital talent fumbling for something to say–and not seeming to care much whether he came up with it. (I interviewed Martsch once, and can attest that he's not exactly the most enthusiastic guy you'll ever meet.) Luckily, 2006's You In Reverse restored order, and reminded me why I fell for BTS in the first place: those expressive guitar solos, stretching towards the horizon. There are a slew of Built To Spill songs I could've picked for my sample track, but "Carry The Zero" pretty much defines what I love about the band, from the lilting melody to the guitar coda that keeps spiraling up and up and up, fading out early so as to give the impression that in some universe, Martsch and company might still be wailing.
Enduring presence? The superb You In Reverse and the reportedly stirring tour that followed–one that I missed when it came through my region, sadly–helped restore Martsch's reputation some. They're an ideal band for the jam circuit in some ways; I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years there are package tours built around bands like Built To Spill, My Morning Jacket, Band Of Horses, The Hold Steady…indie-rockers who put the accent on the "rock."
Years Of Operation 1992-97
Fits Between The Chills and Yo La Tengo
Personal Correspondence Back at the end of the '90s, I made a mix tape filled with Butterglory, Small Factory, and about a half-dozen other lo-fi indie-rock bands, and I titled the tape "The New Folk," because I had some kind of crackpot critical theory I was flogging at the time. Basically I was arguing that the more low-key DIY indie-rockers were the heirs to the tradition of the folk musicians of the late '50s and early '60s, except that instead of drawing on rare Folkways recordings, the new breed were taking post-punk singles and obscure college rock and showing how that music was relevant to a certain kind of modern American experience–the experience of feeling rootless and restless in Nowhere, USA. Or maybe that experience was only relevant to me. Certainly Butterglory never became popular outside the small circle of people who liked muted, jangly guitar and sweetly out-of-tune vocals. But for us, Butterglory was beautiful.
Enduring presence? The more Butterglory became enamored of complex orchestration, the further they moved away from the effortless charm of their early recordings. Beulah followed a similar career track, but their fuller albums paid off in ways that Butterglory's never quite did. Butterglory's later albums were too weighed down, and that same sluggishness has carried over to Matt Sugg's post-Butterglory work, on his own and with White Whale. But man, in their heyday, Butterglory really were something. Package their best 30 songs–as I've already done on my iPod–and you might find a critic or two willing to trot out references to The Chills and Yo La Tengo. Sort of like I already did.
Years Of Operation 1981-2004
Fits Between Flipper and The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Personal Correspondence My trepidation about the heavy and dark made my initial forays into punk rock kind of rough. I was always a little afraid before I dropped the needle for the first time on, say, The Dead Kennedys or Suicidal Tendencies, because I was worried the music was going to be too abrasive, and maybe even too subversive. And sometimes it was. (Case in point: Crass, coming up in a couple of weeks.) And sometimes bands that had scary-sounding names weren't so scary after all. Meat Puppets and The Flaming Lips were far more lyrical than I was expecting the first time I heard them, on Up On The Sun and Oh My Gawd!!!, respectively; and the Butthole Surfers songs that got played on my local college radio station were so weirdly hooky that I finally broke down and bought Rembrandt Pussyhorse before I went off to college. As it happens, that might've been the friendliest way into the world of the Buttholes, being more artsy than the "theater of cruelty" trappings they usually favored. The further I went back–and eventually forward–the odder and more unsettling Butthole Surfers got. Yet even though Gibby Haynes' drug-fueled experiments were more truly dangerous than bands with rawer fronts, he had a puckishness about him that put even the Surfers' most violent moments in a frame.
Enduring presence? Because The Flaming Lips stole a lot of Butthole Surfers' stage shtick, I'm not sure people who didn't experience them firsthand will know what a sick, silly carnival a Butthole Surfers show could be back in the late '80s. The band also didn't do its legacy any favors by growing most dramatically in its first five or six years, and then sticking around for another decade or so, looking increasingly tired. But there's still a lot of fertile material in those early records, and it would behoove some young bands to reap what's already laying there, helpfully sowed.
Years Of Operation 1975-1981, 1989-present)
Fits Between Herman's Hermits and The Sex Pistols
Personal Correspondence One of the beauties of the British music scene is that the press, the bands, the fans and radio alike tend to treat the outré and the mainstream as all part of the same pop continuum. When I used to read NME and Melody Maker in my college library, I was always amazed by the acts that actually sold records overseas, and made the charts. Only that "everything is art"/"everything is a commodity" outlook could produce a band as great as The Buzzcocks, who took the inspiration of The Sex Pistols and funneled their punky energy into zippy singles with a slight smack of bubblegum. I've never been as ga-ga for The Buzzcocks as some, but they're definitely a hard band to dislike, because Pete Shelley and company poured a full measure of wit, passion and melodic know-how into every song.
Enduring presence? Pop meets punk. Pretty much every chart-topping non-Nickelback rock act of the past 5 years should cut Pete Shelley a check.
Years Of Operation 1964-73
Fits Between Bob Dylan and The Beatles
Personal Correspondence A colleague of mine once started an e-mail discussion about who belongs on the list of the greatest "American" bands of all time, with the parameters for inclusion being enduring influence and indigenous sounds. At the time I argued for Credence Clearwater Revival and Sly & The Family Stone, but that was about a year before I fell for The Byrds really hard. Although The Byrds might have too many strains of Euro-folk and British Invasion to completely pass the "American" test, the progression they made from their early "let's get rich adding jangle to Dylan" efforts to their later forays into trad C&W; and earthy psychedelia pretty much defined the path that American rock bands at the end of the '60s had to follow. (Was it just the competitive spirit between all these bands that led them to change so fruitfully, so quickly?) I thank The Byrds for a lot: For giving me a way to properly appreciate David Crosby, for turning me onto Gram Parsons, for helping to explain where Big Star, The Soft Boys, Tom Petty and R.E.M. all came from, and for convincing me that there were a slew of amazing rock albums that rarely get mentioned whenever music magazines makes lists of the greatest of all time. For example: Fifth Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday and The Notorious Byrd Brothers.
Enduring presence? In the world inside my head, no one argues about "The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones" without throwing The Byrds into the mix as an upstart contender.
From the fringes of my collection, a few songs (some great, some not-so) to share….
Brenda Holloway, "Every Little Bit Hurts" The last time I tried an insane music-related project was in private, and I only made it about six weeks before I fell behind and quit. Starting on January 1st, 2003, I kept a journal in which I intended to write about one Motown song a day from the two Hitsville box sets, in order to explore whether the familiarity of Motown hits kept them from being relatable as music, as opposed to the soundtrack to every '60s-themed movie and TV show made in the past 10 years. What I found was that some of the lesser-known Motown stars were revelations to me–like Brenda Holloway, the classy west coast version of Diana Ross, and arguably the best female vocalist Motown had in their stable, pre-Gladys Knight. This song has been recorded by many, but I can't think of anyone else who's given it the full dramatic sweep that Holloway does here.
Broken Social Scene, "KC Accidental" There's probably no way that Broken Social Scene can recreate that bracing feeling of You Forgot It In People, the indie-rock record that restored a lot of people's faith in the idea of music nerds futzing about in home studios packed with their friends and their friends' instruments. (The quality of that record is especially remarkable given that, on their own, the various members of BSS tend to sound far more routine.) In a technical/songwriting sense, the Canadian collective's self-titled third album is arguably superior to Forgot. But it doesn't have a "KC Accidental." It couldn't, because you can't surprise people with the same trick twice.
Brooks & Dunn, "Caroline" It's hard to separate the Brooks & Dunn industry–which includes a fair amount of pandering to their boot-scootin', flag-wavin', defiantly reactionary fan base–from the band's actual music, which is often quite strong. Even without the studio pump-up, this morose lost-love ballad from the very good album Red Dirt Road would be catchy, but that studio pump-up is interesting in and of itself. Just listen to everything that's in this little throwaway song: some fiery electric guitar, a whole bunch of aimless twang, organ fills, R&B; shouting in the background, punchy drumrolls, sudden falsetto…there's no card left unplayed. And there's something to be said for muscle for muscle's sake. I like to think of Brooks & Dunn as country's answer to Van Halen, cranking out crowd-pleasing, arena-filling anthems, polished up to reference-quality. If I bought a new stereo system, I'm not so sure I wouldn't test it out by playing 1984 and Red Dirt Road back to back.
Brother Johnson Witherspoon, "That's Enough" I'll talk more about the phenomenon of Christian Rock some future week, but here's a track that explores the gray area of marrying the secular and the spiritual. Is there a point where a gospel song gets so funky and raw that it crosses the line from sacred to profane? I know what my conservative Christian in-laws would say–and even my fairly liberal dad felt uncomfortable listening to rock 'n' roll on Sundays. To be honest, I don't get much of a transcendent, spiritually uplifting vibe from this song. It sounds a little mean in fact…and I think that's why I like it.
Bruce Cockburn, "If I Had A Rocket Launcher" It's strange how some things sneak onto the radio, either because of a strong push by a major label or because of a thriving local fanbase. I don't know if it was a regional thing or what, but in the mid-'80s, Nashville's album-rock station WKDF played the hell out of "If I Had A Rocket Launcher," the anti-imperialist single from the fifth album by veteran Canadian folk-rocker Bruce Cockburn. Later, when I got out in the wider world, I discovered that the average rock fan I met wasn't familiar with the song. Cockburn was always more a favorite of the singer-songwriter obsessives (which probably explains his popularity in Nashville). I've listened to a fair amount of Cockburn's work in the decades since and I like him generally, even if he can be a little on-the-nose with his lyrics, and a little too enamored of the latest recording technology. And I still think that "If I Had A Rocket Launcher" is a boss single.
Bruce Hornsby & The Range, "The Valley Road" Because I didn't really start driving until after I graduated college, I spent a lot of time riding in the back of my parents' cars in the '80s, listening to adult contemporary radio. By the middle of the decade, when all the mainstream producers discovered synthesizers and drum machines, the soft-rock genre became a largely indistinguishable mix of electronic chug and twinkle. In that context, Bruce Hornsby was fairly refreshing, because beneath the thick plastic casing, there was an actual piano, and a semi-soulful voice, and some well-written pop ballads. I used to cross my fingers and hope my parents' favorite radio station would play "The Valley Road," because if I strained real hard, it almost sounded like a Band song. Unlike most everything else on AC radio at the time, "The Valley Road" didn't just lie there–it had momentum.
Bryan Adams, "Run To You" I can't make much of a case for Bryan Adams as an underrated artist. He's a decent balladeer, and anyone who's kept his career viable for so long deserves at least a nod of respect. But there's really only one Bryan Adams song that gets my blood flowing, and it's this hard-charging, engagingly urgent anthem. It comes from that small, wonderful window of '80s album-rock, just before the producers fell into line with what I describe above in the Bruce Hornsby write-up. Those early-to-mid '80s records were booming and glimmering, but they weren't yet synthetic. I'm not one of those "synthesizers suck and guitars rule!" guys by any means, but some sounds don't go so well together, and arena rock backed by drum machines and laden with synth washes tends to lose some essential musicality–not to mention some essential rock thrust. "Run To You" may be a machine-tooled hit, but the sound is righteous.
Buck Owens, "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass" As much as it irks me to hear perfectly good rock songs run through the dehumanizing late-'80s producer mill, I have a perverse soft spot for the veteran folk and country artists who tried to contemporize in the late '60s. This groovy Buck Owens single adds some psychedelic fuzz to the Bakersfield sound, and while it's still essentially Buck, it's also a snazzy relic of a time too-soon past.
The Budos Band, "Ride Or Die" On the flipside, I'm never entirely sure what to do with modern bands who dedicate themselves to recreating that past, right down to the production techniques. It's true you can learn a lot about the Civil War by becoming a re-enactor, but if you do it long enough you start worrying more about whether the buttons on your jacket look right than whether the cause of states' rights should extend to the ownership of human beings. That said, I like it when a retro act like The Budos Band goes out of their way to come up with a song that doesn't just sound old, but sounds like it belongs in the past. If I had heard this on a compilation of forgotten '70s movie themes, I'd think it was awesome. So, in an objective sense, it should be no less awesome given its current context. (Though I still prefer The Dap-Kings.)
Buffalo Springfield, "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" The big Neil Young discussion will have to wait–as well as the big Stephen Stills discussion for that matter–but I can't just blow past Buffalo Springfield without pausing to enjoy one of my favorite songs of all time. Buffalo Springfield were in some ways a fairly typical product of the late '60s Sunset Strip scene, except that they were graced with some exceptional players, and some very strong songwriters–and not just Stills and Young, either. But Young was clearly the wild card that made the hand more interesting, and even though his output with the band was fairly meager, Buffalo Springfield would've been about on a par with The Youngbloods–a not-bad group, by the way–were it not for songs like this off-kilter hybrid of the rootsy and the cosmic. Young wasn't allowed to sing this one, but the band's label apparently though enough of "Clancy" to make it their debut single. This was definitely a time when people weren't afraid of aspiring to the level of myth.
Burl Ives, "Lavender Blue (Dilly, Dilly)" I'd like to think that songwriters like Neil Young–and Bob Dylan in his Big Pink phase–were training themselves to get to a place where they could, without thinking too hard, create something as miraculous and indelible as this traditional English folksong that Burl Ives recorded for the Disney curio So Dear To My Heart. In just over a minute, Ives welcomes the listeners in, sits us down, says something odd and interesting, and then escorts us out the door, strangely satisfied.
Burt Bacharach, "South American Getaway" I'm more enamored of the idea of Burt Bacharach than the actual songs he wrote with Hal David–many of which I do like, but which too often have the gratingly repetitive quality of commercial jingles. This sweeping instrumental is more of what I like from Bacharach: crazy arrangements and studio trickery just for the fun of it, coupled with a genuine attempt to take the listener to another place for five minutes.
By Divine Right, "The Slap" By Divine Right's Sweet Confusion is one of the best under-known records of the '00s. In my review back in '04, I wrote: "By Divine Right recklessly smears the distinctions separating classic rock, punk, R&B;, and indie-rock to forge a weather-beaten sound that matches the album's title. Sweet Confusion's first song, 'The Slap.' jumps from Strokes-esque jagged jangle to a '60s garage rave-up to a weird, almost Yes-esque instrumental break, before finishing with a rush of hard-rock noise. By Divine Right has a history of making forceful, catchy music, but Sweet Confusion does more than just rage full-on; bandleader Jose Miguel Contreras is at his most open and aware here, spinning his influences into one long, sturdy rope. … The album traces rock's evolution from primal dance music to heady mind candy to something like art." Listening to the album again this week, I stand by that ridiculous hyperbole.
Listened to, unremarked upon:
The Brady Bunch Kids, Brakes (aka brakesbrakesbrakes in the US), Branch & Coleman, Brandon Butler, Brandston, Breakestra, Breather Resist, Brenda Lee, Brian Capps, Brian Eno, Brian McDade, Brian Wilson, Brian Winterman, Bright, Brightblack Morning Light, Brigitte Demeyer, Bring Back The Guns, British Sea Power, Britt Daniel, Broadcast, The Brokedowns, Broken Spindles, The Broken West, The Bronx, Brook Benton, Brother Henry, Brother Reade, The Brothers Cosmoline, The Brothers Johnson, Brothers Past, Brownie McGhee, Bruce Robison, The Bruces, Bucho, Bucksworth, Buddy & Julie Miller, Buell Kazee, Buffalo Daughter, Buffalo Killers, The Buffseeds, Bukka White, Bullets & Octane, Bullets Of Orange, Bunky, Bunny Rabbit, Bunnygrunt, Burger/Ink, The Burnside Project, Burrito Deluxe, Buscemi, Butch Walker, Buva and Byron Parker & His Mountaineers
Next week: From Cactus World News to Chet Atkins, plus a few words on elusive musical auteurs.


text:
Law Times reports this week that a recently resigned assessment officer says the wait times for preliminary appointments for assessments under the Solicitors Act has ballooned to more than 12 months from three months. This is concerning, to say the least.
Delayed assessments under the Solicitors Act assessment process can have a variety of troublesome impacts for the parties involved and cause an already arduous and unpleasant process to stretch on even longer.
George Argyropoulos, who spent almost eight years as an assessment officer before quitting in February, told Law Times it’s not fair to have someone waiting a year just for a preliminary appointment.
He has a valid point. We reported recently that Ontario lawyers were urging the province to invest after a Superior Court judge labelled wait times for hearings “unacceptably long.”
“I fully recognize that the profession is currently experiencing a degree of frustration with the delays cropping up in the assessment process under the Solicitors Act,” wrote Superior Court Justice Sean Dunphy last month in his ruling in Gilbert’s LLP v. Dixon Inc.
Not only have wait times for a preliminary appointment leaped to at least 12 months, the number of assessment officers in Toronto has apparently dropped to two full-time employees from nine.
The officers who remain have much heavier workloads with expectations they monitor court-recording equipment from court reporters and deal with more complex matters.
The Ministry of the Attorney General needs to examine staffing levels and ensure they are appropriate. A ministry spokesman says efforts to deal with the problem are underway, and “include obtaining assistance from assessment officers in other regions to hear matters until December 2016 and recruiting for assessment officers in the near future.”
Argyropoulos has strong words: “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Ministry of the Attorney General, but I’m very concerned and unhappy that the public is not being served in the manner they are entitled to be. For me, it goes back to the basic concept that justice delayed is justice denied.”
Help cannot come soon enough. Recruitment efforts are paramount to address a bottlenecked process or risk a dire situation growing worse.

domain: news


text:
Prepare a Print for Competition Using Photoshop
You’ve taken your best shot: The light was perfect, your technique was flawless, and that fleeting moment is captured in a file on your hard drive. So now what? How do you turn that perfect photo into a prize-winning, gallery-quality print? Fire up Adobe Photoshop, open the image and start editing.
Is Your Photo Print-Worthy?
1. Start with a photo that is well-exposed. Photoshop can help correct a lot of images, but it can’t bring shadows or highlights back.
2. Choose a photo that’s reasonably sharp-what’s reasonable depends on the photo. If you’re an architectural photographer, the lines between those bricks better be sharp as a razor’s edge. If you’re a portrait photographer, it’s OK for the background to be out of focus, but the subject’s eyes should be clear and sharp. If the guests are throwing rice at the bride and groom, it’s acceptable to have small amount of motion blur.
3. Choose a photo with effective composition. There are plenty of great photos that break compositional rules, but typically, a portrait should be vertical, and a landscape should be horizontal. The viewer’s eye should move around the photo easily, and your subject should fill the frame.
Editing Your Photo
4. Open your photo in Photoshop by clicking “File” and “Open.” In the dialog box that appears, find your photo and click “Open.”
5. Save a copy of your photo immediately before you start editing by clicking “File” and “Save.” Name your file something like “Originalname_edited.jpg.” Editing is a tricky process, and mistakes are easily made. In a worst-case-scenario, you will still have the original file intact.
6. Level your photo by clicking “Image,” then “Adjustments” and “Auto Levels.” This will very likely make your photo much brighter and more dynamic, with more vibrant colors and better contrast. If not, click “Edit” and then “Undo” to revert the photo back to its previous settings.
Establish your Print Size and Color Space
7. Click “Image” and “Image Size” to establish the photo’s print size. In the dialog box, you’ll see the actual pixel dimensions of your photo and the document size. At the bottom of this box, uncheck “Resample Image” to deactivate the pixel dimensions section.
8. Type the dimensions for your print into the “Width” and “Height” boxes. The resolution will change depending on your dimensions. At least 200 pixels per inch are needed for a sharp print, so if your resolution falls below that, then consider smaller print dimensions.
9. Set your color mode by clicking “Image,” then “Mode” and “RBG Color,” unless your print lab or printer manual specifies otherwise.
10. Unless your printer manual or print lab have given you other instructions, set your color space by clicking “Edit” and “Color Settings.” In the dialog box under “Working Spaces,” make sure that the RGB space is set to “sRGB IEC61966-2.1,” which is the color space that most printers use.
Local Contrast and Sharpening
11. Local contrast, or edge contrast, makes your image appear sharper and more detailed. Even the sharpest photos need a local contrast enhancement and some basic sharpening. The intensity of these adjustments is up to the individual photographer, but the process is the same for every image and consists of two consecutive sharpening steps.
12. Click “Filter,” then “Sharpen” and “Unsharp Mask.” In the dialog box, be sure to click “Preview” so you can see the impact of your adjustments as you make them.
13. Set the “Amount” to 20 percent, the “Radius” to 50 pixels, and the “Threshold” to 0 levels. Your image should look significantly better, but if it doesn’t, adjust the “Amount” to vary the contrast enhancement. When you’ve reached a level you like, click “OK.”
14. Return to the “Unsharp Mask” dialog by clicking “Filter,” then “Sharpen” and “Unsharp Mask.” Give your image a final sharpening enhancement by setting the “Amount” to 50 percent, the “Radius” to 3.0 pixels, and the “Threshold” at 0 levels. Once again, make sure “Preview” is checked, and if you don’t like the results, vary the “Amount” until you achieve the desired level of sharpness.
Saving Your Image
15. Decide the proper file format for your image. If you’ll be printing it yourself or burning a CD to take to a print lab, the TIF format will retain all of your image data. However, a TIF file will likely be too big to send through email, so if you’ll be emailing your file to a print lab, the JPG format is more appropriate.
16. Click “File” and “Save As.” In the dialog box, give your file an appropriate name by typing in the “File Name” field.
17.Choose the appropriate file format from the “Format” drop-down menu.
18. Click “Save.” If you’re using the JPG file format, choose “Maximum” quality. If you’re using saving the image as a TIF, choose “None” under “Image Compression” and click “OK.”

domain: design


Dude, that's perfect!I've got the Motion Pro quick disconnect on my 51. 5/16 for the main line (the actual line is small, it's just covered in a thick rubber sleeve). I run one of Thorsten's airboxes so I cut the main fuel line 6-8 inches from the throttle body union and plumbed in the quick disconnect. I've also got a 1/4 inch disconnect for the return line but I haven't fitted that one yet. It's been on the bike about a year and no leaks, no issues and totally compatible with pump fuel. I use the single sided dry break with the dry end on the tank side (not much to leak on the throttle body side).
If you admit I'm a genius I might even have a spare I could send ya...Dude, that's perfect!
Your the second person that uses the motion pro one that said it works fine. Yeah, the single side shut off should work perfect.
So, I'm looking for 5/16.
I tried these, will report on quality and application....I'll check that out.
I also found this:
LCD17005 - 5/16 Hose Barb Valved In-Line CPC Coupling Body
Looks pretty promising.


The cone crusher by SIEBTECHNIK TEMA is perfectly suited to produce cubic The feed material is crushed between the slowly rotating cone and the static
thyssenkrupps reliable impact crusher for the production of gravel, chippings and directions and the direction of rotation of the rotor to be changed at any time.
The cone crusher breaks rock by squeezing the rock between an eccentrically rotating spindle, which is covered by a wear resistant mantle, and the enclosing
4 Jul 2015 The impact crusher, for example, has a higher co-efficient of reduction, of the rotor and blow bars in an impact crusher help facilitate rotation,
A crusher is a machine designed to reduce large rocks into smaller rocks, gravel, or rock dust. The earliest crushers were hand-held stones, where the weight of the stone provided a boost to muscle . motion towards the fixed jaw due to the action of toggle pla
Horizontal shaft impact (HSI) crushers are known for high reduction ratios, Self-Rotor Rotation system (SRR) is available for all Nordberg® NP Series™ HSI
2 Sep 2019 Cone crushers are similar to gyratory crushers in that they have a mantle that rotates within a bowl, but the chamber is not as steep. They are
Horizontal Shaft Impact crusher use impact energy to crush materials. Driven by the motor, the rotor revolves at a high speed. Revolving blow bars in the rotor
Generally speaking, the major differences between Impact Crushers, both back to the rotating hammers for another round of impacting until it is discharged out
Impact CrusherACD; VSI(Gyropactor)SR; High Speed Impact CrusherHSI; FritterFR of automatic reverse rotation and safety stop system in case of overloaded.
performance model is also considered for the horizontal shaft impact crusher so feeded material hits the rotating hammers of the rotor and due to this sudden
17 Apr 2018 During working process, the crushing efficiency of impact crusher will be reduced by various factors. Such as rotation speed and rotational
19 Jun 2019 Among the crushing equipment, the hammer mill is one which is . generated by an impact crusher through the variation in the rotation speed,
The feed material is crushed with impact hammer crusher or impact crusher by means of rotating beaters with reversible head by impact against the grinding
Jaw crushers operate according to the principle of pressure crushing. the mantle and bowl liner is opened continuously with the rotation of the hydraulic drive.
Impact crushers, which are also called hammer mills, break rock by impacting the rock with hammers that swing on a rotating shaft. The practical use of impact
The impact crusher is commonly used for the crushing of limestone, coal, calcium carbide, High rotor rotation speed, Increase, Increase, Increase, Increase.
McLanahan crushers use the forces of compression, attrition, impact and shear for Material trapped between a solid plate and a rotating roll is shorn by its
28 Mar 2017 Because of the rotation, the aggregates get crushed between the moving face of the cone and the stationary walls of the crusher. Hence, the
The BHS rotor impact mill is a high-performance crusher with a vertical shaft As a result of the rotation, a near-permanent gap is created between the tips of the
Horizontal Impact crushers (HS impactors) break rock by impacting the rock with hammers that fixed upon the outer edge of a spinning rotor. The practical use of
14 Jun 2019 Like previous Sandvik Prisec impact crushers the new CI621 can be The oversize conveyor may be hydraulically rotated for material
practical hydraulic concrete and stone crusher beton crusher hydraulic uganda Find Hammerco's Hydraulic Rotating Concrete Crushers fit backhoes and
1 Nov 2017 It can be applied to both hammer and vertical-axis impact crushers with the help of the .. horizontal turning table (rotor) with radially oriented.
In conventional horizontal shaft impact crushers, the feed material is crushed by highly intensive impacts originating in the quick rotational movement of
Reversible rotation which maximises use/life of hammers and grinding blocks TRF Hammer Bar type Impact Crushers are suitable for crushing hard rocks
Common types of Impact Crushers are Horizontal Shaft Impactor (HSI) and to the rotating hammers for another round of impacting until it is discharged out of
C6X Series Jaw Crusher: Applications: Cement, coal.. MORE · Impact Crusher: Applications: Cement, coal.. MORE · CI5X Series Impact Crusher: Applications:


In today’s fast-paced and technology-driven world, having a reliable and high-performance laptop is essential for managing your workload efficiently. The Dell Inspiron 5630 laptop offers a powerful solution for professionals and students alike, enabling you to take control of your work and achieve greater productivity. In this blog post, we will explore the features and benefits of the Dell Inspiron 5630, and how it can transform the way you work.
Sleek Design and Durability
The Dell Inspiron 5630 boasts a sleek and modern design that not only looks professional but also offers durability. With a sturdy build and premium materials, this laptop can withstand the rigors of daily use and travel. Its compact form factor makes it easy to carry around, allowing you to be productive on the go without compromising on style or performance.
Also read : Lenovo Ideapad 720s-15: An Honest Review
At the heart of the Dell Inspiron 5630 is a powerful Intel Core i7 processor, which delivers exceptional performance for demanding tasks. Whether you’re editing videos, running resource-intensive software, or multitasking between several applications, this laptop can handle it all effortlessly. With up to 16GB of RAM and a spacious solid-state drive (SSD), you’ll experience lightning-fast boot times and smooth operation, enabling you to tackle your workload efficiently.
Brilliant Display and Graphics
The Dell Inspiron 5630 features a vibrant 15.6-inch Full HD display that offers crisp visuals and accurate color reproduction. Whether you’re working on design projects, watching videos, or presenting to clients, the immersive display ensures that every detail comes to life. Additionally, the laptop’s dedicated NVIDIA GeForce graphics card provides an extra boost for graphics-intensive tasks, such as video editing, 3D modeling, and gaming.
Enhanced Productivity with Ample Connectivity
To help you stay connected and productive, the Dell Inspiron 5630 offers a wide range of connectivity options. It features multiple USB ports, including USB 3.1 and USB Type-C, for seamless data transfer and charging of your devices. Additionally, the laptop includes an HDMI port, enabling you to connect to external displays or projectors for presentations. The built-in SD card reader and Ethernet port further enhance your connectivity options.
Versatile Operating System
The Dell Inspiron 5630 comes with the latest version of the Windows operating system, offering a familiar and user-friendly interface. Whether you’re accustomed to Windows or new to the ecosystem, you’ll find it easy to navigate and customize your laptop to suit your preferences. The versatility of the operating system ensures compatibility with a wide range of software and applications, allowing you to work seamlessly across different platforms.
Immersive Audio Experience
While productivity is important, a laptop should also offer an immersive multimedia experience. The Dell Inspiron 5630 excels in this aspect with its superior audio capabilities. The laptop is equipped with high-quality speakers and Waves MaxxAudio Pro technology, delivering rich and immersive sound. Whether you’re watching movies, listening to music, or participating in video conferences, the audio quality will enhance your overall experience.
Secure and Efficient Data Storage
The Dell Inspiron 5630 provides ample storage space with its large solid-state drive (SSD) options. SSDs not only offer faster read and write speeds but also enhance data security. With no moving parts, SSDs are less susceptible to damage from physical shocks, ensuring your important files and documents remain safe. Additionally, the laptop features built-in security measures, such as a fingerprint reader and TPM 2.0, to protect your sensitive information.
Long-Lasting Battery Life
One of the key factors to consider when choosing a laptop is its battery life. The Dell Inspiron 5630 is equipped with a high-capacity battery that offers extended usage times, allowing you to work without interruptions. Whether you’re attending back-to-back meetings, working on a long flight, or studying for extended periods, you can rely on the laptop’s battery to keep up with your demanding schedule.
Advanced Cooling System
Intensive workloads can generate heat, which can impact a laptop’s performance and longevity. The Dell Inspiron 5630 incorporates an advanced cooling system that helps dissipate heat efficiently, ensuring optimal performance even during prolonged usage. The laptop’s intelligent thermal management keeps the system cool and prevents overheating, allowing you to work at your best without worrying about performance degradation.
Seamless Multitasking and User Experience
With its powerful hardware and efficient software optimization, the Dell Inspiron 5630 offers a seamless multitasking experience. Whether you’re juggling multiple applications, browsing the web, or working on complex projects, the laptop’s performance remains smooth and responsive. The responsive keyboard with comfortable key travel and precision touchpad further enhances your user experience, making it easy to work for extended periods without discomfort.
Customization and Upgrade Options
The Dell Inspiron 5630 allows you to customize and upgrade various components to suit your specific requirements. Whether you need additional storage, more RAM, or want to add a secondary hard drive, the laptop offers the flexibility to expand and enhance its capabilities. This adaptability ensures that your laptop can grow with your evolving needs, saving you money in the long run.
Dedicated Support and Warranty
Dell is renowned for its exceptional customer support and reliable warranty services. When you choose the Dell Inspiron 5630, you gain access to a dedicated support team that can assist you with any technical issues or queries. The laptop also comes with a warranty, providing you with peace of mind and protection against potential defects or malfunctions.
Also read :Framework Laptop 13 (2023) Review
Affordable and Value for Money
Despite its impressive features and capabilities, the Dell Inspiron 5630 remains an affordable option for professionals and students alike. Compared to other high-end laptops in the market, the Inspiron 5630 offers excellent value for money, delivering exceptional performance, durability, and versatility without breaking the bank. Its cost-effective nature makes it an attractive choice for those looking to maximize their productivity on a budget.
The Dell Inspiro 5630 laptop is a powerful and versatile tool that enables you to take control of your workload with ease. From its sleek design and high-performance specifications to its immersive display and seamless multitasking capabilities, this laptop is designed to enhance your productivity and provide a superior user experience. With Dell’s reputation for reliability and exceptional support, the Inspiron 5630 is an excellent investment for anyone seeking a reliable and efficient laptop that can handle their workload effortlessly.


text:
Our abilities to do things have immeasurably grown compared to twenty years ago through digital models and digitalization. <…> These opportunities should be used for the benefit of both the people and the government. The upcoming growth of consumption, the population and the quality of life will have us involve our deposits more through the use of digital technologies — Kirill Molodtsov, Aide to the Chief of Staff, Presidential Executive Office .
The ability to work with large data volumes on much faster computers raises questions previously unheard of, because it was easier to study and explore a deposit with a pickaxe and a shovel than use slow computers to calculate what it has inside. Now the situation is completely different. <…> The global trend is the interface for getting the most comprehensive diagnostics, as well as creating to most up-to-date productive models and using them — Alexander Sergeev, President, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Geology turned to the digital and subsoil use turned to the digital long before the term ‘digital economy’ appeared — Sergey Gorkov, General Director, Chairman of the management Board of Rosgeologia».
27–30 years ago, we owned equipment worth USD 27 million, now it is USD 3.5 billion. <…> This is the level of mechanization and automation. If you go for mechanization, automation and digitalization, costs go down and efficiency grows. So, it is profitable from where business stands. <…> We are starting to explore previously abandoned boreholes, and the digital helps us restore the resource base and add some science to mining. The digital is already here – we need to accept it — Hemant Kanoria, Chairman, Managing Director, Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited .
The most relevant technologies that can be used for geology are those that help analyzing large volumes of data through artificial intelligence and deep neural networks. Why? Because it is the system that helps analyze a large volume of previously accumulated data and draw forecasts based on the conclusions. For example, for extracting or mining extra resources or processing these extra resources. Or even finding resources. We can tackle many tasks — Natalya Kaspersky, President of InfoWatch.
In many areas digital technologies will result in serious problems and challenges. <…> We will have to spend precisely 10 times more to protect geology-related information — Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector, Saint-Petersburg Mining University.
Any innovation should be driven by an economic need. <…> On one hand, we belong to the most active participants [of the digitalization] – our IT budget – or the digital transformation budget, so to speak – is something between USD 70 and 100 million annually. On the other side, we are always very cautious and urge to avoid the so-called digital romanticism, which means digital transformation for the sake of digital transformation. It is not just about the budget to implement, but more about where it will take the business that basically runs and about the risks it creates — Pavel Grachev, Chief Executive Officer, Polyus.
For us digitalization is not a survival model, as it is for banking or retail. For us digitalization is an opportunity model. That is why we need to be careful when talking about the use of this model — Alexey Vashkevich, Head, Geological Exploration and Resource Base Development Directorate, Gazprom Neft.
The digital helps us get rid of our daily rigors. In a certain sense, even to get rid of those mundane professions that we can assign to just a programme instead of an intellect that may be even boring. It is obvious that we get pushed towards the area of creative jobs that cannot be affected by digitalization. But this line will be moving further and further, which results in discussions on whether it is dangerous — Alexander Sergeev, President, Russian Academy of Sciences.
When it come digitalization, we would like to fit in. But can we actually do it? It a big question. It is important not to get carried away here — Pavel Sorokin, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
It is important not to end up in digitalization for the sake of digitalization — Natalya Kaspersky, President of InfoWatch.
This is just a tool, not the digital for the sake of digital. Why do we need digitalization? For lean and reasonable subsoil use — Dmitry Kobylkin, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.
People involved in mining interfere with the environment, and without the digital they will not be able to do their job precisely and with minimal environmental impact. Same applies to placing the equipment <…> how to distribute resources, how to efficiently organize extraction. <…> The digital helps us understand where and how we need to work, where the resources are – the oil rig goes precisely where we need to drill. <…> Another point here is exploring offshore fields. Our planet is just a quarter soil and three-quarters – the sea, the ocean. Without the digital, we will not be able to find where the fields exactly are — Hemant Kanoria, Chairman, Managing Director, Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited .
The bond between the three elements – IT, production business and managerial potential – is the guarantee for applicability of any digital initiative — Pavel Grachev, Chief Executive Officer, Polyus.
They [digital technologies] should be mainly aimed at one segment and be really efficient – this is field search and new systems that use new geophysical methods. <…> The search model in Canada involves all types of mandatory electromagnetic checks, verification of geophysical data – from drilling to installing expensive equipment. It is very efficient. The [Russian] Ministry needs to do a comprehensive inventory of all oil and gas fields, to get an understanding of what each of the fields has to offer — Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector, Saint-Petersburg Mining University.
We know the problem of excavated material. There is an enormous amount of it. Maybe we should really limit ourselves in finding new deposits and study the excavated material instead, because it can contain many things that are attractive for today’s market. <…> This is a relevant task, where digital methods are also very important — Alexander Sergeev, President, Russian Academy of Sciences.
We have established a research centre that creates digital technologies in Russia. As of today, we have patented areas related to machine learning, <…> interpreting data from hydropower plants, virtual measurements in oil wells with a record horizontal displacement – these are all digital core related areas — Artem Karapetov, Vice President, Schlumberger in Russia and Central Asia.
Neural networks depend on the data they learn from and the ways they are built. <…> It is important not just to take a neural network <…> popular around the world, but to use our own neural network technologies, Russian [design and technologies] to understand how it is built, what data is incorporated and what algorithms are its foundation, to achieve a predictable result. <…> It is important for our mining industry, as it belongs to the most advanced ones — Natalya Kaspersky, President of InfoWatch.
We see digitalization as another opportunity to create additional effects through collaboration between new partnership formats, for example, new partnership formats with the government. <…> Our software product that was created under the auspices of the Ministry in partnership in universities is called Rost. This software simulates the HFT in hard-to-recover reservoirs. It is the first software in the world to use micro-scale geomechanical model — Alexey Vashkevich, Head, Geological Exploration and Resource Base Development Directorate, Gazprom Neft.


SINCLAIR’S NEW eTRIKE ECO AND EXTREME ARRIVE FROM THE FUTURE
Sinclair has a new prototype electric trike going into production. This ain’t your grandma’s trike, though. It looks like it’s here from the future. Three wheels in the front, one in the back and a 250W motor to help it along. Looks like it will work rain or shine, and the design is inspired by the aerodynamic shape of helmets used for velodrome racing.
It’s designed to be chest-high for visibility, and is made from next generation Quantum Foam EPP to protect the rider inside. It has LED headlights, turn signal indicators and a brake light for safety and to aid in visibility.
A lockable rear compartment can carry up to 50 litres. Ideal for personal shopping or business use e.g. Paramedics, express couriers (Fedex®, UPS®, DHL®, DPD®) or food delivery (Amazon Prime®, UberEATS®, Deliveroo®, Foodora®). Custom design body skins available (ideal for company fleet purchase).
It has a universal smartphone dock for GPS, music, Strava, etc. and a rear view camera which can stream real-time to the smartphone.
It has a direct drive motor with regenerative braking, and a 48V, 20Ah battery that can provide up to 50 miles on a one-hour charge. The back wheel is a 26″, front two wheels are 20″. it has 8 speeds and a twist-grip shifter.
A hinged aviation-quality acrylic canopy protects the rider from the elements, while built-in air vents channel air inside the cabin through charcoal air filters to remove pollution.
They’re taking pre-orders now, in Britain, for £99. Full price is £2999 ($3723). That’s the white one. Call it the Storm Trooper. There’s also a Darth Vader-esque version, the IRIS eTrike Extreme, which can go over 30 mph using a 750W mid-drive motor.
The same £99 will reserve one of these, but you’re looking at £3499 (US$4343) for the final price. That’s cheaper and (in our opinion) sexier than the other enclosed electric bikes we’ve seen, like the Organic Transit Elf, which will set you back over 7 grand.
Expected delivery on both eTrikes is 4th quarter 2017
For more information, visit GrantSinclair.com.
To see a brief clip of the bike in action, check out this YouTube clip featuring footage from the BBC during trial runs with a prototype:


text:
Saturday night’s episode of “Justice with Jeanine” on Fox News is showing a documentary repeat. The Judge is missing since she made a comment about nasty Rep. Ilhan Omar’s hijab and sharia law.
Judge Jeanine’s show was scheduled to air tonight, for the first time since her hijab comments. Fox told Brian Steinberg “we’re not commenting on internal scheduling matters.
Pirro’s show Saturday was set to air an older episode, according to Variety, while the network would not confirm to The Hill whether Pirro’s show would return with new episodes in the coming days.
Firing the Judge would be a big coup for Media Matters and the mob. Fox can’t fire Tucker yet because of his ratings but the Judge is expendable. She also had a very public argument with the ‘ladies’ of The View earlier this year, and she might have worn out her welcome with the suits in the executive suites.
Perhaps they just didn’t want her to appear on air after the mass murders in New Zealand.
Judge Jeanine has not tweeted since March 10th. There are rumors that she has been suspended for two weeks for her particular use of her free speech rights.
Last Saturday, she asked if Omar’s hijab might suggest she’s following Sharia law, which is antithetical to the U.S. Constitution.
Before she asked the question, she said the Democrat Party isn’t rooted in anti-semitism so where is Omar getting it. Then she said:
“Omar wears hijab, which according to the Quran 33:59, tells women to cover so they won’t get molested,” Pirro said. “Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?”
Fox News responded by “strongly condemning” her comments.
”We strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro’s comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar,” the network said in a statement days later. “They do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly.”
Omar thanked Fox News for condemning her and then proceeded to rip apart Fox News.
CAIR demanded she be fired. The Hamas-linked group lied and said that Pirro “falsely claimed Omar’s decision to wear hijab is ‘antithetical to the U.S. Constitution.’”
The Judge responded by explaining that she never called Omar unAmerican. Her intention was to open debate.
Statements from Fox News and @JudgeJeanine re her commentary about @IlhanMN that was widely condemned as Islamaphobic. pic.twitter.com/yTEJZ0Zmfg
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) March 11, 2019
You can’t criticize Omar, no matter how nasty and anti-American she is. Once Fox News went the route of firing their top talent, sacrificing them to the SJW mob, they set themselves up for future disasters.
.@SebGorka chats with @EricBolling about the Left mob coming for @TuckerCarlson and @JudgeJeanine—what about free speech? Who will they go after next? “If the Left didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any standards at all!”
Watch more ===> https://t.co/i7H0MRu2sX pic.twitter.com/rqeTZtCenX
— BlazeTV (@BlazeTV) March 16, 2019
Attempting to appease the Left is a mistake because it only embolden them to go after others they don’t like.
One America News (OAN) is much better. I no longer watch news on Fox.
Only fault I find with JJ is she could have crafted the Question better. OK Fox, Punish JJ and I’ll look for News elsewhere. AND Encourage others to do the same! WHY is it So Hard to even be Centrist, Common Sense and in the middle these days?! FOX kow towing to CAIR and SJW Mob?!?!
I don’t believe that F0X strongly condemns what Pirro said. Every word those people say on F0X is read before the announcers read it on air. IMO. Pirro probably wanted a day or week off. That Omar hag needs to go. I’ve had it. You hate this country. GTFO!! That includes politicians, news creeps, etc. (they aren’t journalists;)


text:
Goart is the worlds first ai technology based effects app that supports to export 10m pixel image which makes it is possible to print the art. Download fotor 2020 for android after the launch of smart devices, digital photography becomes every persons hobby. Now allowing millions of photographers from around the world to connect, collect, share. The app comes with some inapp purchases but the free version is fully functional on its own. Fotor allows the enthusiast of all levels the opportunity to win prizes. May 11, 2020 goart is the worlds first ai technology based effects app that supports to export 10m pixel image which makes it is possible to print the art. Before you download the installer, we recommend you to read the information about this app. Fotor photo editor android multiple photo editing tools. Download last version fotor photo editor apk premium for android with direct link. Photo editor is a photo editing app that provides android users all the necessary tools for doing practically whatever they want to their photos. Considered an allinone photo editing toolkit, fotor mobile has evolved from being one of the most userfriendly onthego utility apps, to a world first photographic community.
Put your photos anywhere you want in freestyle mode. Incidentally, fotor download isnt a mandatory condition for dealing with the editor. Download fotor photo editor for windows now from softonic. Fotor photo editor mod is a photography android app. Browse to, or create a new folder and then click select. Pick from 60 different templates or customize one, and choose from 16 backgrounds. Fotor for pc download 2020 latest for windows 10, 8, 7.
Image editing applications like fotor offer everyone the possibility to improve the photos taken. Download fotor photo editor apk download for android appsapk. Fotor for mobile best free iphone and android photo. Fotor photo effect studio for android free download. Fotor is also compatible with both apple and android. Fotor photo editor apk free photography android app. Fotorsdk is a complete set of photo editing tools comes standard in fotor s allplatform sdk. Fotor for mobile best free iphone and android photo editor. Fotor windows 10 app a free photo editor and design maker. Fotor is an allinone photo editing and image licensing platform where amateur and professional photographers can monetize on their shots. Click the file download location and then click other. Download the latest version of fotor photo editor theme for android. The app comes with a very simple interface for doing things like rotate, crop, change the size, add a frame, or even draw on the photo, all with just a few touches on the screen and swipes of the finger.
Fotor is loaded with powerful, easytouse editing tools to help you make all your photos look amazing. Fotor events gain exposure and be rewarded with events, introducing weekly photo contests hosted by fotor or worlds leading brands, such as uber, ctrip, sichuan airlines, etc. Here you will find apk files of all the versions of fotor photo editor available on our website published so far. Parallelly android as well as ios platforms have lots of photo editing, designing and sharing apps. The whole thing is incredibly easy navigate, especially when compared to all. Contribute to fotorfotorsdk android development by creating an account on github. Considered an allinone photo editing toolkit, fotor mobile has evolved from being one of the most userfriendly onthego utility apps, to a world first photographic community platform. I have no doubts youll be pleasantly surprised by its ui and photo color correction functionality.
Aside from being compatible with windows, fotor is also compatible with both apple and android. Download fotor photo editor if you need a free app from the photography category for your device but you will need android 4. Specialized topics for amateurs and professionals alike. Fotor photo editor premium is a powerful image editor for android. Fotorsdk is a complete set of photo editing tools comes standard in fotors allplatform sdk. Fotor photo editor old versions all versions androidapksfree. Fotor for android best free android photo editor app. Apr 03, 2015 download the new version for android here. Fotor photo editor for windows comes loaded with tools for every essential editing need, plus tiltshift, unique 1tap enhance options, over 60 effects30 frames, raw support, builtin sharing, and highresolution saving. Fotor photo editor apk free photography android app download. Fotor photo editor free download download software for. This app was posted on june 15, 2016 and is available since then on androidapksfree.
Fotor photo editor for windows is a powerful, allinone photo editing software app. I have already made a list of available top 20 remarkable best free photo editing apps for android and ios. It has multiple image editing tools from over 100 photo effects to stylish formats for the photo collage. Fotor for windows is an application that is packed with lots of elegant effects and astounding templates that could essentially be used to add more drama to your photoediting project. You can select the tools that are best for your app, or use them all. Download fotor photo editor apk latest version for samsung, huawei, xiaomi, lg, htc, lenovo and all other android phones, tablets and devices. How to get fotor free legally download fotor photo. So, you can choose to install fotor into your pc or not.
Edit your photos easily on your android with fotor photo editor. Numerous apps allow you to touchup, correct colors, and edit images. Freetouse powerful photo editor with camera, photo grid and photo filters. With some unique and dynamic effects and amazing transitions get the images your desire edited. We tried fotor in a samsung galaxy s3 running android 4. Download fotor photo editor android app apk free to your android phone or tablet, version 4.
Fotor for pc 2020 full offline installer setup for pc 32bit64bit. Join fotor pro and enjoy massive content plus advanced features. If youre looking for a complete and easytouse photo editor for android, one of the best alternatives is the editing and enhancement application fotor. As you know, posting the latest and beautified images on social media is high on trend these days. More creative fotor collage could be produced using manual settings. Fotor for pc windows 10 download latest version 2020.
Simulated painting styles from van gogh to monet, give users the choice between. But, fotor photo editor seems to be one of those fullfeatured photography apps that has all the tools you need to enhance your pictures and make them stand out. Fotor photo effect studio for android free download and. Nowadays, everimaging has develop this photo editor software for pc.
Download this app from microsoft store for windows 10, windows 8. Download fotor photo editor for ios and android devices. Goart utilizes the latest emergent ai technology to allow users to instantly transform them using preset fine art templates, inspired by the masters of fine art. This is the perfect app for all your photography requirements. Fotor is one of the top allinone photo editing apps, which was stated as the. On a fivepoint scale, the application received a rating of 4. Apr 24, 2020 download last version fotor photo editor apk premium for android with direct link one stop photo editing, sharing and sale platform.
Fotor photo editor for android, free and safe download. Download the latest version of fotor photo effect studio for android. Fotor is simple and intuitive to use, and the interface is sleek and straightforward. Readytouse background images and effects are available. With this app, you can show your talent to 100 million users within the fotor community. That lets you only apply filters and frames to your pictures. Adjust patterns, colors, and more for that finishing touch. Get fotor photo editor apk download by everimaging co. It is one of the most highly rated and highly regarded photo editing apps available for pc users. However, in this article, i will share all the details about the fotor mobile application with you. This editor lets you edit images with multiple image editing tools from over 100 photo effects to stylish formats for photo collage. Fotor photo editor download for android and ios hi tech. How to change the location of download images in firefox.96 870 665 1210 802 1366 710 1328 1184 497 1008 1482 1507 2 380 1208 437 1076 1362 1092 208 223 1212 602 366 921 309 372 1457 1204 955 820 459 1098 980 296 651 330


text:
…at ICPKP, kinesiology is more than the study of muscle movement, it’s about helping a person re-activate muscles that haven’t been working at their best.
Muscle testing can be applied to all sorts of life situations, and there are many people, including dentists, chiropractors and physical therapists who use different kinds of muscle testing in their clinics.
An ICPKP practitioner is trained in testing more than 100 muscles and will use as many muscles as possible to find out what is needed, rather than relying on one arm to test everything. With shoulder problems for instance, muscles all around that area are tested and corrected, and similarly for any joint or area in the body. Relief can be immediate, or part of a series of visits. It makes sense for the client to feel the changes in their whole body so that after their session they can walk out into the world knowing that the problem they came with is a thing of the past, or that now they are learning to deal with it.
ICPKP Kinesiopractors® work with clients who participate physically, mentally and emotionally in the session, and the ICPKP practitioner tests their muscles as they go through the session, to show them how they are doing.

domain: medical


text:
Irugapatru is a newly launched Tamil Movie that was released on 6 October 2023. The movie was written by Maharaj Dayalan and directed by Yuvaraj Dhayalan, who also directed movies like “Eli” in 2015 and “Tenaliraman” in 2014. The producers of the Irugapatru movie are S. R. Prakash Babu, S. R. Prabhu, P. Gopinath, and Thanga Prabaharan R and the production company of the movie is Potential Studios. The cinematography of the movie is done by Gokul Benoy and the movie is edited by J. V. Manikanda Balaji. The music of the Irugapatru movie is done by Justin Prabhakaran and the official runtime of the movie is 2 hours and 32 minutes.
The main characters from the movie are Vikram Prabhu as Manohar, Shraddha Srinath as Mithra, Vidharth as Rangesh, Abarnathi as Pavithra, and Saniya Iyappan as Divya. The OTT Digital streaming rights of the movie were sold to Netflix. There is a total of two songs from the movie. The first song from the movie is “Piriyathiru” with lyrics by Karthik Netha and sung by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The length of the first song “Piriyathiru” is 5 minutes and 1 second.
The second and last song from the movie is “Maya Maya” with lyrics by Karthik Netha and sung by Padmapriya Raghavan and Christopher Stanley. The length of the second and last song from the movie is 4 minutes and 10 seconds. The total length of these two songs combined from the movie is 9 minutes and 11 seconds. Initially, the director of the movie wanted Nayanthara as the lead character of this movie but later Nayanthara was replaced because of the actress’s commitment to the blockbuster movie Jawan, which was released 1 month ago.
Cast list of Irugapatru
- Vikram Prabhu as Manohar
- Shraddha Srinath as Mithra
- Vidharth as Rangesh
- Sri as Arjun
- Abarnathi as Pavithra
- Saniya Iyappan as Divya
More TamilYogi Movies
- Leo (2023) Tamil Movie
- Rules Ranjann (2023) Telugu Movie
- Mission Raniganj (2023) Tamil Movie
- Raththam (2023) Tamil Movie
- The Road (2023) Tamil Movie
- Iraivan (2023) Tamil Movie
- Chithha (2023) Tamil Movie
- Chandramukhi 2 (2023) Tamil Movie
- Mark Antony (2023) Tamil Movie
- Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty (2023) Tamil & Telugu Movie
- Kushi (2023) Telugu & Tamil Movie
The Irugapatru movie got positive reviews from audiences and critics. Only 210 people rated this movie 8.3 stars out of 10 stars on IMDb, which are good reviews from audiences but can be fake as reviewers are very low. Janani K from India Today rated this movie 2.5 stars out of 5 stars and said “Composer Justin Prabhakaran’s music and background score elevated the emotions in the film. The camera work and editing complimented each other as well.“
M Suganth from The Times of India rated this movie 3 stars out of 5 stars and said “However, complaints aside, the film remains engaging for the most part, and leaves us with the warm, fuzzy feeling that well-made feel-good films provide us. And that is Yuvaraj’s success here as a filmmaker.“
Avinash Ramachandran from Cinema Express rated this movie 3 stars out of 5 stars and said “Irugapatru reminds us that therapy, counselling, etc… might not work unless the couple really wants to work on their relationship, but it will definitely not work if they aren’t ready to work on themselves.”
How to Watch The Irugapatru Movie
The Irugapatru movie is currently running at the box office and if you want to watch the movie now then you must have to go to the nearest theatre where the movie is running. You can use BookMyShow or Google Maps to find your nearest theatre and buy tickets online or offline by going there. If you still can’t find any theatre near you or you are unable to go there then you can wait until the movie gets released on Netflix. The Digital OTT steaming rights of the movie were sold to Netflix and the movie will be soon available on the platform.
After the movie got released on Netflix you just have to buy a premium subscription of Netflix if you don’t have and then you can watch or download the movie from the official OTT partner of the movie without any issues.

domain: artistic


text:
You will be able to own a three-bedroom house for 30 per cent less than the current market price if the government’s ambitious plan to collaborate with pensioners works well.
The plan, as presented during the recent pensioners’ stakeholders’ meeting attended by President William Ruto seeks to unlock up to Sh500 billion of workers’ savings.
These monies will be used to propel the government’s infrastructure and housing agenda as the Head of State sweet-talked retirees to unclench their fists.
A detailed plan on how this collaboration can be made a success was presented in the meeting planned by the Association of Pension Trustees and Administrators in Kenya (APTAK).
It broke down how the cost of housing can reduce by 30 per cent.
This drop will have a three-bedroom house, 75 square metres (sqm), sell for Sh1.96 million instead of the current Sh2.8 million under the affordable housing programme.
A 60 square metre two-bedroom will retail at Sh1.5 million instead of the current Sh2.24 million. A 45-square-metre one-bedroom will cost Sh1.18 million instead of the current Sh1.7 million.
The same changes will be extended to social housing where a 20sqm one bedroom will sell at Sh523,600 and not Sh748,000. A 30 sqm two-bedroom will cost Sh785,400 from Sh1.1 million and a 40sqm three-bedroom will see its selling price drop to Sh1.05 million from Sh1.5 million.
Liaison Group Chief Executive Tom Mulwa, while making this presentation in Nairobi, noted that they have worked around the Building Code and found a case to reduce the average construction cost per square metre from the current Sh25,000 to Sh17,500.
“A cost effect of 30 per cent with room to push it further to 50 per cent,” he said.
This reduction will be made possible through six enablers presented to the government which in return will be expected to make financing smooth for pension funds and other investors in the housing sector.
These enablers include reducing the time of processing documents like title deeds and Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds, whose implementation will reduce cost by between 10 per cent to 15 per cent.
As it is, this process is marred with bureaucracy and is uncoordinated.
The chairperson of Moi University Pension Scheme Prof Paul Ayuo raised concern about the expected heavy investment in the projects, saying pension was created to give retirees a decent life after service. “We do not want for people to retire and we cannot pay them because the money is held elsewhere,” said Prof Ayuo.
Octagon Africa Commercial Director Florence Muchiri gave a presentation on a case study from the UK showing how the use of pension funds was utilised to provide housing for communities and as an investment for pensioners.
She said Kenya has an opportunity to do the same. “The standard houses look very nice, neat and admirable,” said Ms Muchiri. The government has also been asked to provide land and horizontal infrastructure (water connectivity, access roads and power). This will cut costs by 20 per cent to 40 per cent. Having fixed contracts, since the units are in masse will control the cost of raw materials and inputs by up to 10 per cent. It is also anticipated that standardisation of the units – in terms of size, windows and door sizes and such – will ensure efficiency and its cost effect will be 20 per cent to 40 per cent.
It is believed that with standardisation, the projects will also achieve green buildings, attracting social investors at less than the market rate cost of capital.
Additionally, developers will have the opportunity to include subsidised market-rate housing units and amenities like shops and malls, in the development to complement the yield.
The pension administrators and trustees are also asking for leniency in regulations and tax saying exemptions on inputs would have a cost-effectiveness of up to 10 per cent.
They also proposed Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) as the investment vehicle as this will ensure continuous capital raise and its cost effect will be up to 10 per cent.
The plan is to raise Sh1 trillion by 2027 through public-private partnerships (PPP) that will rope in Saccos, insurance and banks, Islamic financial entities and global investors.
Next year, the expectation is to make Sh500 billion available. This will increase to Sh600 billion in 2024, Sh720 billion in 2025, Sh864 billion in 2026 and finally Sh1.032 trillion in 2027.
Pension funds are expected to make available Sh150 billion in the first year (2023), Sh188 billion in 2024, Sh216 billion in 2025, Sh259 billion in 2026 and Sh311 billion in 2027.
Mr Mulwa did not shy away from addressing how capital-intensive these investments will be since the money market, where most pension funds are invested, offers a 15 per cent yield. “If I can get a 15 per cent return on the money market why then are you looking for other investment vehicles?” he posed.
He noted that the units should be priced in a way that will guarantee demand which will in turn guarantee the investors some returns.
“Our people want units costing Sh5,000, Sh10,000, Sh15,000, Sh20,000 and if you are lucky Sh25,000 (monthly). Our brothers and sisters in Kibra or Mukuru are paying Sh5,000 or Sh10,000. So if you are going to put up a splash building and tell them to move here and pay Sh50,000 you will be talking to yourself,” said Mulwa.
President William Ruto noted that 6.5 million Kenyans are living in the informal settlements as he reiterated his agenda of providing decent housing.
Kenya has a shortage of two million units and only can provide 50,000 units annually. As capital intensive as this project appears to be, owing that the reason pensioners save money is to secure their future upon retirement, it is in the wisdom of President Ruto to increase savings to ensure there is more cash flow for State projects, like affordable housing, are funded.
“We should be able to do better than that. Possibly double our savings as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” said President Ruto when he addressed the pension administrators and trustees.
“I have already worked with the team to make sure we provide pathways, interventions and frameworks for Kenyans to do more savings as they do businesses."


text:
Arduino Compatible UNO R3 ATMega328P with Boot Loader - Asia Sell
$3.00 regular domestic shipping. $10.00 for Express! Slashed international prices. View the Shipping Rates Table.
- 1 Piece Uno.
- 1 Set Headers.
- Arduino UNO R3 ATMega328P Improved Version with Boot Loader.
Item exactly as listed. Arrived very quickly.

domain: hobby


text:
The Ultimate Australia Travel Guide: Things to Do, Places to Visit, Visa Information and Everything
By Space Coast Daily // April 8, 2022
Australia has everything from cities with buildings towering up to the sky to the beautiful coastline and amazing wildlife. It is a perfect travel destination for couples, friends, and family. The months of March to May are the best time to visit Australia because the present weather is neither too hot nor too cold.
If you have been planning a vacation to Australia but are feeling overwhelmed because you don’t know where to start and where to go, then don’t worry. We have made a brief guide including everything from Sydney airport car hire to must-visit places in Australia.
#1: Plan Your Trip
Planning your trip right is the first step to having an amazing vacation. You need to be mindful of the season you’re going into in Australia. As we have stated above, the best time to visit Australia is between March to May or September to November. From June to August, the weather in Australia is very cold and harsh, and between December to February, it is very hot.
Plan your trip according to what type of weather you can endure or what places you’re planning to visit. Summertime is best if you plan to hit the beaches in Australia.
#2: Get Your Visit Visa to Australia
Unless you are a citizen of New Zealand, you will need to get a visa to visit Australia in advance. Only people from New Zealand are allowed to have visas on arrival in Australia. The Australian embassy provides many different kinds of visas, such as tourist visas, work visas, etc.
However, if you want to go on a vacation to Australia, you need to apply for a visitor tourist visa. The visa can be applied for up to 3 months. You can find all the details regarding visas on the Australian embassy website.
#3: Determine How to Get Around in Australia
After you’ve completed all visa processing and even booked your tickets, you need to plan how you will move around in Australia. Australia offers many different modes of transportation to tourists depending on their budget. Many different car rental services and public transport are available in all cities of Australia.
One of the best car rental services in Sydney is Alpha Car Hire. They are a professional and punctual rental service and provide great service to people looking to get around in Sydney without using multiple taxis and public transport. They have just opened a new Sydney branch in April, following the huge customer demands.
#4: Choose the Best Places to Visit in Australia
Now that you’ve all the basic stuff sorted out, it’s time to decide the most important part of your traveling experience. The following are some of Australia’s most visited and popular travel destinations.
1. Sydney (For experiencing Australian city life)
2. Alice Springs
3. Gold Coast
4. Perth (Most visited place by beach lovers!)
6. Melbourne (To experience wine tours in Yarra Valley wineries with accommodation)
7. Adelaide (Must visit destination for Art lovers)
8. Darwin (Must visit if you love waterfalls)
Australia is a country full of stunning beauty with its serene beaches, bustling city life, and extraordinary wildlife. If you’ve been planning to visit Australia for quite some time, we hope our article helped you to make up your mind.

domain: geography


text:
New pre-clinical models have been developed to study the hypothesis that damaging forms of alpha-synuclein (protein involved in Parkinson's) spread across brain regions from a single point of origin. The current study's objective is to validate this novel model to develop standard operating procedures so that industry and academic groups can reproduce it.
Preformed fibril alpha-synuclein injected into a single brain region will reproducibly spread to adjacent brain areas and produce pathology that can be used as end points in pre-clinical efficacy testing.
Alpha-synuclein preformed fibrils will be injected into a single specific motor area. Over the course of six months, pre-clinical models will be evaluated on motor performance. At three time points, we will examine the brains for spread of alpha-synuclein and related pathology.
Impact on Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson's Disease:
Production and validation of a model of alpha-synuclein spread will prove valuable to understanding inherent mechanisms and thereby development of treatments aimed at preventing spread. Furthermore, production of such a platform will allow for evaluation of treatment effects on multiple brain regions simultaneously to address non-motor regions involved in Parkinson's.
Next Steps for Development:
Successful validation and implementation of this model will encourage wide spread use and thereby provide a platform for multiple investigators to use the same platform from which to benchmark novel treatment strategies to bring forth into the clinic.