Martin Scorsese is an American motion-picture director, whose best films have reflected the Italian American experience of his childhood in New York City’s Little Italy neighborhood. He was born in New York City and educated in a Roman Catholic junior seminary and at the New York University film school, where he won awards for his student films. Scorsese attracted critical attention with his first feature film, Who’s That Knocking on My Door? (1968),rift gold which he financed and made entirely on his own. He worked in documentary films for a period of time and then was hired by American producer Roger Corman to direct a low-budget film, Boxcar Bertha (1972), an opportunity that afforded Scorsese contact with the mainstream film industry of Hollywood, California.
In 1973 Scorsese made the first of his films set in New York City, Mean Streets, a powerful portrayal of life in Little Italy. It announced Scorsese’s arrival as a major directorial talent, also beginning his long collaboration with actor Robert De Niro. His next film, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1975), was a popular success. The following year he achieved critical success with Taxi Driver, a disturbing story of a loner carrying on a crusade of his own to clean up his city. The film is notable for Scorsese’s hyperkinetic camerawork and De Niro’s performance in the lead role. New York, New York (1977) was a flashy tribute to the Hollywood films—especially the musicals—of the 1940s and 1950s that Scorsese had enjoyed as a child. After filming the documentary The Last Waltz (1978), which some critics have called the best concert movie ever made, Scorsese filmed a brutal, intense portrait of former middleweight boxing champion Jake La Motta in Raging Bull (1980). De Niro’s performance as La Motta won him the Academy Award for best actor, and Scorsese was nominated for best director.
Scorsese turned to comedy—albeit dark comedy—with The King of Comedy (1983) and After Hours (1985); directed The Color of Money (1986),rift gold a sequel to The Hustler (1961); and in 1988 sparked bitter controversy with his film The Last Temptation of Christ, based on a 1951 novel by Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis that depicts Christ as an ordinary human being with conflicting desires. Scorsese also contributed one of the three segments of New York Stories (1989), an anthology film that also includes vignettes by Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola.
In 1990 Scorsese directed the gangster film Goodfellas (again featuring De Niro), which received Academy Award nominations for best actor and best adapted screenplay. His other films of the 1990s include a remake of Cape Fear (1991); an adaptation of a novel by American writer Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence (1993); and Kundun (1998), a portrayal of the life of the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Gangs of New York (2002) is an ambitious account of the city’s gang warfare in the mid-19th century which was nominated for Academy Awards for best picture and best director. Much of Scorsese’s work features vivid portrayals of violence and the uglier sides of human nature, but The Age of Innocence and Kundun were noted for their visual beauty.
Scorsese’s style, distinguished by his intense scenarios and unpredictable camerawork, was influenced by his youthful attraction to the films of the French New Wave, his fondness for the work of British filmmaker Michael Powell and American filmmaker Vincente Minnelli, and his knowledge of American films of the 1940s and 1950s. He has been increasingly active as a producer with such films as The Grifters (1990), Mad Dog and Glory (1993; coproducer), and Naked in New York (1994; executive producer). He has acted in many of his own films and has made notable appearances in others as well, including Round Midnight (1986); Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (1990), as Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh; and Guilty by Suspicion (1991).
2011年4月29日星期五
A Jealous Wife
rift gold
There was once a wife so jealous that when her husband came home one night
and she couldn’t find hairs on his jackets she yelled at him, Great, so now you’
re cheating on me with a bald woman!
The next night, when she didn’t smell any perfume, she yelled again by
saying, She’s not only bald, but she’s too cheap to buy any perfume!
rift gold
There was once a wife so jealous that when her husband came home one night
and she couldn’t find hairs on his jackets she yelled at him, Great, so now you’
re cheating on me with a bald woman!
The next night, when she didn’t smell any perfume, she yelled again by
saying, She’s not only bald, but she’s too cheap to buy any perfume!
rift gold
Artificial Satellite
An artefact placed in orbit around the Earth. The possibility became imaginable once Isaac Newton had explained the logic of orbital motion,rift gold but the idea was not substantially developed in fiction until Edward E. Hale produced satirical accounts of ‘‘The Brick Moon’’ (1869) and ‘‘Life in the Brick Moon’’ (1870). The idea of establishing a permanent orbital ‘‘space station’’ was broached in Kurd Lasswitz’s Auf Zwei Planeten (1897; trans. as Two Planets), while Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s Vne zemli (1896–1920; trans. as Outside the Earth) proposed the building of ecologically self-sufficient orbital habitats that might serve as the basis for the colonisation of orbital space. Tsiolkovsky’s proposal was taken seriously by other rocket pioneers, including Hermann Oberth, who integrated orbital satellites into the prospectus for the conquest of space he compiled on behalf of the German Rocket Society in 1923. Hermann Noordung’s Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums (1929) suggested placing such stations in geosynchronous orbits, and a series of articles by Count Guido von Piquet published in the society’s journal, Die Rakete, in the same year proposed a three-tier system of orbital transit stations for rockets unable to carry enough chemical fuel to get all the way into space in a single shot.
The idea was imported into fiction in Otto Willi Gail’s Hans Hardts Mondfahrt (1928; trans. as By Rocket to the Moon). The idea was swiftly introduced to the science fiction pulps in Frank Paul’s cover illustration for the August 1929 Amazing Stories and popularised by an editorial by Hugo Gernback in the April 1930 Air Wonder Stories, but its use in stories was less optimistic. Neil R. Jones’ ‘‘The Jameson Satellite’’ (1931) is built to house a corpse, while D. D. Sharp’s ‘‘The Satellite of Doom’’ (1931) and A. Rowley Hilliard’s ‘‘The Space Coffin’’ (1932) stressed the hazards of being trapped in orbit. Harley S. Aldinger’s ‘‘The Heritage of the Earth’’ (1932) features an artificial satellite that has been in orbit since Augustus was emperor in Rome, but Murray Leinster’s ‘‘Power Planet’’ (1931) was exceptional in featuring a utilitarian satellite project. It was not until Willy Ley brought the GermanRocket Society’s ideas toAmerica that the notion of space stations was integrated into the burgeoning mythology of the Space Age; his article on ‘‘Stations in Space’’ (1940) helped to popularise the idea. George O. Smith’s ‘‘QRM—Interplanetary’’ (1942), which launched the long-running Venus Equilateral series,rift gold employed orbital satellites as relay stations in extraterrestrial communication. Ley and Chesley Bonestell’s The Conquest of Space (1949) and Cornelius Ryan’s lavishly illustrated anthology Across the Space Frontier (1952), in association with the popularising efforts of Wernher von Braun, helped to standardise a design for a rotatingtoroidal space station joined by spokes to a central hub. Artificial satellites were also popularised by Arthur C. Clarke, whose early article on ‘‘Extraterrestrial Relays’’ (1945) proposed the establishment of communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Interplanetary Flight (1950) and the best-selling The Exploration of Space (1951) gave key roles to space stations, whose potential development was mapped out in detail in the juvenile science fiction novel Islands in the Sky (1952). Clarke was ultimately to assist in the production of an iconic visual image of a space station in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001—A Space Odyssey (1968). Clarke’s propagandising was an inspiration to other British writers; its didactically inclined spinoff included Charles Eric Maine’s 1952 radio play Spaceways (novelised, 1953), Jeffrey Lloyd Castle’s Satellite One (1954), Rafe Bernard’s The Wheel in the Sky (1954), and a long series of satellite-based children’s novels by E. C. Eliott, launched by Kemlo and the Crazy Planet (1954).
Other significant images of the period included Roger P. Graham’s ‘‘Live In an Orbit and Love It’’ (1950, by-lined Craig Browning), which features a brief boom in orbital housing; Fletcher Pratt’s ‘‘Asylum Satellite’’ (1952); and Murray Leinster’s Space Platform (1953). Satellites are established for the purposes of pleasure rather than utilitarian functions in Jack Vance’s ‘‘Abercrombie Station’’ (1952) and Raymond Z. Gallun’s ‘‘Captive Asteroid’’ (1953). The race to launch an actual artificial satellite was won when Sputnik I went into orbit on 4 October 1957. Sputnik II—which carried a dog named Laika—followed on 3 November 1957 and was swiftly followed by the U.S. Explorer I (31 January 1958) and Vanguard I (17 March 1958). Actual communications satellites Echo (1960), Telstar (1962), and Early Bird (1965) owed more to a 1955 paper on unmanned satellites by J. R. Pierce than to Clarke’s 1945 paper—which assumed, in pretransistor days, that such stations would need a numerous staff to change defective valves—but popular reportage insisted on giving credit where it seemed to be due.
The first domestic communications satellites,rift gold the Canadian Anik (1972) and the U.S. Westar I (1974) and Satcom I (1975), launched the era of satellite TV. The first space station to be put in orbit was Salyut 1 (launched 19 April 1971), launching an extensive program of reconnaissance projects. The first scientific research station in space, the U.S. Skylab, was launched on 14 May 1973; it reentered the atmosphere in 1979. The Russian space station Mir, whose first element was launched on 20 February 1986, became a key location of orbital research for fifteen years, with only five brief periods of unoccupation; it hosted joint projects with U.S. scientists after the end of the Cold War. The literary reflection of this sequence of events inevitably imported a new hardness into science-fictional representations of satellites. The darker possibilities of their utility were explored in such works as Jeff Sutton’s Bombs in Orbit (1959). Potential problems with communications satellites were explored in John Berryman’s ‘‘The Trouble with Telstar’’ (1963). The difficulties involved in building an orbital research laboratory were foregrounded in Walt and Leigh Richmond’s ‘‘Where I Wasn’t Going’’ (1963). This realistic tradition was extrapolated in such works as Robert F. Young’s ‘‘The Moon of Advanced Learning’’ (1982), Geoffrey A. Landis’ ‘‘Mirusha’’ (2001), and J. R. Dunn’s ‘‘For Keeps’’ (2003), although more fanciful space stations in the tradition of the luxury hotel featured in Curt Siodmak’s Skyport (1959) continued to thrive in parallel. The notion of building self-enclosed colonies in orbit was dramatically repopularised by Gerard K. O’Neill’s speculative nonfiction book The High Frontier (1977), which suggested that the Lagrange points in the Moon’s orbit around the Earth would be eminently suitable locations. (The eighteenth-century mathematician Joseph Lagrange had calculated that there would be several points in Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun where objects could be stably accumulated; two groups of asteroids were eventually found at relevant points and the term ‘‘Lagrange point’’ was henceforth used to designate stable points in any orbit.) The five Lagrange points in the lunar orbit form a regular hexagon with the Moon at the sixth point, and O’Neill reckoned L-5 the most convenient for colonisation; that abbreviation was often applied to O’Neill colonies featured in science fiction, including the one inMack Reynolds’ Lagrange Five (1979). Joe Haldeman’s Worlds series (1981–1992) imagines an elaborate array of orbital colonies, and the formation of similar proliferations became a key element of the posthuman future histories featured in such works as Bruce Sterling’s Shaper/Mechanist series (1982–1985) and Michael Swanwick’s Vacuum Flowers (1987).
Other notable examples of O’Neill-type space habitats are featured in Charles L. Grant’s ‘‘Coming of Age in Henson’s Tube’’ (1979), John E. Stith’s Memory Blank (1986), Lois McMaster Bujold’s Falling Free (1988), Doug Beason’s ‘‘The Long Way Home’’ (1989) and Lifeline (1990, with Kevin J. Anderson), Allen Steele’s Clarke County,rift gold Space (1991), and Howard V. Hendrix’s Lightpaths (1997). Those used as a backcloth in the role-playing game Transhuman Space (Steve Jackson Games, 2000) are unusually well developed. Such colonies are often faced with a hard battle for survival in stories in which they survive the devastation of Earth, as in Haldeman’s series and Victor Mila ´n’s ‘‘The Floating World’’ (1989). The initiation of Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in 1983 was encouraged by a number of prominent science fiction writers who contrived to obtain a brief political influence, including Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Robert A. *Heinlein. The episode gave rise to a rumour that Arthur Clarke had dropped in on one of their meetings with top U.S. military men and could not resist pointing out that billion-dollar satellites, however well armed, were very vulnerable to such cheap tricks as placing ‘‘a bucket of nails’’ in the same orbit, traveling in the opposite direction—a remark that drew a sharp response fromHeinlein. Asimilar skepticismled Carol Risin to refer to it in derisory terms as ‘‘StarWars’’—a nickname that stuck—and infected most fictional treatments of the notion, much more carefully elaborated in such works as David A. Drake’s Fortress (1986). The programme was abandoned in 1993 but partly resurrected by GeorgeW. Bush as the National MissileDefense programme. Themelodramatic potential of satellite-launched terrorism was exploited in such stories as Joseph H. Delaney’s ‘‘Business as Usual, During Altercations’’ (1997).
The idea was imported into fiction in Otto Willi Gail’s Hans Hardts Mondfahrt (1928; trans. as By Rocket to the Moon). The idea was swiftly introduced to the science fiction pulps in Frank Paul’s cover illustration for the August 1929 Amazing Stories and popularised by an editorial by Hugo Gernback in the April 1930 Air Wonder Stories, but its use in stories was less optimistic. Neil R. Jones’ ‘‘The Jameson Satellite’’ (1931) is built to house a corpse, while D. D. Sharp’s ‘‘The Satellite of Doom’’ (1931) and A. Rowley Hilliard’s ‘‘The Space Coffin’’ (1932) stressed the hazards of being trapped in orbit. Harley S. Aldinger’s ‘‘The Heritage of the Earth’’ (1932) features an artificial satellite that has been in orbit since Augustus was emperor in Rome, but Murray Leinster’s ‘‘Power Planet’’ (1931) was exceptional in featuring a utilitarian satellite project. It was not until Willy Ley brought the GermanRocket Society’s ideas toAmerica that the notion of space stations was integrated into the burgeoning mythology of the Space Age; his article on ‘‘Stations in Space’’ (1940) helped to popularise the idea. George O. Smith’s ‘‘QRM—Interplanetary’’ (1942), which launched the long-running Venus Equilateral series,rift gold employed orbital satellites as relay stations in extraterrestrial communication. Ley and Chesley Bonestell’s The Conquest of Space (1949) and Cornelius Ryan’s lavishly illustrated anthology Across the Space Frontier (1952), in association with the popularising efforts of Wernher von Braun, helped to standardise a design for a rotatingtoroidal space station joined by spokes to a central hub. Artificial satellites were also popularised by Arthur C. Clarke, whose early article on ‘‘Extraterrestrial Relays’’ (1945) proposed the establishment of communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Interplanetary Flight (1950) and the best-selling The Exploration of Space (1951) gave key roles to space stations, whose potential development was mapped out in detail in the juvenile science fiction novel Islands in the Sky (1952). Clarke was ultimately to assist in the production of an iconic visual image of a space station in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001—A Space Odyssey (1968). Clarke’s propagandising was an inspiration to other British writers; its didactically inclined spinoff included Charles Eric Maine’s 1952 radio play Spaceways (novelised, 1953), Jeffrey Lloyd Castle’s Satellite One (1954), Rafe Bernard’s The Wheel in the Sky (1954), and a long series of satellite-based children’s novels by E. C. Eliott, launched by Kemlo and the Crazy Planet (1954).
Other significant images of the period included Roger P. Graham’s ‘‘Live In an Orbit and Love It’’ (1950, by-lined Craig Browning), which features a brief boom in orbital housing; Fletcher Pratt’s ‘‘Asylum Satellite’’ (1952); and Murray Leinster’s Space Platform (1953). Satellites are established for the purposes of pleasure rather than utilitarian functions in Jack Vance’s ‘‘Abercrombie Station’’ (1952) and Raymond Z. Gallun’s ‘‘Captive Asteroid’’ (1953). The race to launch an actual artificial satellite was won when Sputnik I went into orbit on 4 October 1957. Sputnik II—which carried a dog named Laika—followed on 3 November 1957 and was swiftly followed by the U.S. Explorer I (31 January 1958) and Vanguard I (17 March 1958). Actual communications satellites Echo (1960), Telstar (1962), and Early Bird (1965) owed more to a 1955 paper on unmanned satellites by J. R. Pierce than to Clarke’s 1945 paper—which assumed, in pretransistor days, that such stations would need a numerous staff to change defective valves—but popular reportage insisted on giving credit where it seemed to be due.
The first domestic communications satellites,rift gold the Canadian Anik (1972) and the U.S. Westar I (1974) and Satcom I (1975), launched the era of satellite TV. The first space station to be put in orbit was Salyut 1 (launched 19 April 1971), launching an extensive program of reconnaissance projects. The first scientific research station in space, the U.S. Skylab, was launched on 14 May 1973; it reentered the atmosphere in 1979. The Russian space station Mir, whose first element was launched on 20 February 1986, became a key location of orbital research for fifteen years, with only five brief periods of unoccupation; it hosted joint projects with U.S. scientists after the end of the Cold War. The literary reflection of this sequence of events inevitably imported a new hardness into science-fictional representations of satellites. The darker possibilities of their utility were explored in such works as Jeff Sutton’s Bombs in Orbit (1959). Potential problems with communications satellites were explored in John Berryman’s ‘‘The Trouble with Telstar’’ (1963). The difficulties involved in building an orbital research laboratory were foregrounded in Walt and Leigh Richmond’s ‘‘Where I Wasn’t Going’’ (1963). This realistic tradition was extrapolated in such works as Robert F. Young’s ‘‘The Moon of Advanced Learning’’ (1982), Geoffrey A. Landis’ ‘‘Mirusha’’ (2001), and J. R. Dunn’s ‘‘For Keeps’’ (2003), although more fanciful space stations in the tradition of the luxury hotel featured in Curt Siodmak’s Skyport (1959) continued to thrive in parallel. The notion of building self-enclosed colonies in orbit was dramatically repopularised by Gerard K. O’Neill’s speculative nonfiction book The High Frontier (1977), which suggested that the Lagrange points in the Moon’s orbit around the Earth would be eminently suitable locations. (The eighteenth-century mathematician Joseph Lagrange had calculated that there would be several points in Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun where objects could be stably accumulated; two groups of asteroids were eventually found at relevant points and the term ‘‘Lagrange point’’ was henceforth used to designate stable points in any orbit.) The five Lagrange points in the lunar orbit form a regular hexagon with the Moon at the sixth point, and O’Neill reckoned L-5 the most convenient for colonisation; that abbreviation was often applied to O’Neill colonies featured in science fiction, including the one inMack Reynolds’ Lagrange Five (1979). Joe Haldeman’s Worlds series (1981–1992) imagines an elaborate array of orbital colonies, and the formation of similar proliferations became a key element of the posthuman future histories featured in such works as Bruce Sterling’s Shaper/Mechanist series (1982–1985) and Michael Swanwick’s Vacuum Flowers (1987).
Other notable examples of O’Neill-type space habitats are featured in Charles L. Grant’s ‘‘Coming of Age in Henson’s Tube’’ (1979), John E. Stith’s Memory Blank (1986), Lois McMaster Bujold’s Falling Free (1988), Doug Beason’s ‘‘The Long Way Home’’ (1989) and Lifeline (1990, with Kevin J. Anderson), Allen Steele’s Clarke County,rift gold Space (1991), and Howard V. Hendrix’s Lightpaths (1997). Those used as a backcloth in the role-playing game Transhuman Space (Steve Jackson Games, 2000) are unusually well developed. Such colonies are often faced with a hard battle for survival in stories in which they survive the devastation of Earth, as in Haldeman’s series and Victor Mila ´n’s ‘‘The Floating World’’ (1989). The initiation of Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in 1983 was encouraged by a number of prominent science fiction writers who contrived to obtain a brief political influence, including Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Robert A. *Heinlein. The episode gave rise to a rumour that Arthur Clarke had dropped in on one of their meetings with top U.S. military men and could not resist pointing out that billion-dollar satellites, however well armed, were very vulnerable to such cheap tricks as placing ‘‘a bucket of nails’’ in the same orbit, traveling in the opposite direction—a remark that drew a sharp response fromHeinlein. Asimilar skepticismled Carol Risin to refer to it in derisory terms as ‘‘StarWars’’—a nickname that stuck—and infected most fictional treatments of the notion, much more carefully elaborated in such works as David A. Drake’s Fortress (1986). The programme was abandoned in 1993 but partly resurrected by GeorgeW. Bush as the National MissileDefense programme. Themelodramatic potential of satellite-launched terrorism was exploited in such stories as Joseph H. Delaney’s ‘‘Business as Usual, During Altercations’’ (1997).
Film and Cinema: High Fidelity to Surround Sound
While motion picture soundtracks typically generate less excitement than the visual content, the sound recording devices used in the motion Picture industry have consistently been at the cutting edge of technological advancement. From the 1920s to the 1950s, these technologies reached the public in theaters long before anything similar was available from broadcasts or for home use. In fact, many of the early innovations in high fidelity recording and reproduction were created in the context of motion picture production and exhibition, while the phonograph, radio,rift gold and television lagged behind. There were experimental linkings of sound and motion pictures from the earliest days of the cinema, and early designers of these systems struggled merely to provide sound at minimally acceptable levels of volume and quality. The nearly worldwide adoption of sound-on-film by the early 1930s corresponded to relatively favorable economic conditions in the motion Picture industry, particularly in the U.S., and this encouraged even more experimentation with new audio techniques.
Some of the most notable achievements of the 1930s were related to stereophonic sound. Long before it was practical to introduce this technology to the public via the phonograph or radio, audiences in some places heard stereo soundtracks accompanying a small number of feature films. A landmark was Fantasia, the animated film by Walt Disney Studios (U.S.), which employed sound recorded on numerous separate optical tracks. These were then mixed down to three channels (left, right and center) of audio for exhibition along with a fourth ‘‘control’’ track, which was not audible but contained information that automatically controlled the volume of each of the three audio tracks. Only two theaters purchased the U.S.$85,000, 54-loudspeaker ‘‘Fantasound’’ system needed to reproduce these films on screen, but a traveling exhibition toured the U.S. when the film opened in 1940.
At the end of World War II, many motion picture producers adopted magnetic recording technology, which was known before the war but rarely used outside Germany. Magnetic recording was substituted for optical recording in the studios primarily because it was much less expensive to use; at a time when television was cutting deeply into theater attendance,rift gold cost cutting was imperative. However, that cost saving did not apply to the exhibition of films, and most theaters retained their optical-soundtrack projection equipment through the late 1980s. While studios repeatedly tried to introduce new theater systems using multichannel, high-fidelity sound, most exhibitors resisted. The theater was no longer at the forefront and many innovations in movie sound technology made after the 1950s were preceded by similar innovations in broadcasting or in home high-fidelity systems. However, the experimental technologies of the 1950s are usually cited by film historians as great landmarks. One of the most notable examples was Cinerama, one of several widescreen formats that Hollywood studios believed would bring customers back to the theaters in the 1950s. Besides its remarkably wide screen, Cinerama featured a seven-track magnetic soundtrack, carried on a separate 35 mm film run on a player that was operated in parallel to multiple motion Picture projectors. Like Fantasound before it, Cinerama was so expensive to exhibit that it saw only limited use. Somewhat more successful were systems based on a double-width, 70 mm film on a single projector. All of these used some variation of multichannel sound, and some used magnetic rather than optical soundtracks for theater reproduction. Perhaps the most commercially successful of these was Todd-AO (promoted by film producer Michael Todd and the American Optical Company), which used six audio channels. A series of highly successful innovations was offered by Dolby Laboratories (U.K., later U.S.) beginning in 1965 with the introduction of what came to be known as Dolby A. This was a noisereduction technology used to improve recordings made in the studio before they were released to theaters. Although used initially in the phonograph record industry, the first motion picture soundtrack made using Dolby A was A Clockwork Orange. Released in 1971, the movie was typical of the Dolby releases of the day in that it was originally recorded on multitrack magnetic recorders, mixed using Dolby noise reduction, but released in ordinary monophonic form, usually with an optical soundtrack. However, the next year Dolby introduced an improved optical soundtrack technology and the short film A Quiet Revolution was released to demonstrate to theater chain owners the value of using Dolby noise reduction equipment in the exhibition of these films. While this technology did not succeed, some theaters did begin to improve their audio equipment. Sensurround, a multichannel system for theaters, was introduced as a sort of novelty with the film Earthquake in 1974. An optically recorded, inaudible control track triggered the reproduction of very low-frequency sounds, which were used to add emphasis to the soundtrack at key points (such as the rumbling of an earthquake). Sensurroundlike systems would eventually evolve into the current ‘‘Surround Sound,’’ but meanwhile the Dolby Laboratories once again introduced a new multitrack system. This one, called Dolby Stereo, electronically combined four soundtracks onto just two tracks for the final release print. The four tracks included left, right, and center channels plus a ‘‘surround’’ channel for special effects. Dolby Stereo could be reproduced by adding relatively inexpensive accessories to existing projectors. The first release in Dolby Stereo was A Star is Born in 1976. Following the advent of Dolby Stereo it became more common to advertise a film’s sound technology along with its cast. This helped generate a popular interest in film sound, and along with the consolidation of exhibition and production companies,rift gold the rate of adoption of new theater technologies began to accelerate.
Digital recording techniques were tried by filmmakers from the early 1980s, although they were not in widespread use until the 1990s. An early optical digital playback system introduced in 1990 by the Eastman Kodak Company (U.S.) was not as successful as Dolby Digital, introduced in 1992. In this new system, a digitized version of the soundtrack was placed in the tiny spaces between the sprocket holes on the exhibition copy of the film, thus leaving room for a conventional analog soundtrack at the edge to be used as a backup or in theaters that had only the standard projectors. Under various names, the software algorithms developed for Dolby Digital have also been adapted for other formats, such as home theater and DVD discs. With the introduction of digital recording and playback systems, motion Picture producers and movie theaters are once again acting as the channels for the introduction of new audio technologies to the public.
Some of the most notable achievements of the 1930s were related to stereophonic sound. Long before it was practical to introduce this technology to the public via the phonograph or radio, audiences in some places heard stereo soundtracks accompanying a small number of feature films. A landmark was Fantasia, the animated film by Walt Disney Studios (U.S.), which employed sound recorded on numerous separate optical tracks. These were then mixed down to three channels (left, right and center) of audio for exhibition along with a fourth ‘‘control’’ track, which was not audible but contained information that automatically controlled the volume of each of the three audio tracks. Only two theaters purchased the U.S.$85,000, 54-loudspeaker ‘‘Fantasound’’ system needed to reproduce these films on screen, but a traveling exhibition toured the U.S. when the film opened in 1940.
At the end of World War II, many motion picture producers adopted magnetic recording technology, which was known before the war but rarely used outside Germany. Magnetic recording was substituted for optical recording in the studios primarily because it was much less expensive to use; at a time when television was cutting deeply into theater attendance,rift gold cost cutting was imperative. However, that cost saving did not apply to the exhibition of films, and most theaters retained their optical-soundtrack projection equipment through the late 1980s. While studios repeatedly tried to introduce new theater systems using multichannel, high-fidelity sound, most exhibitors resisted. The theater was no longer at the forefront and many innovations in movie sound technology made after the 1950s were preceded by similar innovations in broadcasting or in home high-fidelity systems. However, the experimental technologies of the 1950s are usually cited by film historians as great landmarks. One of the most notable examples was Cinerama, one of several widescreen formats that Hollywood studios believed would bring customers back to the theaters in the 1950s. Besides its remarkably wide screen, Cinerama featured a seven-track magnetic soundtrack, carried on a separate 35 mm film run on a player that was operated in parallel to multiple motion Picture projectors. Like Fantasound before it, Cinerama was so expensive to exhibit that it saw only limited use. Somewhat more successful were systems based on a double-width, 70 mm film on a single projector. All of these used some variation of multichannel sound, and some used magnetic rather than optical soundtracks for theater reproduction. Perhaps the most commercially successful of these was Todd-AO (promoted by film producer Michael Todd and the American Optical Company), which used six audio channels. A series of highly successful innovations was offered by Dolby Laboratories (U.K., later U.S.) beginning in 1965 with the introduction of what came to be known as Dolby A. This was a noisereduction technology used to improve recordings made in the studio before they were released to theaters. Although used initially in the phonograph record industry, the first motion picture soundtrack made using Dolby A was A Clockwork Orange. Released in 1971, the movie was typical of the Dolby releases of the day in that it was originally recorded on multitrack magnetic recorders, mixed using Dolby noise reduction, but released in ordinary monophonic form, usually with an optical soundtrack. However, the next year Dolby introduced an improved optical soundtrack technology and the short film A Quiet Revolution was released to demonstrate to theater chain owners the value of using Dolby noise reduction equipment in the exhibition of these films. While this technology did not succeed, some theaters did begin to improve their audio equipment. Sensurround, a multichannel system for theaters, was introduced as a sort of novelty with the film Earthquake in 1974. An optically recorded, inaudible control track triggered the reproduction of very low-frequency sounds, which were used to add emphasis to the soundtrack at key points (such as the rumbling of an earthquake). Sensurroundlike systems would eventually evolve into the current ‘‘Surround Sound,’’ but meanwhile the Dolby Laboratories once again introduced a new multitrack system. This one, called Dolby Stereo, electronically combined four soundtracks onto just two tracks for the final release print. The four tracks included left, right, and center channels plus a ‘‘surround’’ channel for special effects. Dolby Stereo could be reproduced by adding relatively inexpensive accessories to existing projectors. The first release in Dolby Stereo was A Star is Born in 1976. Following the advent of Dolby Stereo it became more common to advertise a film’s sound technology along with its cast. This helped generate a popular interest in film sound, and along with the consolidation of exhibition and production companies,rift gold the rate of adoption of new theater technologies began to accelerate.
Digital recording techniques were tried by filmmakers from the early 1980s, although they were not in widespread use until the 1990s. An early optical digital playback system introduced in 1990 by the Eastman Kodak Company (U.S.) was not as successful as Dolby Digital, introduced in 1992. In this new system, a digitized version of the soundtrack was placed in the tiny spaces between the sprocket holes on the exhibition copy of the film, thus leaving room for a conventional analog soundtrack at the edge to be used as a backup or in theaters that had only the standard projectors. Under various names, the software algorithms developed for Dolby Digital have also been adapted for other formats, such as home theater and DVD discs. With the introduction of digital recording and playback systems, motion Picture producers and movie theaters are once again acting as the channels for the introduction of new audio technologies to the public.
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock
I INTRODUCTION
Hitchcock,rift gold Sir Alfred Joseph (1899-1980), British-born American motion-picture director and producer, noted for his technically innovative and psychologically complex thrillers. Hitchcock’s film career spanned more than 50 years, from the silent era of motion pictures to the mid-1970s.
II LIFE AND WORK
Born in London, the son of a grocer, Hitchcock attended Saint Ignatius College and briefly studied engineering, art history, and drawing at the University of London. He entered the movies in 1920 as a designer of silent-film title cards and worked as an art director, scriptwriter, and assistant director before directing his first picture, The Pleasure Garden, in 1925. However, it was not until his third picture, The Lodger (1926), about a man suspected of being Jack the Ripper, that Hitchcock became identified with thrillers. In 1929 he made his first talking film, Blackmail, which was acclaimed for its innovative and imaginative use of sound. He used, for example, a continually clanging shop bell to convey the heroine’s feelings of guilt. During the 1930s he gained international fame with a series of immensely popular suspense dramas, including The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), and The Lady Vanishes (1938).
Dissatisfied with the low budgets and technical limitations of British studios, Hitchcock was lured to Hollywood, California, in 1939 by American producer David O. Selznick. Hitchcock’s first American film, Rebecca (1940), a psychological drama adapted from a novel by British writer Daphne du Maurier, won the Academy Award for best picture. Hitchcock found his greatest success with suspenseful thrillers, however. These included Suspicion (1941), about a woman who imagines that her husband is a murderer, and two widely praised efforts, Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Notorious (1946). In the murder drama Rope (1948) Hitchcock attempted to shoot an entire feature film in what appears to be one continuous shot.
Hitchcock entered the most creative period of his career in the 1950s. In quick succession he produced and directed a series of inventive films, beginning with Strangers on a Train (1951) and continuing with Rear Window (1954), Dial M for Murder (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (a remake of his own earlier movie, 1956), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963). Revolving around the wildest improbabilities,rift gold the plots of these pictures have been likened to dreams or nightmares that take place in daylight: a small town appears placid on the surface but reveals dark tensions underneath, an innocent man finds himself suddenly the object of guilt and suspicion, a wholesome-looking motel clerk is actually a crazed killer who impersonates his dead mother, and chases culminate at such familiar landmarks as the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.
III TECHNIQUE AND RECOGNITION
The pictures are also notable for their technique, which was influenced by the experiments of Soviet director Sergey Eisenstein with montage editing—arranging a series of quick shots to evoke strong emotions in the viewer. Hitchcock used a full array of cinematic techniques in addition to montage to manipulate his audience, including unusual camera angles and carefully placed sound effects. He meticulously planned each shot in his films and treated the actor as just another object on the set, leaving the impression that nothing on the screen was there by chance.
Hitchcock also produced and hosted two mystery series on television, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1962) and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962-1965). He won the admiration of French new wave directors, such as Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, who embraced his policy of maintaining total creative control of a film. He also won favor with the younger directors, such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg, who took over Hollywood in the 1970s. His later films included Marnie (1964) and Frenzy (1972).
Although Hitchcock never won an Academy Award for film direction, in 1967 he received the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his contributions to cinema and in 1979 he received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1980 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, though he had long been a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Hitchcock,rift gold Sir Alfred Joseph (1899-1980), British-born American motion-picture director and producer, noted for his technically innovative and psychologically complex thrillers. Hitchcock’s film career spanned more than 50 years, from the silent era of motion pictures to the mid-1970s.
II LIFE AND WORK
Born in London, the son of a grocer, Hitchcock attended Saint Ignatius College and briefly studied engineering, art history, and drawing at the University of London. He entered the movies in 1920 as a designer of silent-film title cards and worked as an art director, scriptwriter, and assistant director before directing his first picture, The Pleasure Garden, in 1925. However, it was not until his third picture, The Lodger (1926), about a man suspected of being Jack the Ripper, that Hitchcock became identified with thrillers. In 1929 he made his first talking film, Blackmail, which was acclaimed for its innovative and imaginative use of sound. He used, for example, a continually clanging shop bell to convey the heroine’s feelings of guilt. During the 1930s he gained international fame with a series of immensely popular suspense dramas, including The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), and The Lady Vanishes (1938).
Dissatisfied with the low budgets and technical limitations of British studios, Hitchcock was lured to Hollywood, California, in 1939 by American producer David O. Selznick. Hitchcock’s first American film, Rebecca (1940), a psychological drama adapted from a novel by British writer Daphne du Maurier, won the Academy Award for best picture. Hitchcock found his greatest success with suspenseful thrillers, however. These included Suspicion (1941), about a woman who imagines that her husband is a murderer, and two widely praised efforts, Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Notorious (1946). In the murder drama Rope (1948) Hitchcock attempted to shoot an entire feature film in what appears to be one continuous shot.
Hitchcock entered the most creative period of his career in the 1950s. In quick succession he produced and directed a series of inventive films, beginning with Strangers on a Train (1951) and continuing with Rear Window (1954), Dial M for Murder (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (a remake of his own earlier movie, 1956), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963). Revolving around the wildest improbabilities,rift gold the plots of these pictures have been likened to dreams or nightmares that take place in daylight: a small town appears placid on the surface but reveals dark tensions underneath, an innocent man finds himself suddenly the object of guilt and suspicion, a wholesome-looking motel clerk is actually a crazed killer who impersonates his dead mother, and chases culminate at such familiar landmarks as the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.
III TECHNIQUE AND RECOGNITION
The pictures are also notable for their technique, which was influenced by the experiments of Soviet director Sergey Eisenstein with montage editing—arranging a series of quick shots to evoke strong emotions in the viewer. Hitchcock used a full array of cinematic techniques in addition to montage to manipulate his audience, including unusual camera angles and carefully placed sound effects. He meticulously planned each shot in his films and treated the actor as just another object on the set, leaving the impression that nothing on the screen was there by chance.
Hitchcock also produced and hosted two mystery series on television, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1962) and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962-1965). He won the admiration of French new wave directors, such as Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, who embraced his policy of maintaining total creative control of a film. He also won favor with the younger directors, such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg, who took over Hollywood in the 1970s. His later films included Marnie (1964) and Frenzy (1972).
Although Hitchcock never won an Academy Award for film direction, in 1967 he received the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his contributions to cinema and in 1979 he received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1980 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, though he had long been a naturalized citizen of the United States.
UFC 132: Mayhem Miller vs. Aaron Simpson
Jason "Mayhem" Miller's return to the Octagon will take place in July, TERA Gold as he battles Aaron Simpson at UFC 132. The UFC announced the Miller-Simpson fight on Saturday, a day after Miller's signing with the UFC was confirmed.
There's no word yet on whether Miller-Simpson will be on the pay-per-view card, but it would be an ideal fight for a Spike TV preliminary bout. RIFT Platinum Thanks to his brash personality and his status as host of MTV's Bully Beatdown, Miller was one of the most famous mixed martial artists outside the UFC, and his presence on a basic-cable bout would draw some eyeballs and likely reel in some casual fans to make a last-minute pay-per-view purchase.
The 8-2 Simpson is an outstanding wrestler who is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Mario Miranda in March. Simpson's wrestling and punching power makes him an interesting threat to Miller.
But the 24-7 Miller has to be considered the favorite. Miller has an excellent submission game and is one of the best middleweights in the world off his back. Rift Gold He's also a crafty enough striker to give Simpson trouble standing up. RIFT Platinum Simpson could certainly win a decision against Miller, but Miller has more ways to win this fight.
Miller has fought in the UFC just once, rift gold losing to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 52 six years ago. Miller's second time inside the Octagon should yield his first victory.
There's no word yet on whether Miller-Simpson will be on the pay-per-view card, but it would be an ideal fight for a Spike TV preliminary bout. RIFT Platinum Thanks to his brash personality and his status as host of MTV's Bully Beatdown, Miller was one of the most famous mixed martial artists outside the UFC, and his presence on a basic-cable bout would draw some eyeballs and likely reel in some casual fans to make a last-minute pay-per-view purchase.
The 8-2 Simpson is an outstanding wrestler who is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Mario Miranda in March. Simpson's wrestling and punching power makes him an interesting threat to Miller.
But the 24-7 Miller has to be considered the favorite. Miller has an excellent submission game and is one of the best middleweights in the world off his back. Rift Gold He's also a crafty enough striker to give Simpson trouble standing up. RIFT Platinum Simpson could certainly win a decision against Miller, but Miller has more ways to win this fight.
Miller has fought in the UFC just once, rift gold losing to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 52 six years ago. Miller's second time inside the Octagon should yield his first victory.
Got a 500-Square-Foot Patch? Rent It for a Cellular Tower
Do you have enough unused acreage on your homestead to accommodate the equivalent of two side-by-side inflatable castle bounce houses? Rift Gold If so, you have enough space for a monopole cellular antenna tower, and the potential to collect anywhere from $500 to approximately $5,000 per month in rent.
That bonus income could go a long way in easing the financial burdens of these tough times. But your smart business move may generate headaches with the neighbors too: Various activist groups are up in arms over fears that electromagnetic waves emitted from cell phones and cellular towers are a health hazard, not to mention that the towers can be eyesores.
Even if you still want to give it a try, there's no guarantee a carrier will want your particular site. Just like renting out a garage, parking spot or garden plot, a homeowner needs to have the right location to attract to prospective tenants.
"As is the case with all real estate, it's about location, location, location," says David Wendlandt, managing partner with tower operator TowerSource. RIFT Platinum "Most of the opportunities [to rent space for a cellular tower] are in rural or suburban areas, or areas that are adjoined to a city but is governed by the county. It's often difficult to put a tower in a city because of zoning ordinances."
These monopole towers are increasingly being disguised as pine trees, palm trees, flag poles or even cacti to make them more palatable to neighbors. rift gold The structures rise up as high as 199 feet from the ground -- though not a foot more, because monopoles that are 200 feet tall or higher need clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission, Wendlandt explains.
Tall Pole, Long Commitment
Folks who are considering attempting to lure a carrier to place a monopole on their property should be aware that they're in for a long-term commitment -- very long term. The contracts usually run five years, with an automatic five-year renewal -- for five consecutive times. In other words, be prepared to have the cellular tower as a neighbor for 30 years.
"The real estate that the monopole sits on can be sold to another party, or willed to an heir. It's usually written in the lease [with the wireless carriers] that the land owner can sell the land if they want to," Wendlandt says.
He noted some homeowners may chose to sell the lease to a tower management company like his and receive an upfront, lump sum payment. RIFT Platinum But naturally, that payment will be less than the land owner would make if they managed the contract themselves.
Also, a wireless carrier will sometimes strike side deals with other companies to put their equipment on its towers, allowing them to piggyback on its infrastructure. TERA Gold Wendlandt advises homeowners to consult with a real estate attorney who specializes in telecom contracts in an effort to ensure that their rights are protected. For example, an attorney may push for a clause that would provide the homeowner with a cut of the earnings from any side deals a carrier arranges to sublease space on its tower.
That bonus income could go a long way in easing the financial burdens of these tough times. But your smart business move may generate headaches with the neighbors too: Various activist groups are up in arms over fears that electromagnetic waves emitted from cell phones and cellular towers are a health hazard, not to mention that the towers can be eyesores.
Even if you still want to give it a try, there's no guarantee a carrier will want your particular site. Just like renting out a garage, parking spot or garden plot, a homeowner needs to have the right location to attract to prospective tenants.
"As is the case with all real estate, it's about location, location, location," says David Wendlandt, managing partner with tower operator TowerSource. RIFT Platinum "Most of the opportunities [to rent space for a cellular tower] are in rural or suburban areas, or areas that are adjoined to a city but is governed by the county. It's often difficult to put a tower in a city because of zoning ordinances."
These monopole towers are increasingly being disguised as pine trees, palm trees, flag poles or even cacti to make them more palatable to neighbors. rift gold The structures rise up as high as 199 feet from the ground -- though not a foot more, because monopoles that are 200 feet tall or higher need clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission, Wendlandt explains.
Tall Pole, Long Commitment
Folks who are considering attempting to lure a carrier to place a monopole on their property should be aware that they're in for a long-term commitment -- very long term. The contracts usually run five years, with an automatic five-year renewal -- for five consecutive times. In other words, be prepared to have the cellular tower as a neighbor for 30 years.
"The real estate that the monopole sits on can be sold to another party, or willed to an heir. It's usually written in the lease [with the wireless carriers] that the land owner can sell the land if they want to," Wendlandt says.
He noted some homeowners may chose to sell the lease to a tower management company like his and receive an upfront, lump sum payment. RIFT Platinum But naturally, that payment will be less than the land owner would make if they managed the contract themselves.
Also, a wireless carrier will sometimes strike side deals with other companies to put their equipment on its towers, allowing them to piggyback on its infrastructure. TERA Gold Wendlandt advises homeowners to consult with a real estate attorney who specializes in telecom contracts in an effort to ensure that their rights are protected. For example, an attorney may push for a clause that would provide the homeowner with a cut of the earnings from any side deals a carrier arranges to sublease space on its tower.
2011年4月28日星期四
Britney Spears Tweets Teaser of New Song 'I Wanna Go'
Britney Spears must be feeling pretty confident about her upcoming album, Rift Gold 'Femme Fatale.' Days after unveiling her new music video for song 'Hold It Against Me,' Spears released a preview of another single from her album, 'Inside Out.' And on Tuesday, she released a sneak peek of a third single, 'I Wanna Go' on Twitter.
Dr. Luke, who worked on Spears' upcoming album, 'Femme Fatale,' was the first to tweet the teaser. Spears re-tweeted the link with the note, "I-I-I Wanna Go-o-o by the amazing #MaxMartin –Britney" Listen to the 'I Wanna Go' snippet after the jump!
The singer's longtime manager, Larry Rudolph, RIFT Platinum spoke with MTV about Spears' new album and revealed the team is in fact hoping to release a second single before the album comes out next month.
"We have a second song that I think we're gonna end up putting out before the album drops," rift gold he said. "I can't say with 100 percent certainty, but I think we probably will."
He continued, RIFT Platinum calling the next single a "monster." It's unclear whether the second single he's referring to is 'Inside Out' or the recently teased 'I Wanna Go.'
"I don't think I've been this excited about releasing a Britney single in many, many years," he said. "It's that good. That's all I'm gonna say about it at the moment. I haven't heard a final mix of it, but I should get it in the next day or two. So far, what I've heard is just extraordinary. TERA Gold It really is amazing. Her fans will be very happy with it. I'm trying hard to get it out before the album comes out."
Check out the snippet of Britney Spears' 'I Wanna Go' below
Dr. Luke, who worked on Spears' upcoming album, 'Femme Fatale,' was the first to tweet the teaser. Spears re-tweeted the link with the note, "I-I-I Wanna Go-o-o by the amazing #MaxMartin –Britney" Listen to the 'I Wanna Go' snippet after the jump!
The singer's longtime manager, Larry Rudolph, RIFT Platinum spoke with MTV about Spears' new album and revealed the team is in fact hoping to release a second single before the album comes out next month.
"We have a second song that I think we're gonna end up putting out before the album drops," rift gold he said. "I can't say with 100 percent certainty, but I think we probably will."
He continued, RIFT Platinum calling the next single a "monster." It's unclear whether the second single he's referring to is 'Inside Out' or the recently teased 'I Wanna Go.'
"I don't think I've been this excited about releasing a Britney single in many, many years," he said. "It's that good. That's all I'm gonna say about it at the moment. I haven't heard a final mix of it, but I should get it in the next day or two. So far, what I've heard is just extraordinary. TERA Gold It really is amazing. Her fans will be very happy with it. I'm trying hard to get it out before the album comes out."
Check out the snippet of Britney Spears' 'I Wanna Go' below
UFC 129 Press Conference Video
Dana White and the six top fighters at UFC 129 will all meet the press at the UFC 129 press conference in Toronto on Wednesday, RIFT Platinum and we'll have the live video here at MMAFighting.com.
Georges St-Pierre, rift gold Jake Shields, Jose Aldo, Mark Hominick, Randy Couture and Lyoto Machida will all be in attendance for the event and will be answering questions from the media, TERA Gold three days before their fights.
The press conference begins Rift Gold at 1 p.m. ET and the video is below
Georges St-Pierre, rift gold Jake Shields, Jose Aldo, Mark Hominick, Randy Couture and Lyoto Machida will all be in attendance for the event and will be answering questions from the media, TERA Gold three days before their fights.
The press conference begins Rift Gold at 1 p.m. ET and the video is below
2011年4月27日星期三
That depends
rift gold
Safety is a major concern at the manufacturing company where I work. So I'm constantly preaching caution to the workers I supervise. "Does anyone know," I asked a few guys, "what the speed limit is in our parking lot?" The long silence that followed was interrupted when one of them piped up.
"That depends. Do you mean coming in to work or leaving?"
rift gold
Safety is a major concern at the manufacturing company where I work. So I'm constantly preaching caution to the workers I supervise. "Does anyone know," I asked a few guys, "what the speed limit is in our parking lot?" The long silence that followed was interrupted when one of them piped up.
"That depends. Do you mean coming in to work or leaving?"
rift gold
Blood donation
rift gold
Who says companies only care about the bottom line? Ours is socially conscious and offers employees fun outdoor activities throughout the complex.
Both of these admirable elements were driven home one day when a voice over the loudspeaker boomed "Everyone who signed up to donate blood, please report to the rifle range!"
rift gold
Who says companies only care about the bottom line? Ours is socially conscious and offers employees fun outdoor activities throughout the complex.
Both of these admirable elements were driven home one day when a voice over the loudspeaker boomed "Everyone who signed up to donate blood, please report to the rifle range!"
rift gold
The Lion and the Mouse
rift gold
A JUDGE was awakened by the noise of a lawyer prosecuting a Thief.
Rising in wrath he was about to sentence the Thief to life
imprisonment when the latter said:
"I beg that you will set me free, and I will some day requite your
kindness."
Pleased and flattered to be bribed, although by nothing but an
empty promise, the Judge let him go. Soon afterward he found that
it was more than an empty promise, for, having become a Thief, he
was himself set free by the other, who had become a Judge.
rift gold
A JUDGE was awakened by the noise of a lawyer prosecuting a Thief.
Rising in wrath he was about to sentence the Thief to life
imprisonment when the latter said:
"I beg that you will set me free, and I will some day requite your
kindness."
Pleased and flattered to be bribed, although by nothing but an
empty promise, the Judge let him go. Soon afterward he found that
it was more than an empty promise, for, having become a Thief, he
was himself set free by the other, who had become a Judge.
rift gold
2011年4月26日星期二
Today In Brewer History: No-No Nieves
On this day in 1987 lefthander Juan Nieves made his second start of the season for the Brewers, RIFT Platinum who were 8-0 at the time. Nieves had just turned 22 the previous week but was already making the 35th start of his major league career. As a 21 year old in 1986, Nieves had thrown 184.2 innings and posted a 4.92 ERA. The previous year, he'd pitched 188.2 innings as a 20 year old between AA and AAA.
Nieves' previous outing wasn't very good: He allowed six runs on eight hits to the Rangers over 5.1 innings, but picked up the win anyway in the Brewers' 11-8 victory. He more than made up for the weak outing this time out, however, rift gold as he threw the only no-hitter in Brewer history. Glenn Braggs, Dale Sveum and Greg Brock all homered in the game as the Brewers won 7-0 to move to 9-0 on the season.
Nieves walked five batters in the game but allowed nothing else, striking out seven. RIFT Platinum It was the fifth complete game of his young career, and his fourth shutout.
Unfortunately, at 22 years old Nieves was already nearing the end of the road. Rift Gold Following the no hitter, he pitched just 57 more games before an arm injury ended his major league career at age 23. If a 20-23 year old pitcher was handled like Nieves today and got injured, it's possible his manager would be publicly executed.
These days, Nieves is spending his fourth season as the bullpen coach for the White Sox.
With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
1996-01 Brewer Jeromy Burnitz, who turns 42.
1977 Brewer Barry Cort, TERA Gold who turns 55.
1964 Milwaukee Brave Ed Bailey, who would have turned 80
Nieves' previous outing wasn't very good: He allowed six runs on eight hits to the Rangers over 5.1 innings, but picked up the win anyway in the Brewers' 11-8 victory. He more than made up for the weak outing this time out, however, rift gold as he threw the only no-hitter in Brewer history. Glenn Braggs, Dale Sveum and Greg Brock all homered in the game as the Brewers won 7-0 to move to 9-0 on the season.
Nieves walked five batters in the game but allowed nothing else, striking out seven. RIFT Platinum It was the fifth complete game of his young career, and his fourth shutout.
Unfortunately, at 22 years old Nieves was already nearing the end of the road. Rift Gold Following the no hitter, he pitched just 57 more games before an arm injury ended his major league career at age 23. If a 20-23 year old pitcher was handled like Nieves today and got injured, it's possible his manager would be publicly executed.
These days, Nieves is spending his fourth season as the bullpen coach for the White Sox.
With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
1996-01 Brewer Jeromy Burnitz, who turns 42.
1977 Brewer Barry Cort, TERA Gold who turns 55.
1964 Milwaukee Brave Ed Bailey, who would have turned 80
How to Apply for Custody or Visitation of My Children
Overview
As a parent involved in a divorce, legal separation or similar type of family law proceeding, RIFT Platinum you possess the right to seek custody or visitation of your children, according to "The Complete Divorce Handbook: A Practical Guide" by Brette McWhorter Sember. Despite some variations in family law statutes from state to state, the general provisions governing applying for child custody or visitation largely are the same no matter where you live in the United States
Step 1
Decide whether you desire to seek custody of your children or visitation. By seeking custody, you put yourself in the position of providing a primary residence for your children.
Step 2
Go to the clerk of the court and obtain an appropriate motion form--motion for child custody or motion for child visitation. rift gold Keep in mind that the typical court clerk maintains a selection of standard forms made available to people who do not hire lawyers.
Ask a Lawyer Online Now 12 Lawyers Are Online! Current Wait Time: 14 Minutes. Law.JustAnswer.com
Sponsored Links
Step 3
Complete the motion form, setting forth the specific reasons and associated facts why you believe the court should award you custody or visitation. RIFT Platinum All spaces on the form need to be completed. The form includes requests for basic information about you and your spouse, including your current addresses. You provide information about your children, including their names and dates of birth.
Step 4
Insert a statement that awarding you custody or visitation serves the best interests of your children. Rift Gold All courts in the United States base custody and visitation decisions on what a judge believes is in the best interests of the children.
Step 5
Sign the motion. Some states require signature in front of a notary public. TERA GoldThe American Bar Association provides state-by-state resources on family law related requirements of all types.
Step 6
Deliver or mail a copy of the motion to the other parent.
Step 7
Return to the clerk of the court and file your motion, completing the application for custody or visitation process.
As a parent involved in a divorce, legal separation or similar type of family law proceeding, RIFT Platinum you possess the right to seek custody or visitation of your children, according to "The Complete Divorce Handbook: A Practical Guide" by Brette McWhorter Sember. Despite some variations in family law statutes from state to state, the general provisions governing applying for child custody or visitation largely are the same no matter where you live in the United States
Step 1
Decide whether you desire to seek custody of your children or visitation. By seeking custody, you put yourself in the position of providing a primary residence for your children.
Step 2
Go to the clerk of the court and obtain an appropriate motion form--motion for child custody or motion for child visitation. rift gold Keep in mind that the typical court clerk maintains a selection of standard forms made available to people who do not hire lawyers.
Ask a Lawyer Online Now 12 Lawyers Are Online! Current Wait Time: 14 Minutes. Law.JustAnswer.com
Sponsored Links
Step 3
Complete the motion form, setting forth the specific reasons and associated facts why you believe the court should award you custody or visitation. RIFT Platinum All spaces on the form need to be completed. The form includes requests for basic information about you and your spouse, including your current addresses. You provide information about your children, including their names and dates of birth.
Step 4
Insert a statement that awarding you custody or visitation serves the best interests of your children. Rift Gold All courts in the United States base custody and visitation decisions on what a judge believes is in the best interests of the children.
Step 5
Sign the motion. Some states require signature in front of a notary public. TERA GoldThe American Bar Association provides state-by-state resources on family law related requirements of all types.
Step 6
Deliver or mail a copy of the motion to the other parent.
Step 7
Return to the clerk of the court and file your motion, completing the application for custody or visitation process.
2011年4月25日星期一
Shape Magazine Editor Apologizes for Putting LeAnn Rimes on October Cover
It's not often the editor-in-chief of a magazine sends out a email to subscribers apologizing for content--yet that's exactly what Valerie Latona, Rift Gold editor of Shape Magazine, did this week. TooFab reports that enough people complained about LeAnn Rimes gracing the cover of their October issue, that Latona felt she had to address the situation.
"You are all in good company... RIFT Platinum as you all agree Shape has made a terrible mistake in putting LeAnn Rimes on the cover," the editor began.
Reportedly, readers were appalled that the publication featured Rimes who had previously admitted to cheating on then-husband Dean Sheremet with also-married Eddie Cibrian. Rimes was featured on the cover along with the headline: 'LeAnn Rimes: How Working Out Saved Me.'
"Please know that our putting her on the cover was not meant to put a husband-stealer on a pedestal-but to show (through her story) how we all are human," Latona continued. rift gold "And this woman in particular found strength in exercise in what she said was her most difficult personal moment."
"But it did not come across that way... And for that I'm terribly sorry. RIFT Platinum I hope that we can do better the next time for those of you that will give us another chance," she concluded.
The email was signed, "Humbly, Valerie."
"You are all in good company... RIFT Platinum as you all agree Shape has made a terrible mistake in putting LeAnn Rimes on the cover," the editor began.
Reportedly, readers were appalled that the publication featured Rimes who had previously admitted to cheating on then-husband Dean Sheremet with also-married Eddie Cibrian. Rimes was featured on the cover along with the headline: 'LeAnn Rimes: How Working Out Saved Me.'
"Please know that our putting her on the cover was not meant to put a husband-stealer on a pedestal-but to show (through her story) how we all are human," Latona continued. rift gold "And this woman in particular found strength in exercise in what she said was her most difficult personal moment."
"But it did not come across that way... And for that I'm terribly sorry. RIFT Platinum I hope that we can do better the next time for those of you that will give us another chance," she concluded.
The email was signed, "Humbly, Valerie."
Wait, What? Brewers Hold Phillies To Two Hits, Beat Roy Halladay 9-0
Wait, What? Brewers Hold Phillies To Two Hits, Beat Roy Halladay 9-0
by Kyle Lobner on Apr 19, 2011 8:48 PM CDT in WPA Game Recaps
W: Randy Wolf (2-2)
L: Roy Halladay (2-1)
HR: Ryan Braun (5), Casey McGehee (2)
MVP: Randy Wolf (+.335)
LVP: Carlos Gomez (-.124)
Win Expectancy Graph and Star of the Game Voting
I don't know about you guys, RIFT Platinum but I always enjoy wins more when I never saw them coming.
Randy Wolf treated us to just such a win tonight, pitching six shutout innings and outdueling Roy Halladay and the Phillies.rift gold He allowed just two hits and three walks while striking out five, and his scoreless streak is now at 12.2 innings.
On offense, Ryan Braun was the story tonight. He went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and his fifth home run against Halladay, scoring two of the first three Brewer runs. Prince Fielder also went 3-for-4 against Halladay, and is now 6-for-10 in his career against the two-time Cy Young winner. All told, the Brewers hung six earned runs on Halladay, with the last two scoring on Casey McGehee's home run in the seventh.
Through 16 games this season, the Brewers hadn't scored more than six runs. RIFT Platinum Tonight, in a game started by Roy Halladay, they scored nine. I guess you never know.
Then, just when you thought nothing could go wrong today, we got this: Craig Counsell replaced Ryan Braun defensively in the eighth inning. Rift Gold It was Counsell's first career game in left field. As of this writing, I haven't heard if something is wrong with Braun or if Ron Roenicke simply decided to rest him.
by Kyle Lobner on Apr 19, 2011 8:48 PM CDT in WPA Game Recaps
W: Randy Wolf (2-2)
L: Roy Halladay (2-1)
HR: Ryan Braun (5), Casey McGehee (2)
MVP: Randy Wolf (+.335)
LVP: Carlos Gomez (-.124)
Win Expectancy Graph and Star of the Game Voting
I don't know about you guys, RIFT Platinum but I always enjoy wins more when I never saw them coming.
Randy Wolf treated us to just such a win tonight, pitching six shutout innings and outdueling Roy Halladay and the Phillies.rift gold He allowed just two hits and three walks while striking out five, and his scoreless streak is now at 12.2 innings.
On offense, Ryan Braun was the story tonight. He went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and his fifth home run against Halladay, scoring two of the first three Brewer runs. Prince Fielder also went 3-for-4 against Halladay, and is now 6-for-10 in his career against the two-time Cy Young winner. All told, the Brewers hung six earned runs on Halladay, with the last two scoring on Casey McGehee's home run in the seventh.
Through 16 games this season, the Brewers hadn't scored more than six runs. RIFT Platinum Tonight, in a game started by Roy Halladay, they scored nine. I guess you never know.
Then, just when you thought nothing could go wrong today, we got this: Craig Counsell replaced Ryan Braun defensively in the eighth inning. Rift Gold It was Counsell's first career game in left field. As of this writing, I haven't heard if something is wrong with Braun or if Ron Roenicke simply decided to rest him.
2011年4月24日星期日
Our Top Japanese Photos of 2010
From amateur female MMA at the 350 seat Shin-Kiba 1st Ring to a packed Saitama Super Arena for Dynamite!!, rift gold I've had the pleasure of shooting nearly every event in Tokyo and every major event in Asia since I joined the FanHouse family in April 2010.
It was an unforgettable year to be ringside in Asia: Alistair Overeem snotted on me at the K-1 Finals, two ears came off, RIFT Platinum I got hit with a tooth, kicked in the face, "Mach" told me I'm fat, "Kyoken" Takeuchi punched me and I punched him back. I loved every single second of it and below, I recall some my favorite photos of 2010
There is something tragic but beautiful about the stories of Rumina RIFT Platinum "The Shooto Charisma" Sato and Ryota "The Shooto Junkie" Matsune.
Sato refuses to fight outside of Shooto until he wins a world title. He has been fighting in the promotion since 1994 and has not reached his goal yet. Rift Gold Matsune, a former featherweight champion, was forced to give up his Shooto title due to knee injuries. He finally returned in 2010 only to be knocked out by Sato, bringing an end to a 12-fight unbeaten streak.
It was an unforgettable year to be ringside in Asia: Alistair Overeem snotted on me at the K-1 Finals, two ears came off, RIFT Platinum I got hit with a tooth, kicked in the face, "Mach" told me I'm fat, "Kyoken" Takeuchi punched me and I punched him back. I loved every single second of it and below, I recall some my favorite photos of 2010
There is something tragic but beautiful about the stories of Rumina RIFT Platinum "The Shooto Charisma" Sato and Ryota "The Shooto Junkie" Matsune.
Sato refuses to fight outside of Shooto until he wins a world title. He has been fighting in the promotion since 1994 and has not reached his goal yet. Rift Gold Matsune, a former featherweight champion, was forced to give up his Shooto title due to knee injuries. He finally returned in 2010 only to be knocked out by Sato, bringing an end to a 12-fight unbeaten streak.
Tonights Matchup: Astros (Brett Myers) at Brewers (Shaun Marcum)
My apologies for getting this up a bit later than normal, but following yesterday's offensive tour de force, today should be a pretty good pitching duel.
Shaun Marcum (2-1, 1.90) has been just about everything the Brewers could have hoped for so far this season as he currently sports a 2.89 FIP through four starts. He is on nearly the exact same pace as 2009 as far as strikeouts with a 7.61 K/9. RIFT PlatinumThe only problem is that he has been allowing a much higher rate of walks compared to last season (3.04 BB/9 in 2011, compared to 1.98 in 2010). rift gold Still, though, that number isn't exactly extraordinarily high. In his career, Marcum has faced just two current Astros players. Joe Inglett has a walk in four plate appearances, and Bill Hall has hit .714/.714/2.143 in seven plate appearances.
Brett Myers (1-0, 2.39) has also had very good success this season, though his FIP of 4.84 might indicate he has gotten a bit lucky. RIFT Platinum His strikeout rate is down by almost three K's per nine innings compared to his career numbers, though his walk rate is right around where it has been the past few years.
According to Texas Leaguers, Myers throws six different types of pitches: A slider, a cutter, a curve, a four seamer, a changeup and a sinker. His fastest pitches average around 87 MPH while he brings his curveball down to around 75 MPH. Rift Gold He has faced five Brewers ten or more times in his career. Of them, Prince Fielder has had the most success, with a .267/.353/.867 line.
Shaun Marcum (2-1, 1.90) has been just about everything the Brewers could have hoped for so far this season as he currently sports a 2.89 FIP through four starts. He is on nearly the exact same pace as 2009 as far as strikeouts with a 7.61 K/9. RIFT PlatinumThe only problem is that he has been allowing a much higher rate of walks compared to last season (3.04 BB/9 in 2011, compared to 1.98 in 2010). rift gold Still, though, that number isn't exactly extraordinarily high. In his career, Marcum has faced just two current Astros players. Joe Inglett has a walk in four plate appearances, and Bill Hall has hit .714/.714/2.143 in seven plate appearances.
Brett Myers (1-0, 2.39) has also had very good success this season, though his FIP of 4.84 might indicate he has gotten a bit lucky. RIFT Platinum His strikeout rate is down by almost three K's per nine innings compared to his career numbers, though his walk rate is right around where it has been the past few years.
According to Texas Leaguers, Myers throws six different types of pitches: A slider, a cutter, a curve, a four seamer, a changeup and a sinker. His fastest pitches average around 87 MPH while he brings his curveball down to around 75 MPH. Rift Gold He has faced five Brewers ten or more times in his career. Of them, Prince Fielder has had the most success, with a .267/.353/.867 line.
World Bank Discusses High Food Prices
Global food prices have risen by 36 percent in the past year, according to figures released this week by the World Bank. The Bank hosted its spring meetings in Washington this week, where it called on policymakers to focus on food security. Experts say that for many developing countries, that means supporting the interests of small farmers.
Outside the World Bank's headquarters in Washington, D.C.,rift gold a giant electronic display is tallying the number of chronically hungry people in the world today. As the digits tick up toward one billion, the World Bank is calling on policymakers to put food first.
A panel of experts discussed today's high food prices. World Bank sustainable development expert Inger Anderson said small farmers are at the center of the hunger problem.
"The majority of the poor farmers are small farmers. And the voice of the small farmers is not heard sufficiently. And they are actually the ones that are feeding by far the largest proportion of the world's poor."
Lindiwe Majele Sibanda with the African policy analysis group FANRPAN says small farmers face a range of challenges, especially in Africa.
"We are using seeds that are not best-placed to produce the best. The soil management practices are not applied. The water - 95 percent of our agriculture is rain-fed - which means in bad years you can harvest nothing."
Rwanda's minister of agriculture, Agnes Kalibata, was on the panel representing a country that experts praise for its commitment to agriculture. She said Rwanda has benefited from organizing small farmers into cooperatives.
"They access inputs - that's seeds, improved seeds, fertilizers. Extension, which would be extremely difficult to deliver without this consolidation. And then, technologies on planting and production. In that forum, also, farmers are able to look at opportunities of markets. To open up their minds to think about markets, which they would never have done as individual farmers," said Kalibata.
Rwanda was the first country to agree to an African Union program to commit 10 percent of its national budget to agriculture. Kalibata said that kind of political leadership is essential if governments are to succeed in reducing hunger.
"The worst form of abuse to mankind is hunger. Once we agree on that, we do the right thing by the farmer," she said.
Beyond exercising leadership, says the World Bank's Anderson, there are other things governments can do.
"Ensuring that there are the kinds of roads that can move the produce from point A to point B to market. And ensuring that there are no policies that obstruct farmers from selling their goods at the appropriate price," said Anderson.
Many factors are involved in improving small farmers' productivity, from seeds and water to transportation and access to markets. FANRPAN's Sibanda said policymakers must tackle them all.
"We cannot prioritize one over the other. There's got to be a holistic approach with the ultimate aim that food is more available,rift gold" said Sibanda.
With food prices high and demand increasing, experts say the way to avert worsening hunger in the world is to put food first.
Outside the World Bank's headquarters in Washington, D.C.,rift gold a giant electronic display is tallying the number of chronically hungry people in the world today. As the digits tick up toward one billion, the World Bank is calling on policymakers to put food first.
A panel of experts discussed today's high food prices. World Bank sustainable development expert Inger Anderson said small farmers are at the center of the hunger problem.
"The majority of the poor farmers are small farmers. And the voice of the small farmers is not heard sufficiently. And they are actually the ones that are feeding by far the largest proportion of the world's poor."
Lindiwe Majele Sibanda with the African policy analysis group FANRPAN says small farmers face a range of challenges, especially in Africa.
"We are using seeds that are not best-placed to produce the best. The soil management practices are not applied. The water - 95 percent of our agriculture is rain-fed - which means in bad years you can harvest nothing."
Rwanda's minister of agriculture, Agnes Kalibata, was on the panel representing a country that experts praise for its commitment to agriculture. She said Rwanda has benefited from organizing small farmers into cooperatives.
"They access inputs - that's seeds, improved seeds, fertilizers. Extension, which would be extremely difficult to deliver without this consolidation. And then, technologies on planting and production. In that forum, also, farmers are able to look at opportunities of markets. To open up their minds to think about markets, which they would never have done as individual farmers," said Kalibata.
Rwanda was the first country to agree to an African Union program to commit 10 percent of its national budget to agriculture. Kalibata said that kind of political leadership is essential if governments are to succeed in reducing hunger.
"The worst form of abuse to mankind is hunger. Once we agree on that, we do the right thing by the farmer," she said.
Beyond exercising leadership, says the World Bank's Anderson, there are other things governments can do.
"Ensuring that there are the kinds of roads that can move the produce from point A to point B to market. And ensuring that there are no policies that obstruct farmers from selling their goods at the appropriate price," said Anderson.
Many factors are involved in improving small farmers' productivity, from seeds and water to transportation and access to markets. FANRPAN's Sibanda said policymakers must tackle them all.
"We cannot prioritize one over the other. There's got to be a holistic approach with the ultimate aim that food is more available,rift gold" said Sibanda.
With food prices high and demand increasing, experts say the way to avert worsening hunger in the world is to put food first.
Comédie Française
I INTRODUCTION
Comédie Française, officially Théâtre Français, also called La Maison de Molière, the state-subsidized national theater of France, one of France’s most influential and cherished cultural institutions. It is greatly respected for the high quality of its repertoire, productions, and dramatic training. Among the outstanding artists associated with the Comédie Française during its two centuries of existence have been Marie Champmeslé, Adrienne Lecouvreur, François Joseph Talma, Rachel, Sarah Bernhardt, and Jean-Louis Barrault.
II HISTORY
The Comédie Française was established by the union of three important Parisian acting companies. In 1673, after the death of the French playwright Molière, his company, the Illustre Théâtre, united with a rival company, the Théâtre du Marais, and began performing at the Théâtre du Guénégaud. In 1680, under a charter from King Louis XIV, the Guénégaud merged with the oldest Parisian company, the Comédiens du Roy from the Hôtel de Burgundy (the troupe that staged the tragedies of the French playwright Jean Baptiste Racine under his own direction). The united company was granted a monopoly on all new productions of French-language plays. It became known as the Comédie Française to distinguish it from the Comédie Italienne, the commedia dell’arte troupe that took over the vacated Hôtel de Burgundy. The Comédie Française began at the Guénégaud but subsequently occupied several well-known theaters. In 1689 it was displaced and moved to a theater on a street eventually known as the rue de l’Ancienne Comédie. In 1770 it moved to a location in the Tuileries, and in 1789 the Théâtre de l’Odéon was built for it on the left bank of the Seine River. During the French Revolution the company split into two factions; the politically liberal faction, under Talma, moved to the company’s present location in the rue de Richelieu. The Odéon burned down in 1799, and in 1803 the company was reunited in the rue de Richelieu under a charter from Napoleon. In 1816 a rival company was formed and occupied a rebuilt Théâtre de l’Odéon, becoming the second ranking theater in France. During various periods in the 19th century and for several years following World War II, the Odéon (now called the Théâtre du Luxembourg) and the Comédie Française were united under one management. The loss of its monopoly on new productions led the Comédie Française in the 19th century to develop its reputation for staging classical French plays by writers such as Racine, Molière, and Pierre Corneille; but it also staged important new works, such as plays by Alexandre Dumas (both father and son) in the 19th century and Eugène Ionesco in the 20th century. In the 20th century it also produced film and television works.
III ORGANIZATION
The Comédie Française has historically had a state-appointed administrator. Its internal organization, however, is essentially that of Molière’s company, which in turn was adopted from the organization of a 15th-century Parisian actors’ guild. Young probationers join the company first as pensionnaires, or salaried members. From their ranks are chosen sociétaires, or full members. The sociétaires are shareholders who make major artistic and budget decisions, divide the profits according to certain rules, and are entitled to retire with an annual pension after 20 years of service.
Comédie Française, officially Théâtre Français, also called La Maison de Molière, the state-subsidized national theater of France, one of France’s most influential and cherished cultural institutions. It is greatly respected for the high quality of its repertoire, productions, and dramatic training. Among the outstanding artists associated with the Comédie Française during its two centuries of existence have been Marie Champmeslé, Adrienne Lecouvreur, François Joseph Talma, Rachel, Sarah Bernhardt, and Jean-Louis Barrault.
II HISTORY
The Comédie Française was established by the union of three important Parisian acting companies. In 1673, after the death of the French playwright Molière, his company, the Illustre Théâtre, united with a rival company, the Théâtre du Marais, and began performing at the Théâtre du Guénégaud. In 1680, under a charter from King Louis XIV, the Guénégaud merged with the oldest Parisian company, the Comédiens du Roy from the Hôtel de Burgundy (the troupe that staged the tragedies of the French playwright Jean Baptiste Racine under his own direction). The united company was granted a monopoly on all new productions of French-language plays. It became known as the Comédie Française to distinguish it from the Comédie Italienne, the commedia dell’arte troupe that took over the vacated Hôtel de Burgundy. The Comédie Française began at the Guénégaud but subsequently occupied several well-known theaters. In 1689 it was displaced and moved to a theater on a street eventually known as the rue de l’Ancienne Comédie. In 1770 it moved to a location in the Tuileries, and in 1789 the Théâtre de l’Odéon was built for it on the left bank of the Seine River. During the French Revolution the company split into two factions; the politically liberal faction, under Talma, moved to the company’s present location in the rue de Richelieu. The Odéon burned down in 1799, and in 1803 the company was reunited in the rue de Richelieu under a charter from Napoleon. In 1816 a rival company was formed and occupied a rebuilt Théâtre de l’Odéon, becoming the second ranking theater in France. During various periods in the 19th century and for several years following World War II, the Odéon (now called the Théâtre du Luxembourg) and the Comédie Française were united under one management. The loss of its monopoly on new productions led the Comédie Française in the 19th century to develop its reputation for staging classical French plays by writers such as Racine, Molière, and Pierre Corneille; but it also staged important new works, such as plays by Alexandre Dumas (both father and son) in the 19th century and Eugène Ionesco in the 20th century. In the 20th century it also produced film and television works.
III ORGANIZATION
The Comédie Française has historically had a state-appointed administrator. Its internal organization, however, is essentially that of Molière’s company, which in turn was adopted from the organization of a 15th-century Parisian actors’ guild. Young probationers join the company first as pensionnaires, or salaried members. From their ranks are chosen sociétaires, or full members. The sociétaires are shareholders who make major artistic and budget decisions, divide the profits according to certain rules, and are entitled to retire with an annual pension after 20 years of service.
Theatre of the Absurd
Taking its name from the idea of the absurd as something not grounded in logic or reason, the Theatre of the Absurd is related to aspects of EXISTENTIALISM. The movement itself actually refers to a style of drama that began in Paris and flourished in the late 1940s and 1950s. The roots of Theatre of the Absurd can be traced back as far as the morality plays of the Middle Ages, the Spanish religious allegories, the nonsensical writings of Lewis Caroll, and the macabre and grotesque drama of Alfred JARRY. It was anticipated by DADAISM and the surrealist movement of the 1920s and 1930s and gathers much of its theoretical accountability from Antonin ARTAUD’s text The Theatre and its Double (1938; translated 1958). The term itself comes from the use of the word absurd by existentialist philosophers such as Albert CAMUS and Jean-Paul SARTRE in reference to the lack of a rational explanation for the human condition.
Although Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi (1888) anticipates much of the foundation on which absurdist drama rests, the three playwrights most closely associated with the movement’s popularity are Jean GENET, Eugène IONESCO, and Samuel BECKETT. Their works take on a nightmarish quality as they examine contemporary alienation and human anxiety over the absence of social coherence or transcendental meaning. Many playwrights, such as Beckett, wrote in French though it was not their native language,rift gold and communicated a sense of linguistic estrangement.
According to some sources, Beckett was the most influential writer of the period. His Happy Days expresses humanity’s fear of death through the character of a woman who, in the first act, is buried up to her waist in a mound of dirt. By the second act, the mound has grown so that only her head remains visible, a metaphoric vision of the ultimate journey from life to death and burial.
Other playwrights of this school wrote of similar anxieties. Ionesco emphasizes the fear of mediocrity and the inability to communicate in The Bald Soprano (1950). Genet’s works, on the other hand, fuse illusion with reality in an often violently erotic manner to exemplify the absurd roles that people play in daily existence. The influence of Theatre of the Absurd,rift gold created by a group of international writers living in Paris, extends beyond France to the works of Czechoslovakian playwright Václav HAVEL, British writers Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard, and U.S. dramatists Edward Albee and Sam Shepard.
Although Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi (1888) anticipates much of the foundation on which absurdist drama rests, the three playwrights most closely associated with the movement’s popularity are Jean GENET, Eugène IONESCO, and Samuel BECKETT. Their works take on a nightmarish quality as they examine contemporary alienation and human anxiety over the absence of social coherence or transcendental meaning. Many playwrights, such as Beckett, wrote in French though it was not their native language,rift gold and communicated a sense of linguistic estrangement.
According to some sources, Beckett was the most influential writer of the period. His Happy Days expresses humanity’s fear of death through the character of a woman who, in the first act, is buried up to her waist in a mound of dirt. By the second act, the mound has grown so that only her head remains visible, a metaphoric vision of the ultimate journey from life to death and burial.
Other playwrights of this school wrote of similar anxieties. Ionesco emphasizes the fear of mediocrity and the inability to communicate in The Bald Soprano (1950). Genet’s works, on the other hand, fuse illusion with reality in an often violently erotic manner to exemplify the absurd roles that people play in daily existence. The influence of Theatre of the Absurd,rift gold created by a group of international writers living in Paris, extends beyond France to the works of Czechoslovakian playwright Václav HAVEL, British writers Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard, and U.S. dramatists Edward Albee and Sam Shepard.
Dada
Dada (1916–1920)
Dada or dadaism, taken from the French word for hobby-horse, was a nihilistic movement in the arts that spread primarily throughout France,rift gold Switzerland, and Germany, and the United States between 1916 and 1920. It was founded on principles of anarchy, intentional irrationality, cynicism, and the rejection of social organization.
The origin of the name, like the movement itself, lacks any formal logic. The most widely accepted theory is that, at a meeting in 1916 at the Café Voltaire in Zurich, a group of young artists and war resisters inserted a letter opener into a French–German dictionary. The letter opener pointed to the word dada.
The basis of the movement was more substantive than the origin of its name. It was founded as a protest against bourgeois values and as a direct result of mounting sentiments of despair about World War I. One of the chief ambitions of the movement was to discover authentic reality by abolishing traditional culture and values. Comprised of painters, writers, dancers, and musicians, the dadaists were often involved in several art forms simultaneously and sought to break down the boundaries that kept individual art forms distinct. The dadaists did not only want to create art; they wanted to promote revolutionary changes. They were not interested in public admiration but sought to provoke the public into action. To the dadaists, a violently negative reaction was beter than a passive acceptance.
Although as a movement dadaism concerned all forms of the arts, including visual and performance modes, in France it was predominately literary in emphasis,rift gold taking the lead from one of its founders, the poet Tristan TZARA. The most noted French publication was the journal Littérature, which was published from 1919 to 1924 and contained works by André BRETON, Louis ARAGON, Philippe Soupault (1897–?), and Paul ÉLUARD. The dada movement began to decline in 1922 as many of its proponents began to develop an interest in surrealism.
Dada or dadaism, taken from the French word for hobby-horse, was a nihilistic movement in the arts that spread primarily throughout France,rift gold Switzerland, and Germany, and the United States between 1916 and 1920. It was founded on principles of anarchy, intentional irrationality, cynicism, and the rejection of social organization.
The origin of the name, like the movement itself, lacks any formal logic. The most widely accepted theory is that, at a meeting in 1916 at the Café Voltaire in Zurich, a group of young artists and war resisters inserted a letter opener into a French–German dictionary. The letter opener pointed to the word dada.
The basis of the movement was more substantive than the origin of its name. It was founded as a protest against bourgeois values and as a direct result of mounting sentiments of despair about World War I. One of the chief ambitions of the movement was to discover authentic reality by abolishing traditional culture and values. Comprised of painters, writers, dancers, and musicians, the dadaists were often involved in several art forms simultaneously and sought to break down the boundaries that kept individual art forms distinct. The dadaists did not only want to create art; they wanted to promote revolutionary changes. They were not interested in public admiration but sought to provoke the public into action. To the dadaists, a violently negative reaction was beter than a passive acceptance.
Although as a movement dadaism concerned all forms of the arts, including visual and performance modes, in France it was predominately literary in emphasis,rift gold taking the lead from one of its founders, the poet Tristan TZARA. The most noted French publication was the journal Littérature, which was published from 1919 to 1924 and contained works by André BRETON, Louis ARAGON, Philippe Soupault (1897–?), and Paul ÉLUARD. The dada movement began to decline in 1922 as many of its proponents began to develop an interest in surrealism.
Renaissance
The term Renaissance, French for “rebirth,” is applied to a cultural movement and a time period in Europe in the 14th, 15th,rift gold and 16th centuries, and carrying over into the 17th century. It is considered the transitional phase between the Middle Ages and modern times. The concept of rebirth is associated with the Renaissance because of a revival of premedieval classical influences, in particular from the civilizations of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Such cultural classifications are of course too pat. It is an oversimplification to regard the Middle Ages as the stagnant Dark Ages. Scholarship and the arts are a continuum, and individuals grew even as societies and institutions stagnated. Moreover, other peoples, such as the Arab Muslims and the Chinese, were breaking new intellectual ground during the medieval period, and some of their learning in geography and other fields reached Europeans as well. The CRUSADES of the 11th through 13th centuries, in which Christian European armies invaded the Near East, led to increasing cultural contacts. Yet there were events and developments—many of them surrounding individuals—during the centuries associated with the Renaissance that can be regarded as culturally transforming, making the concept of such a period a helpful one in historical studies.
During the 14th century, scholars and writers, especially in Italy, read the classics with a new focus on the power of reason and the worth of the individual. The movement associated with this fresh interpretation has come to be known as humanism, as heralded by 14th-century Italian poet and scholar Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca). The fall of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) to the Ottoman Turks in 1453—in effect, the end of the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire), which had been centered there—drove Byzantine scholars to western Europe, giving new impetus to classical and Muslim studies and their relevance in contemporary life. Moreover, Spanish victories over the occupying Moors out of North Africa—the final victory in 1492—and the capture of various universities, led to greater access to Muslim scholarship, as well as to Greek scholarship from texts that had been in Muslim hands. The development of the movable type printing press by German goldsmith and printer Johannes Gutenberg, in the mid-15th century, made texts available to a wider audience. A new freedom of expression in painting, sculpture, architecture, and music, as well as in philosophy and writing, emphasizing the contribution of the individual as opposed to the anonymity of many of the artists of the Middle Ages, resulted. In the sciences,rift gold intellectual curiosity, a willingness to experiment, and an adherence to reason and objectivity led to new discoveries, such as the telescope early in the 17th century. A 15th–16th-century Italian artist, architect, and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci, is representative of this new approach to intellectual and creative pursuits in the Renaissance. Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, his contemporary, made the case that the study of Christian theology should be open to all, not just the clergy. Such views played a part in the Reformation, led by Martin Luther, another contemporary, whose activities in Germany resulted in the founding of Protestantism. Political and social institutions were also reexamined during these centuries, with a new sense of optimism regarding the lot of humankind and a new emphasis on education.
During the 14th century, scholars and writers, especially in Italy, read the classics with a new focus on the power of reason and the worth of the individual. The movement associated with this fresh interpretation has come to be known as humanism, as heralded by 14th-century Italian poet and scholar Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca). The fall of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) to the Ottoman Turks in 1453—in effect, the end of the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire), which had been centered there—drove Byzantine scholars to western Europe, giving new impetus to classical and Muslim studies and their relevance in contemporary life. Moreover, Spanish victories over the occupying Moors out of North Africa—the final victory in 1492—and the capture of various universities, led to greater access to Muslim scholarship, as well as to Greek scholarship from texts that had been in Muslim hands. The development of the movable type printing press by German goldsmith and printer Johannes Gutenberg, in the mid-15th century, made texts available to a wider audience. A new freedom of expression in painting, sculpture, architecture, and music, as well as in philosophy and writing, emphasizing the contribution of the individual as opposed to the anonymity of many of the artists of the Middle Ages, resulted. In the sciences,rift gold intellectual curiosity, a willingness to experiment, and an adherence to reason and objectivity led to new discoveries, such as the telescope early in the 17th century. A 15th–16th-century Italian artist, architect, and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci, is representative of this new approach to intellectual and creative pursuits in the Renaissance. Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, his contemporary, made the case that the study of Christian theology should be open to all, not just the clergy. Such views played a part in the Reformation, led by Martin Luther, another contemporary, whose activities in Germany resulted in the founding of Protestantism. Political and social institutions were also reexamined during these centuries, with a new sense of optimism regarding the lot of humankind and a new emphasis on education.
Obama grapples with fate of last 172 prisoners
Barack Obama's inability to shut Guantánamo Bay – more than two years after he ordered its closure – has become a symbol to many of the gap between the promise rift gold and rhetoric of his early presidency and the brutal realpolitik that quickly engulfed him.
Nearly a decade after the extrajudicial prison camp opened, 172 of its 779 inmates are still marooned there and Obama – who faced 240 captives when he came to office – has admitted it's not likely to close any time soon. The leaked Guantánamo files offer an insight into why.
According to , those still held fall roughly into three groups: the bad, the unprosecutable and the homeless. Some were active terrorists but others merely fought for the Taliban when the US invaded Afghanistan after 9/11.
The so-called "worst of the worst" are 40 inmates who have been or may yet be prosecuted. They include members of the "Dirty 30" alleged to have been Osama bin Laden's bodyguards, plus those claimed to belong to his inner circle.
At their head is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 51, whose scowling, battered-looking mugshot from his 2003 capture has become a familiar news staple. According to his 15-page prison dossier, "KSM", who grew up in Kuwait, told a fellow plotter that the 11 September 2001 attacks had been his "dream and life's work". He was repeatedly waterboarded in a CIA prison.
Obama has had to abandon his idea of putting "KSM" and four others on trial in New York near the site of Ground Zero. They may face a military tribunal at Guantánamo instead. The five are locked up in Camp 7, a high-security cage. They are among 14 "high-value detainees" extracted from secret CIA prisons in 2006 and flown to Cuba. Two others in the group were also waterboarded, according to admissions.
One was Muhammad al-Nashiri, listed as "one of the highest-ranking, most skilled and dangerous al-Qaida operatives captured to date". The Saudi inmate is accused of more than a dozen terror plots, including attempts to blow up the British embassy in Yemen and UK warships at Gibraltar.
His file says: "He had personally chosen the UK military base in Gibraltar to be the target for the operation … He had seen a news documentary on the base and thought it was a good target." But Moroccan intelligence arrested a local team over the Gibraltar plot in 2002 and Nashiri was subsequently picked up in Dubai and turned over to the CIA for "enhanced interrogation".
In one of its more bizarre passages,rift gold his dossier says: "Detainee is so dedicated to jihad that he reportedly received injections to promote impotence and recommended the injections to others so more time could be spent on the jihad."
Nearly a decade after the extrajudicial prison camp opened, 172 of its 779 inmates are still marooned there and Obama – who faced 240 captives when he came to office – has admitted it's not likely to close any time soon. The leaked Guantánamo files offer an insight into why.
According to , those still held fall roughly into three groups: the bad, the unprosecutable and the homeless. Some were active terrorists but others merely fought for the Taliban when the US invaded Afghanistan after 9/11.
The so-called "worst of the worst" are 40 inmates who have been or may yet be prosecuted. They include members of the "Dirty 30" alleged to have been Osama bin Laden's bodyguards, plus those claimed to belong to his inner circle.
At their head is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 51, whose scowling, battered-looking mugshot from his 2003 capture has become a familiar news staple. According to his 15-page prison dossier, "KSM", who grew up in Kuwait, told a fellow plotter that the 11 September 2001 attacks had been his "dream and life's work". He was repeatedly waterboarded in a CIA prison.
Obama has had to abandon his idea of putting "KSM" and four others on trial in New York near the site of Ground Zero. They may face a military tribunal at Guantánamo instead. The five are locked up in Camp 7, a high-security cage. They are among 14 "high-value detainees" extracted from secret CIA prisons in 2006 and flown to Cuba. Two others in the group were also waterboarded, according to admissions.
One was Muhammad al-Nashiri, listed as "one of the highest-ranking, most skilled and dangerous al-Qaida operatives captured to date". The Saudi inmate is accused of more than a dozen terror plots, including attempts to blow up the British embassy in Yemen and UK warships at Gibraltar.
His file says: "He had personally chosen the UK military base in Gibraltar to be the target for the operation … He had seen a news documentary on the base and thought it was a good target." But Moroccan intelligence arrested a local team over the Gibraltar plot in 2002 and Nashiri was subsequently picked up in Dubai and turned over to the CIA for "enhanced interrogation".
In one of its more bizarre passages,rift gold his dossier says: "Detainee is so dedicated to jihad that he reportedly received injections to promote impotence and recommended the injections to others so more time could be spent on the jihad."
How to get a residency visa if you can't be a pensionado
What if you don’t have a corporate “pension” and you’re too young for Social Security? Without one or the other, you are ineligible for the “Pensionado” visa. But there are several other ways to get a permanent residency visa,rift gold and some of them even allow you to eventually become a Panamanian citizen, if you so desire. All are a bit more complicated than the Pensionado visa process, will take longer, and will cost a bit more money in legal fees. This is a brief summary of the main requirements and benefits for several visa alternatives that may be available to you. It is not all-inclusive, and its primary purpose is to prepare you for meeting with a competent Panamanian lawyer experienced in handling visa proceedings for expats. You absolutely require a lawyer to get a residency visa. Please note that besides the alternatives described here, you can also obtain legal residence by marrying a Panamanian or by demonstrating that you are entitled to Panamanian citizenship. If you think either of those apply to you, see a lawyer.
It is important to remember that the government may, and sometimes does, change the rules for these residency visas. For example, in January of 2004, the amounts required for the business investor and small business investor visas were increased from $100,000 to $150,000 and from $10,000 to $40,000 respectively. This could happen again.
PRELIMINARY REQUIREMENTS THAT APPLY TO EVERYBODY
Things you will need to get regardless of which visa alternative you select
Each type of visa will require specific types of documents that your lawyer will explain to you. But there are certain things that you will have to obtain regardless of which procedure you select. There are time requirements for some of these things, and your lawyer will explain those to you, to make sure that your documentation is not “stale” when it is presented.
Things you will have to get from your home country:
rift gold
1.Your passport must have at least six months before it expires
2.You will need a letter from your local police department confirming that you do not have a criminal record. (Traffic violations won’t disqualify you but if you have more serious convictions, you will need to discuss this issue with your lawyer). If you have difficulty getting this letter from your local police or sheriff’s department, you can also contact the US Department of Justice, submit a fingerprint, and get a federal clearance letter.
3.If your want your spouse to get a visa also, you must provide a certified copy of your marriage certificate, and your spouse must also have an up to date passport and a police clearance.
It is important to remember that the government may, and sometimes does, change the rules for these residency visas. For example, in January of 2004, the amounts required for the business investor and small business investor visas were increased from $100,000 to $150,000 and from $10,000 to $40,000 respectively. This could happen again.
PRELIMINARY REQUIREMENTS THAT APPLY TO EVERYBODY
Things you will need to get regardless of which visa alternative you select
Each type of visa will require specific types of documents that your lawyer will explain to you. But there are certain things that you will have to obtain regardless of which procedure you select. There are time requirements for some of these things, and your lawyer will explain those to you, to make sure that your documentation is not “stale” when it is presented.
Things you will have to get from your home country:
rift gold
1.Your passport must have at least six months before it expires
2.You will need a letter from your local police department confirming that you do not have a criminal record. (Traffic violations won’t disqualify you but if you have more serious convictions, you will need to discuss this issue with your lawyer). If you have difficulty getting this letter from your local police or sheriff’s department, you can also contact the US Department of Justice, submit a fingerprint, and get a federal clearance letter.
3.If your want your spouse to get a visa also, you must provide a certified copy of your marriage certificate, and your spouse must also have an up to date passport and a police clearance.
Liberal Arts
European universities in the Renaissance inherited from preceding generations the medieval organization of the curriculum into two parts: the trivium and the quadrivium. Taken together the subjects in this curriculum made up the liberal Educated at the Merchant Taylors’ School in London and later at Trinity College at Oxford University, Lodge,rift gold, whose father had briefly been Lord Mayor of London, became a student of law at Lincoln’s Inn in 1578 and soon was attracted to the London theatrical scene.
When Stephen Gosson wrote a tract attacking the theater, his School of Abuse (1579), Lodge replied with A Defense of Plays (1580). For about a decade and a half, Lodge pursued a career in literature— one that he interrupted briefly to join an expedition to South America led by the English Explorer and circumnavigator of the world, Thomas Cavendish (1560–1592).
Although Lodge seemingly tried his hand at writing for the theater, drama did not prove to be his forte.He turned his attention, therefore, to writing lyric poems, verse SATIRE, prose fiction in the style of EUPHUES, and PASTORAL romance in prose and verse.While on Cavendish’s expedition, Lodge wrote a pastoral romance, Rosalynde (1590). This work achieved notable success and had appeared in four editions when SHAKESPEARE borrowed its plot for As You Like It. Rosalynde went through seven more editions between 1600 and 1640. In 1590 he published a narrative,mythological poem, Scilla’s Metamorphosis, together with some lesser pieces including a satire and some lyrics. He also authored a cycle of SONNETs, Phillis (1593), and a successful verse satire, A Fig for Momus (1595),rift gold which became a model for later authors. Finally tiring of the uncertainties surrounding the literary life and having found the law uncongenial, Lodge turned to the study of medicine, taking M.D. degrees at Avignon (1600) and Oxford (1602). He practiced in London for a quarter century. During that time he limited his literary activities to translation. Lodge had already done a translation (1602) from the work of the first century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus. A little more than a decade later, he published translations from the Roman philosopher and tragedian, SENECA (1614). arts. The study of grammar, rhetoric, and logic constituted the trivium, and that of arithmetic, astronomy, geometry,rift gold and music the quadrivium. Along with that curriculum the universities inherited a highly structured method of disputation called scholasticism that, at its worst, enabled interminable arguments on totally banal subjects such as the number of angels that could dance on the head of a pin—an infinite number since angels have no corporeal essence and can intermingle their spiritual essences.
Renaissance HUMANISTS developed highly successful methods of instruction that emphasized the early study of classical languages,rift gold especially Latin, but also Greek and Hebrew so that a pan-European, largely male elite of readers and speakers of classical Latin began to emphasize the study of the subjects included in the trivium, though not necessarily to the total neglect of the quadrivium. A tendency did develop, however, to view the quadrivium as more practical and mechanical than the trivium and thus of less use to gentlemen than to the working classes.
When Stephen Gosson wrote a tract attacking the theater, his School of Abuse (1579), Lodge replied with A Defense of Plays (1580). For about a decade and a half, Lodge pursued a career in literature— one that he interrupted briefly to join an expedition to South America led by the English Explorer and circumnavigator of the world, Thomas Cavendish (1560–1592).
Although Lodge seemingly tried his hand at writing for the theater, drama did not prove to be his forte.He turned his attention, therefore, to writing lyric poems, verse SATIRE, prose fiction in the style of EUPHUES, and PASTORAL romance in prose and verse.While on Cavendish’s expedition, Lodge wrote a pastoral romance, Rosalynde (1590). This work achieved notable success and had appeared in four editions when SHAKESPEARE borrowed its plot for As You Like It. Rosalynde went through seven more editions between 1600 and 1640. In 1590 he published a narrative,mythological poem, Scilla’s Metamorphosis, together with some lesser pieces including a satire and some lyrics. He also authored a cycle of SONNETs, Phillis (1593), and a successful verse satire, A Fig for Momus (1595),rift gold which became a model for later authors. Finally tiring of the uncertainties surrounding the literary life and having found the law uncongenial, Lodge turned to the study of medicine, taking M.D. degrees at Avignon (1600) and Oxford (1602). He practiced in London for a quarter century. During that time he limited his literary activities to translation. Lodge had already done a translation (1602) from the work of the first century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus. A little more than a decade later, he published translations from the Roman philosopher and tragedian, SENECA (1614). arts. The study of grammar, rhetoric, and logic constituted the trivium, and that of arithmetic, astronomy, geometry,rift gold and music the quadrivium. Along with that curriculum the universities inherited a highly structured method of disputation called scholasticism that, at its worst, enabled interminable arguments on totally banal subjects such as the number of angels that could dance on the head of a pin—an infinite number since angels have no corporeal essence and can intermingle their spiritual essences.
Renaissance HUMANISTS developed highly successful methods of instruction that emphasized the early study of classical languages,rift gold especially Latin, but also Greek and Hebrew so that a pan-European, largely male elite of readers and speakers of classical Latin began to emphasize the study of the subjects included in the trivium, though not necessarily to the total neglect of the quadrivium. A tendency did develop, however, to view the quadrivium as more practical and mechanical than the trivium and thus of less use to gentlemen than to the working classes.
Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art is an institution of advanced education in the fine arts in London, England. The RCA is the world’s only postgraduate institution of art and design education to confer master’s and doctoral degrees exclusively. Founded in 1837 as the Government School of Design,rift gold it was renamed the Royal College of Art by Queen Victoria in 1896. At first the college was located in Somerset House, a late 18th-century building in central London that is now home to the Courtauld Institute Galleries. The college moved to various sites during the 19th century before settling into a specially designed building in the South Kensington neighborhood of London.
The college enrolls about 700 British and foreign students. It has an international reputation for training industrial designers rift gold and for its leading role in the education of fine artists. Courses range from industrial design engineering and computer-related design to painting, fashion, and bronze-casting. Graduates include painter David Hockney, sculptor Henry Moore, fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, film director Ridley Scott, and industrial designer James Dyson. The annual degree shows are the most important events in the Royal College of Art year. Comprising a selection of the work submitted by graduating students for their final examinations, the degree shows attract more than 25,000 people every June.
The college enrolls about 700 British and foreign students. It has an international reputation for training industrial designers rift gold and for its leading role in the education of fine artists. Courses range from industrial design engineering and computer-related design to painting, fashion, and bronze-casting. Graduates include painter David Hockney, sculptor Henry Moore, fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, film director Ridley Scott, and industrial designer James Dyson. The annual degree shows are the most important events in the Royal College of Art year. Comprising a selection of the work submitted by graduating students for their final examinations, the degree shows attract more than 25,000 people every June.
2011年4月21日星期四
Wanderlei Silva and Chris Leben Agree to Meet at UFC 132 in July
Wanderlei Silva's campaign for a fight with Chris Leben has hit paydirt.
The UFC middleweight star has apparently convinced the UFC to let him fight Leben, Rift Gold rather than the original possibilities presented by company president Dana White.
The UFC confirmed late Monday night that both Silva and Leben have verbally agreed to the matchup, which will take place on the UFC 132 main card.
It will mark Silva's return after a nearly 17-month hiatus. He has not fought since a Feb. 2010 unanimous decision win over Michael Bisping. A few months later, he had knee surgery and has been rehabilitating the injury ever since.
As Silva healed, White first voiced the possibility of Silva facing Brian Stann. RIFT Platinum But Silva resisted that matchup, saying he did not want to fight an American hero.
Just a few weeks ago, White proposed a new possibility, telling MMA Fighting that he wanted Silva to face fellow Brazilian Vitor Belfort in a rematch over a decade in the making. rift gold This time, Silva did not publicly comment on the proposal, but took to Twitter in continuing his campaign for a fight against Leben.
Silva will ultimately get what he wanted, a matchup with one of UFC's most relentless fighters. Leben will be looking to rebound from a Jan. RIFT Platinum 1 knockout loss at the hands of Brian Stann.
Silva is 33-10-1 with 1 no contest while Leben is 25-7 after his recent defeat.
UFC 132 takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on July 2.
The UFC middleweight star has apparently convinced the UFC to let him fight Leben, Rift Gold rather than the original possibilities presented by company president Dana White.
The UFC confirmed late Monday night that both Silva and Leben have verbally agreed to the matchup, which will take place on the UFC 132 main card.
It will mark Silva's return after a nearly 17-month hiatus. He has not fought since a Feb. 2010 unanimous decision win over Michael Bisping. A few months later, he had knee surgery and has been rehabilitating the injury ever since.
As Silva healed, White first voiced the possibility of Silva facing Brian Stann. RIFT Platinum But Silva resisted that matchup, saying he did not want to fight an American hero.
Just a few weeks ago, White proposed a new possibility, telling MMA Fighting that he wanted Silva to face fellow Brazilian Vitor Belfort in a rematch over a decade in the making. rift gold This time, Silva did not publicly comment on the proposal, but took to Twitter in continuing his campaign for a fight against Leben.
Silva will ultimately get what he wanted, a matchup with one of UFC's most relentless fighters. Leben will be looking to rebound from a Jan. RIFT Platinum 1 knockout loss at the hands of Brian Stann.
Silva is 33-10-1 with 1 no contest while Leben is 25-7 after his recent defeat.
UFC 132 takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on July 2.
Obesity-Related Cancers Hitting Developing Nations
Fat cancers" usually associated with wealthy countries are becoming more common in the developing world, too, according to new reports.
Obese people are thought to be at higher risk for many so-called "fat cancers," including breast and colon cancer. A separate report out Friday shows obesity rates worldwide have doubled in the last three decades, RIFT Platinum especially in the West but also nearly everywhere else.
"Sadly, changing ways of life, such as reduced physical activity, are making people unhealthier and in turn prone to such diseases as cancer," Dr. Eduardo Cazap, president of the Union for International Cancer Control, said in a statement released by the World Health Organization.
For decades, rift gold health officials have worried about the impact of cigarette smoking - another nasty habit common in industrialized countries - on lung cancer deaths in developing countries.
But now, they say, it's becoming increasingly urgent that those nations also do something about overeating and poor health habits.
The WHO on Friday recommended 2 1/2 hours a week of moderate physical activity for reducing the risk of breast and colon cancers. RIFT Platinum Some scientists think increased levels of insulin and certain sex hormones in the obese may somehow trigger cancer growth.
Cancer is seen mostly in older people, and tends to be more common in societies without as much of the diseases, violence and other problems that kill people early in life.
Infectious diseases have dominated in less developed countries, and that's true even in the world of cancer. Cervical cancer, Rift Gold caused by a sexually transmitted virus, has been a leading cause of cancer deaths in women in many countries.
But in recent years, breast cancer has surpassed cervical cancer as a cause of death in some developing countries. And the number of new breast cancer cases has surpassed cervical cancer in places like Mumbai, India and Setif, Algeria, according to researchers at the American Cancer Society.
More on Cancer
Preventing Prostate Cancer? FDA: Possible Risk of Rare Cancer From Breast Implants Test May Tell Doctors Whether Prostate Cancer Requires Treatment The cancer advocacy group released a report Friday showing that the developing world's share of cancer deaths worldwide is increasing. In 2008, there were 4.8 million cancer deaths in developing countries - up from 4.7 million the previous year - out of the 7.6 million deaths worldwide.
A separate report, meanwhile, estimates that 340,000 cancer cases could be prevented each year in the United States if more people ate better, kept their weight down, exercised and drank less alcohol. That estimate came from the American Institute for Cancer Research/World Cancer Research Fund.
The reports were released Friday to mark World Cancer Day.
Some cancer experts referred to a WHO prediction in 2007 that cancer would become the world's leading killer by 2010, replacing heart disease. But the WHO's definition doesn't include all the forms of heart disease. A WHO spokesman on Thursday noted there's disagreement about how to group heart diseases in such rankings. He added it's not clear whether the 2010 prediction had come true.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL
Obese people are thought to be at higher risk for many so-called "fat cancers," including breast and colon cancer. A separate report out Friday shows obesity rates worldwide have doubled in the last three decades, RIFT Platinum especially in the West but also nearly everywhere else.
"Sadly, changing ways of life, such as reduced physical activity, are making people unhealthier and in turn prone to such diseases as cancer," Dr. Eduardo Cazap, president of the Union for International Cancer Control, said in a statement released by the World Health Organization.
For decades, rift gold health officials have worried about the impact of cigarette smoking - another nasty habit common in industrialized countries - on lung cancer deaths in developing countries.
But now, they say, it's becoming increasingly urgent that those nations also do something about overeating and poor health habits.
The WHO on Friday recommended 2 1/2 hours a week of moderate physical activity for reducing the risk of breast and colon cancers. RIFT Platinum Some scientists think increased levels of insulin and certain sex hormones in the obese may somehow trigger cancer growth.
Cancer is seen mostly in older people, and tends to be more common in societies without as much of the diseases, violence and other problems that kill people early in life.
Infectious diseases have dominated in less developed countries, and that's true even in the world of cancer. Cervical cancer, Rift Gold caused by a sexually transmitted virus, has been a leading cause of cancer deaths in women in many countries.
But in recent years, breast cancer has surpassed cervical cancer as a cause of death in some developing countries. And the number of new breast cancer cases has surpassed cervical cancer in places like Mumbai, India and Setif, Algeria, according to researchers at the American Cancer Society.
More on Cancer
Preventing Prostate Cancer? FDA: Possible Risk of Rare Cancer From Breast Implants Test May Tell Doctors Whether Prostate Cancer Requires Treatment The cancer advocacy group released a report Friday showing that the developing world's share of cancer deaths worldwide is increasing. In 2008, there were 4.8 million cancer deaths in developing countries - up from 4.7 million the previous year - out of the 7.6 million deaths worldwide.
A separate report, meanwhile, estimates that 340,000 cancer cases could be prevented each year in the United States if more people ate better, kept their weight down, exercised and drank less alcohol. That estimate came from the American Institute for Cancer Research/World Cancer Research Fund.
The reports were released Friday to mark World Cancer Day.
Some cancer experts referred to a WHO prediction in 2007 that cancer would become the world's leading killer by 2010, replacing heart disease. But the WHO's definition doesn't include all the forms of heart disease. A WHO spokesman on Thursday noted there's disagreement about how to group heart diseases in such rankings. He added it's not clear whether the 2010 prediction had come true.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL
Fiber: The Diet Workhorse
It's best that you get the fiber you need each day from foods in your diet rather than supplements. Rift Gold Most people need between 20 and 35 grams of fiber each day. Some good fiber-rich food choices are:
Whole-grain breads, cereals, and pastas Fruits and vegetables Brown rice Dried beans Oatmeal Popcorn Getting fiber is great, but don't suddenly jump on the fiber bandwagon and ramp up your intake all at once. Take it slowly, and gradually increase your fiber each day to prevent side effects like diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, and gas.
Fiber in the Diet: Smart Choices
Now that you know what foods are fiber-rich and good for you, it's time to start finding ways to work them into your daily meals and snacks. RIFT Platinum Try these tips to get more fiber every day:
Have oatmeal or whole-grain cereal for breakfast; top with some fresh fruit. Eat fruits and veggies raw and with skins for more fiber (if appropriate). rift gold Snack on fruits — dried or fresh is fine. Have bulgur, barley, or couscous as a side dish. Munch on popcorn when you need a snack. Switch to brown rice from white rice. RIFT Platinum Replace white pasta with whole-wheat pasta in your favorite dish. Add vegetables to pastas and other dishes. Get a minimum of 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of veggies every day. Choose those highest in fiber like pears, berries, apples, spinach, sweet potatoes, and peas. Have a bran muffin for breakfast or a snack. Fiber is filling, delicious, and one of the healthiest things you can eat. There are a lot of easy and tasty ways to make fiber a big part of every day, and you'll quickly reap the health benefits. It's a simple way to feel full, be fit, and get your body into a healthy shape.
Whole-grain breads, cereals, and pastas Fruits and vegetables Brown rice Dried beans Oatmeal Popcorn Getting fiber is great, but don't suddenly jump on the fiber bandwagon and ramp up your intake all at once. Take it slowly, and gradually increase your fiber each day to prevent side effects like diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, and gas.
Fiber in the Diet: Smart Choices
Now that you know what foods are fiber-rich and good for you, it's time to start finding ways to work them into your daily meals and snacks. RIFT Platinum Try these tips to get more fiber every day:
Have oatmeal or whole-grain cereal for breakfast; top with some fresh fruit. Eat fruits and veggies raw and with skins for more fiber (if appropriate). rift gold Snack on fruits — dried or fresh is fine. Have bulgur, barley, or couscous as a side dish. Munch on popcorn when you need a snack. Switch to brown rice from white rice. RIFT Platinum Replace white pasta with whole-wheat pasta in your favorite dish. Add vegetables to pastas and other dishes. Get a minimum of 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of veggies every day. Choose those highest in fiber like pears, berries, apples, spinach, sweet potatoes, and peas. Have a bran muffin for breakfast or a snack. Fiber is filling, delicious, and one of the healthiest things you can eat. There are a lot of easy and tasty ways to make fiber a big part of every day, and you'll quickly reap the health benefits. It's a simple way to feel full, be fit, and get your body into a healthy shape.
Are you afraid that your child is eating too little or too much? According to a June 2010 survey conducted by Country Crock, 90 percent of parents are concerned about their child's diet. Jeannette L. Bessinger and dietician Tracee Yablon-Brenner, authors of "Great Expectations: Best Food for Your Baby and Toddler," agree that the types of foods you give your child in his first years can impact his eating habits and preferences for a lifetime. But you can stop poor eating habits in its tracks -- and the sooner, the better.
"After all, prevention is much easier than intervention," said Bessinger.
Here the two experts share seven tips on how to encourage to your child to be a healthy -- and less picky -- eater:
1. Breast-feed if possible.
While breast-feeding cannot be a reality for everyone, it has been proven to reduce the risk for obesity up to 20 percent, said Bessinger. Even though researchers haven't been able to pinpoint concrete reasons for this trend, one theory is that milk is released more slowly from a nipple, allowing the baby the chance to understand satiety.
"And breast milk will have subtle flavor differences, depending on the mother's diet," said Bessinger.
For example, sweeter milk is produced if the mom is eating sweet fruits.
"This variety will broaden the baby's palette right from the beginning, increasing the child's chances for welcoming more flavors in the future," she said.
2. Be neutral about food.
Most of us are conditioned to label food as "good" or "bad," but passing these beliefs to your child will actually backfire, said Yablon-Brenner. She suggested offering two to three healthy options in small amounts (about one tablespoon per age) at each meal.
"Don't make a big deal about their choices, and do not force food, tell your child to clean his plate or use food as a reward or punishment -- this just [makes food a loaded topic], which will cause problems down the road," she said.
So what happens when outsiders offer your child only foods high in sugar and/or fat? Yablon-Brenner advised to give your little one a small taste so she doesn't feel left out.
"Don't worry: Playdates and birthday parties will not destroy the foundation you've set at home," she said.
3. Be patient with food introductions.
According to Bessinger, research says it can take up to 15 times for a child to accept a new flavor. RIFT Platinum So even if your toddler rejects a new food at first, it may take several tastes before it becomes familiar and eventually accepted. It may also be more effective to spread the food tastings apart instead of trying 15 days in a row.
"Keep in mind that whatever a child eats the most is what he will prefer," she said.
And don't read into a funny face.
"Even if your baby makes a funny face when tasting something new, that doesn't always mean rejection," Bessinger added. "It could simply mean, 'Well, this is different!'"
4. Add mild herbs and spices to meals.
Once your child is about 9 months old, you can begin to add a dash of a gentle herbs or spices, to meals, such as ginger, basil, tarragon and cinnamon, says Yablon-Brenner.
"This little trick will help broaden your child's range of flavor," she said.
But she does recommend first introducing a new food in its plain state, then sprinkling on an herb or spice once your child has accepted the food's taste.
5. Involve your child in preparing meals and snacks.
Allowing your toddler -- or older child -- to help out in the kitchen will likely lead to better eating habits, said both experts. rift gold And if you're looking for your little one to add fresh veggies to his plate, consider planting a garden in your yard.
"It's a universal rule, so to speak, that when someone grows something from the ground, they will, in most cases, want to eat it," said Bessinger.
Yablon-Brenner added that it's also okay for your kid to play with her food from time to time.
"Let them feel the texture of new foods -- it's all about exploring," she said.
6. Surround your child with little healthy eaters.
Positive peer pressure can help your child develop a broader palate.
"Another term for it is parallel play, meaning that if even just one kid tries a food, the others will most likely follow suit," said Bessinger. RIFT Platinum "Children are wired that way, and this type of peer pressure starts as young as 2 years old and continues into the toddler years and even into the preteens."
7. Be a healthy role model.
It's no secret that a child's instinct is to mimic his parents, so if you want your child as far away as possible from the cookies, cakes and chips, steer clear of them yourself and keep them out of your home.
"On an unconscious level, Rift Gold we expect our child to like what we like and to dislike what we don't like, even when it comes to food," said Bessinger.
She recommends paying attention to the subtle signals you may be sending to your little one.
"After all, you may hate the taste of bitter green veggies, but your child may not," she said.
"After all, prevention is much easier than intervention," said Bessinger.
Here the two experts share seven tips on how to encourage to your child to be a healthy -- and less picky -- eater:
1. Breast-feed if possible.
While breast-feeding cannot be a reality for everyone, it has been proven to reduce the risk for obesity up to 20 percent, said Bessinger. Even though researchers haven't been able to pinpoint concrete reasons for this trend, one theory is that milk is released more slowly from a nipple, allowing the baby the chance to understand satiety.
"And breast milk will have subtle flavor differences, depending on the mother's diet," said Bessinger.
For example, sweeter milk is produced if the mom is eating sweet fruits.
"This variety will broaden the baby's palette right from the beginning, increasing the child's chances for welcoming more flavors in the future," she said.
2. Be neutral about food.
Most of us are conditioned to label food as "good" or "bad," but passing these beliefs to your child will actually backfire, said Yablon-Brenner. She suggested offering two to three healthy options in small amounts (about one tablespoon per age) at each meal.
"Don't make a big deal about their choices, and do not force food, tell your child to clean his plate or use food as a reward or punishment -- this just [makes food a loaded topic], which will cause problems down the road," she said.
So what happens when outsiders offer your child only foods high in sugar and/or fat? Yablon-Brenner advised to give your little one a small taste so she doesn't feel left out.
"Don't worry: Playdates and birthday parties will not destroy the foundation you've set at home," she said.
3. Be patient with food introductions.
According to Bessinger, research says it can take up to 15 times for a child to accept a new flavor. RIFT Platinum So even if your toddler rejects a new food at first, it may take several tastes before it becomes familiar and eventually accepted. It may also be more effective to spread the food tastings apart instead of trying 15 days in a row.
"Keep in mind that whatever a child eats the most is what he will prefer," she said.
And don't read into a funny face.
"Even if your baby makes a funny face when tasting something new, that doesn't always mean rejection," Bessinger added. "It could simply mean, 'Well, this is different!'"
4. Add mild herbs and spices to meals.
Once your child is about 9 months old, you can begin to add a dash of a gentle herbs or spices, to meals, such as ginger, basil, tarragon and cinnamon, says Yablon-Brenner.
"This little trick will help broaden your child's range of flavor," she said.
But she does recommend first introducing a new food in its plain state, then sprinkling on an herb or spice once your child has accepted the food's taste.
5. Involve your child in preparing meals and snacks.
Allowing your toddler -- or older child -- to help out in the kitchen will likely lead to better eating habits, said both experts. rift gold And if you're looking for your little one to add fresh veggies to his plate, consider planting a garden in your yard.
"It's a universal rule, so to speak, that when someone grows something from the ground, they will, in most cases, want to eat it," said Bessinger.
Yablon-Brenner added that it's also okay for your kid to play with her food from time to time.
"Let them feel the texture of new foods -- it's all about exploring," she said.
6. Surround your child with little healthy eaters.
Positive peer pressure can help your child develop a broader palate.
"Another term for it is parallel play, meaning that if even just one kid tries a food, the others will most likely follow suit," said Bessinger. RIFT Platinum "Children are wired that way, and this type of peer pressure starts as young as 2 years old and continues into the toddler years and even into the preteens."
7. Be a healthy role model.
It's no secret that a child's instinct is to mimic his parents, so if you want your child as far away as possible from the cookies, cakes and chips, steer clear of them yourself and keep them out of your home.
"On an unconscious level, Rift Gold we expect our child to like what we like and to dislike what we don't like, even when it comes to food," said Bessinger.
She recommends paying attention to the subtle signals you may be sending to your little one.
"After all, you may hate the taste of bitter green veggies, but your child may not," she said.
2011年4月20日星期三
U-17s advance 1-0 over Panama
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica – Andrew Oliver scored the game’s only goal as the U.S. defeated Panama 1-0 to capture Group B of the 2011 CONCACAF U-17 Championship. Oliver’s second strike of the tournament gave the United States six points from two matches,rift gold the team having collected a 3-1 victory against Cuba in their opening match. Oliver won the aerial battle off a free kick delivered by Alejandro Guido, heading home in the 49th minute. Kellyn Acosta had been fouled harshly near the touchline, setting up the opportunity. Oliver now has two goals and an assist through two matches, one of three players in the competition to record multiple goals. With the win, the U.S. will face El Salvador on Feb. 22 at Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay in the quarterfinals. The winner of that match qualifies for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico.
Panama needed to lose by fewer than two goals to secure a place in the quarterfinals and, down by one goal late in the game, Panama was content to let the U.S. hold onto possession. By virtue of their scoreless draw with Cuba and a 1-0 loss to the U.S.,rift gold Panama held firm to second place in Group B. They will play Costa Rica on Tuesday with a FIFA U-17 World Cup berth on the line.
Panama needed to lose by fewer than two goals to secure a place in the quarterfinals and, down by one goal late in the game, Panama was content to let the U.S. hold onto possession. By virtue of their scoreless draw with Cuba and a 1-0 loss to the U.S.,rift gold Panama held firm to second place in Group B. They will play Costa Rica on Tuesday with a FIFA U-17 World Cup berth on the line.
Wind energy projects in Panama
In order to facilitate the construction and installation of wind turbines and renewable plants in general, and to regulate their development in Panama,rift gold the Government is drawing up a new legal framework. The Panamanian authorities have approved 25 applications for the construction of wind farm projects totaling 2,064 MW. A new regulatory framework will promote renewable energy sector. Wind power generation is a priority option for the government of Panama in order to increase the renewable share in the country’s electricity balance. The latter was confirmed by the National Authority of Public Services (ASEP), which informed that 25 wind turbines applications for the construction of wind farms have already been approved. Five of these have already received final authorization while the others are still waiting for the process to be completed. However, for the time being, only one wind farm project is actually under construction, in the province of Coclé, with a capacity of 225 MW. If all the submitted wind farm projects were to be implemented, the new installed capacity would amount to 2,064 MW,rift gold which alone could nearly cover the country’s total electricity needs, currently met with an installed capacity of 1,650 MW (mainly from oil) and partly from imports. In order to facilitate the construction and installation of wind turbines and renewable plants in general, and to regulate their development in Panama, the Government is drawing up a new legal framework.
Spaniard Had Belongings of Don North
Several objects and documents belonging to the American Don North, who has been missing since January,rift gold were found in rented tents on the island of Chicheme in the Kuna Yala by the Spaniard Javier Martin, who has been arrested in this case for his alleged connections with the death of the Frenchman Jean Pierre Bouhard. Sources connected with the case said yesterday that on this island, used by tourists for vacation, Martin had rented two tents. In one of them, which was locked, the objects were found. These include two laptops, a camera, clothes and documents from Don North's sailboat the "Windancer",rift gold which was found on the same island near El Porvenir and renamed the "Green Twilight." Auxiliary Prosecutor Dimas Guevara, said yesterday he might be formulating new charges against Javier Martin in the coming hours.
Celiac Disease
Imagine what it would be like if eating pizza, pasta, most breads, cookies, cakes, candy bars, canned soup, or luncheon meats or drinking a beer left you with cramps, diarrhea, anemia, and even osteoporosis. For many people with celiac disease, that is a reality.
rift gold
Celiac disease, also called celiac sprue, is a hereditary disease that occurs when a protein called gluten found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats generates an immune reaction in the small intestine of genetically susceptible people. As a result, tiny hair-like projections in the small intestine, called villi, shrink and sometimes disappear. The villi then are not able to absorb nutrients from food, and the result is abnormally colored, foul-smelling stools and weight loss. This malabsorption also can deprive the brain, nervous system, bones, liver, and other organs of nourishment and cause vitamin and mineral deficiencies that may lead to other medical problems.
About 1 in 500 people in the United States has celiac disease—about 500,000 Americans. Some speculate that celiac disease has affected humans since they first switched from a foraging diet of meat and nuts to a cultivated diet that included high-protein grasses such as wheat. Physicians have gained an understanding of the disease and how to treat it in only the past 50 years. Today, people with celiac disease are able to lead nearly normal, healthy lives.
A gluten-free diet—a lifelong and complete avoidance of wheat, rye, barley, and oats and any foods that contain them— is the only way to treat this disease. Following such a diet is not as easy as it seems because many processed foods and medications contain gluten.
Once gluten is removed from the diet, the digestive tract begins healing within several days. Significant healing and regrowth of the villi may take several months in young people and as long as 2 to 3 years in older persons. Foods allowed in a gluten-free diet include fresh meats, fish, poultry, milk and unprocessed cheeses, dried beans, plain fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, and gluten-free grains such as corn and rice.
Identifying gluten-free foods can be difficult. People with celiac disease should discuss their food selections with their physician and a registered dietitian. A dietitian also can advise how best to improve the nutritional quality of a diet.
rift gold
Food manufacturers can be contacted to find out whether a product contains gluten. Celiac disease support groups and Internet sites also may have information on the ingredients found in food products.
rift gold
Celiac disease, also called celiac sprue, is a hereditary disease that occurs when a protein called gluten found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats generates an immune reaction in the small intestine of genetically susceptible people. As a result, tiny hair-like projections in the small intestine, called villi, shrink and sometimes disappear. The villi then are not able to absorb nutrients from food, and the result is abnormally colored, foul-smelling stools and weight loss. This malabsorption also can deprive the brain, nervous system, bones, liver, and other organs of nourishment and cause vitamin and mineral deficiencies that may lead to other medical problems.
About 1 in 500 people in the United States has celiac disease—about 500,000 Americans. Some speculate that celiac disease has affected humans since they first switched from a foraging diet of meat and nuts to a cultivated diet that included high-protein grasses such as wheat. Physicians have gained an understanding of the disease and how to treat it in only the past 50 years. Today, people with celiac disease are able to lead nearly normal, healthy lives.
A gluten-free diet—a lifelong and complete avoidance of wheat, rye, barley, and oats and any foods that contain them— is the only way to treat this disease. Following such a diet is not as easy as it seems because many processed foods and medications contain gluten.
Once gluten is removed from the diet, the digestive tract begins healing within several days. Significant healing and regrowth of the villi may take several months in young people and as long as 2 to 3 years in older persons. Foods allowed in a gluten-free diet include fresh meats, fish, poultry, milk and unprocessed cheeses, dried beans, plain fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, and gluten-free grains such as corn and rice.
Identifying gluten-free foods can be difficult. People with celiac disease should discuss their food selections with their physician and a registered dietitian. A dietitian also can advise how best to improve the nutritional quality of a diet.
rift gold
Food manufacturers can be contacted to find out whether a product contains gluten. Celiac disease support groups and Internet sites also may have information on the ingredients found in food products.
Mental Health and Psychiatry
Issues of human rights have always been intertwined with the history of psychiatry. In the history of many societies, the mentally ill were abused and treated without any respect for their rights or dignity. In some societies, such as medieval Europe, the mentally ill were thought to be possessed by demonic spirits. There were few attempts to cure them or ameliorate their suffering. In the early modern era,rift gold some countries funded “madhouses” for the mentally ill, but these were chambers of horrors, with screaming inmates chained to their beds, abused by ignorant and rapacious wardens. In the early nineteenth century, a new wave of doctors and reformers entered the profession and began to argue that the insane, as they were then called, needed to be treated with more humanity. By the twentieth century, treatment of the mentally ill had improved, but there remained, and remains, widespread human rights issues and abuses connected to mental health and psychiatry.
The right of the mentally ill to proper care is an internationally recognized human right. The United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) states that everyone has the right to “the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” The United Nations expanded on this statement with an additional document addressed directly to the plight of the mentally ill, the Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care (1991).
Treatment for the mentally ill has progressed since the days when they were locked away in madhouses and insane asylums, but abuses still remain. The mentally ill are particularly vulnerable to mistreatment because they are often looked down upon by the rest of society, whose members prefer to forget that they exist. Often unable to voice their concerns and complaints, they are defenseless against the abuses of unscrupulous or uncaring nurses and doctors. But in spite of many abuses, modern mental health facilities, particularly in the industrialized countries, are far better than they once were. Part of the reason for this improvement is the increase in empathy for the plight of the mentally ill, the result of a corresponding increase in respect for the human rights of all people. However, perhaps the most significant change since the eighteenth century is the arrival of a new idea: that mental illness can be treated and either cured or lessened in severity.
In the late 1890s, doctors like Sigmund Freud greatly expanded the field of psychiatry and with it tried to cure those troubled by mental illness. Their successes were real, but limited. Some people could be cured, or helped, by Freud’s talking cure; others, particularly the severely troubled, showed little or no improvement. With the discovery of psychotropic drugs in the 1950s, the treatment of the mentally ill took a giant leap forward, as doctors found that certain chemicals could dramatically improve the behavior and mental state of their patients. Previous abusive treatments, such as electroshock (where a patient was subjected to a series of electric shocks, sometimes damaging their personality or memory) and lobotomies (an operation in which the nerve fibers of the frontal lobes of the brain are severed, often leaving the patient passive and dull, an empty shell of a human being), were abandoned in favor of the new drugs. Although drugs have greatly improved the lives of many mentally ill people—allowing some of them to re-enter the world as happy and productive members of society—they have also sometimes been used in abusive ways. Some institutions have used the drugs to sedate their patients in order to make them easier to handle, rather than out of concern for their well-being.
Places of treatment have also changed since the dark days of the eighteenth century. Insane asylums, themselves an improvement on the old madhouses, were replaced with modern mental hospitals, staffed by trained doctors and nurses. Increased budgets allowed these hospitals to provide various forms of therapy, including painting, theatrics, and other group activities. Nevertheless, abuses continue in hospitals around the world.
In the 1950s, governments in the United States and Great Britain began to release mental patients into the outside world in an effort to deinstitutionalize or mainstream them. The rate of mainstreaming was increased after the early 1970s, when mental hospitals, ignored by much of the country, had reached a low point in their quality of care. This nadir was revealed in 1972, when a young reporter, Geraldo Rivera, smuggled a television camera into Willowbrook, a Staten Island institution for the mentally retarded, and revealed wards crowded with disabled children and fecessmeared walls. Since then there has been substantial, but uneven, improvement in the quality of care.
The main result of reports like Rivera’s, however, was to accelerate the process of mainstreaming, because mental health advocates believed that the mentally ill might be best served by being released from mental hospitals and state institutions. The goal of mainstreaming may have been laudable, but the funds to support the patients in outpatient programs were not sufficient, and many mental patients ended up swelling the ranks of the urban homeless. This decision to leave hundreds of thousands of mental patients without sufficient care was and is a clear human rights violation, as defined by the UN resolutions on mental health. For all its faults, mental health care in wealthy countries like the United States is reasonably good—certainly better than it was fifty years ago. In Third World countries, however, the situation of the mentally ill remains abysmal. Because these countries have too little money to help even the sane and healthy, the mentally ill are often ignored, aided only by the small amounts of money that trickle in from international charities. Abuses reminiscent of the old European madhouses continue in Africa and South America.
In Hidalgo, Mexico, a 1999 investigation by human rights advocates revealed a state mental hospital that epitomized the neglect with which mental patients are treated in much of the world. Inmates in the Hidalgo institution were locked in giant wards, with hundreds of men or women sharing a single dormitory-style room and only a few undertrained hospital personnel to supervise them. The hospital floors were covered with feces and urine, most patients went around shoeless and partially clothed, and some were entirely naked. Many of the patients were not even mentally ill, but rather mentally retarded, yet there were no provisions or plans for releasing them into the kinds of group homes for the mentally retarded that are common in the United States. And as bad as Mexico’s mental health institutions can be, all around the globe there are many institutions that are worse.
One place, worldwide, where the mentally ill continue to face systematic abuse is in prison. Mentally ill prisoners can be the most troublesome, and for that reason prison authorities often treat them with excessive harshness. In many of the new super-maximum security (“super-max”) prisons in the United States, mentally ill patients are locked in small,rift gold isolated cells for twenty-three hours a day. They may be kept in these cells for years, at great cost to their already unbalanced mental state. Human Rights Watch has called this treatment tantamount to torture, a clear violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which bans torture and other degrading punishments. Dr. Carl Fulwiler, a psychiatrist who investigated Indiana’s placement of mentally ill prisoners in super-max facilities, said: “To force prisoners with serious psychiatric disorders to live in extreme social isolation and unremitting idleness in a claustrophobic environment is barbaric.”
The right of the mentally ill to proper care is an internationally recognized human right. The United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) states that everyone has the right to “the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” The United Nations expanded on this statement with an additional document addressed directly to the plight of the mentally ill, the Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care (1991).
Treatment for the mentally ill has progressed since the days when they were locked away in madhouses and insane asylums, but abuses still remain. The mentally ill are particularly vulnerable to mistreatment because they are often looked down upon by the rest of society, whose members prefer to forget that they exist. Often unable to voice their concerns and complaints, they are defenseless against the abuses of unscrupulous or uncaring nurses and doctors. But in spite of many abuses, modern mental health facilities, particularly in the industrialized countries, are far better than they once were. Part of the reason for this improvement is the increase in empathy for the plight of the mentally ill, the result of a corresponding increase in respect for the human rights of all people. However, perhaps the most significant change since the eighteenth century is the arrival of a new idea: that mental illness can be treated and either cured or lessened in severity.
In the late 1890s, doctors like Sigmund Freud greatly expanded the field of psychiatry and with it tried to cure those troubled by mental illness. Their successes were real, but limited. Some people could be cured, or helped, by Freud’s talking cure; others, particularly the severely troubled, showed little or no improvement. With the discovery of psychotropic drugs in the 1950s, the treatment of the mentally ill took a giant leap forward, as doctors found that certain chemicals could dramatically improve the behavior and mental state of their patients. Previous abusive treatments, such as electroshock (where a patient was subjected to a series of electric shocks, sometimes damaging their personality or memory) and lobotomies (an operation in which the nerve fibers of the frontal lobes of the brain are severed, often leaving the patient passive and dull, an empty shell of a human being), were abandoned in favor of the new drugs. Although drugs have greatly improved the lives of many mentally ill people—allowing some of them to re-enter the world as happy and productive members of society—they have also sometimes been used in abusive ways. Some institutions have used the drugs to sedate their patients in order to make them easier to handle, rather than out of concern for their well-being.
Places of treatment have also changed since the dark days of the eighteenth century. Insane asylums, themselves an improvement on the old madhouses, were replaced with modern mental hospitals, staffed by trained doctors and nurses. Increased budgets allowed these hospitals to provide various forms of therapy, including painting, theatrics, and other group activities. Nevertheless, abuses continue in hospitals around the world.
In the 1950s, governments in the United States and Great Britain began to release mental patients into the outside world in an effort to deinstitutionalize or mainstream them. The rate of mainstreaming was increased after the early 1970s, when mental hospitals, ignored by much of the country, had reached a low point in their quality of care. This nadir was revealed in 1972, when a young reporter, Geraldo Rivera, smuggled a television camera into Willowbrook, a Staten Island institution for the mentally retarded, and revealed wards crowded with disabled children and fecessmeared walls. Since then there has been substantial, but uneven, improvement in the quality of care.
The main result of reports like Rivera’s, however, was to accelerate the process of mainstreaming, because mental health advocates believed that the mentally ill might be best served by being released from mental hospitals and state institutions. The goal of mainstreaming may have been laudable, but the funds to support the patients in outpatient programs were not sufficient, and many mental patients ended up swelling the ranks of the urban homeless. This decision to leave hundreds of thousands of mental patients without sufficient care was and is a clear human rights violation, as defined by the UN resolutions on mental health. For all its faults, mental health care in wealthy countries like the United States is reasonably good—certainly better than it was fifty years ago. In Third World countries, however, the situation of the mentally ill remains abysmal. Because these countries have too little money to help even the sane and healthy, the mentally ill are often ignored, aided only by the small amounts of money that trickle in from international charities. Abuses reminiscent of the old European madhouses continue in Africa and South America.
In Hidalgo, Mexico, a 1999 investigation by human rights advocates revealed a state mental hospital that epitomized the neglect with which mental patients are treated in much of the world. Inmates in the Hidalgo institution were locked in giant wards, with hundreds of men or women sharing a single dormitory-style room and only a few undertrained hospital personnel to supervise them. The hospital floors were covered with feces and urine, most patients went around shoeless and partially clothed, and some were entirely naked. Many of the patients were not even mentally ill, but rather mentally retarded, yet there were no provisions or plans for releasing them into the kinds of group homes for the mentally retarded that are common in the United States. And as bad as Mexico’s mental health institutions can be, all around the globe there are many institutions that are worse.
One place, worldwide, where the mentally ill continue to face systematic abuse is in prison. Mentally ill prisoners can be the most troublesome, and for that reason prison authorities often treat them with excessive harshness. In many of the new super-maximum security (“super-max”) prisons in the United States, mentally ill patients are locked in small,rift gold isolated cells for twenty-three hours a day. They may be kept in these cells for years, at great cost to their already unbalanced mental state. Human Rights Watch has called this treatment tantamount to torture, a clear violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which bans torture and other degrading punishments. Dr. Carl Fulwiler, a psychiatrist who investigated Indiana’s placement of mentally ill prisoners in super-max facilities, said: “To force prisoners with serious psychiatric disorders to live in extreme social isolation and unremitting idleness in a claustrophobic environment is barbaric.”
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