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The weather today was supremely beautiful, and Benchmark in Park Slope has a lovely outdoor dining space. Jason, Holly, Tania, Loc, and I met up there for brunch.
The food just wasn't seasoned enough, but the place was nice, so I'd give it another try.
Some of the details around Qiao's Family Courtyard in Shanxi.
Qiao's Family Courtyard, like Wang's, is a pleasant half-day trip from ancient Pingyao. (It's actually about equidistant from Pingyao and Taiyuan, north by northeast of Pingyao.)
Quite a few of the guesthouses in ancient Pingyao are more than happy to arrange tours to both locations, as they are both less than an hour away, though in different directions.
Having two famous, rather large compounds in the area makes Pingyao attractive as a base of operations.
There are comparisons and contrasts between the two. Wang's is quite a bit larger (it feels about twice as big by walking and may well be so) and also feels a bit more stark.
The reason for this, in my opinion, is twofold. First, Wang's is more a testament to size than anything else with its 123 courtyards, though -- for the exception of a few art galleries -- there is not much there about family life of any kind, let alone the Wang's.
Qiao's Courtyard, on the other hand, has quite a few rooms renovated and decorated to the period in question, so it feels much more like a place where people actually lived than a castle.
I believe it's this second quality which led movie and television producers to film on location here. (My theory is completely blown if the furnishings and exhibits are a result of the filming, but I don't believe that's the case.)
Of note, there were two famous pieces filmed here. One television program was called Qiao's Family (or something equivalent to that) and it actually focused on his family life here.
The second was a movie filmed here by one of China's most famous directors -- Zhang Yimou -- called Raise the Red Lantern (La linterna roja, Epousees et concubines).
As a side note, this happens to be what I consider easily one of the best Chinese movies. Zhang is one of the Fifth Generation (of Chinese film) directors and this is one of his benchmark pieces (Red Sorghum is another).
Many of the pictures in my set of Qiao's Family Courtyard mirror what can be found in the movie, which I encourage anyone to watch. (There is a free copy on v.pps.tv/ Just click on 电影 at the top, and look under the 1991 movies. I believe it's on page 4 under its French title. It's in Chinese with no subtitles, but you can read a synopsis on Wikipedia which will allow you to follow the characters and plot easily.) I won't comment much more on the movie here other than to say that it has many themes, such as color, where the lanterns have meaning.
This was the last stop of my all-too-short 3 day trip to Shanxi and was every bit as pleasant as the other stops in the Pingyao area. I hope some of you out there will have the time or opportunity to visit, just as I hope to return someday soon.
We found a benchmark near our camping place. This marks the boundaries between sections.
Image processed with GIMP.
Cut benchmark, just where the 1st edition OS map said it would be. (SE 1545 4063)
On the OS benchmark locator database: benchmarks.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/pls/htmldb/f?p=111:3:2634...
We faulted Apple for using a Photoshop "common tasks" benchmark in the dark days of the G4, why aren’t we faulting these benchmarks? Modo and Pages are Universal binaries, not all apps are such. Pages makes heavy use of integer math. Why aren’t you running a Photoshop shootout Steve?
(Not that I don’t think for common tasks like iLife, Safari, and iWork people will enjoy a nice speed boost relative to the iMac G5, but there are people going around claiming that the PowerMac 2x2G5 is slower than an Intel iMac. What are they smoking?)
Juba, 24 November 2022: UNMISS is holding a two-day workshop with key South Sudanese interlocuters. The focus: To identify and engage on ways forward in achieving peace benchmarks contained within the agreed upon Roadmap in a timely fashion so that free, fair and credible elections can take place.
Photos by Isaac Billy/UNMISS
This is an internal benchmarking example. Using best practice KPIs organizations can compare individual departments with each other. With this information the organization now can learn from high performing departments and improve underperforming departments
Carlinville, IL
On the town square. It's kinda fun to run into these. I used to actively seek these out, until the whole geocaching scene started making me feel like kind of a dork. And I'm enough of a dork already.
benchmarking: A process of searching out and studying the best practices that produce superior performance.
We visited Hoover Dam during our travels north. Looks a little different than it did in the late 1950's, when I had last been there.
I was quite taken with the brass benchmarks embedded in the dam itself. This one is dated 1935.
Image processed with GIMP.
The curve-a-licious benches in front of Groningen Centraal train station in low early morning light.
West Street, Selsey, West Sussex.
Apparently an OS Benchmark arrow on the top with 1876 and anchor facing. Maps show there were benchmarks further to the west but one of those positions has been lost to the sea and the other lost to a new seawall and ramp.
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