text:
- Statistics
This library is a port of Larry Hunter's Lisp statistics library to chicken scheme.
The library provides a number of formulae and methods taken from the book "Fundamentals of Biostatistics" by Bernard Rosner (5th edition).
Statistical Distributions
To use this library, you need to understand the underlying statistics. In brief:
The Binomial distribution is used when counting discrete events in a series of trials, each of which events has a probability p of producing a positive outcome. An example would be tossing a coin n times: the probability of a head is p, and the distribution gives the expected number of heads in the n trials. The binomial distribution is defined as B(n, p).
The Poisson distribution is used to count discrete events which occur with a known average rate. A typical example is the decay of radioactive elements. A poisson distribution is defined Pois(mu).
The Normal distribution is used for real-valued events which cluster around a specific mean with a symmetric variance. A typical example would be the distribution of people's heights. A normal distribution is defined N(mean, variance).
Provided Functions
Utilities[procedure] (average-rank value sorted-values)
returns the average position of given value in the list of sorted values: the rank is based from 1.
> (average-rank 2 '(1 2 2 3 4)) 5/2[procedure] (beta-incomplete x a b)
[procedure] (bin-and-count items n)
Divides the range of the list of items into n bins, and returns a vector of the number of items which fall into each bin.
> (bin-and-count '(1 1 2 3 3 4 5) 5) #(2 1 2 1 1)[procedure] (combinations n k)
returns the number of ways to select k items from n, where the order does not matter.[procedure] (factorial n)
returns the factorial of n.[procedure] (find-critical-value p-function p-value #:increasing?)
given a monotonic function p-function taking a single value x to y, returns the value of x which makes (p-function x) closest to p-value. A boolean keyword parameter #:increasing? determines if function should be increasing or decreasing (the default).[procedure] (fisher-z-transform r)
returns the transformation of a correlation coefficient r into an approximately normal distribution.[procedure] (gamma-incomplete a x)
[procedure] (gamma-ln x)
[procedure] (permutations n k)
returns the number of ways to select k items from n, where the order does matter.[procedure] (random-normal mean sd)
returns a random number distributed with specified mean and standard deviation.[procedure] (random-pick items)
returns a random item from the given list of items.[procedure] (random-sample n items)
returns a random sample from the list of items without replacement of size n.[procedure] (random-weighted-sample n items weights)
returns a random sample from the list of items without replacement of size n, where each sample has a defined probability of selection (weight).[procedure] (sign n)
returns 0, 1 or -1 according to if n is zero, positive or negative.[procedure] (square n)
[procedure] (cumsum sequences)
returns the cumulative sum of a sequence.
Descriptive statistics
These functions provide information on a given list of numbers, the items. Note, the list does not have to be sorted.[procedure] (mean items)
returns the arithmetic mean of the items (the sum of the numbers divided by the number of numbers).
(mean '(1 2 3 4 5)) => 3[procedure] (median items)
returns the value which separates the upper and lower halves of the list of numbers.
(median '(1 2 3 4)) => 5/2[procedure] (mode items)
returns two values. The first is a list of the modes and the second is the frequency. (A mode of a list of numbers is the most frequently occurring value.)
> (mode '(1 2 3 4)) (1 2 3 4) 1 > (mode '(1 2 2 3 4)) (2) 2 > (mode '(1 2 2 3 3 4)) (2 3) 2[procedure] (geometric-mean items)
returns the geometric mean of the items (the result of multiplying the items together and then taking the nth root, where n is the number of items).
(geometric-mean '(1 2 3 4 5)) => 2.60517108469735[procedure] (range items)
returns the difference between the biggest and the smallest value from the list of items.
(range '(5 1 2 3 4)) => 4[procedure] (percentile items percent)
returns the item closest to the percent value if the items are sorted into order; the returned item may be in the list, or the average of adjacent values.
(percentile '(1 2 3 4) 50) => 5/2 (percentile '(1 2 3 4) 67) => 3[procedure] (variance items)
[procedure] (standard-deviation items)
[procedure] (coefficient-of-variation items)
returns 100 * (std-dev / mean) of the items.
(coefficient-of-variation '(1 2 3 4)) => 51.6397779494322[procedure] (standard-error-of-the-mean items)
returns std-dev / sqrt(length items).
(standard-error-of-the-mean '(1 2 3 4)) => 0.645497224367903[procedure] (mean-sd-n items)
returns three values, one for the mean, one for the standard deviation, and one for the length of the list.
> (mean-sd-n '(1 2 3 4)) 5/2 1.29099444873581 4
Distributional functions[procedure] (binomial-probability n k p)
returns the probability that the number of positive outcomes for a binomial distribution B(n, p) is k.
> (do-ec (: i 0 11) (format #t "i = ~d P = ~f~&" i (binomial-probability 10 i 0.5))) i = 0 P = 0.0009765625 i = 1 P = 0.009765625 i = 2 P = 0.0439453125 i = 3 P = 0.1171875 i = 4 P = 0.205078125 i = 5 P = 0.24609375 i = 6 P = 0.205078125 i = 7 P = 0.1171875 i = 8 P = 0.0439453125 i = 9 P = 0.009765625 i = 10 P = 0.0009765625[procedure] (binomial-cumulative-probability n k p)
returns the probability that less than k positive outcomes occur for a binomial distribution B(n, p).
> (do-ec (: i 0 11) (format #t "i = ~d P = ~f~&" i (binomial-cumulative-probability 10 i 0.5))) i = 0 P = 0.0 i = 1 P = 0.0009765625 i = 2 P = 0.0107421875 i = 3 P = 0.0546875 i = 4 P = 0.171875 i = 5 P = 0.376953125 i = 6 P = 0.623046875 i = 7 P = 0.828125 i = 8 P = 0.9453125 i = 9 P = 0.9892578125 i = 10 P = 0.9990234375[procedure] (binomial-ge-probability n k p)
returns the probability of k or more positive outcomes for a binomial distribution B(n, p).[procedure] (binomial-le-probability n k p)
returns the probability k or fewer positive outcomes for a binomial distribution B(n, p).[procedure] (poisson-probability mu k)
returns the probability of k events occurring when the average is mu.
> (do-ec (: i 0 20) (format #t "P(X=~2d) = ~,4f~&" i (poisson-probability 10 i))) P(X= 0) = 0.0000 P(X= 1) = 0.0005 P(X= 2) = 0.0023 P(X= 3) = 0.0076 P(X= 4) = 0.0189 P(X= 5) = 0.0378 P(X= 6) = 0.0631 P(X= 7) = 0.0901 P(X= 8) = 0.1126 P(X= 9) = 0.1251 P(X=10) = 0.1251 P(X=11) = 0.1137 P(X=12) = 0.0948 P(X=13) = 0.0729 P(X=14) = 0.0521 P(X=15) = 0.0347 P(X=16) = 0.0217 P(X=17) = 0.0128 P(X=18) = 0.0071 P(X=19) = 0.0037[procedure] (poisson-cumulative-probability mu k)
returns the probability of less than k events occurring when the average is mu.
> (do-ec (: i 0 20) (format #t "P(X=~2d) = ~,4f~&" i (poisson-cumulative-probability 10 i))) P(X= 0) = 0.0000 P(X= 1) = 0.0000 P(X= 2) = 0.0005 P(X= 3) = 0.0028 P(X= 4) = 0.0103 P(X= 5) = 0.0293 P(X= 6) = 0.0671 P(X= 7) = 0.1301 P(X= 8) = 0.2202 P(X= 9) = 0.3328 P(X=10) = 0.4579 P(X=11) = 0.5830 P(X=12) = 0.6968 P(X=13) = 0.7916 P(X=14) = 0.8645 P(X=15) = 0.9165 P(X=16) = 0.9513 P(X=17) = 0.9730 P(X=18) = 0.9857 P(X=19) = 0.9928[procedure] (poisson-ge-probability mu k)
returns the probability of k or more events occurring when the average is mu.[procedure] (normal-pdf x mean variance)
returns the likelihood of x given a normal distribution with stated mean and variance.
> (do-ec (: i 0 11) (format #t "~3d ~,4f~&" i (normal-pdf i 5 4))) 0 0.0088 1 0.0270 2 0.0648 3 0.1210 4 0.1760 5 0.1995 6 0.1760 7 0.1210 8 0.0648 9 0.0270 10 0.0088[procedure] (convert-to-standard-normal x mean variance)
returns a value for x rescaling the given normal distribution to a standard N(0, 1).
> (convert-to-standard-normal 5 6 2) -1/2[procedure] (phi x)
returns the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the standard normal distribution.
> (do-ec (: x -2 2 0.4) (format #t "~4,1f ~,4f~&" x (phi x))) -2.0 0.0228 -1.6 0.0548 -1.2 0.1151 -0.8 0.2119 -0.4 0.3446 0.0 0.5000 0.4 0.6554 0.8 0.7881 1.2 0.8849 1.6 0.9452[procedure] (z percentile)
returns the inverse of the standard normal distribution. Input is a percentile, between 0.0 and 1.0.[procedure] ( t-distribution degrees-of-freedom percentile)
returns the point in the t-distribution given the degrees-of-freedom and percentile. degrees-of-freedom must be a positive integer, and percentile a value between 0.0 and 1.0.[procedure] (chi-square degrees-of-freedom percentile)
returns the point at which chi-square distribution has percentile to its left, using given degrees-of-freedom.[procedure] (chi-square-cdf x degrees-of-freedom)
returns the probability that a random variable is to the left of x using the chi-square distribution with given degrees-of-freedom.
Confidence intervals
These functions report bounds for an observed property of a distribution: the bounds are tighter as the confidence level, alpha, varies from 0.0 to 1.0.[procedure] (binomial-probability-ci n p alpha)
returns two values, the upper and lower bounds on an observed probability p from n trials with confidence (1-alpha).
> (binomial-probability-ci 10 0.8 0.9) 0.724273681640625 0.851547241210938 ; 2 values[procedure] (poisson-mu-ci k alpha)
returns two values, the upper and lower bounds on the poisson parameter if k events are observed; the bound is for confidence (1-alpha).
> (poisson-mu-ci 10 0.9) 8.305419921875 10.0635986328125 ; 2 values[procedure] (normal-mean-ci mean standard-deviation k alpha)
returns two values, the upper and lower bounds on the mean of the normal distibution of k events are observed; the bound is for confidence (1-alpha).
> (normal-mean-ci 0.5 0.1 10 0.8) 0.491747852700165 0.508252147299835 ; 2 values[procedure] (normal-mean-ci-on-sequence items alpha)
returns two values, the upper and lower bounds on the mean of the given items, assuming they are normally distributed; the bound is for confidence (1-alpha).
> (normal-mean-ci-on-sequence '(1 2 3 4 5) 0.9) 2.40860081649174 3.59139918350826 ; 2 values[procedure] (normal-variance-ci standard-deviation k alpha)
returns two values, the upper and lower bounds on the variance of the normal distibution of k events are observed; the bound is for confidence (1-alpha).[procedure] (normal-variance-ci-on-sequence items alpha)
returns two values, the upper and lower bounds on the variance of the given items, assuming they are normally distributed; the bound is for confidence (1-alpha).[procedure] normal-sd-ci standard-deviation k alpha)
returns two values, the upper and lower bounds on the standard deviation of the normal distibution of k events are observed; the bound is for confidence (1-alpha).[procedure] (normal-sd-ci-on-sequence sequence items)
returns two values, the upper and lower bounds on the standard deviation of the given items, assuming they are normally distributed; the bound is for confidence (1-alpha).
Hypothesis testing
These functions report on the significance of an observed sample against a given distribution.
(parametric)[procedure] (z-test x-bar n #:mu #:sigma #:tails)
Given x-bar the sample mean, n the number in the sample, #:mu the distribution mean (defaults to 0), #:sigma the distribution standard deviation (defaults to 1), and #:tails the significance to report on:
- ':both, the probability of the difference between x-bar and #:mu
- ':positive, the probability that observation is >= x-bar
- ':negative, the probability that observation is <= x-bar
e.g. given a distribution with mean 50 and standard deviation 10
; probability that a single observation is <= 40 > (z-test 40 1 #:mu 50 #:sigma 10 #:tails ':negative) 0.158655 ; probability that 10 observations are <= 40 > (z-test 40 10 #:mu 50 #:sigma 10 #:tails ':negative) 0.000783 ; probability that 5 observations give a mean of 40 > (z-test 40 5 #:mu 50 #:sigma 10) 0.025347[procedure] (z-test-on-sequence observations #:mu #:sigma #:tails)
As for z-test except x-bar and n are computed from given observations.[procedure] (t-test-one-sample x-bar sd n mu #:tails)
Given observed data with mean x-bar, standard devation sd and number of observations n (n < 30), return the significance of the sample compared with the population mean mu. #:tails is one of:
- ':both two-sided (default)
- ':positive one-sided, x-bar >= mu
- ':negative one-sided, x-bar <= mu
As for t-test-one-sample except x-bar, sd and n are computed from given observations.[procedure] (t-test-paired t-bar sd n #:tails)
Computes the significance of the differences between two sequences of data: the differences are given as their mean, t-bar, standard deviation, sd, and number of measurements, n.[procedure] (t-test-paired-on-sequences before after #:tails)
Computes the significance of the difference between two sequences of data: one before an experimental change and one after. #:tails is as for t-significance.
> (t-test-paired-on-sequences '(4 3 5) '(1 1 3)) 0.0198039411803931[procedure] (t-test-two-sample mean-1 sd-1 n-1 mean-2 sd-2 n-2 #:variances-equal? #:variance-significance-cutoff #:tails)
Computes the significance of the difference of two means given the sample standard deviations and sizes.[procedure] (t-test-two-sample-on-sequences sequence-1 sequence-2 #:tails)
Significance of difference of two sequences of observations.[procedure] (f-test variance-1 n1 variance-2 n2 #:tails)
Tests for the equality of two variances.[procedure] (chi-square-test-one-sample observed-variance sample-size test-variance #:tails)
Tests for significance of difference between an observed and a test variance.[procedure] (binomial-test-one-sample p-hat n p #:tails #:exact?)
Returns the significance of a one sample test with n observations, observed probability p-hat and expected probability p.[procedure] (binomial-test-two-sample p-hat-1 n-1 p-hat-2 n-2 #:tails #:exact?)
Returns the significance of a two sample test.[procedure] (fisher-exact-test a b c d #:tails)
Given a 2x2 contingency table, returns a p value using Fisher's exact test. a and b form the first row of the contingency table, c and d the second row.[procedure] (mcnemars-test a-discordant-count b-discordant-count #:exact?)
For measuring effectiveness of, e.g., one treatment over another. a-discordant-count is the number of times when A worked, b-discordant-count the number of times B worked.[procedure] (poisson-test-one-sample observed mu #:tails #:approximate?)
Computes significance of the number of observed events under a Poisson distribution against mu expected events.
(non parametric)[procedure] (sign-test plus-count minus-count #:exact? #:tails)
[procedure] (sign-test-on-sequence sequence-1 sequence-2 #:exact? #:tails)
Takes two equal-sized sequences of observations, and reports if the entries of one are different to those in the other.[procedure] (wilcoxon-signed-rank-test differences #:tails)
Given at least 16 differences, reports if the positive differences are significantly larger or smaller than the negative differences.[procedure] (wilcoxon-signed-rank-test-on-sequences sequence-1 sequence-2 #:tails)
Given two sequences of at least 16 observations, computes wilcoxon-signed-rank-test on the differences.[procedure] (chi-square-test-rxc contingency-table)
Given a contingency table (a SRFI-63 array), returns significance of relation between row and column variable.[procedure] (chi-square-test-for-trend row1-counts row2-counts)
Returns p significance of trend, and prints a string to show if increasing or decreasing.
Sample size estimates[procedure] (t-test-one-sample-sse mean-1 mean-2 sigma-1 #:alpha #:1-beta #:tails)
Returns the size of sample necessary to distinguish a normally distributed sample with mean-2 from a population mean-1 standard deviation sigma-1. The significance #:alpha (defaults to 0.05), power #:1-beta (0.95) and sides #:tails (':both) may be altered.
> (t-test-one-sample-sse 5.0 5.2 0.5) 163[procedure] (t-test-two-sample-sse mean-1 sigma-1 mean-2 sigma-2 #:alpha #:1-beta #:tails #:sample-ratio)
Returns the size of sample necessary to distinguish a normally distributed sample N(mean-1, sigma-1) from a normally distributed sample N(mean-2, sigma-2). The significance #:alpha (defaults to 0.05), power #:1-beta (0.95), sides #:tails (':both) and sample-ratio #:sample-ratio (1) may be altered.[procedure] (t-test-paired-sse difference-mean difference-sigma #:alpha #:1-beta #:tails)
Returns the size of sample to produce a given mean and standard deviation in the differences of two samples.[procedure] (binomial-test-one-sample-sse p-estimated p-null #:alpha #:1-beta #:tails)
Returns the size of sample needed to test whether an observed probability is significantly different from a particular binomial null hypothesis with a significance alpha and a power 1-beta.[procedure] (binomial-test-two-sample-sse p-one p-two #:alpha #:1-beta #:tails #:sample-ratio)
Returns the size of sample needed to test if given two binomial probabilities are significantly different. #:sample-ratio can be given if the two samples differ in size.[procedure] (binomial-test-paired-sse pd pa #:alpha #:1-beta #:tails)
Sample size estimate for McNemar's discordant pairs test.[procedure] (correlation-sse rho #:alpha #:1-beta)
Returns the size of sample necessary to find a correlation of value rho with significance #:alpha (defaults to 0.05) and power #:1-beta (defaults to 0.95).
> (correlation-sse 0.80 #:alpha 0.05 #:1-beta 0.9) 11
Correlation and regression[procedure] (linear-regression xs ys)
Given a line definition as lists of point coordinates, first prints to the terminal and then returns 5 values for the best fitting line through the points:
- the y-intercept
- the slope
- the correlation coefficient, r
- the square of the correlation coefficient, r^2
- the significance of the difference of the slope from zero, p
(This is also called the Pearson correlation; used when relation expected to be linear. Also see spearman-rank-correlation.)
> (linear-regression '(1.0 2.0 3.0) '(0.1 0.3 0.8)) Intercept = -0.3, slope = 0.35, r = 0.970725343394151, R^2 = 0.942307692307692, p = 0.154420958311267 -0.3 0.35 0.970725343394151 0.942307692307692 0.154420958311267 ; 5 values[procedure] (correlation-coefficient xs ys)
As above, but only returns the value of r:
> (correlation-coefficient '(1.0 2.0 3.0) '(0.1 0.3 0.8)) 0.970725343394151[procedure] (correlation-test-two-sample r1 n1 r2 n2 #:tails)
Returns the significance of the similarity between two correlations. #:tails determines how the comparison is made: ':both measures the difference, ':negative if r1 < r2 and #':positive if r2 > r1.[procedure] (correlation-test-two-sample-on-sequences points-1 points-2 #:tails)
As above, but computes the correlations from given lists of points.[procedure] (spearman-rank-correlation xs ys)
Returns two values, the Spearman Rank measure of correlation between the given lists of point coordinates, and the p-significance of the correlation. (This correlation is used for non-linear relations; compare with linear-regression.)
Significance test functions[procedure] (t-significance t-value degrees-of-freedom #:tails)
returns the probability of t-value for given degrees-of-freedom. The keyword #:tails modifies the calculation to be two-sided (the default) with ':both, or one-sided, ':positive or ':negative.
> (t-significance 0.2 5) 0.849360513995829 > (t-significance 0.2 5 #:tails ':positive) 0.424680256997915 > (t-significance 0.2 5 #:tails ':negative) 0.575319743002086[procedure] (f-significance f-value numerator-dof denominator-dof #:one-tailed?)
returns the probability of f-value for given numerator-dof and denominator-dof. The boolean keyword #:one-tailed? indicates if calculation is two-sided (the default) or not.
> (f-significance 1.5 8 2) 0.920449812578091 > (f-significance 1.5 8 2 #:one-tailed? #t) 0.460224906289046
Peter Lane wrote the Scheme version of this library. The original Lisp version was written by Larry Hunter.
This egg is hosted on the CHICKEN Subversion repository:
If you want to check out the source code repository of this egg and you are not familiar with Subversion, see this page.
GPL version 3.0.
Version History
- 0.12: removed GSL dependency
- 0.11: refactoring correlation and regression interface to take two separate dataset arguments
- 0.9: ported to CHICKEN 5
- 0.8: added cumsum and random-weighted-sample
- 0.5: fixed warning in compilation (thanks to Felix for pointing it out)
- 0.4: all functions should now be working
- 0.3: some error fixes and addition of tests for majority of functions
- 0.2: fixed some errors in keywords and find-critical-value
- 0.1: initial package


text:
In the next 12 months, smartphones with five new operating systems are scheduled to go on sale, leaning on Web technologies and improved user interfaces to try and make a dent in the dominance of Apple's iOS and Google's Android.
In two weeks, Research In Motion will launch the first two smartphones based on its new operating system, BlackBerry 10, hoping to turn around its ailing fortunes. Launching a new operating system and succeeding will be difficult, but that hasn't dissuaded RIM nor the other vendors coming out with smartphone OSes: Mozilla, Canonical, Finnish upstart Jolla and backers of Tizen.
"I think it is the natural cycle of how open markets work; a few dominant players will get a grip on an industry and people will decide they have too much power and start looking for alternatives," said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics.
Smartphone vendors and operators should also benefit from having more options.
"From an operator point-of-view it will help, because it will result in more competition. Their difficulty will be to have the right device, the right device brand and retail channel, which makes a big difference," Orange vice president Arnauld Blondet said.
A key part of the new operating systems will be their user interfaces, which don't just aim to replicate the iOS experience, but rather add features to improve usability.
The UIs of the new OSes share some of the same principles, including a greater use of the edges of the screen and a lack of physical buttons.
For example, BlackBerry 10 and Canonical's Ubuntu for phones use similar gestures to reveal more information on the left side of the screen. Ubuntu for phones shows a list of applications, while BlackBerry 10 displays a unified inbox called the Hub. There, users can open, reply to and send Facebook messages without having to open an application.
Another example of this is in Jolla's Sailfish OS, where users can pull down the screen by sliding a finger down to reveal more menu options and information.
"Regardless of whether or not they are successful, I would bet the features we see on these platforms will have an impact on the market and turn up elsewhere," Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight, said.
Microsoft has already shown there is room for development when it comes to smartphone user interfaces with Windows Phone, but the limited success of the OS has also illustrated the importance of applications.
To make it easier for developers, all five platforms will have extensive support for HTML5. Mozilla has taken this the furthest, as the idea with its Firefox OS is to have all user-accessible software running on the phone be a Web app.
But the others are also taking the technology to heart.
'If you are currently targeting the iPhone and Android with HTML5, it will be easy to add Ubuntu, as well," Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said in a video introducing his new OS.
But even if HTML5 is making great strides, RIM, Canonical and Jolla all feel there is a need for an alternative native development environment, as well. There is a common denominator here as well: using Qt.
Qt is a cross-platform application and user interface development framework for desktop, embedded and mobile applications that Digia acquired from Nokia last year.
Digia has been in contact with Canonical and Jolla, and has also worked closely with RIM on the BlackBerry 10 launch, according to Katherine Barrios, director of marketing for the Qt unit at Digia.
The use of Qt is a win-win situation; it solidifies Qt as a cross-platform framework, while Canonical and Jolla can take advantage of its more than 500,000 developers as they build their own ecosystems, Barrios said.
"It is definitely the right strategy. They have to minimize the barriers to entry, and that is what they are doing. Qt is established and HTML5 is still nascent, but there is the scope to reuse code from device to device," CCS Insight's Blaber said.
On HTML5, Blaber would like to see especially Mozilla, Canonical and Jolla working together to create as much consistency as possible for developers, he said.
However, regardless of how good the user interfaces are and the availability of applications, success will not come easy.
Ranking their chances, they can be split into two groups, with RIM, Mozilla and Tizen in the first and Canonical along with Jolla in the second, according to Strategy Analytics' Mawston.
Tizen ends up in the first group because it's backed by Samsung Electronics, but that could also turn into a disadvantage if other vendors perceive Samsung controlling it. BlackBerry 10 qualifies because of its known brand and existing global distribution network, while Firefox OS has support from the likes of TelefA3nica and ZTE, Mawston said.
Firefox OS can deliver a far better experience than Android at price points around US$100, according to the Spanish operator.
For Jolla and Canonical success will be even harder to come by.
"Above all they'll need hardware partners," Mawston said.
Since the newcomers were fairly quiet at CES in Las Vegas, the expectation is that Mobile World Congress will be a coming-out party for a lot of the new platforms, according to Blaber.
But for RIM's employees it's crunch time, and the company is looking forward to showing the world how good BlackBerry 10 is, according to Rob Orr, RIM's managing director for UK and Ireland.
"As you can imagine everyone is buzzing," Orr said via email. "We're working around the clock to ensure that every last box is ticked ready for launch."
Send news tips and comments to firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Story by
Ben WoodsEurope Editor
Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional online poker player. You can contact him via Twitter or on Google+.
White-label online store creator Shopify has teamed up with payment processor Paymill to offer its customers a no-fuss way of integrating payments into their stores.
Shopify allows businesses or individuals to open their own online store and distribute products far and wide, while Paymill is an online payment processor founded in Germany last year.
The deal comes as Shopify tries to grow its Far East and European user base, which is perhaps what made a partnership with Paymill an attractive proposition. It already operates across the whole of Europe and can process transactions in more than 120 currencies, Jörg Sutara, Managing Director of Paymill, explained to TheNextWeb.
Indeed, Sutara said the two companies had only been in talks for about six or seven weeks before striking a deal as it quickly became obvious there were a number of "strategic fits" between the businesses.
Easy does it
One of the other appealing aspects of Paymill's service in comparison to some other rival payment processors is the ease of integration.
"The whole philosophy of Paymill is making everything as easy as possible. When you look at our API, which is super-easy to integrate – we've had customers that have integrated Paymill into their website within two hours. The API is really straight forward," Sutara said.
"To give you a comparison and put it in perspective, if you look at the PayPal technical documentation it's around 100 pages long and if you look at the Paymill documentation it's about 11 pages long. Everything is just much, much easier."
In order to make sure everything was working correctly ahead of launch, the two companies quietly tested it in beta for a couple of weeks to iron out any issues, Sutara added.
While Paymill has a fight on its hands in the online payments market, its position is strengthened by today's deal, which will see it take its usual 2.95 percent of the transaction plus 28 Euro cents on every payment it processes for Shopify-based stores.
That said, with Stripe's recent European expansion, Paymill will want to do all it can to put a stake in the ground.
Featured Image Credit – Getty Images
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.


text:
A new Facebook game inspired by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, in which players are tasked with the goal of "raising awareness" of issues like female genital mutilation, child prostitution, and sex trafficking, launches early next month. Players don't have to donate to play, but they rise the ranks faster if they do. Would you put down Temple Run to, say, help the protagonist harvest mangoes to afford a doctor's visit for her sick daughter — and give money to various IRL nonprofits by the time they virtually ripen?
Here's how it works, according to the New York Times:
The central character, an Indian woman named Radhika, faces various challenges with the assistance of players, who can help out with donations of virtual goods, for example. The players can then make equivalent real-world donations to seven nonprofit organizations woven into the game.
Ten dollars, for example, will help buy a goat for Heifer International; $20 will help support United Nations Foundation immunization efforts.
To further engage players, those who reach predesignated levels unlock donations from Johnson & Johnson and Pearson, which have each contributed $250,000 to buy real-world operations from the Fistula Foundation and books for Room to Read, respectively.
There are two main problems with this concept, the first being whether people will actually want to play it. "Social cause gaming, or the use of games to promote awareness of societal problems, has been growing since pioneer online projects like Food Force, the United Nations World Food Program's 2005 game about confronting famine, and Darfur Is Dying, MTV's 2006 offering in which players navigate the terrors of a Sudanese refugee camp," the paper reports. Hmm...have you ever heard of either of those? (I have not, although I just remembered that game where you define words and donated rice in the process.) Zynga, which has raised $15 million for about 50 causes like Japanese earthquake relief through FarmVille, is on board, and Zynga clearly knows what's up when it comes to popular Facebook games, so perhaps the Half the Sky game will be a game-changer.
The second is more contentious: will the game actually make a difference? Some of its nonprofit partners have "pushed for even more verisimilitude...questioning, for one, why Radhika can read when many women in her situation would be illiterate." And Kristof is hardly without his critics, many of whom say he speaks for marginalized women instead of letting them speak for themselves. But I can see the game taking off in schools and similar environments as a fun awareness-raising conversation-starter that's more productive than Oregon Trail. Of course, that all depends on how addictive the Half the Sky game is...we haven't played it yet.


text:
The Poet of Pool
Proudly toting rifle-sized leather satchels over their shoulders, they give pause to shoppers along tony Madison Avenue. A hint of cocky mischief juices their steps as they hop into a cab and hunt for an action room on New York's West Side. In some dim hotel ballroom, pool shooters might be gods manipulating spheres, but on the pavement outside they are anonymous.
Mike Sigel may be the most gifted of the anonymous. As New Yorkers seek refuge from the close August heat, Sigel is indoors at New York's Roosevelt Hotel, coolly performing on a slate stage stretched with green wool. The U.S. Open Pocket Billiard Tournament unfolds in the Grand Ballroom. With a room full of players in coat and tie; this gaslight-era expanse--with wraparound balcony etched in hand-sculpted frieze and crystal chandeliers--is no River City dive perverting family values. Not by a long shot. No, this is a kinder, gentler parlor for the game of kings.
The game being played--straight pool--is recognized as the contest of the most skillful. For pool purists, it is a welcome relief from the bang-'em-and-hope nine-ball matches that draw all the attention these days. The majority of the 40 million people who play pool each year play eight ball and nine ball. Nine ball is a volatile Nintendo-generation sprint; straight pool, a circuitous, thinking man's marathon. With little luck or unpredictable nonsense, straight requires that you call every shot, with the first player to pocket 150 balls winning.
But straight pool is also a dinosaur: promoters say it is too slow and monotonous to work on television. If the truth be known, straight also requires an array of skills that many nine-ball players don't possess or are unwilling to cultivate.
So this U.S. Open tournament--held in a room where more than a dozen world championships have been played--is a bridge to a rapidly receding past. This may be the last straight tournament that men play in for a long time. For Sigel that's a bad break: for 20 years he has enjoyed his pool straight.
Invented in 1910, "straight" did not become the official world-championship game until 1912. Straight pool grew out of two games that are as long gone as ivory cue balls, "61-pool" and "continuous." Continuous often dragged at a snail's pace, bogging down in a series of defensive "safeties" each time a new rack began. Some of these comatose contests lasted seven hours. To mercifully eliminate the problem, Jerome Keogh--Irving Crane's mentor who, together with Sigel and Crane, is one of three world champions to come from Rochester, New York--suggested that the last ball of each rack be left free to be used as a "break ball" for the next rack. This made for a more offensive, crowd-pleasing game with higher runs. He named his new game "14 racked, 1 ball free," which became 14.1 continuous or straight pool. It is a game that combines shooting skill as well as cue ball control and defense.
Straight pool is also the game Sigel grew up with.
At the Roosevelt, Sigel hunches over a table, plying his trade. Slightly built, like a matador, and looking too small for his black cummerbund, Sigel seems dwarfed by the vast and elegant surroundings of the room. But at the moment he is oblivious to the Baroque architectural refinements. He is stalking prey; picking off "balls in space," as he describes a spread of colored constellations and combinations that form. He steers clear of loose clusters, those black holes that can absorb a cue ball and stop a run. Sigel's cue ball, moving as if on a marionette's strings, seems to always find its destination. Surging toward 150 points, he floats the cue ball out of troubled areas into wide open green. Like a hunter leaving a forest in order to fire back into it, Sigel likes to roll away from traffic--center table--and snipe at the pack. Though Mike Zuglan is a dangerous opponent (he would run 148 balls later this same evening), Sigel has already sprayed 70 consecutively with the ease of a marksman powdering clay birds. The rhythm is textbook: he strokes once, twice, hesitates and fires. Each staccato "click" of the balls, preceding a thump of the pocket, echoes up to the balcony.
Fifteen balls can lay on a 40.5 square-foot surface in an infinite variety of ways. No problem. Sigel's metagame simplifies position play by reducing it to several principles. Like mentally dividing the cue ball into "vertical and horizontal planes" to apply english. But like any truly great player his real gift is seeing.
He often perceives his next 14 shots in order. Sometimes he sees even more. Sigel can look at a chaotic spread of balls and trace sequences. Were Sigel a chess master with this same sequential acumen, he might be accorded the status of genius. But despite employing chesslike planning, plus an added element of eye-hand coordination, pool players have never received comparable respect. Perhaps this is because pool players are often perceived as ne'er-do-wells; men who squander their talents, stay up all hours and embrace values counter to social conventions.
So advanced is Sigel's understanding of position that video narrators Bill Staton and Grady Matthews--with a century of pool experience between them--frequently miscalculate Sigel's next few shots in their narration, much less how he'll run the rest of the rack. In Sigel's life, position is everything.
And sitting is his opponent's position. As Sigel runs his total to 112, Zuglan sinks farther and farther into what insiders call the "electric chair." Pool offers no defense against an opponent running the table: you can't intercept a pass or block a shot or make a great running catch. You can only sit and hope. Zuglan's lone miscue was leaving a ball free on the opening break more than an hour ago. Sigel drilled the table-length shot, kicked a few balls loose and condemned Zuglan to pool purgatory.
A thunderous standing ovation follows Sigel's 150th point. In a postgame interview, Sigel acknowledges that this first perfect game in U.S. Open history was "amazing."
Why talk? By 15, he had already discovered that filling pockets kept his pockets full. At times he hit the road. "My traveling partner used to find a pool hall and plant a custom one-piece cue in the afternoon, so I didn't have to walk through the doors at night with a two-piece." He smirks. His choice turf was the Ridge Billiard Lounge in Rochester. At 19, he ran 339 balls there. His mother, Ruth, knew of his talent before then. But she wasn't thrilled.
Mike's father, Sidney, worked for an auto-parts company that received its shipments by railroad. One day he discovered two damaged pool tables on the freight train, brought them home and fixed them up. The eight-foot table that he put in the garage became Michael's table. "At six o'clock he'd finish dinner and sometimes play till six in the morning when my husband was leaving for work,' Ruth recalls," shaking her head.
"I didn't care for it too much; I would worry about drugs in the pool room," Ruth recalls. "But Mike brushed tables to earn playing time, and the owner watched him and drove him home at night."
Ruth eventually came around to it, although she still protested occasionally. "A few times I got aggravated; he wouldn't go to Hebrew school because he was too tired from playing pool nights, she says. "I said, 'You must leave the house at 6:15 in the morning and you can't come back until three.' Where else could he go but school? The pool room didn't open until 11 A.M. I knew he loved it: He signed up for college twice--Rochester and Brockport--but stopped each time. But I never nagged him. Now I see his name and his picture and commercials and The Color of Money [the pool film for which Sigel was technical adviser]. When we see it, we get so hyped up. I'm more excited than he is."
His father, Sidney, played with him for a while but grew tired of racking up balls when Mike ran hundreds at a time.
Mike's resolve to turn pro began in the early '70s at the Johnson City, Illinois, All-Around Tournament. There he studied the sultans of straight--Joe Balsis, Steve Mizerak, Ray Martin, and Irving Crane. "Before I went there, I thought these guys never missed. Before I left, I said, 'I could beat him and him and him...'."
In 1979 he did. At 27, Sigel came to New York, still without a world championship. But he won that year's World Straight Pool Tournament at the Holiday Inn and headed home to Baltimore. "I put the trophy in the passenger seat and I couldn't get the grin off my face for three straight weeks." Then reality set in: local media treated him more like a leper than a world champion. Television stations in Baltimore said his achievement "wasn't newsworthy." "Newsworthy?" Sigel mocks. "If I was the World Champion at tiddlywinks, I would have gotten some coverage."
But when the world outside disappoints a player, he loses himself in the world he knows best--the orderly universe of flat surface and perfect spheres.
Sigel returned to that world with a vengeance. You have to go back to Willie Mosconi's' 50s to find a decade as thoroughly dominated by a player as Sigel dominated the '80s. At one point he was known as "Mr. Final" due to his exploits in final matches--winning approximately 85 of 95 tournaments in which he reached the final match.
Sigel, now 39, has collected four World Straight Pool titles--more than any active player--and at 36 was the youngest ever elected to the Hall of Fame. It was an awful lot, awful soon.
Sitting at Tio Pepe's in Baltimore--his favorite restaurant in "the whole world"--he relaxes, drawing on a cigar (he usually smokes Garcia Y Vega Grenadas or Macanudo Prince Philips) after dinner, blowing the smoke toward the ceiling. He waxes philosophical about his career. "After the Hall of Fame induction, I remember thinking, 'What will I do now?' It was hard." Interestingly, Sigel's game has weakened since the time of the election. "I lost a little interest, had some problems. It wasn't mechanical; it was mental. I just kind of got bored with it and didn't do well in tournaments." Several months ago, he separated from his wife, Chris.
Though Sigel has had several off years, he still managed to win a one-pocket tournament--in which a player must sink all his balls in one pocket--as well as nine-ball and straight pool tournaments last year. He has won more than 100 tournaments in 20 years of pro play.
But among a cityscape of trophies in his Baltimore home, his proudest is a mounted eight-pound bass he hooked in Mexico. He would as soon go fishing as play pool. While casting into a pool re-energizes the body, shooting tournament pool drains the spirit. "There's more pressure in pool than any other sport," Sigel sighs. "In golf, if you're three strokes ahead on the eighteenth hole, you can't lose."
In pool no lead is safe. "Once I had a 194-to-15 lead [in the Rochester Classic against Jim Rempe]," Sigel recalls. "My cue ball got tied up and Rempe ran 75." Rempe remembers that the audience members had already left, their steps dinning in his ears as they exited across the wood floor. Then Rempe launched a comeback. "It was like the movie The Birds; the crowd came back one by one until the room was full again." Sigel recalls, "I missed, and he ran another 110." He relives the annoyance all over again. "Game." In a world where $50,000 can ride on a single stroke of the cue, casting for bass has its place.
In the U.S. Open Final there was more pressure to contend with. First Sigel had to cool his heels for two hours, hitting balls on an anteroom practice table while he waited for the women's final to end. "You're all showered and ready to go and then you have to wait. I just wanted to get underway," Sigel recalls. After the women's final ended, Jimmy Caras and Mosconi, both Hall of Famers, were introduced to the standing-room-only crowd. If that wasn't enough, Mosconi sat tableside, not five feet from Sigel's chair. On more than one occasion, Mosconi's mere presence has made players miss.
But Sigel handles pressure better than any player. He jokes, often at his own expense. "Oh, there's a great shot," he said sarcastically after he rolled the cue ball down the table and out of position in an early-round match. He vents; he gets through. The tournament pressure that makes others wilt makes Sigel thrive. After running three consecutive racks he returned to his chair. "Just like Willie showed me," he cracked. It was a singular action for a player, because under pressure most would be too self-involved to notice Christ three feet from their nose. Mosconi, of course, did not teach Sigel; their careers did not intersect. But Mosconi appreciated the kind words just the same. He smiled, seeming to recall his own career in the figure of Sigel before him.
And in the Open final match, Sigel prevented any Rochester-like returns from the dead. Following Dallas West's opening break, Sigel spotted a combination, smoked it and ran 29 balls before overshooting a tough bank. He then fidgeted and kvetched in his chair as West returned fire, running 40. Straight pool matches contain at least one pivotal moment. This one had two.
First, following a scratch, Sigel ran 84, shooting ahead 112 to 40. Two racks later West--a two-time Open winner--eyed a seductive do-or-die kiss shot. But Sigel left the cue ball beneath the triangle so West had to carom off the side cushion to reach it. It misfired by an inch. Sigel sprang from the chair and downed the last 38 balls, winning 150 to 56. He not only won his six games but seared opponents by a comically lopsided combined score of 900 to 328. After overcoming some inconsistent play against low seeds, Sigel utterly dominated the field. He even "beheaded" "Lite Beer" Mizerak, 150 to 28.
While his peers accord him the highest respect, few of them find his table manners amusing. In a game with an unspoken but detailed code of etiquette, Sigel chirps at balls, the moisture in the cloth, unresponsive pool gods--anything. His chatter with the audiences who crowd his table spices a dull match. For audiences, Sigel's games become participatory theater. He once blamed an unfortunate roll on a current of air caused by a couple stirring in the balcony.
"He's not happy unless he's complaining," says Bobby Hunter, the 1990 World Champion, smiling. "He's definitely a whiner," says Rempe, Sigel's cue rival of some 20 years. "He complains about not getting the rolls, but he's already gotten better rolls than any player in history." Before departing, Rempe's face grows thoughtful and he measures his words. "If I'm putting a lot of money on one shot, I want Mike Sigel shooting it." "He's the Arnold Palmer of pool," says former world champion Allen Hopkins. And Mizerak puts a cap on it: "Mike Sigel is the best player breathing on earth."
As long as Mosconi draws breath, that estimate is probably excessive. Mosconi utterly dominated pool for 17 years, winning 19 of 26 challenges and championships played between 1941 and 1956. But Sigel would have won more than his four World Tournaments if they were staged annually.
But they probably won't be. Straight pool is further threatened by the separation of the men's tour from the Billiard Congress of America. "The B.C.A. thinks they're the governing body of pool," says Sigel, irritated. "They're not; the players are." One reason that the top men are planning to avoid future U.S. Opens has to do with prize money. At the Open, Sigel was handed a check for $9,700 after shooting the lights out for an entire week. "The same money that Joe Balsis got 20 years ago," Sigel later complained. Indeed, in last year's AC-Delco Bowling Classic, the third-place finisher received more; the first-place finisher received $37,000. "We would play this year if $50,000 was added to the prize money," Sigel says. But that won't happen.
So the Professional Billiard Tour Association now does its own bidding. With newfound independence, the players stage their own trade shows and tournaments, even produce and televise their own events. In World Team Billiards matches they play televised nine-ball, games infused with flag-waving nationalistic fervor against teams from Germany, the Philippines, Puerto Rico.
They have even elected a commissioner of pool--Don Mackey, a man who doesn't suffer fools gladly. A handful of the best players make between $100,000 and $200,000 with industry endorsements and purses in a good year. They are eager to pocket the steady money they deserve. It is reflected in their conversation: talk that is sprinkled with references to commercial spots, corporate sponsorship and exclusive television rights. World Wide Collectibles, a California company, has even begun a series of pool trading cards. Gone are the prom-night tuxedos with white ruffled shirts that players were told to wear to upgrade the image of pool.
Image is still important, however. Many of the players are trying to cultivate the appearance of respectability and enhance their marketing potential. Pro players no longer drink at the hotels where they play and stay. Drinks are not forbidden, mind you; players are simply told to indulge away from the public eye.
So men's pool looks toward a brighter horizon. "We've accomplished more in the last year and a half than in the previous 20 years," says Sigel.
And Sigel will admit to getting a few rolls. At a New York party in 1985, he buttonholed Martin Scorcese with an offer to advise Paul Newman and Tom Cruise for The Color of Money. Under Sigel's tutelage, Cruise looked like a respectable player in the film. "Cruise was polite," Sigel recalls. "He always called me 'Mr. Sigel'."
If pool pros only drew that kind of respect from the rest of the world, they'd be shooting stars.
Kenneth Shouler is a sportswriter and author from White Plains, New York.


text:
Art Radar Asia is pleased to bring you an article by guest contributor, Kate Bryan. Her article, Hybrid Graces, presents an in depth insight into the work of Debbie Han, the first Korean artist to be awarded the Sovereign Asian Art Prize. Han's work is a useful starting point for exploring the status of contemporary art and culture in Korea today.
A Sovereign Winner
Earlier this year Debbie Han became the first Korean artist to be awarded the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, the biggest accolade of its kind in the region. The presentation of the award to Han can be seen in the context of a shift away from Korean art as an enigmatic, closed world to a thriving, open and accessible contemporary art market. That said, Korean artists are yet to penetrate mainstream consciousness, but if the quality of the work being produced by Han is anything to go by, it will not be long until they do.
Seated Three Graces
Han was awarded the Sovereign Asian Art Prize for Seated Three Graces, which subsequently entered the hallowed Sovereign Art Collection. The work is part of the Graces series which combine the typical body of a Korean woman with the face of an idealised Greek sculpture.
The composite form is painstakingly digitally rendered to look like marble, pixel by pixel for optimum realism. Subverting the practice of figurative sculpture and portrait photography, Han navigates the boundaries between illusion and reality and between western standards of ideal beauty and the reality of contemporary Asian women. Beyond the scrupulous technique and unexpected crossbreed form, the viewer is quickly drawn into the debate which Han instigates. "Beauty is a cultural conception and has long pervaded art history, what can be a better of way of understanding a given culture than through navigating this phenomenon?" Central to Han's work is an enduring interest in how human experience is shaped and conditioned by contemporary culture, and as such the Graces series provides a sharp insight into the specifics of the world in which they were created.
A Korean artist?
Han's interest in culturalisation makes her practice a useful starting point for a look at the developing status of both the contemporary Korean art market and Korean culture in the twenty first century more widely. That said, Han is actually an atypical Korean artist; in fact she resists the generalised label strongly. Han emigrated to the U.S. with her family as a child and went on to complete her art major at the University of California and her MA at the Pratt Institute in New York. Having begun her career in the U.S., she returned to Korea only in 2003 for an artist residency programme. Han was a stranger to Seoul and her unique perspective as a culturally disembodied artist propelled her to document what was happening in Korea and in Asia more widely. "I had a strong desire to interrogate what my Asian identity was and became overwhelmed by the inherent westernisation at all levels in both society and art." Despite the 'identity crisis' that sparked her profound creative journey of the last decade, Han could not be described as an unsure woman. She is a strong intellect with a mind that constantly questions the world around her.
The Beauty Myth
Han was effectively an 'outsider' to the art world when she returned to Seoul and it is this objectivity that lends her work such strength. As an American-Korean woman navigating the city, Han was immediately struck by the forcefulness of the western beauty mantra. Korean women were spending billions on cosmetics and plastic surgery to conform to an 'ideal' type of beauty, specifically a eurocentric beauty. "The perversity of the situation became clear to me when I learnt that women would have cosmetic surgery to make their eyes more western before their first job interview, it was a new rite of passage." More than 60% of women in Korea have undergone cosmetic surgery and the numbers are on the increase. The act is no longer a choice made by a liberated individual, but a survival tactic. A telling indication of the seriousness of the situation is found in language – the term for having your face done in Korea is literally 'face correction.'
Sensation with Content
Navigating what the polemic feminist author Naomi Wolf described as 'beauty myths', is characteristic of an artist whose raison d'être is to understand the world around her and present complex issues to the viewer in order to raise debate. Han's work has always been characterised by the dual forces of painstaking, diverse craftsmanship and pieces which demand attention, cause shock or surprise the viewer. These tactics are combined to address questions of personal identity and larger social patterns. An early example is the Hard Condom Series (2001-2003) where small bronzes take the form of soiled condoms, an object which arouses great discomfort. Han therefore interrogates the complexities of society's reaction to something as innate as sex.
Han's work is certainly conceptual, but is in many ways a direct rebuttal of the earlier conceptual artists she encountered as a student. "For me, ideas will always be important and central to my work. You cannot create things just to cause a sensation, they have to have content. But on the other hand when I first saw conceptual pieces at college I was disappointed that they were not visually compelling or creatively unique." Han bridges this gap between ideas and form, producing works that make us stop in our tracks for one reason or another, marvel at the craftsmanship and then engage with the issue at hand.
Beauty as Sport
In 2008 the artist created a departure in her practice by beginning to employ Korean lacquer on wood inlaid with mother of pearl, a technique which demands over 20 processes to produce one work. Employing a medium which dates back thousands of years, Han's challenge was to incorporate Korean inlaid lacquer into the contemporary arena, not only lending it a new relevance but having it underscore her subject matter. Sports Venus I is testament to the great success of the project. The life size lacquer bust is a rich dark brown, completely at odds with the classical white Venus.
As she puts it, "the reference to ancient Asian culture almost takes over, preventing a traditional appreciation of the classical Venus." More startling still is the mother of pearl inlay which forms the pattern of a modern football, like an aggressive tattoo, across the face. Venus has entered the arena of sports, making explicit reference to the notion of ideal beauty as a new form of sports entertainment. Han draws attention to the futility of the ideal beauty dogma, "it is just a game – in reality no one can conform to something which is a fabrication, an illusion."
Food and Sensuality
The illusory nature of ideal beauty is deconstructed in a global series which Han has been working on since 2005. In Food and Sensuality Han collaborates with a regular woman from a given country, refashioning her into a model garnished with food from the culture in which she lives.
In choosing non-professional models, Han unravels the myths about unattainable beauty by arguing that "any woman can look like a beautiful seductress given the right tools. As an artist I work to bring out to the outmost degree the unique beauty and style in each woman." Her point is not about the benefits of a good makeover, but more about the breaking down persuasive myths and presenting a new reality. The combination of food – which is often draped over the woman to resemble clothing or jewellery – and female beauty makes explicit reference to the long held advertising mandate that sex sells. Further, in the face of a globalised world, Han rejects the homogeny of culture by identifying its distinctiveness, "food is like language, every culture has their own version and proudly supports it. This is at odds with our notions of beauty. The photographs aim to readdress the balance."
A New Era
In all of her work Han champions the re-unification of concept and technique. Her philosophy and quest to understand the constructs of the human condition are deeply entrenched in her practice, but she does not allow herself to fall victim to her intellect. Moving between mediums – and never choosing a simple process – Han's work demands attention not just for its subject matter but for its craftsmanship and distinct visual appeal. Han believes we are entering a new era, a movement without a name, "art must not any longer end with a concept. When I returned to Seoul I saw very thought provoking work in the context of a rapidly changing city, but I wanted to know where the form had gone." The gravity of the themes in her work coupled with her exquisite dedication to mastering mediums makes Han a worthy prize winner, and for an audience new to Korean contemporary art, a fascinating starting point.
Kate Bryan is a contributing Editor for Asian art News, World Sculptures News and her work has been published in Kee Magazine, The Sentinel, Essence and West East. She received her BA in Fine Art from Warwick University and subsequently worked at the British Museum in London for four years. She recently completed her master's degree at the University of Hong Kong and is the Deputy Director of The Cat Street Gallery.
Editorial disclaimer – The opinions and views expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Art Radar Asia, staff, sponsors and partners.
Related Posts:
- Two Japanese artists shortlisted for Nam June Paik Award 2010 – May 2010
- Art about curators: Korean artist Yang Ah Ham's No Nonsense solo show – April 2010
- Four Asian artists nominated for NYC PULSE Awards – March 2010
- The ones to watch: four young Taiwanese artists in Taipei Arts Awards – January 2010
- Korean artist Kim Joon discusses tattoos and taboos – December 2009 – more photography of the female form
- Trends and opportunities in the contemporary photography market – October 2009
Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for more on art award nominees and winners


text:
Exploring Microsoft Office Word 2019 Comprehensive, 1st edition
Choose the option that's right for you
$9.99 / mo
4-month term, pay monthly or pay $39.96
Enjoy these features
- Up to 2 devices
- Exclusive offers
$14.99 / mo
4-month term, pay monthly or pay $59.96
Enjoy these features
- Up to 2 devices
- Exclusive offers
Learn more, spend less
Study smarter, not harder
Save time with study tools in your eTextbook
Watch and learn
Videos & animations bring concepts to life
Listen on the go
Learn how you like with full eTextbook audio
Learn anytime, anywhere
Get the app to access your eTextbook whenever you need it
Make it your own
Your notes. Your highlights. Your eTextbook
Exploring Microsoft® Office 365®, Word™ 2019, Comprehensive has the hands-on practice you need to more fully understand how, when and why to apply Word skills.
Published by Pearson (September 18th 2020) - Copyright © 2020
Subject: Microsoft Office Applications
Category: Exploring Microsoft Office Word 2019 Comprehensive
Table of contents
Brief Contents
Office 365 Common Features
- Introduction to PowerPoint
- Effective Presentation Development
- Presentation Enhancement
- Presentation Refinement
- Customization
- Presentation Finalization
PowerPoint Application Capstone Exercise
Your questions answered
Choose from one eTextbook or over 1,500 eTextbooks and study tools, all in one place, for one low monthly subscription. A Single plan includes the use of 1 eTextbook title and study tools. A Multi plan gives you access to more than 1,500 eTextbook titles and study tools. Plus, with the app, put textbooks in your pocket and learn wherever.
Make the most of your study time with offline access, enhanced search, notes and flashcards — to get organized, get the work done quicker and get results.
A Pearson eTextbook is an easy-to-use digital version of the book. You can add notes and highlights, plus learn on the go with the Pearson+ mobile app. Listen on the go with the audiobook feature, available for most titles.
When you choose a plan, you're signing up for a 4-month 'term'. You can opt to make a one-time payment for the initial 4-month term or pay monthly. If you opt for monthly payments, we will charge your payment method each month until your 4-month term has ended. You can turn on auto-renew in My account at any time to continue your subscription before your 4-month term has ended.
When you purchase a Pearson+ subscription, it will last 4 months. Before your initial 4-month term ends, you can extend your subscription by turning auto-renew on in My account.
If you turn auto-renew on, we'll automatically renew your subscription and charge you every month until you turn off auto-renew. If you made a one-time payment for your initial 4-month term, you'll now pay monthly.
To avoid the next payment charge, make sure you turn auto renewal off 1 day before the auto renewal date. You can subscribe again after auto-renew has been turned off by purchasing another Pearson+ subscription. We use your credit card to renew your subscription automatically. To make sure your learning is uninterrupted, please check your card details before your first monthly payment.
With a Multi Pearson+ subscription plan, you can download up to 10 titles from your library on each of your authorized smartphone and tablet devices every month.
When you're using your Multi Pearson+ subscription plan in a browser, you can select and read from as many titles as you like.


text:
This past Saturday, after the Derecho rolled through, runner friends of Sophie Speidel gathered from far and wide to run "Sophie's Death March." Runners from (at least) Harrisonburg, Richmond, the D.C. area, and a few CAT Runners joined in the fun. Look at that group!
|Water bottles in the front indicate camera-woman Sophie
Marc Griffin, who ran the Eastern Divide 50k the week before, drove to Cville in the wee hours of the morning, and the two of us then met up with Stuart Brown by the airport up 29, before making our way over to the Whiteoak Canyon area in the Shenandoah National Park.
The loop begins with a 5 mile climb with ~3000 feet of gain from the parking area up to Hawksbill, the highest point in the SNP. Sort of a rough start, but the trails are great, and Marc and I settled into a nice relaxed pace behind the really speedy group. Mostly our goal was just staying on trail, as I've only done this loop once (and with folks who knew where they were going), and Marc missed a turn last year and ended up a few miles south of where we were supposed to be. So we took our time, stopped at intersections to check our maps, and managed to make it to the top without issue. Climbs might hurt a bit, but the views are almost always worth it:
|Looking West(ish) from Hawksbill
|Looking East(ish) from Hawksbill
We couldn't quite see it, but apparently if you knew what you were looking for up there, you'd have been able to see the smoke from a wildfire in the SNP, another 20+ miles North.
Anyway, shortly after we started down from the summit, we ran into Regan, Jack, and Marlin, and decided to run with them. So we spent a few more minutes hanging out on Hawksbill, and then made the descent down to the Appalachian Trail. It was somewhere around here I started thinking I could probably be happy ducking out from the full loop (~24 miles), and just doing 17ish. Sophie's loop had us taking the AT up to Skyland, where there's a lodge and we were able to refuel (despite the power being out). As we gathered back up, Regan convinced us that the long loop really wasn't that much longer, and was totally worth it, so off we went. North on the AT, we skipped the little out and back for Stony Man, and just kept on chugging along to the turn for Corbin Cabin. With most of the climbing out of the way, I was feeling pretty decent on this section, and as a group we were able to keep up a pretty solid pace. I was walking hills I didn't need to be, but as this was going to be my longest run since January, with only an 18 miler a few weeks earlier, I was guessing things were going to fall apart for me.
Though temperatures were forecast to be up near 100, we had a nice early start, and the storms the night before seemed to have helped keep things a little cooler than expected. Getting up a couple thousand feet also helped the temperature, and there were some lovely breezes at Hawksbill and along the AT. I don't remember what time it was we would have been starting back down off the mountain, down the Nicholson Hollow Trail, but it was definitely starting to heat up. Fortunately, this section of trail has lots of stream crossings, which we were happy to stop and cool off in. The water was delightfully chilly, and helped keep us moving. In one of the last crossing before hitting the Weakley Hollow fire road, we actually saw a water snake, which was pretty exciting, if not too worrying.
The fire road was the section I was least looking forward to, and part of the reason I wanted to cut my run short. It's a 5ish mile section of dirt road (which was sort of a relief, as I thought it was more like 8 miles), but the first half is all uphill, with the final nearly 1000 feet of climbing for the day. Last year I was in much better shape and managed to push through this section pretty well, but this year was much happier to walk more than I "ran". At the top, the road hits the Old Rag fire road, where the shortcut would have dropped in. Despite my fears, and general apathy about running the hill, nothing really fell apart for me, which I was very glad for. The final two mile descent was pretty sweet, and Marc and I ran into Stuart who had opted for the 17 mile loop, on account of his "fascist" foot, which worked out pretty well for getting back into the car at the finish.
One of the nice parts about the finish, for this run, is the little creek right at the parking lot. On the way in, I thought it looked pretty barren, but apparently it was enough to keep hot and tired runners happy:
The other good part about the finish was that this was very similar to other VHTRC outings I've been to, with a great tailgate at the end. The park rangers were reasonably impressed.
|Typical VHTRC post-run
After a relaxed hour or three of great food, camaraderie, story telling, and watching Gary Knipling bounce around and keep everybody smiling, we three CAT Runners headed home, eager to return again next year.
|Gary, still a bundle of energy after several hours on the trail


text:
Wolf of Wall Street? Meh. American Hustle? Please. Anchorman 2? Tired. The Hobbit? I dare you. None of those movies in theaters right now compare to the epic awesomeness that is Kung Fury. Never heard of it? It's okay. Just watch the trailer. It combines all the cheesy glory of 80's cop movies with Kung Fu, killing Hitler, guns, Vikings, computer hacking, time travel, DeLoreans and dinosaurs
Kung Fury is an over-the-top (you couldn't tell?) action comedy movie directed by David Sandberg. It nails the balance between ridiculousness, self-awareness, awesomeness and every other -ness adjective ever. The movie is currently a Kickstarter project that needs a bit of funding as most of the scenes of the movie were filmed on a green screen (and artists need to be hired to fill out the green screen in post production). Here's the plot summary:
During an unfortunate series of events a friend of Kung Fury is assassinated by the most dangerous kung fu master criminal of all time; Adolf Hitler, a.k.a Kung Führer. Kung Fury decides to travel back in time, to Nazi Germany, in order to kill Hitler and end the Nazi empire once and for all. Kung Fury is a visually spectacular action comedy that has it's foundation in 80s cop movies.
Not ridiculous enough? The movie takes place in 1980's Miami, Asgard, 1940's Germany and other far out places. If the Kickstarter is funded, the entire movie will be put on the Internet for free. You know what that means: never watch another movie again until you watch Kung Fury. You can support it here.


text:
Lerma, Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, duque de
Lerma, Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, duque de fränthēs´kō gō´māth dā sändōväl´ ē rō´häs do͞o´kā dā lār´mä [key], 1553–1625, Spanish statesman, favorite of King Philip III. He became premier upon Philip's accession (1598) and controlled the government for 20 years. Lerma pursued a pacific foreign policy, ending (1604) the war with England and securing (1609) a 12-year truce in the Netherlands. Within Spain, however, he concentrated mainly on enriching himself. The most vigorous action taken by his administration was the expulsion (1609–14) of the Moriscos. In 1618, shortly after he had become a cardinal, he was ousted from power by his own son. After an inquiry ordered (1621) by Philip IV, Lerma was made to restore to the state part of his wealth.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Spanish and Portuguese History: Biographies


text:
If you're thinking of buying a decent 50-inch plasma TV, don't expect a great deal of change from around four or five grand. Enter Optoma's ThemeScene RD50 rear projection TV using Texas Instruments' wonderfully named DarkChip2 DLP technology. It's half the weight, half the price and, at only 380mm deep, not too much porkier than a plasma.
DLP technology relies on a small chip with an array of tilting mirrors on the back which is known as a digital micromirror device (DMD). In the RD50 a projector lamp shines through a four colour wheel and on to the DarkChip2 DMD, reflecting the image in RGB and white components 50 times a second on to the back of the visible screen. There is no need for hefty glass tubes or panels, brightness is directly proportional to lamp power and the fill percentage (areas of the screen lit with information) is higher than any other technology.
Okay, the RD50 is not going to hang flush to the wall and it lack the kudos of owning 50 inches of flat panel TV, but in terms of tech specs and features there's not much in it. The native resolution of the RD50 is a healthy HD compatible 1,280 x 720 pixels, the contrast ratio is a whopping 2,000:1, and the brightness is on a par or better than most big plasmas on the market.
Connectivity is first class, packing three Scarts (two of which are full RGB), a couple of progressive scan component inputs and a DVI input with HDCP copy protection protocol. This means you can hook up an HDMI source output with a fairly simple socket converter. There are a host of front connections for camcorders, PS2 or PC and gives you twin tuners with picture in picture feature. The spec list is topped with Faroudja's de rigueur DCDi de-interlacing hardware to turn interlaced inputs like broadcast TV into progressively scanned image.
There must be a catch? Well only little ones. For some frankly bizarre reason Optoma has decided to remove NTSC compatibility from the RD50. Bonkers, we know, because region 1 DVDs just ain't going to play on this TV. Even Optoma realises that errors have been made here and is at pains to stress that none of its projectors nor future DLP TVs will be thus afflicted. Of course, if you're a dedicated R2 PAL DVD buyer receiving UK broadcast TV this simply isn't going to be a problem.
The design doesn't quite manage the same panache as a plasma, but the sleek black frame, matt finish screen and grey base give the RD50 a purposeful, rather sinister look. The remote follows suit and elevates the term bland to a whole new level of. blandness. The only fun comes when you have to exercise Olympic standard marksmanship to aim its pencil thin IR beam at the TV to have any affect whatsoever.
The basic set-up and tuning are suitably straightforward but there are deeper menus for the die-hard fiddler. However, the settings are very coarse so just one notch either side of the median has huge and often catastrophic effects on picture quality. We faffed, we fiddled, we tweaked and tuned. and ended up with the settings pretty much as the RD50 came out of the crate.
But that matters not, because the standard picture is absolutely stunning. The dynamic contrast and spectacular colour intensity leap out and grab you by the eyeballs while the clarity and image definition are up there with the very best 50-inch plasma TVs. Quality stations like BBC1 are fantastically rich and colourful, and possess a sense of depth that makes many flat panel TVs look, well, flat. Fast panning scenes such as football matches show a beautifully smooth scrolling motion with only minor processing sparkles visible.
Romp through the DVD Essentials test disc and you cannot help but be impressed by the vividness of the whole visual experience. Using an RGB input there is minor dot crawl around high contrast changes but this is near enough eliminated using a progressive component input, and eradicated totally using DVI. Put on a high colour visual feast like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and the RD50 plays a handful of trump cards all at once. Very few flat panel TVs - LCD or plasma - have such sumptuous colour saturation or visual dynamics and fewer still manage to back that up with the solid cinema sound afforded by the RD50's cabinet and speakers.
This DLP rear projector is a full fat, high cholesterol, binge TV watching experience and it will take your breath away. Okay, it simply doesn't do subtle pastiches or easy on-the-eye softness, the lack of NTSC compatibility is a pain and the cosmetics are pure Darth Vader fan club territory.
So do you buy a 50-inch plasma or the RD50? No contest. With over 150 DVD movies' worth of change from the DLP set, Optoma's ThemeScene RD50 wins hands down.


text:
Multinational biopharmaceutical company. Values-based company, deeply rooted in science and innovation to transform new ideas and discoveries into medicines for patients with serious illnesses.
"The analytics we provide enabled by Informatica MDM could help us to notify a care provider to provide preventive treatment to a patient before a health incident occurs, which is much more powerful than treating after the event."
Adi Rapaka
Business Need
- Create the foundation to become a true healthcare data sciences organization
- Master new domains as the business grows
- Real-time exchange of mastered data with CRM systems and other applications
- Reach more patients with the right treatments and enhance patient outcomes by notifying care providers with reliable data
- Fuel data science, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced analytics with great data to improve patient care
- Create strategic advantage out of provider, product, and payer data as biologic datasets grow
- Deliver innovative therapeutics for patients suffering from serious illnesses
Solutions & Results
- Use multidomain capabilities of Informatica Master Data Management (MDM) to create a trusted view of providers, payers and products
- Automate batch and real-time integrations and data quality checks with Informatica MDM and Informatica Data Quality
- Enables mastering of large datasets for new product launches in less time, helping Amgen reach more patients
- Allows quick identification of patient relationships to products, providers and payers, enabling better patient support services
- Understand the relationships between patients using Amgen's medicines, their providers, payers and other entities involved in the patient journey
- Support the business's data science, AI, and analytics goals by fueling clean data from MDM to analytic environments
- Helps enhance patient outcomes by identifying the possibility of secondary health events and notifying care providers
- Reduces data management efforts significantly, empowering Master Data Management team to work more efficiently using fewer manual tasks
Products & Services
Data Quality
Deliver high-quality clean and trusted data with enterprise-class data quality and governance that scales, regardless of size and format of data; platform; or technology.
Data Integration Hub
Orchestrate your data integration across big data, the cloud, and existing systems with Data Integration Hub installed on premises or in leading cloud hosting environments. Reap greater productivity and self-service for distributed teams.
Master Data Management
Maximize the business value of your enterprise information with a modular end-to-end solution delivering a unified view of all your master data.


text:
Bishops OK same-sex rite
Episcopal bishops approved an official prayer service for blessing same-sex couples yesterday at a national convention that also cleared the way for transgender ordination.
At the Episcopal General Convention in Indianapolis, the House of Bishops voted 111-41, with three abstentions, to authorize a provisional rite for same-sex unions for the next three years. The liturgy next goes to the convention's deputies for their authorization.
In a separate vote yesterday, the full convention approved new anti-discrimination language for transgendered clergy candidates and church members. Some dioceses already ordain transgendered people or elect them to positions of parish leadership. However, advocates for the amendment argued they needed an explicit statement of acceptance as the churchwide policy.
The Rev. Carla Robinson, who is transgendered and a vicar of All Saints Church in Seattle, said she was lucky to have the backing of parishes and bishops when she was considering ordination, but she said others haven't had the same support.
"I stand here as a priest today because my diocese specifically said that my gender identity and expression didn't disqualify me from the discernment process," Robinson said from the floor of the convention. "I ask that as a church we do the same for my trans sisters and brothers."
Episcopalians blazed a trail — and caused an uproar — in 2003 by consecrating New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican world. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. body of the Anglican Communion. Episcopal conservatives responded by creating a rival denomination under the guidance of like-minded Anglican leaders overseas.
Worldwide, the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, which has its roots in the Church of England, has been splintering ever since. Anglican leaders had asked Episcopalians for a moratorium on electing gay or lesbian bishops as the communion struggled to stay together. However, after a few years, Episcopalians voted to lift the temporary ban.
Yesterday, several Episcopal bishops who spoke against the same-sex unions trial liturgy warned about the repercussions overseas.
"I believe it will put us, put the Episcopal Church, out of the Christian mainstream," said Bishop Edward Little of the Diocese of Northern Indiana. "They will interpret that the Episcopal Church has endorsed same-sex marriage."
However, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde argued that an official service was needed to honor and bless the "lifelong same-sex couples" who she said "have served Christ and Christ's mission in ways incalculable to measure."
The official liturgy for same-sex blessings has been in development since 2009, when it was authorized by the last General Convention. Some bishops had already developed rites for the ceremonies for use in their own dioceses. If the deputies approve the proposal before them in Indianapolis, it will be the first such official prayer for use by the entire church.
The rite is called "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant." It includes what one bishop described as a conscience clause, explicitly saying that no one in the church would be forced to perform the ceremony or punished in any way for barring its use.


text:
Trina Nishimura has become more and more involved in the anime scene over the past few years, primarily working with FUNimation Entertainment. Trina was first cast in Desert Punk as the little hungry girl Namiko and has refused to leave the FUNimation property ever since. Her most notably awesome credits include: Black Cat (Tanya), Claymore (Flora and Sophia), Jyu Oh Se (Tiz), Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple (Shigure Kosaka), Speed Grapher (Yui), season one and two of Negima!? (Lingshen Chao and Motsu), Sasami: Magical Girl Club (Ayane), Baldr Force Exe (Tsukina Sasagiri), School Rumble and Yurippe School Rumble: 2nd Semester (Akira Takano), Baccano! (Rachel), Sergant Frog (Ghost Girl), Case Closed: The Last Magician of the Century the Movie (Natasha Kosaka), Nabari no O (Juji Minami), and the ever popular Witchblade (Shiore Tsuzuki).
Having recently completed work as Nadie in El Cazador de la Bruja, the final installation in BeeTrain's "girls with guns" trilogy, Trina has finally been able to leave the FUNimation premises having proven her voice acting abilities. Since her departure she has been called back as Meifong Liu in Blassreiter, Kaaya in Tower of Druaga, Akeno in My Bride is a Mermaid, Karen Nishiyama in Bamboo Blade, Luna in Cashern Sins, Lia Dragonell Sands of Destruction, Mizune in Soul Eater, Francesca Lucchini inStrike Witches, Oriku in Oh! Edo Rocket, Suzuri in Rideback, Capella Titus in Birdy the Mighty Decode, Lan Fan in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and her most anticipated role to date as Mari Makinami Illustrious in Evangelion 2.0.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS


text:
Final step for brick street project
A resolution was approved Wednesday by Sturgis city commissioners requesting funds to fix a local street.
Earlier this month, the city of Sturgis was awarded a transportation enhancement program, used to help communities keep brick roads.
It's officially tabbed as the Historic Brick Restoration of South Nottawa Street from U.S. 12 to Congress Street.
The city will receive $470,482 from the grant. The city's share is $253,336, for a total of $723,818.
The current estimate to complete the project is $865,296.
City engineer Barry Cox said hopefully this is the last step before the official construction process can begin.
The proposal, approved by commissioners, will be submitted to the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Cox said MDOT wanted some assurance from the commission that it would be completely behind the process.


text:
About Adipura
Adipura is a place in Gwalior District of Madhya Pradesh in India. You can learn about the businesses, see photos, watch videos and get other relevant information about Adipura by following the corresponding links in this page. You can connect yourself with Adipura by clicking the 'Follow' link below.
State: Madhya Pradesh
District: Gwalior
Adipura Map
Adipura Photos
Adipura Videos
Adipura Links:
List a Business | Submit Complaints | Post Events | Write a Review | Adipura Yellow Pages
Adipura Nearby Places
Customer Ratings on Adipura
0 Total
- 50
- 40
- 30
- 20
- 10
Like this place, write a review
More About Adipura


text:
Personalized, custom manufactured vinyl entrance floor mats provide an attractive first impression that lasts. Any walkway through which people enter a doorway can be enhanced and brightened by vinyl matting. It is ideal for business settings and residences alike – churches, funeral homes, clinics, hospitals, clubs, golf courses, restaurants, lounges, and office buildings.
If you have an interest in providing aesthetic enhancement, color coordination, utility, and safety under foot to your visitors and friends, vinyl link matting can be an attractive complement to that end. All weather, durable and sturdy, vinyl link matting weighs two and one half pounds per square foot and will last for decades. Beveled edges all around enable easy access for wheelchairs. A blunt edge is also available for mats fitting into a recess or cutout in the flooring.
Door mats are available in any size, with a choice of 15 colors for your custom design. By going to our QUOTES AND INQUIRIES page, you can send us your suggested layout, to include size, lettering, emblem, insignia, logo, or mascot. We will email you a free computerized scale drawing for your review. This will enable you to visualize and inspect your mat design before production begins. You are welcome to make any changes and/or corrections and we will provide you with a revised scale drawing, free at no obligation. In addition, you will receive a firm quotation and a digital sample of the 15 colored vinyl links used in fabrication. An actual sample of the links used can be mailed to you upon request.


text:
D-Link VPN Router > DSR-500
FAQ library!
New Information FAQ Board
Please read before posting:
We have created a new Information FAQ Library containing current and historical support sticky information, and a limited number of posts on a locked board containing solutions to commonly experienced router and AP issues, news, resources, archives and tips. Please visit this new board using the link below:
* Information/FAQ Library
* All informational FAQ stickies from the DGL/DIR and DAP forums have be re-located here.Please search and review each section for any information or solutions to your questions or problems before posting. Use the search function to find what you maybe looking for. Search is your friend. ::)
Help contribute to our Information/FAQ library!
If you have a solution to a problem commonly experienced by many users for a specific router/AP model or all product lines, please submit your solution using the link below and we will review your contribution for inclusion in the Information FAQ library board. Please review the existing posts on the thread below and FAQ Board to avoid submitting duplicate entries.
* Contribute to the Information FAQ Library!
Thank you for your support! ;D
New D-Link FAQ Forum Section
D-Link launched a new global FAQ section for all product lines in this forum. Any FAQ boards/posts previously maintained in this forum section were moved to the new D-Link FAQ located here: D-Link FAQ
The new D-Link FAQ currently contains the following FAQ boards:
[*]mydlink Cloud FAQ
[*]Router FAQ
[*]Network Camera FAQ
[*]ShareCenter FAQ
[0] Message IndexGo to full version


text:
Postcards from Garmisch-Partenkirchen
While the Olympic podium has space for second and third, for host cities, there's only first. Marty McLennan shares some moments from his visit to the 2011 FIS World Championships at Garmisch-Partekirchen. Falling second to Pyeongchang, South Korea, in its bid for the 2018 Winter Games, Germany's premier ski town just might be the best … More »


text:
Will someone who's associated with "Hair" (in revival at the Al Hirschfeld, under the direction of Diane Paulus) do the production a favor and turn the shit down? Let's start with the sound design. As conceived by Acme Sound Partners, the show's big crossover hits—"Aquarius," "I Got Life," "Good Morning Starshine," and so on—still sound like themselves, melodically speaking, but the lyrics, not to mention the actors' intonations as they sing sweetly of new beginnings, eternal hope, and the earth's bounty, are overwhelmed by an ear-piercing treble, which not only raises the majority of the vocals to a pitch that bats might recognize but lifts the brass section of the onstage band into a series of sensation-numbing crescendos.
Next, the hair. While Gerard Kelly's wig design—and especially Darius Nichols's oversized Afro—is a hair fetishist's dream, it has the unfortunate quality of meshing too seamlessly with Michael McDonald's psychedelic costume design. Together, these sartorial elements, instead of helping the performers transform themselves into credible proponents of free love, simply blast the audience with the stereotypical visual signifiers of the nineteen-sixties hippie era. (It's worth noting, too, that there is a curious lack of grunge onstage; although the majority of the characters in "Hair" supposedly spend most of their time rolling around in a New York City park, they look as though dirty fingernails ick them out.)
I didn't expect to take such a dyspeptic view of the show, and I was saddened by my response. After all, I enjoyed Paulus's version of the musical when I saw it last summer in Central Park, where the sound of city traffic, helicopters, and trees rustling in the breeze made "Hair" feel more like "the American tribal love-rock musical" it's meant to be. The Park scruffed it up. Although the actors performing then (many of whom appear in the current production) were also too clean to be real hippies, they were at least surrounded by the dirt and detritus of Central Park, which seemed a perfect antidote to their collective optimism; filth was just one more thing for them to ignore as they set about assiduously loving one another. Still, much as I enjoyed last summer's jamboree (I was particularly taken with Allison Case as Crissy, and John Moauro as a Tribe member—both were clearly at the beginning of successful careers), I was a little restrained in my praise even then. And my reservations had nothing to do with Paulus's work or that of her fine choreographer, Karole Armitage. Rather, I was disturbed by certain elements in Gerome Ragni and James Rado's book and lyrics.
"Hair" was first produced in 1967, at the Public Theatre. (It went to Broadway the following year; the current production mirrors that trajectory.) At the time it premièred on Broadway, a mixed cast was still relatively uncommon. But that suited "Hair" just fine. Less a musical than a revue, it was meant to showcase those elements of society which the American stage had relegated to the margins: blacks and women. And yet there is not one believable black character in "Hair." In fact, its strangled, hackneyed depiction of black masculinity is painful to watch. Compare how we meet the free-spirited white hippie Berger (the excellent and appropriately narcissistic Will Swenson) and the militant black man Hud (Nichols). Berger introduces himself and his tentacle-like sexuality—he wants to touch everyone he sees—by joking around and flirting with the audience. Hud, on the other hand, comes across immediately as one angry dude—and angry about just the things that white people might imagine he'd be angry about. Glaring at the audience, as he paces the stage, he sings:
I'm sure the original creators of the show felt that they were treating these issues—the way a black man is perceived and the way he perceives himself—with "irony" and a healthy dose of liberal self-consciousness. But Hud is simply a construction, meant to validate the white hipness of the show. (He's straight out of Norman Mailer's 1957 treatise "The White Negro.") The strain in the portrayal of blackness becomes only more evident and uncomfortable in the play's second act, when a Tribe member (Saycon Sengbloh), dressed in an Abraham Lincoln-like stovepipe hat, joins Hud and four black men carrying spears to sing "Yes, I's Finished on Y'All's Farmlands." In short, aside from the draft, all the "issues" in "Hair" seem to have to do with race, and the task of representing them falls on the overburdened black characters, who have to do almost everything here except tap-dance.
Like racism, sexism hurts. It just does. With "Reasons to Be Pretty" (at the Lyceum, under the direction of Terry Kinney), Neil LaBute, now forty-six years old and a playwright and filmmaker of note, is making his Broadway début as the Neil Simon of hate. (He has had ten plays produced Off Broadway in the past nine years.) The final installment in his trilogy about America's obsession with physical beauty, "Reasons to Be Pretty" is fairly vanilla-tasting, compared with the first two parts, "The Shape of Things" and "Fat Pig." In this play, a young woman named Steph (the exceptional Marin Ireland) learns that her boyfriend of four years, Greg (Thomas Sadoski), has described her as "regular"-looking. They argue about this, and break up, at which point Steph reads Greg a list of the things that bug her about him:
Greg works as a loader in a bulk-goods warehouse. He's friends with Kent (Steven Pasquale), who goes out with and eventually marries and impregnates Carly (Piper Perabo), who works as a security guard at the same warehouse. Kent has an affair with another female employee. Greg eventually tells Carly about it, thus indicating his relative sensitivity. At the end of the play, however, after Steph admits that being told you are pretty is important to a girl, Greg informs her that their relationship could have lasted another four years or ended after another month, for all he cared. Exit Steph.
In LaBute's world, this final scene passes for an expression of intimacy. But that's not why LaBute wrote the play. He's more interested in the relationship between the two men than in those between the couples. (His first film, "In the Company of Men," involved a similar dynamic.) Kent is the annoying alpha male to Greg's more compliant sidekick—at first. And if there's a touch of homoeroticism in Kent's bullying big-brother approach to Greg's more nuanced thinking, then Kent is the last to know it. He is a meathead who understands that his physical strength and his resistance to thought are terribly attractive to women—or, at any rate, to women who conflate masculinity with insensitivity, and enjoy being objectified. The women in Kent's life get turned on by their own moral superiority as much as they do by his slablike fingers slapping their fannies. He's a cuter Andrew Dice Clay, and, the night I attended the show, women laughed as uproariously at his sexism as they did at Steph's cluelessness. It's as if LaBute's—by now canned and adolescent—"transgressive" point of view were what audiences needed in order to feel anarchic, to shed the boring safety of their lives. Watching women in the audience laugh at Steph's anger and at Kent's arrogance is terrifying but predictable. It's rare that the oppressed don't identify with their oppressor. ♦


text:
Since our pals at Mega64 are huge fans of Dragon Ball Z, we asked them to do their own trailer edit for Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods hitting theaters August 5th. You won't believe what happens next.
Click here to get your tickets to see Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods in theaters!