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The largest stage in Europe - home to practically every major composer, opera star and orchestral conductor of the last two centuries - is still a gaping hole.
The three year refurbishment of La Scala is nearing its end and the contractors plan to hand over the famous opera house, fit for rehearsals to begin, at the end of October.
Air conditioning, fire sprinklers and new security equipment are still being installed.
Dust is everywhere. The interior of the famous horseshoe shaped auditorium is shrouded in plastic sheeting as restorers touch up the gilt decorations and adjust the candelabra.
Plush covered handrails that have been stripped from the boxes lie ready to be carted away. Newly revealed Venetian marble floors from the original building are being buffed and polished.
Maestro upbeat
Sprouting from the dusty floor is the electrical wiring for small simultaneous translation screens which will eventually be mounted on each of the 1,800 seats, allowing opera lovers to follow the text of the libretto in English, French, German or Italian.
Against a background of hammering, drilling and sawing, Maestro Riccardo Muti, musical director of La Scala, is decidedly upbeat as he introduces the new season's programme at a backstage news conference.
"During our first year we shall give 185 performances. That is a lot when you consider the high quality of each work that we present and the number of rehearsals.
"We are not like the Staatsoper in Vienna where they present a different opera every night often without adequate rehearsal. We still take care of our artistic product.
"But with the technical possibilities that we now have we shall increase quantity while maintaining quality. Our new stage machinery is the most modern in the world. Until last year we needed hours or one or two days to shift scenery. Now it can be done immediately. You just push a button and it is done."
Culture costs
The opera chosen to open the new La Scala in December 2004 was commissioned for the opening of the original theatre in 1778 by the Empress of Austria, Maria Theresa.
The Italian composer Antonio Salieri wrote an opera-ballet entitled Europa Riconosciuta (Europa Revealed). It includes several bravura arias of great brilliance.
The original score and libretto has been tracked down to a music library in Vienna where Salieri - a rival of Mozart - lived and worked. Some ballet music he composed in 1778 will also be performed for the gala opening night.
High culture means high prices. Tickets for the opening night gala are already being snapped up at $2,500 (£1,300) for a seat in the stalls or a box.
Many of them are conducted by distinguished foreign guest conductors including Georges Pretre, Zubin Mehta, and Simon Rattle.
The brand new Arcimboldi theatre in an industrial suburb of Milan, built to enrich Milan's musical life during the three year closure of La Scala, will continue to share La Scala's musical repertoire.
Concessions for cheap tickets for performances at both venues will be offered to students and pensioners.
Financial shadow
La Scala is the second major Italian opera house to be completely refurbished during the opening years of the 21st century.
Venice's La Fenice was destroyed in a fire caused by an electrical short circuit in January 1996. It has been completely rebuilt and will also reopen for regular performances in December 2004.
The Venice theatre was officially reopened in December 2003 and has been undergoing acoustic and stage machinery tests since then.
La Scala will also close for a month in early 2005 but general administrator Carlo Fontana stressed that the December 2004 opening is no fake opening - stage technicians just have to get used to operating the sophisticated new stage machinery, he explained.
A financial shadow has fallen over the future of opera in Italy this week, however, with cuts in subsidies for the arts announced by the government in a mini-budget.
Carlo Fontana says La Scala may be forced to raise an extra 2m euros ($2.5m) from sponsors to balance its accounts in 2005.


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Swedish forager Roland Rittman, who has played a crucial role in supplying some of Scandinavia's most important restaurants, urges us to reconnect with nature: "Go to the beach or to the woods or to some part of nature, that you have made your own. Kneel on the ground. Humbly bend your head. Take a bite from a rooted plant. Graze as the animal you are – and contemplate, with universal empathy – our critical impact on this wild symphony of existence." From MAD3.
To learn more about MAD and support our efforts, visit the About page.

subset: commoncrawl


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Photo by Getty Images
This meat sauce for pasta or gnocchi has a sweet-sour flavour. Dad insists it's traditionally served with gnocchi, while Mum goes for homemade pasta.
|1½ kgs
|Beef, fresh beef eye, of silverside (not corned silverside)
|100 g
|Pancetta, cut into small strips
|Garlic cloves, 1 thinly sliced, the others finely chopped
|500 ml
|Red wine vinegar, up to 750ml
|1 cup
|Plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
|80 ml
|Olive oil
|Large onions, sliced
|Carrots, roughly chopped
|2 Tbsp
|Tomato paste
|Celery stalks, roughly chopped
|1 handful
|Parsley, chopped
|¼ tsp
|Nutmeg, grated
|2 tsp
|1 Ltr
|Water, up to 2 ltr or beef stock (to cover)
|½ cup
|1 to taste
|Salt and pepper
|150 g
|Pitted prunes
|1 handful
|Parsley, finely chopped
|1 to serve
|Ground parmesan, freshly grated
|1 to serve
|Pasta, or gnocchi
- Cut a dozen small incisions into the meat and stuff with strips of pancetta and the slivers of garlic.
- Place in a bowl that will fit the meat snugly, add the whole cloves and pour in enough of the vinegar to cover.
- Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight.
- The next day, drain the meat (discard the vinegar) and roll well in seasoned flour.
- Heat the oil on a high heat in a large heavy pot or casserole and add the meat and onions.
- Brown the meat all over and let the onions soften and take on some colour.
- Add the chopped garlic, carrot and celery and fry for another couple of minutes.
- Add the tomato paste, a handful of parsley, nutmeg and sugar, stir and then add enough water and/or beef stock to just cover the meat.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and add a little more sugar if it tastes very sour.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for half an hour on a gentle heat before adding the Marsala and simmering for another hour and a half.
- Remove the meat from the liquid and cut into slices about 5mm-thick. Set aside.
- Puree the cooking liquid and veges in a food processor until smooth and put back into the pot with the sliced meat.
- Add the prunes and a little more water if the sauce is very thick and simmer for 15 minutes more.
- Stir in the extra parsley and serve with pasta or gnocchi and lots of grated parmesan.


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Pelican Briefs: News, notes and insights on Louisiana politics
After weeks on the sidelines, Democrat Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, has joined the online fray today with a new Web-only video that attacks U.S. Sen. David Vitter for voting against legislation that would forbid federal dollars from going to companies that require their workers to sign away their right to sue as a condition of employment.
The video, which made its debut on YouTube this morning, highlights the case of Jamie Leigh Jones, a young Halliburton Co. employee who says she was gang-raped by her co-workers in Iraq in 2005 only to be denied her day in court. Her case was the impetus for an amendment to a defense bill offered by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. Vitter was one of 30 senators, all of them Republicans, to vote against the measure.
It's Melancon's first major offensive in the online ad wars, which began over the summer when Vitter, a Republican favored to win re-election to a second term, put up a series of ads attacking his likely Democratic opponent on numerous fronts.
UPDATE: Amber Wilkerson Marchand, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, suggested Vitter was merely following the lead of President Barack Obama: "In his rush to make this cheap, partisan attack it appears that Charlie Melancon forgot one key point -- both President Obama and the Obama-led Defense Department had the exact same position on this amendment as the Republicans."


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Visit On : May 2014
The car provided was good and well maintained. But they are way too rigid to what they have wrote in T&C. e.g. They are writing AC will not work in hill area, So they switch off the AC as soon as hill area starts. Regardless of whether it is really needed to switch it off or not. Also, in my case they have called me before 10 hrs of my departure to inform me that rate has been increased, leaving me no choice but to agree. Driver also was being too rude at times.


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John, Robert and Thomas McCredie lived and worked as masons and joiners in northern Pyrmont in the 1860s, well placed to take advantage of the industrial transformation that followed the gold rushes. In 1868 Thomas took a lease on a parcel of land that Edward Macarthur had failed to sell, and began quarrying stone for his building projects. The boom in public building in the 1870s brought projects to build government offices and the general post office.
McCredie Brothers first expanded their quarries, but soon shifted their focus from quarrying – which they left to the Saunders family – to building. As John and Robert moved on, Thomas brought in William, Alexander and Andrew. The family could now afford to be patrons of religious and charitable causes. They also diversified their interests. Another Pyrmont McCredie – the architect George – helped design the redevelopment of Darling Island in the 1880s.
In 1879, the McCredie brothers donated a music hall in Harris Street to accommodate 500 people. It was used particularly by the Church of England school.
In the 1890s, Andrew McCredie was a Justice of the Peace, and a returning officer for Denison division.


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If you are one of the celiac or gluten sensitive people out there, then be welcome to the world of gluten free grains.
You will not need to miss wheat, barley and rye from your diet if you start having yourself from these new grains that you may know whole a lot about. Most of the common grains are so processed from factories that they become bad for health even for normal people. You can go for some gluten free versions of these grains and easily incorporate them in to your breakfasts or other meals.
It is important to get used to these grains first, rather than waiting for an occasion because your body needs to get used to a safer kind of diet. It will begin to heal your system inside out.
Here are some gluten free grains that can safely improve your system:
- Brown rice
- Quinoa
- Oats
- Millet
- Buckwheat
- Corn grit
Overview of Gluten Free Grains
Brown Rice
It is one of the most nutritionally dense of all the rice varieties. Brown rice is almost the same as white rice, except that the cover of the rice is still on and it is very nutritious. A lot of people ask the question, ' Is rice gluten free?' and the answer is 'yes'.
This is one of the most powerful foods out there. It comes in black, white and red variety. It is not a grain but a seed but eaten like a grain. It is a complete protein and has all 9 kinds of amino acids, magnesium, fiber, copper and it cooks within 20 minutes. You just have to boil them in 2/3 water and 1/3 quinoa grains.
Oats are good for making oatmeal cookies, or you can pulse them to coat chicken or fish it while cooking. It is also full with fiber, magnesium, and phosphorous.
Millets have a sweet flavor and a soft texture. It cooks in about 20 to 25 minutes. It is a little bit longer grain than quinoa, and this is also loaded with fiber and proteins.
Buckwheat Flour
You may be familiar with buckwheat cereals and it is chosen because it is quite nutritionally dense. You can have it added to any of your gluten free flour mixes and this will add a lot of nutritional value for you.
It is a widely used grain that can be used to make corn bread or cooking fish and chicken. You can have them as cereals or just enjoy them directly and they will be very beneficial for you.
You have always been told to omit wheat, barley and rye from your diet but if you know that there are so many wonderful gluten free grains out there that can help you improve your digestive system. Try to get a stock of these in your home and incorporate them wherever you cook your gluten free food.
You will get more taste and soon there will be some form of recovery that will make you less of a celiac patient. There are many more ways to cook these grains that you can find on the internet which are solely for gluten intolerant people.


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Things have been going pretty well with the blog so far. I've been keeping up with content, something that I have never consistently done with previous blogs of yesteryear. The one thing that has been lacking, however, has been a proper logo! And finally, I have one! Thanks to a good buddy, who also happens to be a great designer! Tim (BunnyDojo.com) was able to come up with this splendid logo for the site. I told him a few of my interests and he pumped this bugger out like there was no tomorrow.
The logo features a brain because of my love for neuroscience and an elephant because, well, elephants are special to me (not because I am a conservative since in fact I am quite the liberal!). Anyhow, hope you guys like the logo and thanks again, Tim!Â
PS: Be sure to check out Tim's site. If you need a design job done, he's the man. He also has a slew of design samples that you can peruse. As an added bonus, he's a ninja rabbit. How cool is that?


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America Will Be was created to be an ongoing, collaborative people-powered project. Our videos, podcasts and interviews were made by, and supported by hundreds of people across the country, to tell inspiring stories about poor people organizing and making change at the local level. But there's so much more we want to do. We plan to develop America Will Be into a robust citizen journalism project, reporting on stories as they happen, to lift up local leaders who are building the Poor People's Campaign into a powerful force for change.
Please consider supporting us. 100% of your contribution will go towards creating new videos, podcasts and articles to tell urgent stories that speak directly to the country's 140 million poor people.
Checks can be mailed to:
Brava Media, Inc.
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Please indicate on your check whether we can share your name publicly, or if you'd prefer to remain anonymous. Thank you for creating this with us!
If you're not able to support financially, but would like to work with us, please contact email@example.com.


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Independent Research Institute of Mongolia has launched baseline survey on public perception over water issues in Umnugobi aimag under subscription of the International Finance Corporation, a member organization of the World Bank.
The survey covers all areas of Umnugobi aimag under the subjects related to drinking and household use water resource, accessibility and management as well as conflicts over the water issues are taken into consideration. The survey results will be applied as baseline information for upcoming IFC project which will focus on reducing public negative attitude towards mining.
More than a thousand representatives of aimag and soum residents as well as herders will be involved in the data collection process. Questionnaire approach will be used for data collection phase. During the survey, mapping process will take place in way of marking the main water sources of the local areas using advanced tools and applications. This water source map will serve as significant data for further activities of the new project.


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Fallout 4 - Play with a Gamepad or Joystick
controller support for any PC Gamepad, Xbox 360 Controller, PS3 or PS4 Controller, PlayStation Controller, etc
You are probably having trouble playing Fallout 4 with your gamepad or joystick.
Pinnacle Game Profiler can solve all your controller problems. Guaranteed.
Just click the button below to download the Pinnacle Game Profiler software,
which includes
a pre-made profile for Fallout 4 controller support. Simple.
If you have any questions or need any help, please email us: firstname.lastname@example.com
- Supports any game controller
- Easy to setup in a few minutes
- Advanced customization options
- Help from dedicated support team
"Pinnacle Game Profiler (PGP) is, in essence, the best game controller programming
software in the world." - DownloadSquad (HuffPost Tech)
software in the world." - DownloadSquad (HuffPost Tech)
Fallout 4 profile
Total Downloads:
author's profile notes
This profile is compatible with any standard PC Gamepad, Xbox 360 Controller, Playstation (PS4, PS3, PSX), or any similar devices
This profile is for the PC version of Fallout 4, only the favorites on the D-Pad is different, need advice how to set that up if you know.


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The Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences contains over 200,000 sequences. It contains classics, curios, thousands of derivatives entered purely for completeness's sake, short sequences whose completion would be a huge mathematical achievement, and some entries which are just downright silly.
For a lark, David and I have decided to review some of the Encyclopedia's sequences. We'll be rating sequences on four axes: Novelty, Aesthetics, Explicability and Completeness.
Primes from merging of 10 successive digits in decimal expansion of $\zeta(2)$ or $\frac{\pi^2}{6}$.9499012067, 4990120679, 3040043189, 1896233719, 2337190679, 9628724687, 2510068721, 8721400547, 9681155879, 5587948903, 7564558769, 9632356367, 3235636709, 3200805163, 4445184059, 3876314227, 2276587939, 1979084773, 9420451591, 9120818099, ...
Straight away, we can say that this sequence is finite. We'll deduct a point at the end for that.
David: It's too contrived.
Christian: It's both the decimal expansion of a famous constant, and a subset of the primes; both well-trodden boulevards of sequence cultivation. Taking just 10 digits shows a lack of imagination.
David: It's stupid.
Christian: Agreed.
Christian: Look at that! It's basically random.
David: Sequences should increase. It's ugly.
Christian: It doesn't look like proper numbers. It looks like a code. If I was taking any number of digits, I'd want it to be odd.
David: It goes up and down too much. It's ugly.
Christian: It would look nice if you wrote it in a grid.
David: At least it's consistent.
Christian: Pretty straight-forward. The primes are the primes; $\zeta(s) = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} n^{-s}$ is the Riemann zeta function. $\zeta(2)$ is the sum of the reciprocals of the square numbers, which is $\frac{\pi^2}{6}$ thanks to Euler. Write it out in decimal, look for primes. Easy.
David: It's straight-forward to understand, but what on Earth is the point in it? Why? I'd be happy to give it a 3.
Christian: I think it's worth a 4.
David: Fine.
Christian: It's finite. So it can be completed. The OEIS currently only has the first 1,000 entries. Poor show.
David: Will it contain all the 10-digit primes?!
Christian: It can be completed but it isn't. What do we think?
\[ \frac{3}{5} \text{(unsure)} \]
Final score
Deducting, as promised, one point for being loathsomely finite:
\[ \frac{2+2+4+3}{20} – \frac{1}{20} = \frac{10}{20} = \frac{1}{2} \]
Looks like this is a pretty average sequence.