text:
On Our Radar
It's Friday, which means you get to kick off your weekend with some of the links that had us atwitter* this week:
- First, you probably read about Tina Fey being censored on PBS in her acceptance speech for the Mark Twain Award. If you didn't, here's the clip (skip to 12:30ish for the cut clip):
Watch the full episode. See more Mark Twain Prize.
- Another video clip: The women of Reel Grrls have posted a vlog on celebrity weight loss and the media's obsession with it.
- Terry Gross is a divisive figure here at Bitch HQ (She asks good questions! She asks terrible questions! Her voice! It's so soothing/irritating!), but it's pretty undeniable that she's been kicking ass and taking names on Fresh Air this week. We're all about the Jay-Z interview in particular, for his responses to the "Bitch/ho question" (thanks, Terry!) and the "Why do rappers grab their crotches?" question.
- Privilege Denying Dude is a new tumblr that makes us laugh and cringe at the same time.
- Speaking of which, Vag Magazine/Upright Citizens Brigade is on episode #5 of their six-show web series. Remember Misty of Chincoteague? No? Just me? Cool.
*In the social media AND antiquated, you know, speech-related sort of way.
If you don't have a subscription to award-winning 80-page quarterly Bitch magazine, it's definitely time to start one.
Comments7 comments have been made. Post a comment.
Misty of Chincoteague
OMG, Do I remember Misty??? YES! I actually re-posted that episode on facebook solely because of the random shout-out to Misty.
That Tina Fey Quote Is A Good Reminder
I would like to see those censored remarks by Tina Fey in her Mark Twain Prize acceptance speech as quoted both in the blog Dorothy Surrenders and in the Censored Palin Joke article in Mother Jones (which you linked above in this article) posted, re-posted, and replayed over and over again everywhere. Sarah Palin has getting an unbelievable amount of free publicity, has that show on FOX and a lot of assistance trying present herself as normal. People need to hear this PBS censored quote so it doesn't disappear down the memory hole. The Tina Fey quote (from both Dorothy Surrenders and Mother Jones):
"And, you know, politics aside, the success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women - except, of course, those who will end up, you know, like, paying for their own rape kit 'n' stuff. But for everybody else, it's a win-win. Unless you're a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years. Whatever. But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us. Unless you believe in evolution. You know, actually, I take it back. The whole thing's a disaster."
Funny how quickly people forget. If Sarah Palin runs for President I suspect we'll be hearing more stuff like "O'Bama pals around with terrorists" and more playing on people's prejudices and fears - non politically of course (kaff, kaff).
Palin has a new book out this week
Yes, really ... and from what I have been hearing about it, she's bashing and trashing away at anyone and everyone who disagrees with every ludicrous, unrealistic matter she stands for.
For the love of our planet, society, and the crazy mixed-up media documenting it ... if you must vote for anyone on "Dancing With The Stars" tonight, please don't vote for that daughter of hers who did not at all deserve to make it to the finals. Jennifer Grey all the way!
If you have never seen "Dirty Dancing" ... your true feminist self (that is not Sarah Palin's co-opted version of it) absolutely must!
anniversary issue of feminist news & literary magazine!
hello bitch magazine! something else for your radar!
the hawaii women's journal has just published its fourth edition. find art, fiction, columns, advice, and general feminist insight and smarts.... please check out www.hawaiiwomensjournal.com/
support (other) independent feminist media!!!!
aloha from maui!
It's not online, sadly, but
I highly recommend the "36 Kick-Ass Girls & Feminist Boys" piece by Jessica Stites in the current issue of Ms. The feminist potential of YA books is too often ignored!
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text:
Mark McLaren
Bristol, England United Kingdom
I am a systems developer working at Bristol University with Java, Web and XML technologies. Initially I was employed to work on a enterprise portal (uPortal) and have built up skills in JSR168 portlets. My powers of jQuery and CSS have increased greatly recently. I really like Netbeans, Spring Framework and Maven 2 because they make my job easier. I usually end up doing more "design" work than I would like (but secretly I quite enjoy that stuff).
Experience show all
Analyst/Developer, University of Bristol
2002 - Current
Portal developer - using a very wide range of Java and XML technologies these include: uPortal, JSR168 portlets, XML/XSL, Struts, Spring Framework, JSP/JSTL, Web services, Tomcat application server, JavaScript (including jQuery and AJAX development), Jakarta Ant, Maven2.
Internet Systems Developer, VBCnet
September 2000 - March 2002
Hostmaster (Email and DNS maintenance - [Sendmail/BIND]) Perl programming XML/XSL development (via Perl Sablotron) Web development (HTML/JavaScript) FreeBSD server software maintenance (Apache etc.)
Computer Science Demonstrator, Keele University
July 1995 - September 2000
Involved in the day to day practical lessons at all levels in the Computer Science department. Hosted drop-in help surgeries for students
Taught everything from word processing to Java/Modula2/Assembly Language/Unix/Perl/SML/HTML programming and Neural networking. Heavily involved with all levels of the Computer Science courses (BSc/MSc and PGCE) and non-IT courses.
BSc Business Information Systems, Sheffield Hallam University
1991 - 1995
Stack Exchange show all Last seen today
Open Source show all
Google Code, ; followed by 46 people
Extending JavaMail 1.4.4 to support the Gmail IMAP Extensions
Project Owner
Bookmarks Portlet
A JSR168 compliant bookmarks management portlet application developed with Apache Struts and the Apache Struts Bridge from the Apache Portals Bridge project. Initially targeted at the uPortal community.
Project Owner
Spectrum +
TextPad (windows), Joe (unix)
JSR168 Bookmarks Portlet
JavaMail Extension supporting GMail IMAP protocol extension

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Laundry Coupon Codes
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text:
Search the collections
Where is it from?
- A Place & Date Depicted Melbourne, Australia
Similar items over time
Digital Photograph - Protestors Marching in Street Demonstration, Melbourne, circa 1992 Reg. No: MM 110390
- Description Of Content:
- Protestors marching in a street demonstration, carrying placards. There is a man in a denim jacket in the foreground, and a red car.
This photograph shows a street demonstration against the Kennett State Victorian Government, circa 1992. The march was about rights for workers, threats to funding and ongoing employment for public servants, council amalgamations, and school closures. The photographer, Liza Dale-Hallet remembers it as 'A general protest against the strategies and decisions of the State Liberal government at the time, which were seen as aggressive, unnecessary and 'rude' by many people. This march was very early. The laws were changed by the State Government to make demonstrations of this kind more difficult. People became exhausted and overwhelmed. These were the largest demonstrations to be held in Melbourne since the Vietnam War Moratorium- over 100,000 people marched.'
- Acquisition Information:
- Copied from Ms Liza Dale-Hallett, 2006
- Acknowledgement:
- Contributed by Ms Liza Dale-Hallett
More information
|Themes this item is part of:
|Public Life & Institutions Collection, Melbourne's Biggest Family Album Collection
|Primary Classification:
|Secondary Classification:
|Parliamentary Politics
|Tertiary Classification:
|protest rallies
|People Depicted:
|people unknown
|Organisations Depicted:
|State Public Services Federation of Victoria
|Digital Still Image: Colour; Tiff
|Place & Date Depicted:
|Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, circa 1992
Place Depicted Notes: The corner of Little Bourke Street and Exhibition Street.
Source of Date Depicted: Contributor's memory.
|Ms Liza Dale-Hallett
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text:
April 16, 2014
BEAUMONT, Texas -
Since having the interim tag removed from his title Lamar head basketball coach Tic Price has been busy getting his team ready for the 2014-15 season. That work has consisted of recruiting and putting together a coaching staff. Part of that work was completed Wednesday when Price announced the hiring of Anthony Anderson, Robert Kummer and Antonio Madlock as assistant coaches.
"I feel a sense of relief, but also I'm thrilled to be able to bring in the caliber of coaches that we have been able to put together," said Price. "These guys bring a ton of experience to Lamar, and are well respected among their peers. We are very fortunate to be able to put together a staff of this magnitude."
The new staff brings with them nearly 60 years of coaching experience from several conferences across the nation. Between the three of them, they have worked in the Atlantic Coast, Atlantic 10, Big 12, Conference USA, Mountain West, Southeastern, Southern, Southland and Sun Belt Conferences.
Anderson comes to Beaumont with 20 years of coaching experience, including 14 years at the NCAA Division I level, where he has been recognized for recruiting some of the nation's top talent. The previous two seasons, Anderson has served as the assistant coach at St. Paul High School, as well as founding and coaching the Louisiana Bluechips and Lady Bluechips basketball organizations. Prior to his time at the high school ranks, Anderson served one season as an assistant to NBA Hall of Famer, Isiah Thomas at Florida International. Anderson brought added recognition to the university when he helped sign the nation's 30th-ranked recruiting class.
Anderson has left a paper trail of success throughout his career having spent time at Miami, Texas-Arlington, Tulane, New Orleans and McNeese, in addition to his time in Dallas. During his two seasons with the Hurricanes, Anderson assembled a top-10 recruiting class according to Street & Smith's Magazine. In addition to his talents as a recruiter, Anderson helped develop future NBA players Guillermo Diaz and Robert Hite.
Kummer went to Appalachian State from UNC-Charlotte where he spent six seasons as an assistant with the 49ers. During his time with the 49ers, Kummer helped coach 11 all-conference selections, 17 players who went on to play professionally and 2006 John Wooden Award finalist Curtis Withers. His 2006 and 2007 recruiting classes ranked among the top 15 in the nation (according to Hoop Scoop Online). The 49ers also made three postseason appearances during that stretch, including a berth in the 2005 NCAA Championships.
Kummer received his start in college coaching at UNC-Charlotte in 1996 and spent two years in Charlotte before taking an assistant position at Texas A&M. During his six years in College Station, Kummer brought in some of the best talent in program history signing two top-20 classes. Twelve of those signees would eventually go on to sign professional contracts.
Madlock has spent the past 20 years coaching the game of basketball, including 17 at the NCAA Division I level. Madlock's arrival at Lamar comes after a four-year stop at Auburn where helped sign two top-40 recruiting classes, including a 2012 class that was ranked in the top 25, as well as being ranked in the top three in the Southeastern Conference.
Madlock arrived in Auburn after serving as an assistant at UTEP. During Madlock's time in El Paso, the Miners averaged 20 wins per season and made three postseason appearances, including a berth in the 2010 NCAA tournament. Madlock's efforts helped produce a C-USA Player of the Year, 6th Man of the Year, two C-USA All-Freshman selections and a first-team selection and one 19 and Under Team USA participant.
Madlock got his start in 1994 in the high school ranks as an assistant coach at Melrose High School, before taking an assistant coaching position at Arkansas State. Madlock was with the Red Wolves for three seasons before being promoted to associate head coach for his final six seasons.
"I went looking for guys who were experienced and knew their way around the deep south," said Price. "I also wanted some guys who have been in some high profile programs and have a good-eye for talent, but also understand that we have to recruit at a higher level to be successful. All three are well rounded guys who are tireless recruiters."


text:
Madison, Cafe Continental
I was just interested in other folks' opinions on this place. I never saw it mentioned on the board, and we gave it a try for a couple different reasons. My wife only had a salad, not being too hungry, but I double pork chop I had was pretty good. As close as you could get to undercooked, without being so. Pretty impressive timing for pork. The rest of the plate was okay.
Anyone eaten the steaks, how's the pasta, good/bad/indifferent experiences?
I was just surprised that it seemed as good as it was, and not often mentioned, or at all mentioned.
My family likes it. In particular we enjoy brunch there. The wait staff is quite good with kids, despite the lack of high chairs there.
re: jumble
Used to be a favorite of ours, but the prices have gone way up. They're in L'etoile territory now.
Cafe Continental is one of the great little restaurants that make Madison a wonderful restaurant town. Their steaks are very good, especially the top sirloin ( ! ) Brunch is very nice, the service is friendly and attentive. Prices are very reasonable for such high quality.(PS: Their "sister" restaurant, The Continental in Fitchburg is a larger, and just as great version of the King Street location.)


text: Savvy Hair Studio is an intimate boutique salon located in the NW Alphabet District. We at Savvy are absolutely committed to fulfilling all our clients needs. Our highly trained staff views each client as an individual. We tailor every cut and color based on lifestyle as well as personal style, while instilling a current flair. although we are small in size, our knowledge and passion for our craft is enormous. Our driving force is the art of hair and our ultimate commitment is to the highest level of customer service and attention to detail. It is our top priority that every client who enters our space, feel comfortable, cared for and leave with hair they absolutely love. Come visit us and enjoy a refreshing beverage, while taking in the beautiful view from our third floor suite. We look forward to meeting you!


text:
A tentative compromise is in the works that could save the controversial proposal to merge Rutgers-Camden with Rowan University, higher education officials said today. The framework for the deal calls for creation of a combined institution in South Jersey that would be controlled by an independent board but retain some form of the Rutgers name, the officials said.
Under the plan, negotiated behind the scenes by a group of state lawmakers and university officials, Rutgers would still oversee how degrees are awarded and other academic issues but would have no authority over day-to-day operations of its Camden campus, those involved in the talks say.
"There is a conceptual plan," said Peter McDonough, Rutgers' vice president for public affairs and one of those involved in the talks. "We think we've got a loose framework."
The plan still faces review by Rutgers' governing boards and Gov. Chris Christie, who has pushed for the merger and so far has given no indication he is willing to compromise on the plan — which has faced strong opposition on the Rutgers-Camden campus and among many in the Legislature.


text:
Hang tight!
Recipe by Heather Simpson
"A family favorite when a no-bake, fast pie is needed. (And family members too small to use the oven can make dessert!) Very pretty when garnished with whipped cream and mint leaves."
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1 (9 inch)
prepared graham cracker crust
2 (8 ounce) packages
cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can
sweetened condensed milk
lemons, juiced
1 teaspoon
lemon zest
We loved this, but I did modify it just a little. I only had 8 oz cream cheese, so I folded about a cup of Cool Whip into the mix. I also used the juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime. Added 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon orange extract. The recipe I normally use for lemon icebox pie only calls for condensed milk and lemon juice, but I like this recipe better, because I believe the cream cheese tones down the flavor of the condensed milk. We really enjoyed the creaminess and light lemon taste.
Disappointing. I thought two packages of cream cheese would be too much and I should have followed my instincts instead of the reviews (and made the other Lemon Icebox Pie recipe on this site that calls for only ONE package of cream cheese, darn it) Too cream cheesey tangy, not sweet enough because of it (I'm sure the sweetness level would be fine if only one package of cream cheese was used) and not lemony enough, even tho' I nearly doubled the amount of zest called for. I also made my own crust, using "Graham Cracker Crust," also from this site. It's a pretty pie, but it's not as mouthwatering good as it looks.
235 Ratings
This recipe is fabulous! The pie comes out beautiful and so tasty. I used the zest and juice of 3 lemons and it turned out great. Just enough tartness to offset the sweetness of the cream cheese and condensed milk. A hint? Keep it in the freezer for a while before you eat it, makes it even more refreshing!
I made this pie tonight for a dinner party and everybody loved it. I did however, use the zest of 4 lemons! I also used a regular crust intstead of the graham. I really whipped the heck out of it to make it thick and creamy. UPDATE: USE THE ZEST OF 4 LEMONS, NOT THE JUICE OF 4 LEMONS!!!!
This was extremely easy to make and pleased my dinner guests. I recommend adding the cool-whip topping...it made the dessert much better. I also made my lower in fat by using lite cool-whip and fat free cream cheese! Every little bit helps!
Be sure to blend the cream sheese well before adding lemon juice or it will curdle and taste terrible!
This is actually one of my favorite summertime recipes for it's light refreshing flavor, the fact that it's an easy no bake recipe, and doesn't call for cool whip or jello. I've made it often and it's one of my most popular desserts. Seeing that it has some very mixed reviews, mostly addressing consistency and flavor, I will offer this...cans of sweetened condensed milk only come in 300 ml (10 oz) sizes around here so that's the amount I use, and it sets up quite well for me, so I would recommend using that amount only. Because the size of a lemon can vary and the recipe doesn't give a specific amount of juice, I would suggest adding the juice to taste so it doesn't get too tart. If more lemon flavor is desired, but it's tart enough, up the amount of lemon zest instead of adding more juice. To ensure a smooth filling, be sure to scrape down the bowl after beating the cream cheese, and add the milk and lemon slowly, again scraping the bowl occasionally until all is well incorporated. Finally, I have found that beating the mixture for a good five minutes after it's smooth yields a very light textured, mousse like result. Be sure to also use a 'tnt' crust if going the store bought route or it may detract from the overall flavor of the finished pie. I prefer to just mix up some graham crumbs, butter, and sugar if needed, and press into the pie plate. It isn't always necessary to bake a crumb crust.
This was EXCELLENT. I made it twice in one week. I used a shortbread ready-made pie crust from the store and fat-free cream cheese. I used real lemons one day and the next time I used a 1/2 cup of lemon juice from consentrate. Both worked out well. We kept it in the freezer until ready to serve. Thanks for a quick and perfect summer pie.
Very easy to make, and loved by everyone. I did use the juice of two lemons, and the zest of two lemons.
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Lemon Icebox Pie III
Serving Size: 1/8 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 8
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 506
Calories from Fat: 282
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text:
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Real Housewives: Divorces Plague Reality Show
Divorce in Hollywood is as common as botox and whitened teeth. For decades, the theory has been that if you're a celebrity, you'll probably venture in and out of relationships more frequently because, face it: Life in the glare of the spotlight, amongst the glitterati, can serve up many temptations.
But the benefit of being say, a blockbuster film star, is that although you're a public figure, publicists go out of their way to keep the details of a failed relationship under wraps. A joint statement of mutual respect and friendship (ahem) is typically issued by both parties, while fans inevitably read tabloid accounts of infidelity and heartbreak.
But the new breed of celebrities — namely, reality TV stars — face new problems. As we've seen with many of Bravo's Real Housewives, lives are captured on film and aired to millions of viewers who can witness firsthand the unraveling of marriages and relationships.
Read the full article, and see the list of divorcing Housewives, at PopEater.com.


text:
The Secrets to Writing Great Comedy
Is this the right book for me?
The Secrets to Writing Great Comedy will reveal to both beginners and experienced writers the distinctive features that mark out comedy from other forms of creative writing. Having identified these, it will help you then to unlock your inner anarchist, and explore the different elements of comedy, using a combination of practical exercises, insight and creative inspiration. Whatever your preferred comic genre, you will find guidance on everything from wordplay and visual humour to plots, comedy characters and different styles. A section on performance will help you to hone stand-up skills, while chapters on stage and screen will give techniques and tips on how to craft a sitcom or create a sketch show. Finally, there is a uniquely frank but useful section on the realities of the markets, and the process of submission, with even a guide to how to work successfully with other people - the downfall of many a budding comedy writer.
The Secrets to Writing Great Comedy includes:
Part one - Writing
Chapter 1: Comedy basics
Chapter 2: Comedy writing mindset
Chapter 3: Getting started
Chapter 4: Language
Chapter 5: Jokes
Chapter 6: Stand-up
Chapter 7: Simple characters and situations
Chapter 8: Sketches and quickies
Chapter 9: More complex characters
Chapter 10: More complex situations and plots
Chapter 11: Sitcoms
Chapter 12: Character development and deeper plotting
Chapter 13: Editing, polishing and unblocking
Part two - Information
Chapter 14: Comedy formats
Chapter 15: Figures of speech
Chapter 16: Comedy styles and genres
Chapter 17: Writing for different media
Chapter 18: Other types of comedy work
Chapter 19: Practicalities of placing your work
Chapter 20: Doing it yourself
Learn effortlessly with a new easy-to-read page design and interactive features:
Not got much time?
One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started.
Author insights
Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience.
Test yourself
Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress.
Extend your knowledge
Extra online articles to give you a richer understanding of the subject.
Five things to remember
Quick refreshers to help you remember the key facts.
Try this
Innovative exercises illustrate what you've learnt and how to use it.
241 pages; ISBN 9781444136142
Download in secure PDF format
Title: The Secrets to Writing Great Comedy
Author: Lesley Bown
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- Academic > Literature > Literary history > By period > Ancient
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- Humor


text:
Saudi Aramco planning two new projects
Saudi Aramco is planning to execute two new projects by the end of the decade to boost the kingdom's oil production. Currently, Saudi Arabia is pumping slightly less than 9 million barrels per day (bpd), the head of the state-run oil company said.
Speaking at the Oil Summit of the Cambridge Energy Research Association's Annual Conference (CERA Week 2005), organized in Houston, chief executive officer and president Abdallah Jumah said Saudi Aramco was in talks with prospective partners over a new export-oriented refinery.
Jumah reiterated that Aramco's Khursaniyah project would reach 500,000 bpd production in 2007 and that output from its Khurais oilfield was likely to total more than 1 million bpd before the end of the decade, closer to 2009.
These two projects form the cornerstone of the kingdom's bid to raise production capacity to 12.5 million bpd to satisfy growing world demand.
"We have developed a plan to build, at least initially, an export refinery in the kingdom. And we are now talking to many prospective venturers," Jumah said.
He did not say which companies Aramco was considering for the plant, but said last month that Indian firms could be invited to participate in a new 400,000-bpd plant.


text:
Leicester textile firm creates 150 jobs
Posted: June 12, 2013|
A clothes factory is helping lead the revival of the textile industry by creating up to 150 jobs this year.
Basic Premier said growing high street demand for UK-made T-shirts, skirts and dresses was driving up trade.
It employs 50 people at its factory in Rolleston Street, North Evington, Leicester, supplying retailers such as George at Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Top Shop, BHS, Matalan and Primark.
Managers hope the number of staff will rise to 200 by the end of the year.
City Knitwear firm BS Attwall said last month it hoped to create 130 jobs this year after buying a 130,000sq ft factory in Forest Road, Humberstone.
Husband and wife Mick and Raj Cheema run Basic Premier in partnership with clothing design and manufacturing company Basic Thinking, which employs a further 50 people in Grace Road, Aylestone.
Mick said he believed providing a clean, bright and safe working environment, paying staff above the minimum wage and offering a "Made in Britain" label, would help retail demand soar.
He said the factory could also make clothes to order much quicker than overseas suppliers, giving stores a chance to react to changing sales patterns and the weather.
He hoped other manufacturers in the city would follow their lead and help Leicester become a major player in clothes manufacturing again.
He said: "I think Leicester will regain it's crown.
"The UK has always been the leader in clothing and fashion and if the big stores start ordering from UK manufacturers again, it means they can respond to fashion changes far more quickly."
He said the firm was already advertising for staff on radio and would be using JobcentrePlus and the recruitment pages of the Leicester Mercury.
He said he wanted to look at the possibility of launching an apprenticeship scheme to train managers.
Basic Thinking commercial and operations director Chris Taylor said turnover at his company – which also employs 500 people at a factory in Egypt – had doubled to about £25 million this year.
He said: "All the major retailers are concerned about making sure the products they sell are being made in ethical and correctly equipped factories.
"Customers want to know their products are not being produced in sweatshops.
"Also, buying from the Far East, delivery times may be 16 to 18 weeks.
"By using someone closer to home, they have a much better chance of getting their decisions right.
"On top of all that, I think there's a real resonance with the public of buying a product made in the UK.
"We believe we can double turnover with the customers we already have."


text:
Science Hill senior quarterback Justin Snyder rushed for 140 yards and two second-half touchdowns, helping the Hilltoppers pull away from Elizabethton for a 27-13 non-conference victory Friday night at warm and crowded Kermit Tipton Stadium.
After giving Science Hill a 7-0 halftime lead with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Alex Lundberg on the Hilltoppers' opening possession, Snyder made it 13-0 with a 15-yard TD scramble with 10:47 left in the third quarter. His final score, a 6-yard run weaving through the congestion between the tackles, gave Science Hill a 19-6 lead with 7:20 remaining in the game.
"I've always had faith in him and was glad to see him do that – come out and have a great game, especially how he responded after that interception," said Science Hill coach Stacy Carter, whose team bounced back from a season-opening loss at Greeneville.
Snyder was intercepted by Science Hill transfer Chad Pritchard, who returned it some 30 yards to the Science Hill 8-yard line for a 1st-and-goal with 4:19 left in the third quarter. But Science Hill held on a 4th-and-goal from the 1 to preserve its 7-0 lead.
Elizabethton tailback Terrence Turner said he thought he reached the goal line on the toss sweep that was strung out to his right, but said the Cyclones shouldn't have cut it so close – feelings echoed by Elizabethton coach Shawn Witten.
"You don't know what happened there, but we've got two downs from the goal line or the 1-yard line there," Witten said. "Chad made a great interception and got it down there. I mean there's no reason there … why it should've been that close."
Science Hill defensive coordinator Ralph Nelson was obviously proud of the goal-line stand.
"We were able to get him down when we had to," Nelson said. "And that's hard to do with this bunch. He's a good running back."
Elizabethton was also penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct after the fourth-down run, and Snyder responded by engineering a 14-play, 85-yard drive that he capped with the 15-yard scramble on a 3rd-and-13.
"I kind of peeked out of the corner of my eye and saw a hole, and I just went and it popped open," said Snyder, who credited receiver Aaron Greene with an invaluable downfield block.
The drive lasted 5:32 and gave the Hilltoppers a 13-0 lead with 10:47 remaining in the game. (The PAT kick was wide left.) Tight end Hank Overbay made an 18-yard catch to the Elizabethon 24 on a 3rd-and-11. Overbay also caught a two-point conversion pass to conclude the game's scoring after junior Jamal Stephens' 29-yard TD run with 3:45 left.
Snyder was 11-of-18 passing for 204 yards. Greene had five catches for 129 yards and created a 15-yard pass interference penalty by getting open deep.
Jahmar Adams had 20 carries for 62 yards and Will Adams had 10 carries for 65 yards for the Hilltoppers. Science Hill outgained the Cyclones 218-116 in the first half, but only led 7-0.
"We just made too many mistakes the first half," Carter said. "I mean heck, we could've easily been up 28 points. We had like 500 yards total offense and you're moving it like crazy … and we've got to score better when we do that. It seemed like we'd do something to shoot ourself in the foot every time in the first half. When you go in seven to nothing when you should've probably at least scored three, it's just tough."
Witten thought the first half was still effective for Science Hill. The Hilltoppers' fast tempo and physical philosophy took a toll on the Cyclones defense.
"I think the key in the first half was our defense was on the field way too long," Witten said. "We just didn't make enough plays."
Science Hill defensive back Luke Hampton made a play on the game's first snap from scrimmage. He intercepted McKenly Berry to give Science Hill the ball at the Elizabethton 28. Two plays later, on 3rd-and-6, Snyder spotted Lundberg open in the end zone.
"I think the first play – the interception – just kind of took a lot out of us there," said Witten, whose Cyclones fell to 1-1. "They've got a lot of great players that gave a great effort tonight, but it was a hard-fought game – it really was. … We were fortunate for it to just be seven to nothing at halftime. …
"(Snyder) is a tough quarterback and he's a competitor. That's one of the best things – he's a winner, and he finds ways to win."
Wes Montgomery had three catches for 82 yards, including a 53-yard TD pass which got the Cyclones within 13-6 with 9:48 left in the game.
Berry's 1-yard run made it 19-13 with 6:20 remaining.
Science Hill's O'Ryen Scott set the tone for the ensuing drive by running over a Cyclone while returning the kickoff to Science Hill's 41.
Two plays later, Snyder ran 19 yards on 3rd-and-6 to the Elizabethton 35 with 5:03 left. After two more plays, on 3rd-and-4, the 5-foot-7, 210-pound Stephens busted through a tackler in the secondary after picking up the first down and didn't stop until reaching the end zone. Stephens finished with 43 yards on four carries.
"He came in and got a big run there," Carter said. "He was fresh-legged, and I thought it was a super job Jamal did. He runs through some people."
Berry passed for 181 yards. Pritchard had six catches for 73 yards. Turner had 12 carries for 105 yards.
Todd Page-Gilmore intercepted Berry in the end zone and returned it to the Science Hill 5 with 2:14 remaining.
Tate Isbell had several tackles for minimal or negative yardage and broke up a pass. Fellow 'Toppers linebacker Grant Janeway sacked Berry for a 10-yard loss on a first down at the Science Hill 14 with about two minutes remaining in the first half. A false start penalty and a 6-yard tackle for loss by Page-Gilmore followed Janeway's sack, and Elizabethton eventually turned it over on downs at the Science Hill 22 with 39 seconds left after gaining some 10 yards on a 4th-and-28 hook-and-ladder call.
Science Hill hosts Sullivan Central on Friday. Elizabethton visits Happy Valley.


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Why is everyone on craigslist so dumb?
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Packer Country
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Re: Why is everyone on craigslist so dumb?
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Situation 2- I have an ad up looking for a guitarist. I get a response "Looking still?" I reply yes and send maybe 4-5 sentances of information about the band pretty standard stuff and ask them a few questions. My reply back is in all caps and just says "DIDNT ASK FOR YOUR expletive LIFE STORY GEEZ"
Ridiculous. If I was responding to your ad, I would've been happy that someone is even trying to give me some info. Everybody I ever talk to keeps everything on the DL and doesn't give me any information about the project what so ever.
A somewhat unrelated experience: I inquired about a cymbal some guy was selling. We emailed back and forth, talked a bit and discussed the fact that my transportation was an issue so I might have issues getting to the cymbal. He said that was fine and we agreed that I'd get back to him in a week when I could possibly get a ride. A week went past and i was able to line up a ride. I contacted him back and he told me that he was no longer selling the cymbal because he was sick of people like me stringing him along. What the hell?
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Manned flight in powered aircraft was only 15 years old when the idea of carrying mail in airplanes seemed doable to the bureaucrats in Washington. The airplane's success during the Great War in Europe-still ongoing- showed a promise of peacetime applications. So it happened on May 1, 1918, that the U.S.
December 1, 2007
December 1, 2007
A venerable member of Bombardier's business jet stable has been made over. The manufacturer has replaced the wide-cabin Challenger 604 with the $27.38 million (typically equipped) Challenger 605.
October 1, 2007
When French airframer EADS Socata unveiled a souped-up version of its venerable TBM 700 single-engine turboprop in 2005, it billed the aircraft as the "anti-very light jet." Indeed, the TBM 850 will carry more payload, fly farther and typically complete a 500-mile trip about as quickly as a twinjet VLJ. It will also burn only about half the fuel and climb like a rocket.
October 1, 2007
When Gulfstream purchased Galaxy Aerospace in 2001 for $330 million, the deal was sort of the aviation equivalent of the reality television show Flip This House. With an eye to quick profit, an investor on the show snaps up a distressed property he thinks needs only new paint, then discovers the place is infested with termites and has a rotting roof. Whoops.
October 1, 2007
In the 1990s, a booming economy created fertile ground for fractional flying, a new form of private air travel that providers touted as having predictable costs and being much less expensive than full ownership.
October 1, 2007
Aircraft cabin pressure often receives blame for passenger discomfort, from mental and physical fatigue to nausea, headaches and malaise. And while some justification exists for such claims, the subject is complicated.
October 1, 2007
Simply put, air charter is the front door for all things at the business aircraft level in general aviation. It precedes fractional ownership. It stimulates full aircraft ownership. The jet card programs couldn't exist without it. And for the manufacturers it represents a free "demo" program for their products.
October 1, 2007
Before you fly, take a moment to consider whether you risk spreading disease to fellow passengers-or vice versa. "People know tuberculosis, colds and flu are contagious," said Dr. David Streitwieser, medical director for MedAire's MedLink Service.
October 1, 2007
In a recent discussion of sports with my British colleague Charles Alcock, he talked about England's historic admiration for what he described as the "gifted amateur." This was illustrated best in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire, the story of Harold Abrahams, the gold-medal winner in the 100-meter dash at the 1924 Olympics.
August 1, 2007
The Dish: Filet of Minnesota walleye pike encrusted in pumpernickel, served on a bed of cranberry, wild rice with mixed fresh greens and rustic bread.The Caterer: Atiki's Flight Catering, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago, (888) 856-7884, www.atikiscatering.com.
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"Ride-sharing, in the old days, was everyone hopping in the VW bus to see [the Grateful Dead's] Jerry [Garcia]. Now it's about getting a seat on a King Air 350i "
-Kenny Dichter, CEO of private jet company Wheels Up, who is lining up airplanes to transport fans to three Grateful Dead farewell show in Chicago.
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Managing Director, European Products
Tedann Olsen came to Genscape through the acquisition of EnvaPower 2008, the market intelligence and analytics arm of the company based in Boston. Over the last decade with EnvaPower and then Genscape, Tedann was the operational lead for the launch of product covering five wholesale electricity markets across North America and Europe.
Prior to Genscape Tedann worked as a product and marketer in various B2B companies taking products from conception to delivery.


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text:
A television line doubler (interlaced to progressive scan converter) incorporating the following aspects—an improved field motion detector which does not treat low frequency vertical transitions as motion; a frame motion detector having an improved ability to differentiate motion from subcarrier signal components; a sawtooth artifact detector; a sawtooth artifact detector in combination with a film pattern detector, such that the artifact detector can take the film pattern detector out of film mode earlier than it would if it only were responsive to a break in the film pattern; tandem field motion detectors; an improved field based film detector; film pattern detectors and motion detectors used therewith which operate by performing end-of-field calculations; the combination of a field motion detector and a frame motion detector such that the frame motion detector provides a motion signal used as a verification by the field motion detector; an improved NTSC film detector requiring a minimum number of NTSC film pattern sequences; and an improved PAL film detector employing a minimum motion threshold detector.
1. A field motion detector for generating a field motion detection signal from information contained in fields of opposite parity of a 2-1 interlaced format video signal having an input receiving the video signal (F0) from a source, a first delay delaying the video signal at the input by one field period less one half of one scanning line period and providing a first delayed output (F1−�H), a second delay delaying the video signal at the input by one field period plus one half of one scanning line period and providing a second delayed output (F1+�H), a first subtractor subtracting the first delayed output from the video signal to provide a first difference, a second subtractor subtracting the second delayed output from the video signal to provide a second difference, a keep smaller absolute value comparator selecting and providing, as an output indicator of field motion, the magnitude of field motion the smaller of the first difference and the second difference, the improvement characterized by
a single line vertical differentiator responsive to vertical transitions within a field, providing an output indicative of vertical energy,
a comparator comparing the magnitude of field motion from said keep smaller absolute value comparator to the vertical energy from said single line vertical differentiator, and
a switch controlled by said comparator such that the detector provides as its output an indication of field motion, the magnitude of the field motion taken from the output of said keep smaller absolute value comparator when the field motion magnitude is greater than said vertical energy magnitude, and provides as its output an indication of no field motion when the vertical energy magnitude is greater than the field motion magnitude.
2. The field motion detector of
3. A motion detector for generating a frame motion detection signal from information contained in successive frames of a 2-1 interlaced format video signal, the detector having an input receiving the video signal (F0) from a source, a delay delaying the video signal at the input by one frame and providing a frame delayed output (F1), and a subtractor subtracting the delayed video signal from the video signal providing a frame motion signal, the improvement characterized by
a horizontal low pass filter receiving the frame motion signal and outputting a horizontally low pass filtered frame motion signal,
a first rectifier rectifying said horizontally low pass filtered frame motion signal,
a first threshold removing components in the rectified horizontally low pass filtered frame motion signal below a threshold level, outputting a first filtered, rectified and thresholded signal,
a horizontal high pass and vertical high pass filter receiving the frame motion signal and outputting a horizontally high pass and vertically high pass filtered frame motion signal,
a second rectifier rectifying said horizontally high pass and vertically high pass filtered frame motion signal,
a second threshold removing components in the rectified horizontally high pass and vertically high pass filtered frame motion signal below a threshold level, outputting a second filtered, rectified and thresholded signal,
a horizontal high pass and vertical low pass filter receiving the frame motion signal and outputting a horizontally high pass and vertically low pass filtered frame motion signal,
a third rectifier rectifying said horizontally high pass and vertically low pass filtered frame motion signal,
a third threshold removing components in the rectified horizontally high pass and vertically low pass filtered frame motion signal below a threshold level, outputting a third filtered, rectified and thresholded signal, and
an additive combiner adding the first, second and third filtered, rectified and thresholded signals outputting a modified frame motion signal less influenced by subcarrier signal components.
4. The motion detector of
5. The motion detector of
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 09/780,057 filed Feb. 9, 2001, now U.S. Pat No. 6,580,463, which is, in turn, a division of application Ser. No. 09/440,678 filed Nov. 16, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,201,577 filed Oct. 10, 1997, which is turn is a division of application Ser. No. 08/948,841, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,182.
Portions of the present application are common to the copending application of Yves C. Faroudja, Peter D. Swartz and Jack C. Campbell entitled "High-definition Television Signal Processing for Transmitting and Receiving a Television Signal in a Manner Compatible with the Present System," Attorneys' Docket FAR004, filed the same day as the present application.
The present invention relates to television signal processing. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved signal processing apparatus and methods for detecting motion picture film sources in television signals.
In accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,976, it is known to detect that a 60 Hz NTSC television signal has as its source a 24 frame/second motion picture film. A 24 frame/second film is applied to and synchronized with 60 Hz NTSC video by using a 3-2 film pull-down ratio such that three video fields come from one film frame and the subsequent two video fields come from the next film frame (e.g., AABBBCCDDDEE, etc., where "A," "B," etc. are successive film frames). Video fields of the same parity in adjacent video frames are compared. When motion is present, a distinctive repeating pattern is obtained only if the video source is film (i.e., 1101111011, etc., where "1" indicates motion and "0" indicates no motion).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280 discloses an arrangement for detecting a 30 Hz progressive scan source, which may be a video camera or film, in a 60 Hz progressively scanned non-interlaced television system. In the presence of motion from frame-to-frame within the 30 Hz progressively scanned video image sequences, when the video sequences in adjacent video fields are compared a 010101, etc. pattern results, indicating a 30 Hz progressively scanned source. Comparison of every second video field, to yield a 111111, etc., pattern, further confirms the 30 Hz progressive scan source. In order to operate, the arrangement relies on the spatial coincidence of pixels in the successive identical pairs of fields of the progressive scan television signal.
Published International Patent Application WO 94/30006 discloses apparatus for detecting twenty-five frame per second motion picture film sources in 50 Hz television signals, such as PAL, SECAM, 50 Hz NTSC, 50 Hz HDTV and 50 Hz monochrome television signals. The detection scheme looks for differences in motion between a field and the previous field, on one hand, and between the same field and the subsequent field, on the other hand.
The detection of motion picture film sources in television signals is useful in various environments, for example, a line doubler, a television standards converter, a television slow motion processor and a video information compressor.
A well-known "line-doubling" technique employs the conversion of an interlaced television signal (such as employed in the NTSC, PAL and SECAM systems), in which two time consecutive interleaved fields of scan lines represent a frame, to a non-interlaced or progressively scanned television signal, in which all of the scan lines in the frame are scanned out sequentially. The result, in the case of NTSC, is that 525 scan lines are presented every one-sixtieth of a second rather than 262.5 scan lines, thus potentially doubling the vertical resolution to the full frame resolution of 525 lines. Typically, line doublers employ, at least part of the time, field merging or inter-field interpolation, which provides a full doubling of the vertical resolution. Pairs of fields are combined to form a single progressively scanned frame. Such arrangements are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,876,956; 4,967,271; 4,982,280; 4,989,090, 5,159,451 and 5,291,280.
One problem resulting from field merging is that there is a time difference between fields in the interlaced television signal. Thus, a moving object may be in different locations from field to field and, if two such fields are combined to form a single frame, the vertical and diagonal edges of objects moving horizontally or diagonally appear as ragged sawtooths rather than smooth curves. Line doubling is lost along such transitions. The sawtooth effect is exacerbated if the reproduction system employs vertical enhancement. A sawtooth pattern is an artifact created by the incorrect interleaving of two fields arising from different film frames. Visually what should be a continuous vertical or diagonal line will appear as a zigzag on the edge.
One solution to this problem is to employ some type of scan line or intra-field interpolation in regions of the television picture display in which movement is occurring. An improved technique for providing intra-field interpolation in areas of the picture having motion is set forth in said U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,090.
A potential problem with switchable inter-field/intra-field interpolation line doublers is that motion may not be properly detected at all times, thus allowing the above mentioned jagged vertical or diagonal transition artifacts to appear briefly and intermittently. Such arrangements may have particular difficulty in consistently switching correctly between operating regimes when operating on an interlaced television signal that has been subject to data compression or standards conversion (as from PAL to NTSC, for example).
Another known solution to the problem is to recogznize when the source of the interlaced television signal is a motion picture film. As mentioned above, in the United States, 24 frame per second motion picture films are applied to the 30 frame per second NTSC television signal by means of a "3-2 pulldown ratio," such that a patterned sequence of 3 film frames, 2 film frames, 3 film frames, etc. are carried by consecutive television fields. By identifying pairs of interlaced fields carrying the same film frame, the pairs may be merged to generate essentially perfect line doubled progressively scanned frames, each representing a motion picture frame. Such techniques are described in said U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,876,596, 4,982,280 and 5,291,280.
However, the motion picture film detection arrangement is also subject to problems. For example, a video edit (rather than a film edit) may disrupt the 3-2 pulldown ratio, causing merged television fields to be derived from different film frames. Thus, until the film pulldown ratio detection circuitry resynchronizes itself (typically one to four fields of the input interlaced television signal), the ragged sawtooth transition artifacts, described above, may appear at the edges of moving objects. Although the undesired effect is fleeting, it is perceptible to the eye, occasionally disturbing an otherwise near perfect line doubling arrangement.
The last discussed problem may also arise in the motion picture film source line doubling arrangement when the input interlaced television signal fades from a film source to a video source. In that case, the system, as described, for example, in said U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280, continues to operate in its "film mode" for a few fields before recognizing the loss of the 3-2 pull down pattern and switching to an inter field/intra-field interpolation arrangement of the sort described above. During those few fields before changeover from the film mode of operation, the same sort of ragged sawtooth artifacts may be generated if there is motion between the fields. In addition, the problem may also arise when the interlaced television signal derived from a motion picture source has been imperfectly data compressed or standards converted.
One solution to the problem of video edits disrupting the 3-2 pulldown ratio is set forth in said U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,280. The solution employs a field motion detector and includes circuitry to "look ahead" for video edits. However, as is explained in connection with the various aspects of the present invention, there are shortcomings in said U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,280 patent and in other prior art such that there is still a need to provide a better film motion detector for use in line doublers and in other applications as mentioned above.
The present invention has a number of aspects—an improved field motion detector which does not treat low frequency vertical transitions as motion; a frame motion detector having an improved ability to differentiate motion from subcarrier signal components; a sawtooth artifact detector; a sawtooth artifact detector in combination with a film pattern detector, such that the artifact detector can take the film pattern detector out of film mode earlier than it would if it only were responsive to a break in the film pattern; tandem field motion detectors; an improved field based film detector; film pattern detectors and motion detectors used therewith which operate by performing end-of-field calculations; the combination of a field motion detector and a frame motion detector such that the frame motion detector provides a motion signal used as a verification by the field motion detector; an improved NTSC film detector requiring a minimum number of NTSC film pattern sequences; an improved PAL film detector employing a minimum motion threshold detector; combinations of these various aspects; and a line doubler (interlaced to progressive scan converter) incorporating one or more of these various aspects.
Each of the following United States Patents, mentioned in the present application, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,876,596; 4,967,271; 4,982,280; 4,989,090; 5,159,451; 5,291,280; 5,488,422; and 5,625,421.
Except as noted herein, practical embodiments of the invention may be implemented using analog, digital (including digital signal processing with software), or hybrid analog/digital techniques. The equivalency of analog and digital implementations in most contexts is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
Throughout this document, for simplicity, signal inputs and outputs are drawn as single points and signal carrying lines are drawn as single lines. It will be understood that, in practice, more than one input or output point and more than one signal carrying line may be required, depending on the format of the signals and the manner in which the practical embodiments of the invention are physically constructed.
It should also be understood that functions shown separately may be combined with others in whole or in part. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that, in practice, switches shown throughout the various figures will be implemented electronically or in software rather than mechanically.
The invention or aspects of the invention may be advantageously employed in connection with an interlace to line doubled progressive scan converter which, for example, precedes a video data compressor or a standards converter. Both video compression and standards conversion are more accurately and easily accomplished when operating on a progressively scanned television signal rather than an interlaced television signal. By employing the present invention in a progressive scan converter preceding such video compression or standards conversion, such processes are assured to be operating on a more optimum signal source.
An overall view of the present invention, including its various aspects is shown in FIG. 1.
Referring now to
The array of memories 102 provides five outputs comprising time-delayed versions of Yin, which, along with Yin itself, provide six time-spaced versions of the input luminance signal: two in a first television field F0, two in a second television field F1 and two in a third television field F2.
The time-spacing of the six signal streams with respect to the spatial location of pixels (television picture elements) in the three consecutive fields may be better understood by reference to the representation of FIG. 2.
Returning again to
Thus, the array of memories 102 provides six signal output streams corresponding to six pixel locations, two in each of three consecutive fields: pixels at time positions F0−1H and F0 in field F0, pixels at time positions F1−�H and F1+�H in field F1, and pixels at time positions F2−1H and F2 in field 2.
A field motion detector 114, described below, receives the F0, F1−�H and F1+�H signal streams, signals spaced apart in time by one field minus one-half line and by one field plus one-half line. It is known to apply such inputs to field motion detectors—see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,982,280 and 5,291,280. The purpose of the field motion detector is to detect motion (having a velocity greater than, for example, one half line per field) from interlaced field to interlaced field without falsely detecting motion when a vertical transition occurs (for example, when the portion of the picture below a horizontal line is black and the portion of the picture above the line is white, or vice-versa). Although a field motion detector of the type disclosed in said U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,280 patent may be employed in aspects of the present invention, it is preferred to employ the improved field motion detector described below, which forms an aspect of the present invention, because of its greater resistance to false detection caused by certain types of vertical transitions. While a field motion detector such as that of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280 patent may be employed in aspects of the present invention, the field motion detector of said U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,280 patent is preferable to that of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280 patent in that the earlier patent provides no immunity to false detection resulting from vertical transitions. The output of the field motion detector 114, F0 mtn, is applied to an NTSC film detector 118 and to a PAL film detector 120, each of which is described below.
Optionally, a second field motion detector (not shown) below may receive the F2, F1−�H and F1+�H signal streams, signals also spaced apart in time by one field minus one-half line and by one field plus one-half line. Such a second field motion detector could be used to provide additional redundancy or to provide increased accuracy in processing.
The F0 and F2 outputs of memories 102 are applied to a frame motion detector 114 where the two signals are compared on a pixel by pixel basis. The output of the frame motion detector, "MOTION," is applied to the NTSC film detector 118, the PAL film detector 120, and to a sawtooth based edit detector 126, described below. The MOTION signal may also be applied as an input to an interlace-to-line-doubled progressive-scan converter as shown in FIG. 3. Frame motion detectors receiving F0 and F2 signal stream inputs are known in the prior art—see, for example, said U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280, said U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,271 and said U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,280. Various frame motion detectors, including those of said U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,982,280, 4,967,271 and 5,291,280 patents, may be employed as the frame motion detector in aspects of the present invention. However, it is preferred to employ the improved frame motion detector, which forms an aspect of the present invention, described below.
The F0−1H, F0, F1−1H and F1+1H signal streams and the F2, F2−1H, F1−1H and F1+1H signal streams, respectively, are applied to an F0 sawtooth detector 128 and an F2 sawtooth detector 130. Each sawtooth detector looks for the zigzag artifact that an incorrect interleaving of field 1 and field 0 or field 1 and field 2 would yield. The outputs of these two detectors, F0 saw and F2 saw, respectively, are applied to the sawtooth-based edit detector 126. Sawtooth detectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,421. The sawtooth detection techniques forming an aspect of the present invention differ from those in said U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,421 patent in that the sawtooth detectors of the patent operate after interlace-to-progressive conversion (after line doubling) instead of before such conversion.
As explained further below, the NTSC and PAL film detectors (118 and 120, respectively) examine the accumulated field motion between field 0 and field 1 and then search for the field motion film sequence pattern (a "10100" pattern in NTSC and a "10" pattern in PAL) before determining that the material is film and not video. In said U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280 patent, frames, instead of fields, are compared in the film detectors. The film detectors of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280 patent impose a minimum size constraint instead of accumulating pixel differences. Nevertheless, a state machine as in said U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280 patent may be employed in the film detectors of the present invention. The film detectors are reset by an edit Y/N (yes/no) signal when a "bad edit" is detected. A bad edit means an edit performed in video on film material when two complete film frames have not been removed, thereby breaking the 3-2 pulldown ratio. A film sequence might look like
The outputs of the film detectors are two signals, a film Y/N (yes/no) signal and an F0/F2 signal. The film Y/N chooses the mode under which the line doubler functions (see FIG. 3). The F0/F2 signal selects which field signal stream, F0 or F2, for the line doubler (see
The outputs of one of the two film detectors are selected by a double-pole double-throw switch 132. The switch is controlled by an externally supplied NTSC/PAL signal. This selects the appropriate film detector to be active dependent upon the input video format. The PAL film detector may also be employed to detect 30 frame/second sources in NTSC signals, in which case the switch 132 is placed in the PAL switch position.
The output of the F0 and F2 sawtooth detectors (128 and 130), F0 saw and F2 saw along with the motion signal, film Y/N and F0/F2 signals are combined in the sawtooth based edit detector 126 to create the edit Y/N signal used for resetting the film detectors 118 and 120. An edit Y signal immediately resets the film Y/N signal to N.
Referring now to
In operation, scanning lines from the interpolated field Yint are interleaved with the scanning lines from the direct field Ydir. The interpolated field scanning lines are taken either from the F0 or the F2 video stream, in the case of a motion picture film source, or, when the source is not motion picture film, are synthesized by any of various known techniques such as intra-field interpolation, inter-field interpolation, a combination of intra-field and inter-field interpolation, or some other known technique. The example of
Details of the field motion detector of
Each field motion detector includes three subtractors (402, 404 and 406), a keep smaller absolute value function 408, a magnitude comparator 410, and a motion/no-motion switch 412. Subtractor 402 receives the F1−�H and F0 signals. Subtractor 404 receives the F0 and F1+�H signals. Subtractor 406 receives the F1−�H and F1+�H signals. The field motion detector described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,280 (see, e.g.,
Inter-field subtractions yield field motion but also incorrectly detect vertical transitions as motion. The keep smaller absolute value function chooses the smaller of the two inter-field subtractions and thereby differentiates high frequency vertical transitions from motion. Unfortunately low frequency vertical transitions are still detected as motion. To overcome this shortcoming, the field motion detector of the present invention adds a single line vertical differentiator (the third subtractor 406), whose output, a measure of vertical energy, is compared in magnitude comparator 410 to the output of the keep smaller absolute value function 408, an measure of field motion. Subtractor 406, functioning as a single line vertical differentiator, looks for a vertical transition within a field. If the magnitude of the vertical transition is greater than the magnitude of the field motion, then a vertical transition was incorrectly determined to be motion so the output switch goes to the NO position and no motion is detected. However, if the field motion is greater than the vertical energy, the motion value YES is output. This yields a more precise motion detection. It will be noted that sign of motion information signals from the subtractors are irrelevant in view of the keep smaller absolute value function.
The inability of the prior art field motion detector to differentiate between low-frequency vertical transitions and motion versus the performance of the improved field motion detector of the present invention may be better understood by reference to
Referring now to
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The frame motion detector 124 (FIG. 1), shown in detail in
In the frame motion detector described in said U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280, high frequency motions are filtered out. This was done to keep any subcarrier residue from being detected as motion. The frame motion detector constituting an aspect of the present invention provides improved differentiation of motion and subcarrier signal components.
In the improved frame motion detector forming a part of the present invention, a frame subtraction is performed between F0 and F2 in subtractor 1102. The subtractor 1102 output is then put through complementary lowpass and highpass filters created by a lowpass filter 1104 and subtractor 1106. In a digital embodiment, the lowpass filter may be a five-tap FIR filter with a zero at the color subcarrier frequency (in a frame detector intended for use with both NTSC and PAL, the filter characteristics may be switchable in accordance with whether an NTSC or PAL signal is being processed). The horizontal lowpass filtered path (where most of the motion lies) on line 1108 is rectified in rectifier 1110, and applied to a threshold function 1112 which removes noise components by applying a motion LPF noise threshold. In a digital implementation, the threshold 1112 may, for example, limit the signal to four bits (from, say, eight bits). The horizontal highpass filtered path on line 1114 goes into complementary vertical lowpass and highpass filters created by subtractor 1116, adder 1118 and delay 1120 (which provides a one-line delay for NTSC and a two-line delay in PAL). These paths, vertical HPF path 1122 and vertical LPF path 1124, are then individually rectified in rectifiers 1126 and 1128, respectively, and have their own thresholds (threshold functions 1130 and 1132, respectively, which remove noise components by applying a motion HHPF-VHPF Noise threshold and a motion HHPF-VLPF Noise threshold, respectively) (where HHPF is horizontal highpass filter, etc.). In a digital implementation, the thresholds 1130 and 1132 may also limit the respective signals to 4 bits.
Thus, three paths are provided: a horizontally lowpass filtered (HLPF) path, a horizontally highpass filtered and vertically highpass filtered (HHPF-VHPF) path, and a horizontally highpass filtered and vertically lowpass filtered (HHPF-VHPF) path. The purpose of three paths is to separate color subcarrier signal components from true motion information. The HLPF path output has substantially no subcarrier signal components as a result of the horizontal lowpass filtering action of LPF 1104. The two HHPF paths, carrying the complement of the HLPF path, require vertical filtering to reduce the subcarrier signal components present in the high-frequency portion of the spectrum. Such components have the appearance of a vertical line pattern which may occur in real television scenes. The filtering action of the HHPF-VHPF path passes low amplitude level subcarrier signal components. By setting the HHPF-VHPF threshold sufficiently high, true motion is differentiated from the subcarrier components. The filtering action of the HHPF-VLPF path rejects subcarrier components (which have a vertical component because they are out-of-phase from line to line) but passes horizontally moving patterns of lines (referred to as "moving multiburst") which must be detected as motion (such a pattern is rejected by the other two paths). The HHPF-VLPF path may have a lower threshold level than does the HHPF-VHPF path because the HHPF-VLPF path is not differentiating desired from undesired signal components based on amplitude. The HLPF and HHPF-VLPF threshold levels are selected for noise immunity.
The three differently filtered motion paths are then combined in summer 1134 and expanded in expansion function 1136. Preferably, they are expanded horizontally by 5 pixels, temporally by 1 field and vertically by 1 line. Techniques for such horizontal, vertical and temporal expansion are known. See for example, said U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,422. The output of block 1136 is applied to one input of a keep greater value function 1138 and to a 262H/312H (262 lines for NTSC, 312 lines for PAL) delay, the output of which is applied as a second input to block 1138, and to a 1H (one line) delay 1142, the output of which is applied as a third input to block 1138. Blocks 1136-1142 provide a temporally and vertically expanded motion signal. The purpose of the temporal and vertical expansion is twofold—to avoid the situation when a fast moving object leaves a "hole" between frames (e.g., a swinging pendulum) and, in the case of an NTSC signal to avoid an appearance of fluttering between sharp and soft pictures when film material is not detected as film material. Also, expansion assures that the frame motion signal "surrounds" the field motion signal in the film detectors.
The frame motion detector has three adjustable parameters: the motion LPF noise threshold, the motion HHPF-VLPF noise threshold, and the motion HHPF-VHPF noise threshold. The parameters should be adjusted to as to minimize false detection of motion caused by noise and subcarrier signal components.
Functionally, an NTSC film detector 118 is provided separate from a PAL film detector 120. In practical embodiments, the two detectors are likely to share circuitry and/or functions. Both film detectors have the same purpose, to determine the onset of a film pattern, thus entering the film mode (indicated by putting the film Y/N signal in its Y (yes) condition), and, after entering the film mode, when the film pattern is broken, thus exiting the film mode (indicated by putting the film Y/N signal in its N (no) condition). A different film pattern is native to each video format (NTSC or PAL) (resulting from 24 frame/second film sources in NTSC and 25 frame/second film sources in PAL). Both film detectors share certain characteristics and principles of operation. Both receive the F0 mtn output of the field motion detector 114, the motion output of the frame motion detector 124, and the edit Y/N signal from the sawtooth based edit detector 126. The primary input is the field motion detector's F0 mtn signal. The frame motion signal serves as a verification of the field motion signal. The edit Y/N signal provides an early indication, based on the detection of signal conditions that produce sawtooth artifacts, that the film pattern has been broken.
Typical film detectors in the prior art intended to detect 24 frame/second motion picture sources in NTSC television signals (see, e.g., said U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,982,280 and 5,291,280 patents) were frame based rather than field based. However, a field based film detector for detecting 25 frame/second motion in PAL television signals is disclosed in Published International Patent Application WO 94/30006. The present NTSC and PAL film detectors are an improvement on the field based PAL film detector in said international application. Thus, for example, the frame based film pattern for NTSC is a five frame sequence—zero followed by four ones (as is well known, this pattern occurs for conditions of motion in the motion picture source, no motion causing the ones to become zeros, but the particular zero position has to remain a zero under all conditions to guarantee a film source). In the improved field based detection technique of the present invention, three zero positions must remain zero in a five field sequence under all film motion conditions (the two one positions may assume either a one or zero condition), thus allowing faster detection of a disruption in the film pattern.
In addition, the present film detector is responsive to an edit Y/N signal provided by the sawtooth based edit detection functions such that when the signal goes to its Y state, the film detector immediately leaves the film mode and the detector's film Y/N signal output immediately goes to N. The edit Y signal provides an indication within a field that the film sequence pattern, is broken thus providing an early indication before the film sequence pattern detector can make such a determination (the pattern detector requiring at least a field to detect an error). Thus, the edit Y/N signal provides a second way (the first being an interruption of the film pattern) to exit the film mode.
In frame based edit detection there is one type of edit that is not detected because the sequence is not broken (the sequence AAABB122233—see the discussion below under the heading "Sawtooth Detectors"). All edits are detected as bad edits in the field based detection (except for the one "good" edit, which is allowable—see above for example of a "good edit").
The NTSC film detector 118 (
The primary input to the NTSC film detector is the F0 mtn output of the field motion detector 114 (FIG. 1). The F0 mtn signal is filtered in low-pass filter 1202 to remove subcarrier residue, rectified in rectifier 1204, and blanked by film motion blanking function 1206 to keep any picture edge artifacts and subtitles from being detected as motion. The rectified and blanked motion signal is then applied to a threshold 1208 to reduce noise artifacts. The threshold is set by a fixed and predefined film noise threshold. In a parallel path the motion input from the frame motion detector is thresholded by a threshold 1210 into, in a digital implementation, a one-bit motion yes/no signal. This threshold is set by a motion threshold. The one-bit motion yes/no signal is then used to control a motion-no motion switch 1212. The frame motion indication serves as a verification of the field motion indication—if there is no frame motion at a given pixel then there cannot be any field motion for the same pixel (the frame motion has been expanded horizontally and vertically to assure that the band of frame motion surrounds the field motion). The one-bit field motion signal from switch 1212 is then accumulated over the entire field in a field rate accumulator 1214.
At the end of each field the data is latched in and the motion value is then passed into three parallel paths, 1216, 1218 and 1220: 1) path 1216 to a minimum of five field detector 1222 (although a minimum of five fields is preferred to provide a safety margin, a minimum of three fields is practicable), 2) path 1218 to a three field weighted averager 1224, and 3) path 1220 to one side of a subtractor 1226 where end-of-field calculations are performed. At the beginning of each field the accumulators are reset.
Because the field motion is not precise, a non-moving field might have a non zero value associated with it. The minimum of five field detector 1222 looks at five adjacent fields for the minimum motion. For film in five adjacent fields there will always be a non-moving field, and therefore the minimum motion value will correspond to it. This output provides the other input to the subtractor 1226 in order to remove the base motion value associated with a non-moving field from the accumulator 1214 output on path 1220. The subtractor 1226 output is then passed to a variable threshold 1228 whose threshold is determined by the output of block 1224, the weighted average of three fields.
Inasmuch as the motion threshold is dependent on the motion of the picture information, picture information with little motion will have a lower threshold than material with lots of motion. The minimum motion detector 1222 and the weighted averager 1224 greatly increase the sensitivity of film detection on small moving scenes and factor out computer generated material which violates the Nyquist criterion. The output of the variable threshold 1228, a "1" for a moving field and a "0" for a non-moving field, is then fed into a state machine 1230 that looks for the recurring sequence 10100. State machine 1230 may be of the type described in said U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280 patent. Once the number of film sequences detected reaches the film sequence acquisition number, the film mode is activated. The film sequence acquisition number, the number of times the pattern must repeat to indicate detection of a film sequence, is set by the system designer. For example, the number might be three for NTSC (although one might suffice) and five or six for PAL, which has a less unique film pattern.
The transition to video mode occurs upon either of two conditions: 1) when the film sequence is disrupted by a "0" being replaced with a "1" (note that once in film mode a "1" field can be replaced with a "0" field, as is the case of a non-moving field, but a non-moving field cannot be turned into a moving one), or 2) the edit Y/N signal goes high (yes).
Because the NTSC film detector of the present invention is field based, there are three places in the five field sequence that a bad edit can cause the film detector to drop out of film mode compared to the one place under the frame motion film detection scheme—01111. As explained above, a "0" cannot become a "1" but a "1" can become a "0" so the field motion sequence has three "0"s that can be used as an edit detector compared to the one "0" on the frame based film sequence. This will have the effect of minimizing the negative visual effects of bad edits.
The NTSC film detector has seven parameters: a film noise threshold, a motion threshold, an NTSC film sequence acquisition number and four film blanking parameters that define the area of film motion detection in order to minimize edge effects: film blanking top line, film blanking bottom line, film blanking right side, and film blanking left side.
The PAL film detector 120 (
The PAL film detector receives the same F0 field motion signal F0 mtn at its input and performs the same pixel rate processing as the NTSC film detector 118 (
The end-of-field calculations performed in PAL differ from NTSC because the sequence being detected in NTSC differs from the one being detected in PAL. The PAL recurring film sequence is "1 0." This sequence can occur on video material for a few frames in a row so care must be taken to differentiate this case. First the current field motion (B) from field rate accumulator 1314 is compared, in comparator 1340, in magnitude with the last field motion (A), derived by delaying the field rate accumulator 1314 output in a 1 field delay 1342 (which may be implemented as a flip-flop clocked at the field rate by the vertical sync signal) to form a motion sign signal at the comparator 1340 output if the current value is greater than the previous motion value a "1" is output, conversely a "0" is output if the current value is less than or equal to the previous motion.
In a parallel path the two motions, the current field motion (B) and the last field motion (A), are modified by an operator 1344 to form the ratio |(A−B)/[(A+B)/2]|. This function, the absolute value of the difference divided by the average, corresponds to an adjacent field motion ratio, which is then passed to a threshold 1346 whose output is gated in AND-gate 1348 with the motion sign signal. The introduction of the minimum motion constraint is required because the motion sign signal does not care if the difference between A and B is 1 or 1000. For video material it is not uncommon to obtain motion values such as the following: 1000, 1410, 1400 and 1510. These would yield a "0 1 0 1" from the motion sign signal—a film-like pattern. A small motion film source might have the values as follows: 6, 100, 5, 110. Thus a PAL minimum motion ratio will help differentiate between film and video. Alternatively, but less desirably, the arrangement in the NTSC film detector between the field rate accumulator (1214 in
If the minimum motion ratio constraint is met, then the motion sign is fed into the PAL film state machine 1350, which may be the same type of state machine as in said U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,280 patent. If not, a 0 is input. PAL film mode is entered once the number of film sequences reaches the PAL film sequence acquisition number.
As in the case of NTSC the transition to video mode occurs upon either of two conditions: 1) when the film sequence is disrupted, or 2) when the edit Y/N signal goes high. It should be noted that a single film state machine may be used for the NTSC and PAL film detectors provided that a look-up table is used appropriate for the respective video standard.
The PAL film detector, like the NTSC film detector, has eight adjustable parameters: a film noise threshold, a motion threshold, a PAL film sequence acquisition number, a PAL minimum motion ratio and four film blanking parameters that define the area of film motion detection: film blanking top line, film blanking bottom line, film blanking right side, film blanking left side.
The sawtooth detectors 128 and 130 (
A sawtooth is characterized by the even numbered lines having similar vertical content and the odd numbered lines also having similar content—the odd lines being horizontally offset from the even lines as depicted in
Each sawtooth detector includes a bank of four subtractors 1402, 1404, 1406 and 1408. For ease of understanding, assume that even numbered lines are in field 0 and odd numbered lines are in field 1 (with reference to
FIG. 14 and the above table shows signals present in the F0 sawtooth detector. For the F2 sawtooth detector, substitute "F2−�H" for "F0−�H" and "F2" for "F0."
The output of subtractors 1402-1408 proceed through four identical parallel paths 1410-1416, each comprising four elements: a lowpass filter (1418, 1420, 1422 and 1424, respectively) to remove any subcarrier residue and noise; a rectifier (1496, 1428, 1430 and 1432, respectively); an edit blanker (1434, 1436, 1438 and 1440, respectively) to keep any picture edge artifacts from being detected as a sawtooth, and a threshold (1442, 1444, 1446 and 1448, respectively). The thresholds of the intra-field subtractions 1402 and 1406 are the same and require that the output be small thereby revealing that they align vertically. The thresholds of the inter-field subtractions 1404 and 1408 are the same and require that the output be large, indicating that there is a horizontal displacement of the transition from field to field. The outputs of the four threshold circuits are applied to an AND-gate 1450: the outputs of thresholds 1442 and 1446 are applied through an inverting input. Thus, the four signals are combined such that when the outputs of subtractors 1402 and 1406 are below the threshold and the outputs of subtractors 1404 and 1408 are above the threshold, a sawtooth is predicted. The output of AND-gate 1450 is F0 saw (F2 saw from the F2 sawtooth detector).
The sawtooth detectors have six adjustable parameters: a sawtooth 2H similarity threshold, a sawtooth 1H difference threshold, and four edit blanking parameters that define the area of edit motion detection: edit blanking top line, edit blanking bottom line, edit blanking right side, and edit blanking left side.
Although the F0 saw and F2 saw signals indicate when isolated sawtooth artifact signal conditions occur, more information is required to determine that a bad edit has occurred. The purpose of the sawtooth based edit detector 126 is to process the F0 saw and F2 saw signals along with other information to identify a bad edit with reasonable reliability.
The sawtooth based edit detector 126 (FIG. 1), receiving the F0 saw and F2 saw signals, the F1−�H signal and the frame motion signal, looks for predicted sawtooth artifacts on field 0 and field 2 relative to field 1. The number of sawtooths per line are accumulated and compared with the number of moving horizontal transitions in the F1−�H signal. In the currently displayed field (F1), if the ratio of sawtooths versus moving edges meets the minimum ratio and this ratio is met over a predefined number of adjacent lines, then an edit is detected. On the non-displayed or alternate field (F0 or F2), if there are more sawtooths than moving edges and there are sawtooths detected on the currently displayed field and this occurs over a predefined number of adjacent lines, an edit is detected. The details of the sawtooth based edit detector are shown in FIG. 16.
The sawtooth based edit detector has two distinct input portions: a moving edge detecting input portion and a sawtooth detecting input portion. The moving edge detecting input portion receives the F1−�H signal input and applies it to a horizontal differentiator 1602 which looks for horizontal transitions. This may be implemented by a one-clock (one pixel) delay 1604 and a subtractor 1606. The differentiator 1602 output is then filtered by a lowpass filter 1608, rectified by rectifier 1610, blanked by edit blanker 1612 and applied to a threshold 1614 which provides noise thresholding under control of an H edge (horizontal edge) threshold. In a parallel path the frame motion signal is also thresholded by threshold 1616 under control of a motion threshold to form a motion yes/no signal which is then ANDed in AND-gate 1618 with the horizontal transition signal, allowing only moving horizontal edges to pass. Moving horizontal edges are applied to an H rate (horizontal rate) moving horizontal edge accumulator 1620 in which the number of distinct moving edges, determined by detecting their peaks, is accumulated over the course of one line.
The sawtooth detection input portion receives the F0 saw and F2 saw outputs from the F0 sawtooth detector and the F2 sawtooth detectors, respectively. The F0 saw and F2 saw signals are applied to respective H min (horizontal minimum) detectors 1622 and 1624. For a sawtooth to be detected it must have a minimum horizontal duration of two pixels. The number of sawtooth instances having more than the minimum two pixel duration during the time period of each horizontal line are accumulated in respective H rate sawtooth instant accumulators 1626 and 1628. The number of instances for the F0 and F2 signals are applied to two parallel paths, 1630 and 1632, representing the currently displayed field and the alternate field, respectively. The determination of which is F0 and which is F2 depends on the state of the F0/F2 switch in the system (as determined by the NTSC or PAL film detector). The F0/F2 signal from the NTSC or PAL film detectors controls a double-pole, double-throw switch 1629 which reverses the F0 saw and F2 saw signal inputs depending on the polarity of the F0/F2 signal.
In the currently displayed path 1630, the number of sawtooths on the currently displayed field is divided by the number of moving edges in a divider 1634. If the quotient is greater than the sawtooth moving edge ratio as determined by a threshold 1636, then a counter 1638 is incremented. If the next line does not meet the same criteria, the counter 1638 is reset. Once the counter reaches the current field sawtooth V min threshold set by a threshold 1640, an edit is detected.
There are certain cases when the currently displayed edit detector path 1630 fails. This is when the motion detection occurs between fields of different scenes, causing most of the field to appear to be in motion. This greatly raises the number of horizontal transitions that are seen to be moving, which has the effect of lowering the horizontal transitions to sawtooths ratio and keeping an edit from being detected. This is a problem principally when the two fields that are interleaved come from the same information—generally the post edit information (see example below). The alternate field edit detector in path 1632 addresses this problem.
The alternate field edit detector portion of the sawtooth based edit detector takes as its input the number of detected sawtooths from the non-currently-displayed field. The number should generally be large if the field is in motion. The signal passes through a switch 1642 controlled by the occurrence of any sawtooths in the currently displayed field. If there are none, then the switch outputs 0, otherwise it outputs the number of sawtooths detected. This number is then compared with the number of moving edges in comparator 1644. If it is equal to or greater than the number of moving edges, the counter 1646 is incremented. If the next line does not meet the same criteria then the counter is reset. Once the counter 1646 reaches the Alternate field sawtooth V Min threshold set by a threshold 1648, an edit is detected. The outputs of the two processing branches are applied to an OR gate 950 so that whichever branch detects an edit, that output is applied to a final switch 1652 which ensures that the edit detector only detects edits on film material.
In order to better understand the operation of the sawtooth based edit detector, consider the following example. A film stream with an edit might look like AAABB122233, where the letters represent pre-edit information and the numbers represent post-edit material. Assume that the film detector interleaves 1 and 2 and there is motion between these fields. Therefore, sawtooths are visible (assume five sawtooths per line). This will also imply that there are five moving edges per line. The frame motion path subtracts B−2, so all of the field is seen as moving. Now every edge in field 1 is seen as moving. If there are twenty edges, all twenty are seen as moving. The ratio of sawtooths versus moving edges in no longer 5/5, but 5/20 which lies below the threshold, so no edit is detected. The alternate field path now is detecting sawtooths between B and 1. This will be a number generally greater than or equal to the actual number of transitions in field 1. (Note: this is the case for moving film as well). For our example, assume thirty sawtooths were detected per line. Thirty sawtooths is greater than twenty moving edges and there are five sawtooths on the currently displayed field, so an edit is detected. For standard film there would be no sawtooths on the currently displayed field, so no edit would be detected. Because computer generated single line material can meet these requirements, a vertical minimum threshold has been imposed.
The sawtooth based edit detector has nine adjustable parameters: an H edge threshold, a motion threshold, a sawtooth moving edge ratio, a current field sawtooth V min threshold, an alternate field sawtooth V min threshold and four edit blanking parameters that define the area of edit detection: edit blanking top line, edit blanking bottom line, edit blanking right side, edit blanking left side.
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