Rajasthan: Of Havelis and Sand dunes

Rajasthan inspires many myths and legends. A land steeped in history, culture, architecture, adventure and experiences finds an easy spot on our trails.

Come away on a Blueberry Trail to explore the magical land of Rajasthan. We will be covering the Lake City Udaipur, the Blue city Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, nestled in the Thar desert. Needless to say this trip will be an adventurous one. Stays will be in havelis, local sights and sounds will be a part of the plan, ziplining across the Mehrangarh fort, a night spent in the Thar desert and a visit to a haunted village. This is a customisable itinerary, where one can choose the cities covered, the duration of the stay and the accomodations provided.

Reach us at: info@theblueberrytrails.com/8080122441 for customised Rajasthan trip package.

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Stay and Experiences (INR 18800)
Meals (INR 3000)
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Hightlights of the trip:

  • Stay in havelis. Historical families restore their ancestral stays and have changed it into hotels for travellers and tourists to stay in. We will be staying in a haveli overlooking the Pichola Lake in Udaipur, and a Haveli surrounded by lawns in Jodhpur. Jaiselmer sees a traditional Rajasthani guesthouse.
  • Spend a night in the THAR desert. Swiss tents in the sand dunes, a musical experience in the evening by local artisans and a bonfire to warm you on a chilly night.
  • A moonlit desert safari. We set off on a camel safari at sunset to catch the sunset in the dunes and stay there until the stars come out. A million stars will shine above us.
  • Explore the Mewar architecture: City Palace in Udaipur, Mehrangarh fort in Jodhour and the Jaisalmer Fort. Also the hevalis of Jaisalmer where the rich merchants lived will make for a gorgeous walk.
  • Local culture: Evening show at Bagore ki Haveli in Udaipur, local cooking class at Jodhour with a local masterchef , miniature painting sessions, bazaar walks, visit to Miniature artisans, local music performance in the desert.
  • Adventures galore: 850 kms covered in 6 days, palaces to havelis to a desert camping experience, a half day horse safari, ziplining across Mehrangarh fort, visit to a haunted village, Night camel safari and so much more.

Day 1: Udaipur

The city of Lakes as its called boasts of 3 Lakes, Pichola, . Our trip is designed around the former. The Haveli that we will stay in overlooks the Pichola and we will be exploring the bylanes and forts around this picturesque waterbody.

In the evening, post sunset, we can catch the evening cultural show performed at Bagore Ki Haveli. The varius dance forms of Rajasthan are showcased by artisans and its quite a wonderful sitting there under the branches of a tree, with the moon shining above.

Experiences: City Palace. Evening show at Bagore Ki haveli

Day 2: Udaipur and a horse Safari

Post breakfast we head out to Badi village where we head out for our own western inspired horse safaris. Those who never rode a horse need not fear. This safari is meant for everyone. Amateurs, riders and even those who have never seen a horse from close quarters. A trail through villages and the challenging landscape of the Arravalis, this one should be a good tale to bring back home.

Experiences: A half day horse safari in the Aravalli hills, a session with a miniature painter, a visit to a leather artisans workshop

Day 3: Udaipur-Jodhpur

We take the 6am Volvo to head out to the blue city of Jodhpur. Settle into our haveli, and after a breakfast, we head out to explore the city. Mehrangarh fort is a beauty and post a photowalk through it, we  go to the colourful spice market and the old market.Post lunch we also undertake a masterchef class from a traditional cook who teaches us Rajasthani food cooked over her hearth. Its an emersive local experience and the meal at the end of the cooking class, is the cherry to the cake. A highly rated experience in Jodhpur loved and recommended by all our travellers.

Experiences: Explore the Mehrangarh fort and the local bazaar| Enjoy a cooking class by a traditional masterchef.

Day 4: Jodhpur

Take a jeep safari to the Bishnoi village and get an insiders perspective on the rich cultural tradition of this nature worshipping community. You can also spot many animals such as cranes, blackbucks, chinkaras in the area and later enjoy a traditional lunch at a local's  house.

Experiences: Half day jeep safari to Bishnoi Village. Traditional meal at the village.

Day 5: Jodhpur-Jaisalmer and Desert camping

We take our vehicle and head out to the desert town of Jaiselmer. After reaching there, we head to the desert to our swiss tents for our first night in the desert. The day will be spent taking rest and catching the sunset on the dunes will be a different experience, something that you wont forget easily.

We head out for a sunset camel safari and by the time we come back the stars are our steady companions. The evening can only get better with a blanket of stars above us and an evening local musical performance.

Experiences: Camping in the Thar desert, a desert safari at sunset, musical performance.

Day 6: Jaisalmer

Next morning post breakfast we head out to explore the ghost town of Kuldhara and then get to the city.

Explore the desert city of Jaiselmar. Relax in the open air cafe of the haveli or head out for a photowalk in the bylanes of the city which house ancient havelis, each of them a marvel of architecture.

Experiences: Kuldhara and local architecture of Jaisalmer, enjoy the markets and the many havelis. Visit the Jaiselmer fort, where many locals still live.

Day 7: Jaisalmer to Jodhpur

An early morning exit to the city of Jodhpur from where we start our onward journey to home.

WHAT: Rajasthan: Of Havelis and Sand dunes
WHAT: Udaipur - Jodhpur - Jaisalmer - Jodhpur
WHEN: Your dates (7D/6N)
HOW MUCH: 25,800 Onwards + 9% Service Tax (per person)
WHO: info@theblueberrytrails.com / 8080122441

Cancellation Policy:

- Meals mentioned
- Internal travel
- Stays on twin sharing basis
- Activities
- Sightseeing

- Flight/ Trains charges from and to destination.
- Meals not mentioned
- Entry charges at museums, monuments, if any.
- Personal expenses
- Things not mentioned in "inclusions".

*Please note: Activities are flexible and depend on availabe

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The Turkish foreign minister underlined late on Friday the importance of a strong and stable Bosnia-Herzegovna. Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that a strong and stable Bosnia-Herzegovina was important for both the Balkans and the global stability.

"Election of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a non-permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council is a good example of how strong Bosnia-Herzegovina has become and how much it can contribute to global peace," Davutoglu told Bosnian and Turkish reporters after holding talks in Sarajevo.

Davutoglu said he was visiting Bosnia-Herzegovina for three reasons, and enumerated them as bilateral relations, Turkey's assuming the rotating presidency of the Southeast European Cooperation Process, and Bosnia-Herzegovina's undergoing a significant reform process.
The minister said Turkey was eager to further improve bilateral relations, and also wanted to exert many efforts to ensure peace and stability in Southeast Europe and the Balkans during its presidency of the Southeast European Cooperation Process.

Davutoglu underscored importance of Bosnia-Herzegovina's having a strong political structure taking its territorial integrity and political unity under guarantee, and improving its relations with the European Union (EU) and NATO for this country's security and stability.

The Turkish minister said that establishing a political structure that would take the political unity under guarantee, bringing forth a democratic structure in which all ethnic and religious elements would participate, ensuring cultural and ethnic peace, creating an efficient and functional state structure, and establishing relations with NATO and EU would make Bosnia-Herzegovina's unity stronger.

"Turkey supports every effort that takes Bosnia's territorial integrity under guarantee," he said.
Also, Davutoglu said Turkey thought it was early to close the high representation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"Of course, we want the representation to be closed as soon as possible and Bosnia-Herzegovina's people to take over all sovereignty, however it is Bosnia-Herzegovina's people who will decide on this matter and the leaders I have met said it is still early for that," Davutoglu also said.

Davutoglu later delivered a speech in a conference on "Ottoman Heritage and Muslim Societies in Today's Balkans."

Photo: AA


Yesterday I came the closest I’ve ever been to being in a car crash (while driving), and boy was it scary!! Here’s what happened…

I was leaving work and was at an intersection preparing to make a lefthand turn to get on the expressway. The key is that at this intersection two lanes are left turn only, and the third goes left OR straight through. I was in the 3rd lane. I turned on my turning signal and the light turned green so I started to go left. I was almost there when I heard screeching and out of the corner of my eye I saw a car in the lane to my left ready to slam into me!!! Eeeeek! I swerved (I had to get out of my turn lane, bummer) and came to a complete stop. I was kind of freaking out, and I wasn’t really sure if I’d been hit or not, so without thinking I looked in my mirrors, made sure I could keep going (into the “straight-through” lane) and left.

Thank goodness we were the first cars going through the intersection, I think it would’ve been worse if there had been more cars in front and next to us (although maybe that idiot would’ve noticed people turning left to his right), and thank goodness he braked enough and I swerved enough. It was CLOSE.

In retrospect what I did was really dumb. Like I said, I wasn’t sure if I had been hit or not. Before I finally got on the expressway I stopped in a parking lot and checked out my car. I actually did have some marks on my car, but they turned out to be dust/dirt (you see, it was THAT close!), and then one small mark on the back door which after dusting off looked like someone had hit my car with their door in a parking lot. That obviously wasn’t the case though.

Its not much of a story in the end, but as I said….this is the closest I’ve come to a car crash in my few years driving. After I was sure everything was fine I still regretted not stopping….I would’ve liked to curse out that other driver!!!! You AREN’T supposed to go straight in a left-turn only lane!!!

…In that case maybe its a good thing I didn’t stop.


Stephen Hawking at the 2015 BAFTA film awards ceremony in London.

Stephen Hawking is one of the most influential minds of the 20th and 21st centuries. But besides theoretical physics, he also knows how to grab a headline.

Hawking says humanity only has a century left on this planet before life as we know it comes to an end, as he relates in a coming BBC2 television special, entitled “Expedition New Earth.”

The special, scheduled to air in June, is part of a reboot of the long-running BBC series called “Tomorrow’s World” focused on science, which was canceled 14 years ago but is making a high-profile reappearance this summer.

Climate change, asteroids, disease and overpopulation are all problems that will overcome humanity on Earth in the coming 100 years, according to reports based on the special.

Hawking and one of his former students will reportedly travel the world on the hour-long special to explore how life beyond the Earth may be possible.

The timeline is somewhat of a reversal for Hawking, who is known for his big predictions on the future of Homo sapiens. Hawking made a speech at Oxford University in November, which held that humans had a full 1,000 years left on this planet.

The noted physicist had previously stated that science itself would be humanity’s undoing. He said last January that there is “near certainty” that scientific advances would end human history, either through nuclear war, global warming, artificial intelligence, genetically-engineered viruses, or other unforeseen developments.

“Most of the threats we face come from the progress we’ve made in science and technology,” he said at the time.

But humanity had as long as 10,000 years left on the planet before that would happen, he said at that point.

Space colonization is the hope for our species, he added. By spreading out to other planets or solar systems, humanity would be able to survive, he said.

Hawking is not alone in his fears. Another iconic name in science, Elon Musk, has expressed similar worries. Musk contends that another world war is inevitable, and the “window” for Mars colonization would be over once the international community is no longer working cooperatively to work toward that goal, he said in late 2015. Musk is also one of the foremost players in pushing toward exploration of space, especially Mars, through his company SpaceX.


West Fork Oak Creek

Probably the most popular hike in the Sedona area, although when you start the hike at 6:30 in the morning you have the canyon to yourself under the best light for hours. The official trail goes in 3 miles where the vast majority of folks turn around, at this point there is a large water crossing where you have to wade in 3-4' deep water. I brought along my neoprene socks to keep my feet relatively warm, and was very glad I did when set foot in the water, it was fridgid! This year the water was filled with mud from the floods in which you sank 2-3', a bit unsettling especially when you leg slides between branches and becomes slightly pinned! I ended up hiking about 11 miles in total. It was a beautiful hike, but I was feeling exceptionally uncreative today. I'm going to call it 'photographer's block', no matter where I pointed my camera I felt like I was creating contrived, uninteresting crap. The feeling began to overwhelm me so much so that I wasn't even enjoying the experience of the hike. Eventually I gave in and realized it wasn't going to get better, my creative tank was empty. I put the camera away and focused on my stride and my surroundings, I got into my groove but was quickly overrun with hikers coming up the canyon now, many slow hikers disrupting my pace and not being considerate of a faster hiker behind them. I tried to maintain my zen like state, but it was a fierce challenge. I did manage to maintain my sanity and made it back to the trailhead 5 hours after I started. The 11 miles left me in zen afterwards, a good long hike will always do this, I'm left with no worries and happy that I made the effort today despite my dip in creativity.

All images taken with the Fuji XT-1, unedited jpeg's straight out of the camera


Back Pain

The Myofacial Pain – Causes, Screening Methods and Treatment

The muscles of back sometimes get injured due to prolonged irritation. This leads to swelling (inflammation) and pain. This phenomenon is called myofacitis.

Among the initial causes, excessive strain leading to painful tearing of muscle fibers, is the most common one. Some of the preexisting conditions such as epigenetic (random) factors may also lead to injury. The classical example of random pain is fibromyalgia where multiple muscles of the body are subjected to constant irritation without any known factor.

There is a well designed screening system in place for mayofacial pain that occurs due to injury. But unfortunately there is no systematic screening mechanism for detecting the pain that occurs due to repetitive and excessive strain. The strain occurs due to many reasons. The most common reason is sleeping in an improper posture. This tightens the muscles over a period of time. This leads to moderate swelling and nagging pain.

In case of injury related pain, it takes approximately 5 days for the formation of scars. The scar forms a kind of gum putting together the damaged tissue. The scar formation often extends to months and then to years depending on the severity of the back pain. The scar tissue usually breaks the moment the healing is completed. However in case of long persisting pain the scar does not recede.

Treatment for Myofacial Pain

The initial treatment is provided by way of offering necessary support and protection to strained muscles. This helps in lessening the burden on muscles and reducing swelling and pain. The support is provided in the form of standard exercises.

However, exercise alone is not sufficient for preventing the recurrence of pain. So, along with exercises other treatment options such as ultra sound massage and chiropractic adjustments are considered.

The symptomatic expression of myofacial pain is not always uniform. So, thorough medical supervision is quite essential. Your doctor is the right person to provide the right treatment for you.

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Tips on how to be a good supervisor

tips on how to be a good supervisor

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Assess the abilities of those you supervise. If you have some experience on the same level of hierarchy, draw on your observations from then. Look at both the work output and the interactions and relationships between different workers.

Make a personal list of the strengths and weaknesses of the company. Include general ideas, such as consistency, as well as things related more directly to your particular department. Don't censor yourself. Understand your job, but also its relationship to your company as a whole.

Assess the need for change. Sometimes, a company needs a radical change from a new supervisor. At other times, the best thing to do is to maintain the status quo or continue progressing in the same direction as your predecessor. Don't shake things up just to look bold.

Keep things on an informal level. Just because you

are a supervisor doesn't mean that you have to artificially put distance between yourself and your workers. Avoid the temptation to overtly redefine your relationship with your coworkers.

Delegate work, then step back. Assume that everyone knows his job. Simply assign projects and wait for results. Most people produce their best work when given the autonomy and respect that they desire as adults.

Step in dispassionately to correct errors. If someone does not seem to understand a project, or has fallen behind a deadline, step in to help him out. Discuss the needs of the project and what needs to be done, rather than shaming, threatening, or appealing to loyalty or personal friendship.

Offer praise, both to encourage and to reward good work. If someone struggles with a project, praise him when he gets it right. If another worker excels, praise her to recognize her accomplishments.

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Living Wills

What is a Living Will?

A living will is a brief declaration or statement that a person may make indicating their desire that certain medical treatment be either withheld or withdrawn under certain circumstances.

Note: The information given on this website does not constitute legal or accounting advice or opinion, and should not be relied upon for any planning purposes. it is provided solely and exclusively for general, non-specific educational purposes and to advise the reader of the nature of the services offered individually by my law firm. Planning of this nature is necessarily very circumstance-specific and therefore it would be dangerous to apply the very general rules described herein to any singular fact-pattern. Prudence demands that you consult with an experienced professional licensed in Virginia before attempting any of the planning techniques described herein. Additionally, the information given is not meant to be a substitute for legal representation. It provides general legal information to help people understand their legal rights but is not a substitute for personal legal advice from an attorney. however, laws change and individual circumstances vary. – Billy J. Seabolt, Esq.


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Predicting Missing Marker Trajectories in Human Motion Data Using Marker Intercorrelations

  • Øyvind Gløersen ,

    Contributed equally to this work with: Øyvind Gløersen, Peter Federolf

    Affiliations Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Department of Physical Performance, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway

  • Peter Federolf

    Contributed equally to this work with: Øyvind Gløersen, Peter Federolf

    Affiliations Department of Physical Performance, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway, Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Predicting Missing Marker Trajectories in Human Motion Data Using Marker Intercorrelations

  • Øyvind Gløersen,
  • Peter Federolf

Missing information in motion capture data caused by occlusion or detachment of markers is a common problem that is difficult to avoid entirely. The aim of this study was to develop and test an algorithm for reconstruction of corrupted marker trajectories in datasets representing human gait. The reconstruction was facilitated using information of marker inter-correlations obtained from a principal component analysis, combined with a novel weighting procedure. The method was completely data-driven, and did not require any training data. We tested the algorithm on datasets with movement patterns that can be considered both well suited (healthy subject walking on a treadmill) and less suited (transitioning from walking to running and the gait of a subject with cerebral palsy) to reconstruct. Specifically, we created 50 copies of each dataset, and corrupted them with gaps in multiple markers at random temporal and spatial positions. Reconstruction errors, quantified by the average Euclidian distance between predicted and measured marker positions, was ≤ 3 mm for the well suited dataset, even when there were gaps in up to 70% of all time frames. For the less suited datasets, median reconstruction errors were in the range 5–6 mm. However, a few reconstructions had substantially larger errors (up to 29 mm). Our results suggest that the proposed algorithm is a viable alternative both to conventional gap-filling algorithms and state-of-the-art reconstruction algorithms developed for motion capture systems. The strengths of the proposed algorithm are that it can fill gaps anywhere in the dataset, and that the gaps can be considerably longer than when using conventional interpolation techniques. Limitations are that it does not enforce musculoskeletal constraints, and that the reconstruction accuracy declines if applied to datasets with less predictable movement patterns.

Loss of marker-information due to, for example, occlusion or marker detachment [1] often imposes challenges in marker based motion analysis [2]. Currently, the standard methods for filling gaps in marker trajectories are linear or spline interpolation, or reconstructing the trajectory in a local coordinate frame [3]. However, these approaches are restricted to gaps of short duration or to rigid body segments carrying 4 or more markers.

Several additional approaches for the “missing marker problem” have been proposed [410]. These methods utilize the high covariance between marker coordinates that is typical for human motion tracking data [11, 12] and reconstruct missing markers from the information provided by the available markers. A proof-of-principle analysis of an approach utilizing principal component analysis (PCA) showed promising results for relatively long datasets (20 stride cycles) with gaps in a single marker [4]. However, to be generally applicable, the method needs to be extended for data with gaps in multiple markers. Also, the method’s capability to successfully reconstruct datasets with less repetitive or predictive movements, for instance during a gait transition phase, needs investigation.

The purpose of the current study was therefore to further develop the strategy proposed in [4] for situations with multiple gaps, and to test this algorithm on datasets containing less predictable human movements. Specifically, the movements tested were the transition from walking to running, the gait of a child with Cerebral palsy, and the movement pattern of a healthy person walking on a treadmill.

The underlying idea of the reconstruction algorithm is to project the incomplete marker data into a basis where it is sparsely represented, apply a coordinate transformation, and then transform it back into the original coordinates to obtain an estimate of the missing marker’s coordinates. The following section summarizes the conceptual outline presented in [4], and describes the modifications proposed in the current study.

PCA-based reconstruction of a single missing marker

We consider the situation where we have captured the kinematics of a human posture represented by m markers at n discrete time points, and that these measurements are conjoined into a n×3m-measurement matrix M. For now we assume that one and only one marker trajectory in M is corrupted with gaps. In this situation, the first step in reconstructing the corrupted trajectory is to define a k×3m-matrix N, that contains only those rows in M with complete marker information (k < n). Performing a PCA on N gives a basis of PC-vectors, PC, that quantify all intercorrelations between the marker coordinates in N. In the second step, another PCA is conducted on a copy, Nzeros, of N where the columns that had gaps in M were replaced by zeros, yielding the basis PCzeros. Third, a transition matrix T between the two PC-bases T is determined. Finally, a matrix Mzeros is defined by replacing the gaps in M by zeros. Now an estimate for the missing marker’s coordinates can be obtained by calculating a reconstruction matrix R through the following set of bases transformations [4]: (1)

This approach is only successful because human motion data is highly intercorrelated, so that the data is sparsely represented in the PC- and PCzeros-spaces. Hence, only the lower-order PC-vectors contain information about the volunteer’s or patient’s posture while high-order PC-vectors contain mostly noise. Limiting the number of PC-vectors included in the analysis therefore improves the reconstruction accuracy [4]. However, it has been shown that higher-order PC-vectors may also contain valuable information [13]. Previous PCA-based reconstruction algorithms used a fixed number of PC-vectors [4]. In the current paper, we propose to select the number of PC-vectors included in the analysis by setting a threshold ϴλ on the cumulative sum of normalized singular values. Compared to using a fixed number of PC-vectors, this has the advantage of being data-driven.

A second measure to minimize the error when projecting frames with incomplete information onto the PC-basis is to assign weight-factors to those marker trajectories in M that are in spatial proximity to the marker whose gaps are to be filled [4]. The current study implemented an automated, data-driven procedure for determining these weight-factors: For a given marker with gaps, the Euclidean distance dj(t) to any other marker j was calculated for all time-frames that include the trajectories of both markers. Weight-factors wj were then obtained through a Gaussian function wj = exp(-dj2/2σ2). Here dj is the time average of the Euclidean distance and σ is a scaling parameter determining the behavior of the weighting procedure. The weight factor assigned to the available data of the missing marker was denoted wmm, and was treated as a separate parameter in the weighting procedure.

Reconstruction strategies for gaps in multiple markers

In principle, the algorithm outlined in the previous section can be directly applied to datasets with more than one corrupted marker trajectory. This can be achieved by simply replacing all gapped marker trajectories with zeros when defining Nzeros. However, how to define suitable weight-factors remains unsolved. Omitting the weighing procedure would severely diminish the reconstruction result, but valorizing the neighbors of several markers would cause the reconstruction accuracy to depend on the distribution of the gaps, and would increase the likelihood of artifacts.

An alternative approach is to reconstruct gaps in different markers individually. For successful reconstruction of individual markers one must remove the gaps in other markers from M. This can be achieved by either omitting gap-contaminated marker trajectories, or gap-contaminated time frames. However, both procedures entail loss of information, and finding a suitable tradeoff is not trivial. Further, it is likely that the optimal tradeoff depends on the individual dataset that is analyzed. To meet the challenges listed above, we developed and tested two gap filling strategies. Both algorithms presented and evaluated in the current study are provided in the supplementary materials of this paper.

Reconstruction strategy R1: simultaneous reconstruction of multiple gaps.

All corrupted trajectories were reconstructed in a single application of eq 1. This was achieved by defining the matrix N to contain only time frames without gaps in any marker. Further, Nzeros was identical to N, but all marker-trajectories that had gaps were zeroed. The weight-factors wi,j = exp(-di,j2/2σ2) for each marker j with a complete trajectory were determined by using the largest weight calculated for all markers i with gaps (here di,j represents the average Euclidean distance between markers i and j). Strategy R1 has the two weaknesses that were already mentioned above: First, all weight factors wi,j are only appropriate for filling the gaps in the closest marker, yet they also influence the reconstruction of all other gaps. Second, the number of time frames that define N is limited to the frames with complete marker data. Valuable information that would be available from incomplete time frames is neglected.

Reconstruction strategy R2: consecutive reconstruction of multiple gaps.

As stated above, consecutive reconstruction of gaps in multiple markers requires omission of either whole time frames where other markers have gaps, or of whole marker trajectories corrupted with additional gaps. Hence, a decision criterion was needed to determine which of the two procedures was to be taken for any corrupted marker trajectory h when reconstructing the trajectory of marker i.

How much information one marker can contribute in the reconstruction of another marker depends on how close the markers are in the kinematic chain. The average Euclidean distances were therefore used as a decision criterion for whether marker trajectory h with gaps should be omitted or included in the reconstruction of marker i. Only markers closer to marker i than a given threshold were included in the analysis. This threshold was expressed relative to the average distance Di from marker i to all other markers. We defined a parameter ϴD that was used as a cutoff criterion: Any marker h with gaps and with a Euclidean distance greater than ϴDDi was omitted from the analysis. Otherwise, its trajectory was included, but then the time frames in which that marker had gaps were removed from the analysis. If gaps in any of the included markers overlapped in time with the marker being reconstructed, then these markers were omitted from the analysis regardless of the decision criterion.

Datasets and performance

We used three different datasets to investigate the proposed algorithms’ performance in a wide range of applications. The first dataset consisted of the movement pattern of a healthy male subject walking 20 steps on a treadmill. This dataset was used in a proof-of-principle analysis in [4], and was shown to be well-suited for the proposed reconstruction strategies. It contained 37 gap-free, unfiltered marker trajectories, captured at a frame rate of 240 Hz (4300 time frames). The dataset is denoted WalkL in this study. The second dataset consisted of a few steps of a child with Cerebral Palsy. Specifically, the dataset (denoted CP-gait) contained 600 time frames of 35 gap-free, unfiltered marker trajectories captured at a frame rate of 200 Hz. Collection of these data was approved by the regional ethics committee in Norway (REC Central), and the volunteers and their parents gave written informed consent. The third dataset, denoted WalkRun, was downloaded from the HDM05 database (, and included the transition from walking to running. Specifically, we used the file “HDM_bd_01–03_01_120”, and extracted the time frames 1951–2350. These timeframes contained two steps of walking, before transitioning into running and then capturing three full running steps. The frame rate of these measurements was 120 Hz. A visual representation of the last two datasets is given in the top row of Fig 1. Due to the impaired motor control resulting from Cerebral Palsy, and the sudden change in correlation structure seen during the walk-run transition, we suspected that our reconstruction algorithm, which is based on correlations between markers, might be less successful for these datasets than for the WalkL dataset.

Fig 1. Movement patterns and gap distributions in CP-gait and WalkRun.

Top row: Illustration of the movement patterns. Note that certain maker trajectories have been merged to reduce the number of markers. Bottom row: Examples of the measurement matrices of the two movement patterns after being corrupted with gaps. Left matrix: CP-gait, right matrix: WalkRun.

Performance testing.

To investigate the performance of the proposed algorithms on these datasets, we conducted two different analyses: First, we created gaps in single markers at selected time points. Second, we created gaps in multiple markers at random time points. For the single missing marker case, we created in the CP-gait and WalkRun datasets gaps in the left knee (LKNE), the left shoulder (LSHO), and the left anterior wrist markers (LWRA). The choice of these three specific markers was made because they were believed to reflect markers that were both less suited (LWRA), suited (LKNE) and well suited (LSHO) for this type of reconstruction [4]. We created gaps in either the last half of the time frames, or in 100 time frames in the middle part of the measurements. In the WalkRun dataset, this corresponded to reconstructing a running gait using only walking gait as input, and to reconstruct a gap in the transition phase using both walking and running gaits as input. In the WalkL dataset, we created a gap in the last 3870 time frames of markers LHEE, LANK, LKNE, LASIS, LSHO, LELB, LWRA and LFHD, and used the first 430 frames as input. For this dataset we calculated not only the mean Euclidean difference, but also the mean absolute difference in the three spatial directions. This allowed a direct comparison with the results in [4].

In the second analysis, we created randomly distributed gaps in all three datasets described above. The gaps were random in both anatomical and temporal positions. For the WalkL dataset, 5–15 gaps of duration 20–480 frames (0.08–2 seconds) were created, and then reconstructed using both the R1 and the R2 algorithms. For the shorter CP-gait and WalkRun transition measurements, 2–6 gaps of 20–120 frames (0.1–0.6 s or 0.17–1 s, respectively) were created and reconstructed using R1 and R2. Fig 1 (bottom row) shows examples of corrupted datasets obtained during this procedure. For comparison we also reconstructed the corrupted trajectories using spline interpolation and the DynaMMo algorithm (using 10 hidden dimensions) proposed by Li et al. [7]. The DynaMMo algorithm has been used as a reference to compare gap-filling strategies in other studies [5, 10]. This procedure was repeated 50 times for each dataset, giving a total of 150 reconstructions for each of the two tested algorithms. In all analyses, the performance of the algorithms was quantified by the average Euclidean distance between the reconstructed and the measured marker trajectory.

Sensitivity analysis

We tested the sensitivity of the R1 and R2 algorithms to changes in the four parameters (wmm, σ, ϴλ, ϴD) by varying these parameters using a one-at-a-time approach. Specifically, we varied wmm from 10−5 to 1 using 15 logarithmically spaced steps, σ from 100 to 1500 [mm] using 15 linearly spaced steps, ϴλ from 0.86 to 1.0 using 15 linearly spaced steps, and ϴD from 0 to 2 in 11 linearly spaced steps. The default values for the parameters not being tested were kept constant at wmm = 0.02, σ = 200 mm ϴλ = 0.99, and ϴD = 0.5, which were also the parameter choices used for all other experiments presented in this study. For the sensitivity analysis, we created 20 corrupted copies of each of the datasets, where the gaps were randomly distributed as described in the preceding section. These gaps were then filled using the R2 approach. The parameters’ effect on reconstruction accuracy, quantified by the mean Euclidean distance between measurement and reconstruction, was calculated by subtracting the average reconstruction accuracy of each specific corrupted dataset.

Gaps in a single marker

Table 1 shows results from creating gaps in the markers LWRA, LKNE and LSHO in the CP-gait, WalkRun and WalkL datasets. Gaps in the LWRA marker were less successfully reconstructed than in the LKNE and the LSHO markers. For CP-gait, if we exclude the LWRA-marker, the mean reconstruction accuracy was less than 1.5 cm even if the last half of the trajectory was missing (similar to a marker detachment). However, reconstruction of the LWRA marker was less successful, with an average reconstruction accuracy of 2.8 cm in the same situation. The vertical component of the reconstructed trajectories are plotted in Fig 2.

Table 1. Mean Euclidean differences between reconstruction and measurement for gaps in single markers.

Fig 2. Reconstruction of gaps in single markers in the CP-gait dataset.

Shaded red area indicates the gapped time frames. Blue lines represent reconstructed data, black lines input data, dotted black lines reference trajectory. The gridline spacing in the callout-figures is 1 cm.

For the WalkRun dataset, reconstruction of the transition phase gave relatively good results (Table 1). In particular, the LKNE and the LSHO markers both had reconstruction accuracy ≤ 1 cm. However, the error in the LWRA reconstruction was substantially worse (2 cm). Not surprisingly, reconstructing a running gait using only walking as input severely impacted the reconstruction accuracy (Table 1). Fig 3 shows the vertical component of the reconstructed trajectories.

Fig 3. Reconstruction of gaps in single markers in the WalkRun dataset.

Reconstruction errors in the WalkL-dataset in the three spatial directions are presented in Table 2. Reconstruction of all markers was successful with mean errors < 5 mm in all spatial directions. These results are directly comparable to the results in [4] and indicate an improvement on average by 1.3 mm in each direction (X, Y or Z), corresponding to a relative improvement of 42%.

Table 2. Mean differences between reconstruction and measurement for gaps in single markers in the WalkL dataset.

Gaps in Multiple markers

For the WalkL dataset, we obtained high reconstruction accuracy using both the R1 and R2 algorithms. Specifically, the median reconstruction accuracy was 2.1 and 1.7 mm for the R1 and R2 algorithms respectively. The DynaMMo algorithm was also able to successfully reconstruct this dataset, with a median reconstruction accuracy of 6.5 mm. Spline reconstruction was not applicable for filling such highly corrupted datasets, with a median reconstruction accuracy of 116 mm. Fig 4 shows boxplots of the reconstruction accuracy distributions. It shows that for the WalkL dataset, all 50 R2-reconstructions yielded median reconstruction accuracies better than ≤ 3 mm. Fig 5 shows an example of a reconstructed trajectory using the four above mentioned reconstruction approaches.

Fig 4. Boxplots of reconstruction accuracies.

R1 and R2 are the two algorithms proposed in the current study. Spline interpolation and the DynaMMo algorithm [7] are included for comparison.

Fig 5. Example reconstruction of a gap in the left tibia marker in the WalkL dataset.

The black lines represent the reference trajectories, the blue lines represent reconstructed trajectories for each method. Each reconstruction was shifted by 15 mm vertically for better clarity.

For the WalkRun dataset, median reconstruction accuracy was 10.0 mm and 5.1 mm for the R1 and R2 algorithms respectively. It is clear from Fig 4 that some reconstructions had substantially worse results, with mean errors up to 29 mm for the R2 algorithm. Both the DynaMMo algorithm and spline interpolation were less successful, with median reconstruction accuracies of 32 mm and 46 mm respectively.

For reconstructions of the CP-gait dataset we found median reconstruction accuracies of 10.5 and 5.1 mm for R1 and R2 respectively. Spline interpolation resulted in a reconstruction accuracy of 12.5 mm, similar to R1, while the DynaMMo algorithm performed slightly worse (median accuracy 24 mm). There were some poor reconstructions of this dataset, even when using the R2 algorithm (mean Euclidean error up to 21 mm, Fig 4).

Sensitivity analysis

The results of the sensitivity analysis are shown in Fig 6. For the wmm parameter, choosing a weight substantially smaller than 1 was important for successful reconstruction. The value of wmm must however be non-zero, otherwise the two PC-bases will be identical and the reconstruction not successful.

Fig 6. Results of sensitivity analysis.

wmm: weight factor on missing marker coordinates, σ: scaling of weight factors, ϴλ: threshold on cumulative sum of singular values, ϴD: threshold to discard distal corrupted trajectories. Error bars show the standard error of the mean.

For the scaling parameter σ we found a median optimal value of 200 mm, but there was some variation between the datasets: for the highly repetitive WalkL dataset, assigning large weights to many markers did not deteriorate the results considerably. This was not the case for the less predictable movement types, which benefitted from valorizing only the markers relatively close to the marker being reconstructed.

For the cutoff ϴλ with respect to the normalized variance included in the analysis (i.e. number of PC-vectors considered), we found that the best results were obtained with a value of 0.99 for all datasets.

Lastly, the effect of changing the cutoff threshold ϴD for discarding or considering corrupted marker trajectories in the analysis differed between the datasets. For the WalkL dataset and the CP-gait dataset, the best results were obtained with ϴD ≈ 1, while for the very short WalkRun dataset, a substantially smaller parameter value (ϴD = 0.2) gave the best results. This suggests that in a dataset with very few time frames, favoring time frames at the expense of excluding markers is a good strategy.

The current study accomplished three tasks: First, the gap-filling approach suggested in [4] was improved by automating, in a data-driven way, the selection of several parameters, specifically, the weighing of neighboring markers and the number of PC-components to include. Thereby the reconstruction accuracy was improved on average by 1.3 mm corresponding to a relative improvement of 42% compared to the results in [4]. Second, the current study developed 2 strategies, R1 and R2, for solving the multiple-missing marker problem. Testing of these two algorithms versus both conventional spline interpolation and another openly available gap filling algorithm [7] suggested that the proposed algorithm outperforms both of these approaches. Third, the current study evaluated the performance of R1 and R2 on two datasets (CP-gait, walk-run transition) that were expected to be more challenging for this covariance-based reconstruction approach than the repeated gait cycles (WalkL) tested in [4]. In all three datasets the median R2 reconstruction accuracies for cases with multiple gaps were better than 6 mm. This accuracy is close to typical optical motion capture measurement accuracy [14], and smaller than soft tissue artifacts reported in the literature [15, 16]. However, in the WalkRun and CP-gait datasets R2 also produced in a number of cases reconstruction results that exceeded 10 mm (up to 2.9 cm average error in the worst case). Hence, as always, care must be taken during post-processing and gap-filling results need to be evaluated for plausibility and carefully examined for potential artifacts.

From the experiments with gaps in a single marker at pre-determined time points we found, not surprisingly, that reconstruction of one type of gait using another type of gait as input was not successful. In particular, reconstruction of running gait using walking gait as input resulted in mean Euclidean errors up to 36 mm (Table 1). Also, reconstruction of markers at the distal end of extremities (i.e. LWRA), showed relatively large errors. However, reconstructing markers with ample neighboring markers (LKNE and LSHO) was more successful, with errors ≤ 10 mm for a gap in the walk-run transition and the mid-section of the CP-gait (Table 1).

Parameter choices

The parameter choices had moderate to high impact on the reconstruction results in the current study. Most important was that the weight factor assigned to the missing markers was small compared to weights put on the neighboring trajectories. The results also indicated that adjusting the parameters to the specific dataset (i.e. to the movement that is reconstructed) can improve the result. Specifically, the less regular CP-gait dataset was most accurately reconstructed when valorizing only the closest markers.

The choice of including or excluding corrupted markers in the reconstruction was affected by the total number of time frames. A reasonable rule of thumb seems to be that datasets with few available time frames will benefit from including many or all of the time frames in the reconstruction. However, if a large number of time frames are available, then including marker trajectories rather than time frames can be beneficial. What constitutes “a few” or “a large number of” time frames is an open question that likely depends on the specific type of movement and the ratio between number of time frames and dimensions of the dataset (i.e. number of markers).

Comparison to other gap-filling approaches

Our algorithm does not a priori enforce musculoskeletal constraints. Other approaches [17, 18] have been suggested that take such constraints into account, however, these methods require additional input or calibration routines. Our algorithm is conceptually close to the method proposed by Liu and McMillan [8] which uses training data and a random forest classifier to project corrupted data frames onto the PC-space. In the current study the reconstruction is accomplished through a series of coordinate transforms in combination with a weighing algorithm that modulates the covariance structure in the data by valorizing those markers which likely hold information about the missing marker position. Thus we can avoid the use of recursive procedures or the need for training data. In principle our algorithm can also be used with training datasets and we would speculate that training data might improve reconstruction accuracy, particularly for short datasets. However, training data is not always available. A gap-filling algorithm for which training data is not necessary may find a wider range of application areas.

The accuracies reported in the current paper are specific to the datasets tested in the current study. Datasets containing other types of human movement, or containing fewer markers, might be less suitable for the proposed algorithm. In particular, we expect the algorithm to be less suited for non-cyclic movement patterns, such as a squat-jump or a soccer kick. We speculate that successful reconstruction of such datasets is possible by using training data, however, this would require alterations to the current algorithm in addition to further testing. In any case we recommend that researchers evaluate the applicability of the proposed algorithm for their particular datasets, for example by reconstructing artificially created gaps in a trial with complete marker information. For this purpose, we will provide our algorithm for creating gaps in given datasets in the supplementary materials.

Supporting Information

S1 Matlab Code. Zip-file with implementations of the R1 and R2 algorithms in Matlab code.

The zip-file contains two files: PredictMissingMarkers.m which contains the reconstruction algorithm, and GapfillGUI.m which provides a graphical user interface to be used with PredictMissingMarkers.m.

S1 Datasets. Zip-file with the three datasets used in this study.

The data is provided as matlab (.mat) files, which has an array “Data” holding the measurement matrix.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: OG PF. Performed the experiments: OG. Analyzed the data: OG PF. Wrote the paper: OG PF.

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  6. 6. Junhui H, Zhen-Peng B, Lap-Pui C, Magnenat-Thalmann N, Ying H, editors. Restoring corrupted motion capture data via jointly low-rank matrix completion. 2014 IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME); 2014 14–18 July 2014.
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Little Penguin

True Wild Life | Little Penguin | The little penguin is the smallest species of penguin in the world, with the average adult little penguin rarely reaching half a meter in height. The little penguin has a number of other common names including the fairy penguin, the little blue penguin and simply just the blue penguin. The little penguin is one of the few species of penguin to be found north of the Antarctic Ocean, as this small species is found inhabiting the rocky coastlines of New Zealand, Tasmania and parts of southern Australia. There have also been reports of the little penguin being found in Chile and in parts of South Africa.

The little penguin is named both for is small size (with the average weight being just over 1kg) and for it's blue coloured feathers. The short feathers of the little penguin are of a blue/grey colour with a large white patch on their underside, which makes these birds very distinctive amongst all penguin species. The little penguin is one of the only species that is under threat from land-based mammalian predators and so have evolved to making their tiny appearance more intimidating. Little penguin spend the whole year together as a colony so that they are able to employ the safety in numbers strategy when there are hungry predators about.

The little penguin is a carnivorous animal, that like all other penguin species, survives on a diet that is only comprised of marine animals. Krill and small crustaceans make up the bulk of the little penguin's diet along with larger organisms including squid and various species of fish. Little penguins are more under threat from land-based animals such as dogs, cats and foxes that have been introduced into their native habitats. However, larger marine animals will also prey on these water-based birds, with fur seals, leopard seals, sharks, humans and killer whales being the main predators of the little penguin.

On average, the little penguin breeds once a year, forming pairs that usually remain faithful to one another. The female little penguin lays two eggs into a self-dug burrow which are incubated by both parents for just over a month, when only one of the eggs will usually hatch. The little penguin chicks are fed and kept warm by their parents and remain with them until the chicks are around three months old. Today, the little penguin populations have been declining with the increasingly threat from non-native carnivores. Little penguins however, are often found on islands that have been declared National Parks where tourists are able to see the little penguin colony in it's natural habitat and are not allowed to take photos.
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House & Home ImprovementEnjoy the allure of a country farmhouse within the lovely Bullpasture Valley of Highland County, Virginia. The birdhouses constituted of pine last several years; the pine bluebird home in the second picture has been outdoors for a minimum of 5 seasons (perhaps more). I learned to play House of the Rising Son on the piano and it was always my fall-again place. After World War II, the housing demand and the GI Bill’s residence mortgage program inspired massive scale row home building in the suburbs in places like Loch Raven Village and Edmonson Avenue. Annual calendar of legislative session assembly dates and occasions for the Michigan House of Representatives. I suppose one would insulate with the quantity needed for the realm and then wall over it like in a standard house.

Folks are realizing that they’ll spend just a few thousand dollars, or much less on promoting and promote their very own houses and hold that 5 to 7% fee for in different words, preserve a number of additional thousand dollars of their hard earned fairness for themselves. The offensive Agent blocked all of them the way in which, to the point the place they could not even get into the House.

Hang the bat house going through an open space, ideally with a southern exposure to maximise the quantity of heat from the solar. I’ve corrected the scale, and I hope this helps to make building this bluebird home a enjoyable and successful undertaking. Work and jobs are also Sixth House points, however jobs which might be much less vital than careers, which is a Tenth House concern. The early 1900s saw giant row home developments when builders created entire new neighborhoods.

Hope House provides clothing, diapers, toiletries, household articles, and child meals to individuals in need. The Texas House of Representatives has more than forty committees and sub-committees that meet in public hearings. The Ninth House is dominated by Sagittarius, and has to do with overseas cultures and long journeys. Budget no less than £285,000 in case you hope to buy a 3 bedroom house in beautiful Topsham.


Heartbleed Bug: Gold Members Should Change Their Passwords

ValuingDisruption.com is hosted by Bluehost.com and processes gold member payments through Stripe.com, using SSL payment encryption. The Heartbleed Bug potentially impacts the effectiveness of this encryption. Bluehost and Stripe have advised website customers that they do not believe their hosting/payment services were impacted by Heartbleed. Nonetheless, ValuingDisruption.com recommends that gold members change their member passwords at their earliest convenience. This can be done by accessing the Membership Account page on the ValuingDisruption.com website.

If members encounter any difficulties changing their passwords, or have any other questions or concerns, please contact the site author, Bill Esbenshade, at besbenshade@icloud.com.

Thank you for being members!


Sinai Agama

Pseudotrapelus sinaitus

The Sinai Agama (Pseudotrapelus sinaitus, formerly Agama sinaita) is an agamid lizard. It can be found in arid areas of the following countries: southeastern Libya, eastern Egypt, Israel and Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Saudia Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, eastern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.

The length of the lizard is up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in), the tail accounting for up to two-thirds of the total length. The limbs and tail are long and thin and allow for good climbing and running capability. Unlike members of the closely related genus Agama, the third (middle) toe is the longest instead of the fourth.

Pseudotrapelus sinaitus is active during daytime and feeds on insects and other arthropods and plants. During the breeding season, males become a striking blue colour in order to attract females. The female adopts brownish-red spots.

Read more on Wikipedia


Archives for posts with tag: marinara

Spaghetti-style stuffed kabocha squash is an easy 4 ingredient dinner idea! This is a great make-ahead meal. Assemble the layers then refrigerate. About 30 minutes before dinner, simply pop then in the oven to reheat and they are good to go! The four ingredients are squash, ground meat, marinara and quark/greek yogurt. That’s it! This can also be made paleo by not adding the layer of quark/greek yogurt

1⃣Cut kabocha squash (or squash of choice) in half and scrape out the seeds. **Optional-place 1/2T grass-fed, organic butter (coconut oil, olive oil, your choice) in the “bowl” of the squash.** Place both halves cut side up in a baking dish with 1/2″ water in the bottom of the pan. Cover with foil and bake 425F until fork tender all the way through. (Cooking times will vary depending in size of squash. I had two small squash and it took about 30min.) Remove foil when they are almost done and continue to cook uncovered.
2⃣While the squash are cooking, brown 1lb ground meat (I used venison but beef, turkey, chicken, etc. would all work). You can add in diced onion, garlic, s&p if desired. When meat is completely cooked, pour in one jar of organic marinara (with no added sugar-read your ingredients!) and let simmer on low until squash are done in the oven.
3⃣When squash are done, remove from oven and scoop a dollop of quark or greek yogurt into the “bowl” then top with a scoop of the marinara/meat mixture. (Optional-top with shredded cheese such as Parmesan or mozzarella.) To make this paleo, simply omit the quark/greek yogurt and don’t add the cheese on top.

**For a make-ahead simply assemble the squash bowls, let then cool, then refrigerate in a covered container. About 30 min before dinner, pop them into a 350F oven and cook until heated through**

Who needs noodles anyway? This was delicious! I liked it better than zucchini because it was not super watery like the zucchini version. I actually could have added more liquid because the butternut soaked up some of the juices while it cooked. This is a great make-ahead-meal that would feed an army! Healthy and yummy uh huh 🙂

1⃣In a large pan cook:
🔹2lbs grass-fed ground beef
🔹1 large organic onion, diced
🔹2 celery stalks, chopped
🔹3 cloves garlic, diced
2⃣Remove from heat and add in:
🔹1small head purple cabbage, chopped
🔹1 green pepper, diced
🔹1-2 jars organic, no sugar added marinara (or homemade tomato sauce)
🔹1 can diced tomatoes
🔹Italian herbs
🔹garlic powder
🔹crushed red pepper
3⃣Once the meat mixture cools, stir in 2 room temperature eggs that have been whisked
4⃣While the meat mixture cools, peel and thinly slice a butternut squash (I used a mandolin) and place one layer of the squash (like you would noodles) in the bottom of a 9×13 (or larger) baking dish
5⃣Scoop a layer of meat mixture on top of the squash
6⃣Place a layer of cottage cheese on top of the meat mixture (not required)
7⃣Continue this layering until the meat mixture is gone, ending with a squash layer on top
8⃣Top the lasagna with a little bit of mozzarella and parmesan (not required) and bake covered at 375F for 1hr. Uncover then move to top rack and broil until cheese browns on the top. Let it rest before cutting

First layer of squash, I used the “half” pieces on the bottom so they were covered and the full circles on the upper layers

Assembly complete, before going into the oven

Out of the oven fully cooked


Sadness, Anger, and Self-Care in the Early Days of the Trump Era

From late October to the last days of December, I found it increasingly difficult to quiet my mind enough to fall asleep and stay asleep.  I’d wake up in the middle of the night sweaty, with my heart racing as if startled by a terrible nightmare. Sleeplessness left me on edge and exhausted throughout the day.  I had chest pains and a persistent cold and upset stomach and became fearful not only of these symptoms but of the world around me.  It became difficult to focus on work and to relax when I got home.

Then, on a cold and dusky evening December evening, I began to feel anxious on a crowded Metro platform on my way home.  Suddenly, the trains were too loud, and there were too many people around me.  A woman next to me kept complaining about her delayed train, and it took everything I had to respond to her cordially and commiserate with her.  But it was all too much.  I couldn’t figure out what was terrifying me, as I never had that kind of seemingly unprovoked reaction to crowds before.  I told myself to breathe, to count to ten, to force myself to control whatever was happening to me, and I couldn’t.

I was able to keep myself together all the way home, and I made sure that no one I met or worked with during those weeks knew what I was feeling.  But inside I felt out of control and powerless, especially at night, right before I went to sleep.  I never mentioned what I was going through to anyone, but one night, I called my mother, telling her the unease I felt when I woke up from sleep in the middle of the night and how that feeling haunted me on and off throughout the day.  My mother, amateur psychologist that she is, responded with her diagnosis matter-of-factly,

“It’s the election.”

According to her, Trump, President Trump, my fixation on the election, his victory, and the realities of his Presidency weighed on my mind so much that it was making me sick.

I laughed it off at first, explaining that other things were on my mind, but I slowly contemplated the idea that she was right.  And that was terrifying because I never thought that my feelings or my state of mind would have such a detrimental effect on my physical health or that politics would have such an effect on physical and emotional wellbeing.

I realized that I needed to take care of my emotional and physical health, because, in this case, they may have been interconnected.  The election left me completely bewildered and with an overwhelming feeling of loss, as it did for millions of people.  My addiction to news and social media during the last few months didn’t help.  While I had no desire to fight with strangers on twitter, I believed I was finding catharsis in hearing voices that expressed those feelings of fear and anger that I had.  However, sometimes those sentiments were coupled with apocalyptic declarations about life in the United States under President Trump, and all those worries and feelings of impending doom can lead to stress.  There will most likely be a surplus of political fights on the horizon that will leave me and others in a constant state of anger.  But if sustained rage supposedly leads to activism and resistance, what does that do to our health?

This acknowledgment of rage and need for self-care is addressed in this week’s Black-ish, “Good Dre Hunting,” which explores this issue of sustained outrage and its unsustainability and unproductivity.  But the episode also clearly affirms that sometimes righteous anger is absolutely necessary, and sometimes therapy can be absolutely essential.

The Atlantic‘s Julie Beck explores how some are looking to save themselves from election-related anger, stress or  what Jack Saul, director of the International Trauma Studies Program, calls collective trauma, “a shared experience of threat and anxiety in response to sudden or ongoing events that lead to some threat to a basic sense of belonging in society.” In order to relieve this stress or trauma, Saul and others advocate that people focus more on building connections to others to create a support system and community dedicated to volunteerism and activism than self-care, which, according to Saul, leads to isolation and vulnerability.

However, executive editor of Girls for Gender Equality Joanne Smith explains that self-care can involve deepening connections to other people:

“As a black woman organizer and movement leader, I will need to love me harder than I ever have before so that this toxic masculinity and white supremacy does not snatch my light or the light of my community. It also means that I must be vulnerable and connected to the people in cross movement spaces who love me and recognize my humanity the most.”

Numerous blogs, like Just, and, are dedicated to addressing the importance of black women practicing self-care by themselves and within their communities because self-care is as important to social movements as collective protest.

Balancing self-care and social consciousness are not new concerns.  In “The Negro in American Culture,” in 1961, James Baldwin explains that “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. So that first problem is how to control that rage so that it won’t destroy you.”

These last few weeks, I’ve focused on my own health and emotional quality of life so that I can be better equipped to helping others.  Sometimes that involves stepping away from social media more and more.  I will still keep myself aware of what’s going on since vigilance is essential, but so is abstaining from social media when righteous anger turns into feelings of fear and rage that are paralyzing and toxic and leave you feeling utterly powerless.

Focusing on my quality of life involves allowing myself to pursue what I enjoy in life, dancing, painting, being optimistic, eating delicious food and planning good things for the future because all of these things are necessary for emotional and spiritual survival as well.

And improving my quality of life has also meant getting involved in issues that are important to me: going to a local rally on saving the Affordable Care Act, attending the Women’s March on Washington, and exploring ways to get involved in my community, possibly through my local Democratic Committee or other groups and organizations.

The first step for me was in admitting that I was feeling powerless and angry and that I was surrounding myself online voices that were preoccupied with everything horrible that can and might happen and that I believed remained beyond my control.  It’s possible that a lot of people feel this way, and in identifying these feelings, I began to feel better.

Control freak that I am, I’m not ready to give up what little power I do have.  If you feel powerless and overwhelmed by your own anger, think about how that is affecting your daily life and your health.  Know that taking care of yourself is the most important thing you can do so that you can help others who will need you these next four years.  It’s not selfish or delusional to find some joy in your life; it’s absolutely necessary so that you can give that joy to others who will need it.  And I hope to remind myself of this when that feeling of powerlessness and defeat creep up on me again, leaving me terrified in the middle of the night.  I’ll have to remind myself that it’s possible to get a good night’s sleep and still be woke.

Beck, Julie. “How to Cope with Post-Election Stress.” 10 Nov. 2016. Accessed 20 Jan. 2016.
Blay, Zeba. “11 Ways Black People Can Practice Self-Care in the Wake of Trump.” The Huffington Post. 11 Nov. 2016, Accessed 20 Jan. 2017.
Zinzi, Janna A. “Surviving Trump: Black Woman Strengthen Coalitions, Practice Revolutionary Self-Care.” The Root, 16 Dec. 2016, Accessed 20 Jan. 2017.

Representation and Madness in Mad Max Fury Road and Zone One

“In the new reckoning, a hundred percent of the world was mad” – Mark Spitz in Colson Whitehead, Zone One

“If you can’t fix what’s broken, you’ll go insane” – Mad Max in Mad Max Fury Road

For the last few semesters I’ve been teaching Colson Whitehead’s zombie novel Zone One in my Introduction to American Literature classes.  The novel is often a bit frustrating for students to read because the plot is virtually nonexistent until the last third or quarter of the the novel.  However, Whitehead’s depiction of this post-apocalyptic world is beautiful and breathtaking, especially as he describes a human race that’s denying its own fall into madness as they try in vain to return to a time before zombies, called “stragglers” and “skels” in this novel, came to reclaim this world.

The world has ended and the novel starts during the days of its reconstruction.  Mark Spitz, the novel’s protagonist who works in Zone One with other teams to sweep resettled parts of Manhattan for remaining skels and stragglers, muses on how, “big groups were in again: the elite antsy to drop their pawns, and the pawns hungry for purpose after so long without instructions…” (88).  Although seemingly well-protected settlements survive to reestablish a society that mirrors the culture, politics, and capitalism that we once knew, humanity is devouring itself outside of those barricades.  And within, the survivors struggle to keep their PASD (Post-Apocalyptic Survivor Dysfunction) at bay.

Despite the clear differences in the setting and the conditions between Zone One and the 2015 Mad Max reboot Mad Max Fury Road, there are fascinating similarities in the stories they tell about the madness that rises, who survives, and what institutions remain and are toppled after the apocalypse.  Max, like Whitehead’s protagonist Mark Spitz, is surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, except he cannot kept his madness away.  It helps him survive.  Visions of the dead haunt and protect him against the uncontrolled villainy of the War Boys who serve King Immortan Joe, a tyrant who has his people clamoring for every drip of water he deigns to give them. Like Mark Spitz, Mad Max reflects that “As the world fell it was hard to know who was more crazy.  Me…or everyone else.”

Notably, despite the chaos that these worlds have fallen into and the new orders that arise, both Mad Max Fury Road and Zone One contemplate the survival of the status quo, specifically class, gender, and racial inequality as well, all of which are pose just as much threat as zombies and Immortan Joe and the War Boys.

In the face of all this, representation and agency become important in how these stories are told.  Whitehead reveals towards the end of Zone One that the protagonist and narrator of the story is black, making his madness and ability to survive, his suspicions about the institutions that will return, and his place in this new world take on a different meaning.  He begins to identify with the zombies coming to reclaim “the broken city” and to feel that for the first time in his life, this broken world is finally his for the taking…if he can continue to live.

Mad Max Fury Road is a film that’s just as much about the madness of Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa as it about Max’s own mental instability in a world where everyone has lost their minds.  Her madness and those of the Immortan Joe’s five wives, whom she smuggles out of his tyrannical desert compound, calls them to action and to fight every insurmountable challenge to the death.  In her wake, Max escapes his own captivity from one of the War Boys, Nicolas Holt’s Nux, and both he and Nux are inspired to help Furiosa and her fellow female road warriors fight Immortan Joe’s economic and patriarchal tyranny.  Faced with the insanity of the wasteland that surrounds them Furiosa tells Max, “You never gonna have a better chance [at] redemption.”

It seems that there’s always a ongoing, unending conversation about the threat of racialized bodies and female bodies and how to regulate, punish, and legislate those bodies to keep society safe.  In Mark Spitz, the zombies, Furiosa and her road warriors, those black and female bodies are allowed to go mad with power in these texts.  They fight, they rage, they go crazy and they kill to take back their land and liberate themselves.  They don’t destroy the world, but they try to make new places for themselves and others to own and in which they can live freely.  What a time to be alive.

The Poetics and Politics of Race and Space: A Few Thoughts on Ferguson and Fictional Representations of Missouri

A few weeks ago, I concluded my last post with some questions I had about Ferguson, Michael Brown and the dialogue surrounding his death, law enforcement in that region, and fear as the possible root cause of this kind of violence.  Last week I had the opportunity to write a blog post, “Framing Ferguson: A Time for Mourning and Action,” for George Washington University’s American Literature and Culture Organization (ALCO) in response to a panel the university held that brought students and faculty together to discuss a variety of topics ranging from racial and economical tensions and inequalities to policing and public policy.

The panel also proceeded my course’s reading of Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894). Last week, the students in my Introduction to American Literature course started reading Mark Twain’s novel set in the fictional, slave-holding small town of Dawson’s Landing which Twain locates “on the Missouri side of the Mississippi, half a day’s journey, per steamboat, to St. Louis” (Twain 3). Twain places Missouri as a site of “historical contradictions” (Gillman 448). These contradictions involve the actions and identities of the characters in the town as well as the laws by which they live and customs they value. As Susan Gillman explains in “‘Sure Identifiers’: Race, Science, and the Law in Pudd’nhead Wilson,” “the novel detects a central ambiguity suppressed in law, if not custom, by slave society” leaving us to ask ourselves, “How do we know…who is to be held accountable under the law and who is not? …How do we know what we know is true?” (449).

These questions feel eerily relevant today. I’m left with questions about what fictions exist about Missouri, its pivotal role as a border state in shaping United States’ history of slavery and race, and how those fictions compare, if at all, with the realities that we might know about that state today. I look forward to discussing and exploring some of these comparisons and aforementioned contradictions in a more in depth way in the future.

Works Cited:

Twain, Mark. Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins: Authoritative Texts, Textual Introd. and Tables of Variants, Criticism. Ed. Sidney E. Berger. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2005. Print.

Gillman, Susan. “‘Sure Identifiers’: Race, Science, and the Law in Pudd’nhead Wilson.” Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins: Authoritative Texts, Textual Introd. and Tables of Variants, Criticism. Ed. Sidney E. Berger. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2005. Print.

Updates on New Postings for September

Works Cited

Race, Space and Standing Your Ground: Interiority and the George Zimmerman Trial and Trayvon Martin Case

A few days ago, I ended my last post with a link to Defining the Question of Interiority, which discussed interiority, partially in terms of architecture but also in terms of blurring the lines between interiority and exteriority. This link quotes from another interesting source, The Body Within: Art, Medicine and Visualization (2009), which talks about the problematic nature of the interior and imagining one’s interiority as both material and invisible and intangible

Interiority is always based on something exterior, something with extension, something that cannot be internalized or appropriated. Things with extension are spatial (119).

In trying to resolve this relationship between interiority and exteriority, the inner self and the actual flesh and blood that surrounds, Jenny Slatman writes in Chapter 6 of The Body Within, “Transparent Bodies: Revealing the Myth of Interiority,” that “At first glance, we might be inclined to say that interiority is the space beneath the skin” (108). What is this “space”? Is it psychological? Is this interior traceable by brain activity? Seen by x-ray? Perhaps it’s at least a spatial and psychological concept and both visible and invisible. Visible because we do have an interior beneath the skin: our flesh, bones, internal organs, but also visible in psychological terms as well through actions and the motivations that seem to be behind one’s behavior. If, as Slatman continues, “Psychological and spatial interiority converge in this so-called phenomenon of bodily subjectivity,” then interiority is based on both one’s bodily experience and also one’s individual perspective and experiences in relationship to how one’s body interacts with cultural and national spaces (110).

I was thinking about these themes after finishing Suspicion Nation last week, Lisa Bloom’s analysis of the 2013 George Zimmerman trial. She brings up some of these themes implicitly in her critique of the legal argument the prosecutors presented to the jury and in her concerns about the cultural baggage and biases that led to Zimmerman’s acquittal and that continue to lead to a general suspicion of black men and racial others in the United States. How we understand or make assumptions about a person’s inner thoughts must be put in context of how we view his or her relationship to his or her body and the outer world. If interiority is the space beneath the skin or product of experiencing bodily subjectivity, then skin, or one’s skin color and the ethnic/racial meaning that skin connotes, influences how we understand a person’s inner thoughts, desires, fears, and motivations. Interiority is relevant to how we view a person’s relationship to the world and his or her right to protect and own space and have a place in this world.

Bloom mentions Stand Your Ground Laws, though not explicitly part of Zimmerman’s defense, to explain U.S. preoccupations with crime, race, and space. These laws “expanded traditional self-defense doctrine to allow those who felt threatened in virtually any location to use deadly force even if they could have escaped without violence” (Bloom 12). Such a belief in one’s right to claim space and protect one’s turf by any means necessary shaped Zimmerman’s defense and belief that he was reasonable in his fears of Trayvon Martin. Bloom argues that while Zimmerman was deemed reasonable in his fear and eventual killing of Trayvon Martin, neither the defense nor more importantly the prosecution gave a voice to Trayvon Martin’s inner feelings the night he died or gave any value to who he was as a human being, all of which influenced how the jury viewed these two men and what motivated their actions.

And much of that comes back to how we view interiority and what we believe lies beneath the skin. George Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin as suspicious because of a combination of factors dealing with his anxieties about race, space, interiority as they figure in the “black-as-criminal image” that according to Bloom “has been with us at least since the nineteenth century, when explicit racism portrayed African-American slaves’ essential nature as ignorant and savage and in need of the ‘civilizing’ influence of the white man” (232). Zimmerman was allowed to feel afraid for his life, to defend his body and his turf. Acknowledgement of these inner feelings and respect for his bodily subjectivity allowed him to claim physical space and do so with lethal force. His innermost feelings or more accurately, his race-based paranoia, had a voice. His feelings, his anxieties, his desire to feel safe in his gated community were privileged above Travyon’s interiority and bodily subjectivity in court of law.

Charles Taylor writes in Sources of the Self that, based on a tradition in the West of respecting human dignity and one’s individual rights, “we [in the West] believe it would be utterly wrong and unfounded to draw the boundaries any narrower than around the whole human race” (6-7).   But boundaries are drawn among members of the human race depending on whether or not we recognize one’s interiority. To have the law and society recognize these interior experiences as well as protect one’s bodily subjectivity allows one to claim rights and protect one’s space as sacred, untouchable. How do such rights emerge from this recognition of bodily integrity and subjectivity? How does it correspond to how we engage in our society and nation at large? These are questions I hope to touch upon in my next post.

Possible Digital Humanities Projects about Race, Space and Interiority

It’s been two months and six days since my last confession…I mean my last post. It has been awhile since I’ve written and I hope to rectify this, at least for my own sake, by posting more often this summer.  In the time that’s passed, I have continued learning to code through  I’ve finished HTML and am slowly working my way through CSS.  I must confess that I never knew coding could be fun, but it is and I hope to finish those lessons by September.

I began this blog not only to keep track of my progress in acquiring new skills but also as part of a desire to link a burgeoning curiosity in digital humanities to my academic research interests. Since my interests and even the title of this blog are dedicated to topic of race, space and interiority, I hope in future posts to discuss interiority, subjectivity and selfhood and how we articulate and aestheticize these concepts.

While I connect “interiority” to words like “subjectivity or “selfhood” in the paragraph above, “interiority” in particular interests me because it links selfhood and subjectivity to a location. In the simplest definition(s) of the word, “interiority” refers to being within or inside something, a house or a room or some inhabitable space. It might also refer to somewhere inland from the coast or border or something that pertains to domestic, national issues.  The Department of the Interior may have been named with such a focus on territorial and U.S. internal/domestic issues. Finally, interiority can also indicate something’s inner nature or someone’s internal spiritual and psychological disposition.

So, what happens when we view ourselves as having an interior or an inner self that is private and hidden by its very nature of being internal while also being important to how we deal with the world outside of that internal self? What are the implications of understanding subjectivity and selfhood as founded upon a spatial existence within the body? How does this reflect how we understand ourselves and others in relationship to the spaces we can and cannot inhabit? How do we represent and discuss this interiorized self in novels, TV and film?  How do we reveal and even confess these interiorized selves and why do we do this? What rights does interiority grant us and what rights and/or privileges are denied when this sense of interiority isn’t recognized culturally or legally?

In the next weeks and months I hope to discuss ways these questions are answered and post such findings here.

I end this week’s entry with a link to a post I stumbled upon recently that discusses interiority and space as it relates to architecture, culture and identity and how we define our interior and exterior spaces. Defining The Question of Interiority brings up interesting questions I hope to discuss next week.


Environmental Shuttle Is April 7

March 24, 1994

NASA on Thursday set April 7 as the launch date for its next space shuttle flight, an environmental research mission by Endeavour. Endeavour will carry six astronauts and radar equipment intended to observe vegetation, water levels, rocks, volcanic activity, ocean waves and other aspects of Earth's environment. The mission is supposed to last nine days, but will be extended a day if there's enough power so more observations can be made.


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Clif's Book World

Adventures from reading books captured within short reviews.

King Lear - William Shakespeare This play was discussed by the Great Books KC group of which I am a member. We also watched the movie "A Thousand Acres" to see another version of the plot. This story becomes more harrowing the older one becomes. It's a reminder that one's children don't always remain loyal. But then again, some parents do bad things or make unwise choices.


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

NERC Review #22: The Revealed by Jessica Hickam

It's so hard to write new and original dystopians because there have been so many in the last few years alone. It's hard to create something that isn't too closely associated with another book and that can stand on its own in the dystopian genre. I thought The Revealed had a unique take on societies after war and elementalists.

Rating: 3.5 Enjoyable Stars!

I was pulled in from the beginning! This was a fairly fast-paced novel with moments of quiet and contemplation. In the beginning, the main character Lily, is having a late teenage rebellion. But nothing is ever as it seems in this book..

Lily's been receiving notes taped to her bedroom window, leaving her with the knowledge of one thing: The Revealed are coming for her. Her parents have increased security, and she's literally not allowed out of the house. But Lily is a character who's been told what to do all her life and knows that she's going to be taken soon. It makes her reckless, stubborn, determined. She takes unnecessary risks, disobeys her parents, and almost gets herself killed. But it's more than just teenage rebellion. Lily was a strong character who only wanted to be normal, to be free of the politics and the fighting and the masks. To live her life! It's all she wanted. And by the end, she becomes the character she's meant to be. Strong, resilient, and choosing what's right over her own family.

I just wish the secondary characters had as much development as Lily. But they were kind of overlooked to bring Lily to where she needed to be. I was really hoping for a stronger relationship between Lily and her parents, as well as a bit more development with the romance between her and Kai. The romance seemed a bit too sudden for how they acted toward each other. I liked Rory, but she only had a few appearances until well past the halfway point. But, as this is only the first book, I have a feeling those relationships will change in the sequel. They'll either grow or die out.

As to the romance, I have an inkling that a love triangle will sprout. There is a setup, which I hope I'm wrong about. But with the other guy, it felt forced. So, we'll see what happens. Hopefully, it doesn't make me mad, because I really hate love triangles. Also, Lily spent a lot of time dwelling on her relationship with Kai, when I would have liked more on the politics and the war they just went through. There was a lot of information sprinkled throughout (no info-dumps, yay), but I still have tons of questions about how that war came to be.

The plot was very complicated, in that there were a lot of twists. I don't think many people will see some of them coming, and others seemed a natural direction in which the story would go. I loved the idea behind The Revealed, and I can't say much for fear of spoiling the story-line. But what I can say is that I liked where the story headed, and I can't wait to see what happens in the sequel.

The Revealed was a unique take on dystopians. But it still had a lot of the same elements--rebellion, dictator in charge, killer politics, and unrest. I really enjoyed the first book, and I want to know what happens to our characters in the sequel.


Cécile Beau, Particules #12, 2015, (detail), Stone, hourglass, wood, variable dimensions, courtesy 22,48 m².
In collaboration with the laboratory GEOPS, Paris

28/08/2015 - 30/08/2015
ART-O-RAMA, Marseille
International Fair of Contemporary Art

Sometimes, we have watched them passing in the open night sky, fleeting light shadows. Also, we have often taken our legs on her without paying attention. As children, we were sometimes playing when we were bored. Close or distant,  they didn`t stopped to escape from us in their timeless being.
Through her various works, Cécile Beau attempts to introduce us in the observation process of the mineral universe. Substance of the origins present all around the world, the rocks remind different environnements, components and temporalities.
These aspects are evoked under several perspectives : cartographies of remote planets (Empreinte, 2012), stones cut-out for hanging on the walls as a constellation and the powder taken flown out in hourglasses which have diverse timings (Particules, 2015),  slowly growing lichens  inlaying in the rock (Thalles, 2014), a neon zigzag and a fleeting and unsteady lightening representing an ephemeral temporality (Zibens, 2011).
Stones that posses a rigourous beauty are shaping restricted landscapes, dry and floating, as possible stars to be manipulated. Countryside  soils or from other environments are represented at a indistinct scale. A electric energy scans these diverse elements…
Cécile Beau weaves a time journey through a poetical dissection. A principle of temporality in the field of the minerals which have preceded and succeded life according to Roger Callois`s expression.


CuttingEdge_thumbCutting Edge is an annual event held by IIT to demonstrate the theoretical and practical knowledge of the students within the Institute. The event not only pits students against modern day IT problems but it also tests their vision and ability to harness technology to solve these problems. As an exhibition Cutting Edge allows any interested party to come interact with the creators of the IT and ICT projects and are entitled to a demonstration.

Many of the students develop and implement projects that are beneficial to existing systems while some students develop applications and devices that exist in a league of its’ own. Students are able to utilize their knowledge obtained through their course as well as the experience they gain through their industrial placement. The tenacity and ambition of the students lead to creation of truly remarkable software and hardware solutions that are applicable to the software and business industry and also systems which could help day to day lives.

In addition to the standard project genres it is common place to see the development of mobile applications and futuristic solutions such as computers combined with human intelligence and database systems targeted at medical institutions.

Cutting Edge is an event held in the grandeur due to the quality and quantity of projects that are present for viewing. Students are allowed a significant amount of time under the guidance of their chosen supervisor to conceive an idea and follow the concept through to its final phase. A rigorous process of trial and error is present during the development of the project. Students are exposed to the arduous process of creation and destruction to obtain the perfect solution that embodies their vision and determination.

All projects present at Cutting Edge are gauged by industry leading professionals that act as judges who are given the privilege of choosing the finest student project. Students are awarded with numerous awards and commendations to match their vision and dedication. Cutting Edge is aimed at motivating students to demonstrate their ideas and talents to the public. Each year a significant portion of the student body compete in this grand event to demonstrate their technical prowess. The friendly competition between the students allows further development of their character and team coordination. By utilizing each team members skill set and ideas, students have created revolutionary solutions that have changed the perspectives of many corporate entities.

Students are allowed to conceive ideas in any sector and are guided through specialist supervisors to ensure that they’re idea is able to reach fruition. Many of the project genres range from Advanced Programming Concepts, Artificial Intelligence, Communication Networks, Database Systems, Hardware-based Solutions, Multimedia and Graphics, Web-based Solutions and Wireless Solutions to more business-oriented projects classified under E-Learning, Corporate Social Responsibility, Finance, E-Commerce, Human Resource Management, Sales, Marketing and Supply Chain Management.

Cutting Edge is held during the first half of the year to ensure that every student is able to participate for the event. Students spend many months developing ideas aimed at winning the highest possible commendation during the event. The Student Union is responsible for the decoration and orientation of the event each year ensuring that the student philosophies are embodied within the event.