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318,149,850 | JEDI HoloNet
Elrehka Quena
Elrehka Quena
Padawan Learner
Homeworld: Manaan
Mentor(s): Nivek Tholmai
Species: Zabrak
Elrehka was born to a respectable Iridonian couple in year 259ABY. Her biological father was a pilot, working transporting legal goods from planet to planet. When Elrehka was two years old however, her parents did not return from one of their journeys. Their ship had been bombarded with meteors en route to their destination, leaving Elrehka an orphan. The Quena’s official home was set up on the planet Manaan, where Elrehka resided during the incident.
After the death of her parents, Elrehka was simply handed over to the nearest orphanage on world. A further 4 years on, Elrehka was adopted by a wealthy couple who took in over a dozen orphans like herself. There she was quiet, but friendly, minding the contents of her own little world.
Only a single year further, she met Jedi Knight Nivek Tholmai, who had been visiting a friend in the city. Her force sensitivity had been noticed by the Jedi Knight, however he made no move toward her, until later the very same day, he glimpsed her with the dozens of other children the Phazuli couple had taken in, sitting in the corner alone. The Jedi Knight approached her and asked where he could find her adoptive parents.
Nivek spoke to them, and the Phazuli nodded in agreement, announcing Elrehka would be safe to leave with him for Yavin IV, to have her tested, to eventually become a Jedi Trainee.
Elrehka was informed, and she packed her few belongings. The Jedi Knight however, lent her a set of Jedi tunics, for her to wear during her stay in the temple she was heading to, which she wore, and found fitting, in a way she didn’t yet realise. After saying goodbye to the Phazuli couple, the two of them set off; en route to Yavin IV.
Elrehka didn’t think much of leaving her homeworld, she gazed in amazement as she saw the stars and outer space for the first time as she sat up front with the Jedi. During the journey, Nivek described the Jedi to her, and she sat, quietly, but smiling as she listened eagerly. He did not promise she would become a Jedi, he only promised she would be tested, the rest was up to her.
A further few cycles on, Elrehka was taken up to the Council Room in the Temple she stayed at. Whilst there, she was questioned in a way that surprised her. Only to realise it was the final thing to do before becoming apart of the Jedi Order. In addition, she was given her own blue-bladed lightsaber, for her to train with as well as her own robes, datapad, commlink, and Training Remote. She thanked the Council with delight before being shown her new room. By the time she was alone, Elrehka was sure that this would be her new family, home, and life.
Elrehka Quena resigned from the Jedi Order 278.25 |
485,136,987 | Friday, March 23, 2007
Tony Stark, Futurist
Throughout the whole "Civil War" thing, the word "futurist" has been thrown around a lot to describe Tony Stark and Reed Richards. But what is a futurist? Is it, as Stark describes here, someone who works towards the future, or is it really a member of the Italian art and drama movement of the early 20th century that fetishised technology, violence, youth, urban living and was eventually tied closely to fascism?
I just find it amusing that the word is thrown around quite a bit, but there's that other meaning to it that seems to fit so well. Tony Stark is all about technology; for the Futurists, it was fast cars, while for Stark it's a suit of armour where he becomes a machine basically. The Futurists were heavily interested in the idea of humans being like machines or body parts replaced by machines. Stark has a machine heart basically. He is all about living in the city and, goddammit, he is one violent guy, isn't it?
To tie it to Civil War a bit more, here's the first paragraph from "The Futurist Synthetic Theater, 1915" by Filippo Marinetti, Emilio Settimelli, and Bruno Corra:
As we await our much prayed-for great war, we Futurists carry our violent antineutralist action from city square to university and back again, using our art to prepare the Italian sensibility for the great hour of maximum danger. Italy must be fearless, eager, as swift and elastic as a fencer, as indifferent to blows as a oxer, as impassive at the news of a victory that may have cost fifty thousand dead as at the news of a defeat.
For a guy who claimed to be doing it for the greater good, Stark always was a little too gung-ho on the fight, wasn't he?
Now, I'm not suggesting a direct connection here. It's just something I find interesting. It could be sheer coincidence or, maybe, it's one of those subtextual things that was thrown in for a laugh.
Just something I thought of and figured I'd put out there. Something to keep in the back of your head.
For more on Futurism: this site has a lot of good info. |
133,891,181 | Advanced search
Holiday entitlement when dropping to part time
(19 Posts)
TemporalUser5k Wed 24-May-17 19:52:50
Name changed as I suspect some of my colleagues are on here.
I am currently on maternity leave and am due to go back to work later this year. While on leave I have obviously accrued my usual holiday entitlement and bank holidays which HR have confirmed.
I am going to drop my hours to almost half (but still working every day).
I contacted HR and asked them how my holiday entitlement would be handled as I have accrued 27 days at a full time rate. Taking those as 27 days after I drop to part time hours means that I would lose money as those days would only be paid at my new part time salary even though they were accrued before I drop to part time.
Am I wrong in thinking that they should either pay those days at my full time rate or give me the full entitlement of my holiday in hours (more holiday for this year and going to normal accrual from the next holiday year)?
2014newme Wed 24-May-17 19:55:49
Yes ask them to recalculate it based on hours. So if a full time day is 8 hours x 27 days for example.
Are you sure you can carry over that many days from the previous holiday year?
MadameJosephine Wed 24-May-17 19:56:28
I'm pretty sure you are right and that they should give you the time in hours. Alternatively could you add the 27 days on to the end of your maternity leave and then reduce your hours at the end of that period?
BeyondThePage Wed 24-May-17 20:00:34
At my workplace you had to take off full time hours during full time employment - so like above would add the 27 days to maternity leave.
(I effectively added a month to my ML and then took the others at the new part time hours rate, taking a loss, as I would not have had enough for a later holiday otherwise.)
AnnoyedByAlfieBear Wed 24-May-17 20:02:05
When I went back, I stayed at my full time hours for the 4 weeks holiday they owed, then dropped to pt after I'd taken my holiday. So I never actually worked the ft hours, just got paid for them. Does that mane sense?
RandomMess Wed 24-May-17 20:06:39
The other option can be to go back full time and take half a day leave every working day until they are used up and then drop to part time hours.
Pootle40 Wed 24-May-17 20:08:39
You accrued your 27 days on full time hours - for example - 27 x 7 hours a day = 189 hours. So if you change to part time hours at the end of your maternity - say 5 hours per day then you would take 5 hours off the 189 hours every time you have a day off.
ivykaty44 Wed 24-May-17 20:10:45
Take the annual leave at the end of your maternity, therefore still being g paid full time. Then after start part time
TemporalUser5k Wed 24-May-17 20:31:27
Thank you for the replies, I have asked them to recalculate and they keep stating that as I am still working 5 days a week my holiday does not change.
I would prefer to just have the time off as that would save an awful lot of money if I could use that to delay DC starting nursery (and I would get to spend more time with them) but would settle for just being paid the full time rate.
I have only carried a day over from last year, the days accrued are this year's holiday plus bank holidays which they have said that I am entitled to.
hellypad Wed 24-May-17 21:01:21
We would still give you 27 days too but you wouldn't lose money as if your working day is 4 hours that's what 1 days holiday would equate too. So if you had a week off that would be 5 days holiday, even if you were only really taking 5 mornings off. Hope that makes sense!
CadnoDrwg Wed 24-May-17 21:22:49
They need to recalculate because 27 days off at £1000 (for example) is entirely different to 27 days off at £500.
You need to go back and confirm you will take dates X-Y off at the end of your maternity leave using accrued holidays at full time rate with renumeration of Z (however much you'd normally get).
You will be back in the office on XX date which will mark the contractual change to part time hours, at which point your holiday allowance changes pro rata.
Communicate via email and make sure you get written confirmation.
If they still aren't helpful let them know you're going to speak to ACAS/Union about your legal rights as you know they aren't being fulfilled.
MrsPeacockDidIt Thu 25-May-17 13:07:57
You could ask them to change it all to hours instead of days when they recalculate.
All our part time employees holiday is worked out in hours because it's easier to calculate.
Saying to you that as you are working 5 days it's still 5 days holiday to take is ridiculous. If they are not going to pay you for 5 full days then they can't take 5 full days holiday from you for the same period.
TemporalUser5k Sat 27-May-17 07:47:16
Thank you, I have supplied a calculation in hours to them that they have disregarded. The calculation was done by someone from my DH HR department so I know it was correct.
I suppose they don't have to convert to hours?
We may just have to ask an employment solicitor for advice if we can't find any legal evidence that what they are doing is incorrect. The closest we found was an ECJ ruling but I'm not sure they would accept that.
ohforfoxsake Sat 27-May-17 10:02:57
You should take the leave as though you were FT and go PT once that has been done.
They don't sound particularly competent. Have a look on the ACAS website. Might be worth calling them.
Diaryofalways87 Wed 31-May-17 23:38:21
I agree with @hellypad and believe what your HR department is saying is correct. I'm guessing your reduced hours means you're working 5 days a week but shorter days? In this case you would still be entitled to 28 days holiday per year, it's just that your daily rate is lower.
TemporalUser5k Mon 05-Jun-17 21:11:04
I'm waiting on a reply from an employment solicitor, I'll let you know what they say in case anybody else is in the same position.
Wh0Kn0wsWhereTheTimeGoes Mon 05-Jun-17 21:21:32
Yes, I stayed full time for three months and used the leave two days a week then went part time once it was used up.
PourquoiPas Mon 05-Jun-17 21:30:12
They are probably getting confused between the holiday you have accrued vs what your are entitled to going forward. Sadly, a lot of people in HR are either good with people or good with numbers, not both and it seems that you have been unfortunate enough to get someone who is not particularly numerate.
I would send them a very factual email stating something like
I understand that going forward I will be entitled to 26 days of holiday per year that equates to 130 hours at my weekly working pattern of 5 x 5 hours per week.
I have accrued 27 days/ 189 hours of holiday for the holiday year 2016/2017. I am writing to inform you that as per previous discussions with my line manager I will be returning to work on dd/mm/yyyy full time and will take my accrued holiday from dd/mm/yyyy - dd/mm/yyyy. As of dd/mm/yyyy I will then be part time working 9-2 m-f.
I trust this is clear but if you would like further clarification please do feel free to contact me.
PourquoiPas Mon 05-Jun-17 21:31:29
That last bit was the end of the email sorry, posted too soon.
Good luck, hope it gets sorted out.
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61,639,696 | lunes, 14 de diciembre de 2009
Sermons On Ending Times
"What J?"- asked the girl
"You still have those dreams" - She was worried.
Silence ran acrossed the room.
lunes, 5 de octubre de 2009
Greetings stranger
"... inside the centipedes mouth"
Primero que nada un cordial saludo a los lectores y seguidores de nuestro blog, a quienes agradecemos inmensamente por su constancia. Nosotros optamos a la creación de este blog debido al interés de los oyentes de la banda, quienes se intrigaban en conocer el trama detrás de las canciones, que a pesar de ser ritmos y melodías agradables pueden contener un significado un poco más allá de "Mary that's one pretty hat".
El punto no es poner una caja en tu cabeza y decirte como debes sentir la canción, después de todo la música es como un Dios a quien nosotros mismos le dibujamos rostro, es decir cada quién interpreta el tema como lo desee, porque si nos castracen la imaginación... aquella canción con la que abrazábamos a nuestros panas mientras reíamos y cantábamos, no nos sonaría igual.
Algunas son relatos o pequeños cuentos escritos por nosotros, otras son canciones basadas en hechos de la vida real, tambien están aquellas de experiencias personales y las más peculiares nos narran de profecías personales entre las cuales destacan el retorno de cristo a la tierra, la lucha de la humanidad contra el Leviatán y otras sorpresas más que nos depara el lapicero. Así que mantente al tanto con los post que estarán llenos de historias, dramas y curiosidades de la banda.
Att. David
miércoles, 12 de agosto de 2009
"The Nutcracker" Chapter 3
Suddenly from across the alley we hear a scream, so loud it could only come from complete despair. This scream was fading to the sound of footsteps. Who ever was screaming was being chased, so the nutcracker acted quickly by running to help this horrified victim. He didn't understand why he wanted to save the needed or why he was brave and felt no fear to even the scarier of things. He just knew he had a sword in one hand and on his head he had the blind purpose of slaying the unfair.
O boy he ran fast! he was now off the alley, and saw a couple of rats who he guessed were the hunters. He followed them untill they entered an inmense dumpyard. Not to far from the entrance they stopped "Five rats!" he counted "Five hats?" he noticed, they all gathered in a circle but they were to fat to see what was on the middle. They had monocles, nice shoes, hats and one was holding a really nice cane.
"I beg you please grow a heart and leave"
He heard from the center, it was the cries of a doll. The rats laughed, the one with the cane answered:
"We will not depart 'till we break you apart".
The nutcracker was mad and took a fighting stance and talked with the must heroic tone:
"You will let her go or I'll kill you all".
The surprised rats turned quickly their faces to where they heard the nutcrackers voice but it was to dark to see him clearly. The one with the cane approached with style to the center and the other four were standing two on each side. They were far to coordinated to be normal rats:
"You really sound like fun... can you please come closer to the light son?".
Said the one in the center so that the nutcracker stepped into the light. He proceed then the rats bursted in laughter, one of them even cried a little.
"You said... haha you would kill us all!? HA! you there standing tall!?".-Spitted with sarcasm one on the left side.
The one with the cane stopped laughing drastically and screamed: "Shut up!".
The others went quite quickly after this said. "If you haven't noticed this toy smell he's rotten like hell".
The lacais quickly aimed with their ugly noses to the nutcracker. "He smells like blood... from rats! and something abominable like... CAT!!"
Driven by fear they took a step away from the nutcracker and hided on the back of the rat in the center almost simultaneously. The rat swinged the cane and scowled as he pointed our hero, impotent and not knowing what to say she yelled and clenching her teeth she started breathing both hate and fear. They scramed through an old pipe that probably lead to the sewers, it was located behind the crying victim that was laying on the dirt.
He remembered the cat licked his face and they probably got scared by that scent. But still, he was glad that they left the prey be. He putted away the sword and approached slowly to the sobbing doll."It's safe now madame, there's nothing here for you to fear" said the savior with timidity. She was covering her face with her hands, I loved the way her hair felt from her head covering her shoulders and arms as she was sitting there on the floor. There were small pieces of porcelain on the mud she was hurt from an encounter with them before.
"If I may say... where you lay... is no place to rest. You should stand up or you will ruin your dress".- Said the nutcracker always worried about decency.
Sadness polluted the air as she moved slowly her hand from her face and lifted it gently as if to be helped or kissed on the back of her palm. The nutcracker kissed her hand and then helped her to stand up carefully, after all she was a delicate doll. He finally reached her face and she was beautiful. It was pale with a cute round tip nose that made her lips look sharply drawn and well proporcioned. But then the death of beauty. She had cracks on her chin and the lower side of her cheek she was shattering. She gathered strengh and said:
"Porcelain broken chin... orders of the rat king"
lunes, 20 de julio de 2009
"The Nutcracker" Chapter 2
The dimmer illumination coming from above, radiated the elements in this grotesque scene like a spotlight. But the nutcracker head was still blurred with doubt. "What am I doing here... ? Who is the Rat King... ?" And suddenly a hiss! He heard a hiss and another. It was not to far from where he standed. It was half a feet from the pole and to the left entering a street passage that lead you through a continuous row of backdoors from enormous buildings.
Indeed our hero was made from wood, nevertheless he portrayed no fear to any known menace. So without any hesitation he stepped inside the darkness of the alley where the growling was taking place and as he walked to the beast, the sound became clearer. Finally he reached a dead-end, everything was dark and quiet, over his head there was a laboured lightbulb hanging and to his right there was a fusebox with a sticker: "Main Power". holding a lever there was a rat that smelled like grill, his hand was charcoal dark, and we bet it tasted like charcoal as well due to the heavy burns. The nutcracker gently removed the scorched unlucky individual and pulled the lever up.
It was beautiful, there were lightbulbs hanging from a ceiling made with scaffolds and the biggest cat inside the smallest cage. He was white, he was fat, he was a ragdoll cat and he didn't fit on his jail and probably the bars were hurting him:
"There were lights in the in skies and the floor
there was blood on the walls and the doors
I ate them all... I ate them good
Had to do it they served no food
there were runners and there were screamers
You are no rat... you have no shivers?"
With this said the nutcracker tried to look around the blinding lights and it was true, it was a massacre, everywhere he looked there was blood and rats and half a rat. The nutcrackers response was something like:
"I have no shivers down my spine
I got no nerves... I got no spine
if you see I'm made from wood
Even if you try I can't be food
it looks like you've drained your rage
my sword in the lock will open the cage"
The cage opened and the cat was released, he stretched and his bones cracked, he was happy, but more important he was free, also he was surprised he wasn't feared. The nutcracker noticed that he was smiling.
"You've gotten my attention
here is a proof of my affection"
The feline putted his face near our heroes face and licked him. The nutcracker felt weird looking to the beast light-blue eyes, but he was curious about the lights aiming the cage so he asked:
"What happens when you are near the light?"- said as he started petting the enormous creature.
"My inner killer feels shy"- the cat quickly answered with a deep and serious tone.-"If you want me I'll show"
"Only if you want me to know"- The nutcracker answered with respect.
The enormous kitten jumped to a platform in the scaffolds and bowed from above the lights. He was to far to see him sharply, but you could distinguish he now had green eyes and that he had some vicious looking claws.
"My friend I thank you deeply
I most go on and I'll leave sadly
We will meet again
I'm almost certain
So... Untill then!"
The nutcracker bowed as well and waved his sword like a reverence. When he looked again the cat was already gone.
viernes, 17 de julio de 2009
"The Nutcracker" Chapter 1
The snow was grey now and it kept piled up on the sideways. An intermittent street lamp played the sun on this cold and wet night. Under this urban beacon was a dumpster, a rusty and stinky dumpster. Inside of it, among the waste and filth we find a nutcracker. His window to the outskirts of its shelter is nothing but a hole in the front side, caused by the rust that was eating that metallic case. He wakes up asking "Oh my! Where am I?". His clothes design, beard and colors remind you of a card, you know he is way to fashioned for a J so you are guessing he is a nutcraker that resembles a K. He draws a sword, we are now certain; "He's the king of spades". He made his way through the garbage and through the decayed hollow, and he is standing outside that inmense trash can vulnerable of the drizzle that was falling so feeble, that when they reached the orange color that emanated from that old lightbulb it looked like they were sparks from a great fire.
Walking in the beaten pavement abundant of newspapers he managed to read a fallen sign, and it said "The Forgotten Street" in white letters over a green background, it had fallen from a Pole at the left side of the road near a brick wall, a huge red brick wall. Curiousily this pole now held another sign, a homemade looking sign that displayed: "Rat king domains", it was written on red letters over a white fabric and it was tied up with two knots one on each far end of the bar at the top as if to be read horizontally.
He still didn't know how he got there. When he lowered his head he noticed there was chalk on the wall: "RaTs StAy AWaY fRoM ThE DaRK oR YoU wiLl gEt EaTeN!" at the feet of this warning there was blood, and on the sidewalk there was a smiling face and a kitten paw drawn with deep dark red. |
462,475,043 | 19 September 2012
Talappavu (2008)
Directed by: Madhupal
Script: Babu Janardanan
DOP: Azhagappan
Starring: Lal, Prithviraj, Rohini, Atul Kulkarni, Dhanya Mary Verghese
The blog has been Hindi film-centric for some time now, and it was never my intention to have it be so. The time has come to remedy the error of my ways and review some films whose stories are just begging to be told. Some are movies I had watched more than a decade ago; some are new-ish ones. They are in all different languages as can be, and deal with different cultures, different people - yet their stories are universal. One thing that unites these next few reviews is that they are, without fail, thought-provoking.
The first of these is a film I watched recently, one that brings back memories of a time when it was not possible to remain untouched by events around us. It was the seventies; Emergency had been declared, and the Naxal movement was featured prominently in the news.
Depending upon the sympathies of the newspaper, the stories were slanted to portray the Naxals as misunderstood Robin Hoods, or as the perpetrators of some of the worst crimes in the history of mankind. The truth, as all truths, lay somewhere in between.
The late sixties saw the spread of the Naxalite movement from Bengal to Kerala. Conditions in the Wynad were particularly ripe for the rise of such a movement. Forest land had been depleted for cultivation, such land was owned by feudal landlords who bought up all the land and ruled over those domains with an iron fist. They exploited the labourers, charging them for the privilege of cultivating this land, and took their women as matter of right.
The Naxalites claimed that they were fighting for the people against exploitative landlords, the brutality of the police, and the might of the state; and that, the only people who were attacked and killed, were the ones whom the law could not, or would not, touch.
The 'Naxal menace', or so it was termed by the government, was so acute that the police were ordered to crack down with immediate effect. They did, violently, often cruelly, and very often, paying off old grudges in the process.
The period between 1968 and 1977 was one of the bloodiest in the history of modern Kerala. Innocents died along with the guilty when the Naxalites bombed or otherwise attacked police stations in the rural areas. Many people were picked up by the police for 'questioning' and labelled 'Naxalite' - there was no one to question them. Neither side could claim to be totally 'right', though depending on one's sympathies, one is predisposed to defend one over the other.
Talappavu (Headgear) brings back to mind the worst of the excesses of the period; yet, for all that it deals with a period mired in blood and gore, it is very understated, very 'quiet' as it seeks to unravel one particular incident, and its long lasting consequences.
Somewhere in Wynad, an informer helps the police track down a young revolutionary leader.
Caught unawares, he is captured, tortured, and finally ordered killed. Constable Ravindra Pillai (Lal) is chosen to kill him, and when he refuses, is forced at gunpoint by his superior officer. Joseph Verghese's (Prithviraj) calm demeanour intensifies his grief at having to kill the man whom he has been proud to call his friend.
But old sins cast long shadows. Thirty five years have passed, and Pillai is a shadow of his former self. Bent under the weight of guilt and repentance, he finally confesses, telling the truth of what really happened that fateful morning years ago.
Guilt had turned him into an alcoholic; he could not even confide in his beloved wife, so scared was he of his Superior's threats. His wife could not understand, or accept, the drastic change in her husband's behaviour until a 'chance' encounter with her husband's colleagues gave her the reason. (Or so she thinks.) It devastated her completely.
Multiple flashbacks show us vignettes from Pillai's life. His happy days at home, his frustration at having been transferred to Wynad, away from his wife and children, his reminiscences about his childhood love, they paint a picture of a man who is not cut out to be a police officer, especially in those harsh times.
It is on his way to Wynad that he first meets Joseph. The latter is quiet, but compelling as he stands up for an old woman's right to travel by that bus, and slightly contemptuous as he realises that Pillai is a policeman. If the law cannot help ordinary people, then what is it there for? For Pillai, the youth is someone he aspires to be, and knows he cannot. However, he is drawn to him.
Later that night, there is an attack on the police station. There are no casualties, but one of the constables is wounded. Cowering behind the file cupboard, Pillai realises with shock that the attack is led by his charismatic friend from the bus. The latter recognises him, and his contempt for Pillai's fear passes fleetingly across his face.
The next morning, the local landlord Saivar (Atul Kulkarni) berates the police for not being able to handle the 'Naxal' menace. He offers his men, money, backing - Joseph and his friends must be quelled.
As Pillai turns to leave, he recognises one of the servants - it is his childhood sweetheart, Saramma (Dhanya Mary Verghese). His colleague informs him that she, like the others in Saivar's household, serves to 'take care of' Saivar and his cronies.
Pillai visits Saramma the next day, and learns that her husband committed suicide within a month of her marriage. When she hides him from the eyes of passers-by (and hence from Saivar's spies), he is taken aback to realise that Joseph and his partners are hiding in the backroom.
Saramma and Joseph take Pillai to their hideout in the forests. There, Joseph describes why he and the others have turned Naxals. These young men and women have given up their lives of comfort to help the weaker sections of society. In that cause, they see no reason to give any quarter and are willing to live and die for their beliefs.
Joseph also reveals the unpalatable truth behind the 'suicide' of Saramma's husband, and the life she is forced to lead afterwards.
Pillai finds himself sympathising more and more with the Naxalites. Then the unexpected happens. Things come to a head. Saramma, accused of harbouring Joseph, has been 'interrogated' but refuses to say anything; Joseph is betrayed and is in police custody, and Pillai finds himself at the cross-roads of right and wrong, duty and conscience.
Thalappavu is a story of choices. Are 'law' and 'justice' one and the same? How do you address the conflict between the two? When the lust for power conflicts with the rights of an individual, then who is to stand for the meek and the oppressed? Isn't it the law? And if that very law bows before the power of the mighty, then who can the weak turn to? Are we to look away, and wait for the state to do the right thing? Do we, as individuals, not have a responsibility to the society at large?
The narrative unspools from the perspective of Ravindran Pillai, who, tormented by his part in cold-blooded murder, finally breaks down and reveals that the 'encounter' that ended the life of a young revolutionary was staged. Joseph Verghese is a young man fighting for a cause; when the state machinery aids the exploiter and helps suppress the exploited, he takes the law into his own hands.
When Pillai is forced by threats and intimidation to hide the secret of Joseph's murder, his nearest and dearest are estranged from him, and three decades of hiding the truth under duress costs him dear.
Finally, it is the murdered Joseph who becomes the voice of his conscience, exhorting him to break his silence. For those who suffer injustice without raising their voice against it are as guilty as those who perpetrate the injustice.
Loosely based on the real-life murder of an activist called Arikkad Verghese, Talappavu deals with the confession of the man who committed that murder. (In real life, when the constable confessed his part in the killing thirty years after the incident, it triggered a trial, and the superior officer was sentenced to life imprisonment. In a final irony, the constable died before he could testify in court. However, one of his colleagues testified in his place.)
With sharply etched characters, it is Lal's constable Ravindran Pillai, who is forced to obey his superior officer, and whose life unravels in the aftermath of that horrifying deed, who stays with you after the movie is over. His pain-filled eyes are mute testimony to the pricking of his conscience, and he turns in a performance that is all the more powerful for being so underplayed. He deservedly won the Kerala State award for Best Actor that year. It is his film throughout, and he does not stumble even once. He plays the role of a devoted husband, doting father, principled but spineless police constable, moving between one and the other without striking a single false note.
Prithviraj, playing Joseph Verghese, the charismatic Naxal leader who gives his life for the cause, can count this film as yet another feather in his crown. He has consistently chosen powerful roles, not caring whether he is the protagonist, or whether he gets adequate screen time. Here, his role supplements and complements Lal's, and the young actor delivers a strong performance without resorting to chest-thumping or loudly delivered rhetoric. It is his sincerity that makes you believe the cause he is espousing.
It is a triumph for an actor who has been eschewing the trappings of stardom for the more rewarding path of character-driven roles ever since his debut.
Others, known and unknown, complement the two protagonists. Atul Kulkarni is as efficient as always, playing Saivar, the landlord who treats the adivasis as pawns, with nonchalant ease.
Rohini is good as Karthyayani, Pillai's wife, and one wishes she had other strong(er) roles to sink her teeth into. She is too fine an actress to be neglected. The actress who appeared in a cameo as Pillai's daughter also did a fine job.
The other female protagonist is played by Dhanya Mary Verghese. As Saramma, she moves effortlessly from a girl in her mid-teens, to a woman in her late twenties. Like Lal, she uses her eyes to great effect, and her final scene haunts you long after the movie is over. I would like to see more of her.
Last but not the least, a note about the debutant director, who very deservedly walked away with all the state awards that year. After donning many hats as a successful writer and actor (winning many awards in both roles), his debut venture is a dark subject that is engrossing from beginning to end. Despite its non-linear narrative, he has a tight hold on its telling, each segment looping back to the earlier scene, thereby heightening the effect. He handles his subject and his characters like a veteran, leaving things unsaid (and un-shown), the implications more, dare I say, satisfying, than if he had crossed very t and dotted every i.
There is no suspense in the film. It begins with the death of the central character, and slips into a flashback soon after. There are no comic side-plots to divert your attention, or violence or romance to interfere with the narrative. It is just 'real'. In a film that is 'tragic' from beginning to end, one would think that dramatics would have full rein. It is to the director's (and the screenplay's) credit that the scenes are so controlled that one feels its profound impact without actually realising it.
I do wish that certain scenes (like the one where Karthyayani attempts to immolate herself) were better handled, and that the whole segment with Jagathy Sreekumar was removed. In retrospect, I have also wondered why Pillai couldn't unburden himself to a loving wife who had shown herself to be nothing but supportive, but that is a minor peeve.
Do watch.
1. This sounds SO gripping. I have to admit that I generally shy away from these 'realistic' portrayals of crime etc - possibly because the reality was very close to my life when I was growing up? My father was a police officer, and posted in the Chambal area when the dacoits were at their zenith. Dinner table conversation between my parents often used to consist of what the dacoits had done in so-and-so place, which police informer had given what information, etc - and, invariably, about encounters. It used to be scary, too, because Papa had to often go deep into the ravines after the dacoits, and we were always scared that he wouldn't return... that's one reason why (unlike a lot of cinema bloggers) I don't like daaku films.
But this one sounds very different, so when and if I get the time, I'll certainly look out for it!
2. It is gripping, Madhu, and you don't have to worry about realistic portrayal of crime - because this is more to do with a man's conscience than it is to do with the crimes itself. The background is that of the Naxal movement, and much is implied or told, not shown. I highly recommend it. (If that was not obvious from my review.) :)
3. Your review makes me want to see the movie, but then again, do I want to see such an intense movie? I do remember the Naxal struggle, since my father was in Calcutta at the time, and he was getting threats all the time. Maybe I will watch this movie when I am sitting by myself in India.
4. You should, Lalitha, and then you can tell me how you liked it.
5. It is not without reason Malayalam cinema counts to be among the finest, what Indian cinema has to offer. I always liked the Malayalam films shown on TV. Good to see that new film-makers carry the tradition ahead!
As for the film, what to say? Haunting!
Well-written post, Anu!
6. Thanks, Harvey. There are some really good movies coming out these days. It makes me hope that we are seeing a resurgence of Malayalam cinema after all. It had been mired in the 'superstar' trap for some time. New talent in direction, fresh faces with definite ideas, brave enough to take risks without worrying about 'image'....
7. Thalappavu made quite an impact when it released and was noticed widely and finally established Madhupal as a film-maker to be reckoned, after so many years in the industry. His latest movie 'Ozhimuri' has been making waves among the critics' circuit but sadly, with very little publicity, it hardly made any impact at the box office.
As you said, it is less about the Naxal movement but a more personal reflection of an honest but spineless constable caught in the war. Does the State have a greater right to take lives in the name of the law? Interestingly, Mohanlal's 'Shikaar' uses a similar plot line with the backdrop of the Naxal movement in Andhra but more as a thriller than an emotional drama. If you take the 1st half out of 'Shikaar', you will like the movie.Lal, as an actor, has featured in much better movies than as a director - thanks to Jayaraj for introducing him. Prithviraj has done interesting roles but the last year has also seen a lot of mucked up star roles, which hopefully, will be an exception than a norm. Atul Kulkarni as Saivar? Not very comfortable with artists dubbing for non-Malayalee artists and making it look so obvious - remember the menacing Bhaskar Pattelar, played brilliantly by Mammootty, in Vidheyan?
8. Pinne oru karyam, my mail is due..Aayikkanam, aayikkanamnu unde pakshe time is a premium commodity now.....Hopefully, ee weekendinte ullil aayikkum...
9. Meh, I keep away from Mohanlal/ Dileep/ Jairam movies these days. Lal is a superb actor. I have always liked him ever since Kaliyattam and Kanmadam. Atul Kulkarni, I think, dubbed for himself. I think the muri-Malayalam was deliberate - he is supposed to be a Manglorean or something, no? I had a friend whose parents spoke Malayalam with that accent.
I hope Prithviraj sticks to the unusual choices; I'm not very enamoured of him doing the same senseless roles. I tend to just ignore those films.
10. Yup, I was going to write and ask you if you were alive.
11. Mohanlal has had a decent year this year in terms of choice of films - Grandmaster, Spirit and Run Baby Run - none of them 'star' movies by any stretch of imagination. He's finally also doing a Shaji Karun movie "Kadal' - fairly good going. Dileep's been in a lot of nonsense but heard a lot about Shyamaprasad's 'Arike' which as usual had no takers despite the acclaim! Enough good movies happening to keep regularly recommending in Malayalam...
Did Atul Kulkarni dub for himself? Don't remember but still tad uncomfortable with actors from other languages feeling out of sync with Malayalam but film makers still insisting on them..
12. I am not sure if Atul Kulkarni dubbed for himself; the reason I didn't mind it as much is because his character *is* an outsider there, so it makes sense that his Malayalam is a bit stilted, and that there is an accent.
13. :) Good to know you are alive, if guilty.
14. I doubt I can stomach a film like this one. Of late, I find myself avoiding movies that include excessive violence and/or torture. I don't need to subject my senses to such disturbing sights/sounds/sensations. I wandered into 'Agneepath' (and I realize that it's utterly foolish even talking about the Hrithik-starrer and this Lal movie in the same sentence) and came out sickened... :(
That being said, I am a HUGE fan of Prithvi (a gushing fan-girl, really!) and it makes me happy to seem him carving his space in Malayalam cinema. Enjoyed watching his performance in 'Indian Rupee,' such a delightful little movie. Btw, his upcoming 'Ayya' with Rani Mukherjee is making me half-nervous, half-excited. I like the guy too much... Not sure I want to see him in Hindi movies because then he won't be the dashing, handsome Malayali hero I adore, right?
15. Lakshmi, do watch this - the beauty of this film is that there is no excessive violence - what is there, is implied most of the time. There is, I think, one 'fight' scene - and that is on par with what you usually see in other films. Everything else is left to the viewer's interpretation.
16. ps: I really like Prithvi too, but I have no great hopes for his Hindi debut - despite that fact that I also like Rani.
17. Actually, I think this movie was running on one of the BOM TV channels we used to subscribe to. The lingering air of menace was enough to scare me off. Btw, that picture of Prithvi with his face all beaten up doesn't help either... A story of deprivation, exploitation, violence and torture... Phew, I'll pass, good movie or not.
18. :) *grin* The 'deprivation, exploitation, violence and torture...' are all talked about, or implied. They are *not* shown. Yes, Prithviraj walks around with a designer face, but that's a few scenes. The film has more to do with Lal's own conscience and the war between that and what his duty forces him to do.
19. I wish I would be able lay
hand on a DVD with English subtitles!
The portrayal of
the portrayal of human emotions is as much restrained as the
original portrayal is presented to be.
There are very few directors
who have been able to restrain the urge to play to the gallery in using the
visual medium to its full blast when it comes to depicting the animal
instincts of the human race.
Incidentally, almost all films
which have been based on the socio-politico - cultural milieu of the
post-independence India have invariably come out well.
Mirch Masala [in Hindi] or
Bhav Ni Bhavai [ in Gujarati] by Ketan Mehta or Ankur / Manathan / Nishant etc.
by Shyam Benegal or Tamash by Govind Nihalani and a host of similar films in
almost all Indian languages come to my mind when I relate the
20. Ashokji, the DVD (with sub-titles) is available. I do not know where in India you live, but it should be easy enough to source. Or else drop me an email, and I'll see what I can do.
21. Thanks. I have added this in my Must-see list.
22. BTW, Madhupal's latest movie 'Ozhimuri' is being spoken about very highly and is probably among the best movies this year in Malayalam. Haven't watched it but keep it your on watch list...
23. Isn't that the one with Lal and Shweta Menon? I'd heard good things about it.
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524,143,282 | Saturday, July 30, 2016
Homemade Bike Bags On The Hot Springs Loop
I made a frame bag, gas tank bag, and a porteur bag for my Elephant NFE and used them on the Idaho Hot Springs Loop Mountain Bike Trail. How did they do?
The gas tank bag worked great. I'd like to make it a little taller and a touch longer even though it intrudes into my stand over space. The zipper opening was exactly the right length to get my glasses case and phone in and out, which means it was a snug fit. It would be a problem if you were in a hurry to get the case or phone in or out but when you're bike packing, what's the hurry? The bag also carried a small notebook, pen, folding knife, and DEET spray.
The only thing I need to do with the frame bag is make sure I pack it properly. I had stowed a small tupperware container full of chamois cream in the bottom of the bag. The contents shifted during the first day. I heard a rhythmic thump while pedaling that I thought was coming from my bottom bracket. It turned out the crank arm was hitting the bag where the tupperware container was pushing outwards. That was a quick fix and I had no more problems with it but it did damage the bag. The bag also held a Tyvek ground cloth, a rain fly, a 3-liter water bladder, a water filter, and an extra 2-liter bladder that I usually filled and used at a camp sites.
The porteur bag held up and worked pretty well during the trip, but it could use some improvement. I was concerned about the mounting straps because I felt too much play resulted in the way I attached the straps to the nylon material of the bag. Nothing tore and I didn't see any damage, but the bag really bounced on the frame when hitting all those ruts, wash boards, holes, rocks, etc. Maybe that's normal behavior for a porteur bag. But maybe I could snug it down a little tighter. The velcro strips I put on both sides and the back held the lid on and never gave out. Nothing bounced out of the bag but the way it was shaking on a lot of those rough forest service roads, you'd think the contents were going to bust out at any second. I sewed a clear vinyl piece onto the top of the bag with the idea the map and my phone could sit underneath them. But the space between the pliable nylon and the vinyl was too loose so anything under the vinyl would start working its way out during the ride. The cue sheet was the only thing that would stay. Plus, when the sun was high the clear vinyl would reflect the sunlight into my eyes.
The bag carried a bivvy, stove, fuel can, foil shield, pot, pillow, food, energy bars and snacks, mug, map, first aid kit, dental care kit, body care kit, and my phone when charging off the dynamo.
Looking fresh and new on the first day.
Aesthetically pleasing except for the black velcro on the front. The cue sheet under the vinyl top was easy to read good except when the sun was high.
The crank arm was striking the slightly bulged out part and damaged the bag.
Starting to show some use.
Oh, we're dirty now.
Six days in and still going strong.
The down side of a light-colored bag. The dirty spots are easier to see.
But this bag is a keeper.
I didn't do a practice gas tank bag so this was kind of that, too. I attached two sides of the velcro straps backwards. Rather than take everything apart I just cut the straps, flipped them over and sewed each one to its reversed partner.
The elastic cord used as a backup for holding the lid closed quickly started wearing and fraying where it looped around the rack. I'll substitute shock cord and see if that holds up better.
I had two velcro straps on the back of the bag that went around the sides of the rack.
And two straps that went around the middle cross piece of the rack and then forward to the front side.
Velcro strips on each side of the unattached lid.
Back of the bag where it opened from.
Coroplast lined to give the bag shape and structure. Duct tape to hold the pieces in place. I used a trash bag liner so no small bits would fall through the cracks.
Pretty much useless vinyl top. The sheet of foam, attached to the vinyl using double sided sticky pads, didn't help hold anything in place.
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351,573,024 | Conscious Leaders for the Future: Steven Ebbers' Thoughts On Personal Leadership
The following article is an amended transcript from a recent Webinar on the topic of Conscious Leadership that Nomad Academy's own Steven Ebbers undertook in partnership with Kate Watson and Camila Pestana from On Purpose [A fantastic organisation that work with inspiring professionals and help them get stuck in to become leaders who harness the power of business for good].
"In deciding what I was going to talk about specifically, I realised that we are living in a time where immediate action is required. Looking specifically at the state of our societies and planet. Therefore I decided that I was going to focus on talking about Leading as opposed to Leadership.
We know, on a theoretical level, what needs to be done but the question is always how?! What can I start doing today? What can I do to create these changes? As a result I decided to draw on my experience as a professional athlete and on my personal experiences of leading groups of young professionals here in Asia and Africa, which is my current job.
Now, the key in all that way are saying here today is hidden in the very first word of the title of this webinar: Conscious.
Conscious comes from the Latin “To know” or “With knowledge” and when you Google its definition it says: aware of and responding to one's surroundings. I’ll tell you why it’s so important to look at what conscious actually means. Because it’s only from this awareness of ourselves and our environment that we are able to change it. It requires knowledge about its current state, seeing what is actually right in front of you to know what it is you like to change. In many ways this relates directly to our webinar partner Kate’s systems model which indicates that there is one place where conscious leadership begins, and that is the Self.
As a result, I’ve derived three lessons from my personal experiences in leading that are incredibly important when you want to lead and impact your environment.
Lesson Number One: Self-Awareness
If you want to lead you have to get as self aware as you possibly can.
This is absolutely vital, because only if you are aware of what it is that you are putting out there, can you actively influence what the other person is receiving and experiencing. Without self awareness it’s impossible to lead, I’ve learned that it’s the absolute starting point of successful leadership. It allows people to relate to you.
Self Awareness is the ability to identify your own feelings and intentions. Knowing what is happening inside of you. Our thoughts, beliefs and emotions guide our behaviours. So to make sure we lead in the best possible way, you need to get as clear as you can be on what is going on inside yourself.
So when it comes to leading and training yourself as a leader there are a couple of questions I try to ask myself constantly to increase my own self awareness as a leader:
Question One : Why am I taking the lead?
This question is about checking my intentions at that specific moment in time.
Am I taking the lead because I am trying to help the other person to the best of my capabilities?
Am I taking the lead for a need of control? Am I afraid of not being able to control the situation and am I taking the lead from source of frustration? That “Come on guys, just do this” type of frustration, when you feel like you are losing oversight.
Or are you taking the lead to show your environment what a great “leader” you are, so you can maybe get a promotion? This can be very ego driven, showing you environment who is the boss. Often people will rule by fear and put others down to look better themselves, which will sometimes do the job, but you will only be listened to out of fear so people won’t approach you anymore.
So check your intention. Because only if your intention is to help others, should you actually take the lead.
Question Two: What am I doing that is making my environment respond like this?
This is all about taking extreme ownership of yourself, which is the only thing you can effectively change.
As a leader, people look at you, all the time, more than they probably would look at others. And almost every action you undertake will be seen in the light of you as the leader and will lead to a certain response from your environment, action→ reaction.
So whenever, and this can be applied to a 1:1 and in a group setting, things aren’t going the way you were hoping or you see that people are fearful, find you intimidating, unapproachable or soft or weak or whatever it is, don’t blame your environment, they are simply responding to what they are picking up from you. To give you a short example, I coach half the group [of young professionals that undertake the Nomad Academy program] and these sessions seemed to be going well, they were intimate and personal conversations, besides talking about entrepreneurial things. The workshops I did for the whole group also went well and we predominantly got really good feedback. So all fine, I thought I had a good relationship with the group.
However, after a conversation with my fellow program director, I realised that I had never really had personal conversations with some of the other half of the tribe, the half who I don’t have coaching sessions with. My colleague [Tess who also coaches young professionals with Nomad Academy] told me that she got the impression that some people felt intimidated by me. Initially I just thought “Well, that’s weird, I am always open for a conversation and I’ve had personal conversations with my coachees, so they are wrong that I am intimidating.” On the other hand, it stung me a little, why didn’t they feel it was safe to talk to me?
After thinking about it, it started to dawn on me: I didn’t realise that most of them had only seen me in a group setting and I wasn’t aware enough of how I presented myself, combined that I am not the smallest person, and I can be pretty convincing when giving a workshop. So they had mainly seen me in a pretty dominant way, verbal and non verbal.
Fast forward:
A couple of days later, we went on a meditation retreat with the whole group where we ended with an hour long silent sitting meditation. I realised that I had to actively show a different side of me publicly if I was going to connect with everyone in the tribe.
Afterwards, we had a group discussion about our experiences at the retreat, I decided to share it with the whole group how I would like to connect with everyone one in the tribe, and that my image of dominance or intimidating was not a reflection of my thoughts. Saying this out loud served as an invitation to come and speak to me. From that moment onwards relationships slowly started to change and people felt I was more approachable.
So ask yourself these 2 questions over and over again:
- Why am I taking the lead?
- What am I doing that is making my environment respond like this?
You will increase your self awareness and will slowly see that your environment will start to behave differently as well. That certain dynamics that you thought were set in stone, you know can actually be changed.
We all do this: “Ah he or she is just like that”
Lesson Number Two: Authenticity
As a leader it’s incredibly important you create a safe environment. Only in a safe environment can people thrive and experiment without the fear of being shut down.
A safe environment allows people to develop a growth mindset, fail at things, learn from it and move on as opposed to being punished for failing. Only when they feel safe in your proximity will they know that they can come to you if they have a problem or issue.. One of the easy ways you can make people feel safe is by being consistent in your behaviour and that’s where authenticity comes in. So the easiest, and arguably the only way, to Always be as consistent as possible, is by being as authentic as you can be. And the reason for that is that your authentic self is always with you, right? It’s always there.
So if you are brave enough to always show your authentic self as a leader, you ALWAYS have a central undisputed source on which to base your behaviour. Because it’s impossible to keep up a fake persona over an extended period of time. By being authentic you are leading by example, you create an environment where people feel safe to take off their corporate masks, to show themselves and stop pretending they’ve got it all under control.
Leading in an authentic way is also very scary sometimes.You have to be willing to show a certain vulnerability, show your true self. I experienced this the other day, where something happened that made me pretty angry and frustrated, because I felt like I was under attack. So I asked to have a 1:1 conversation, and I, in my own anger, was going to tell them exactly all the things that they’d done wrong and XYZ. But as I was getting ready for the conversation I realised that if I were to do that; firstly of all this person wouldn’t get the message because they’d feel under attack just like I did, and secondly that if they were to have another problem in the future they’d never come to me again because I shot them down for raising their issues.
So instead I decided to sit down and I wrote down the following 3 words:
- Upset
- Disappointed
- Painful
With each of these three things, I then also wrote down exactly what it was that had made me feel that way. So as the conversation started, I was able to articulate how I felt and why I felt it. I felt super vulnerable, because it didn’t portray me as “strong” at all. To my great relief, the other person completely accepted what I said, apologised, and we had one of the best conversations I’ve had on this trip, both learning so much more about ourselves and why we did what we did.
So I strongly believe that authenticity is vital, especially in moments when things are at stake.
We’ve talked about increasing your self awareness and the importance of authenticity.The last point I’d like to talk about has personally changed my life and I promise that it will make all the difference in the development of your awareness and the ability to tap into your sense of authenticity.
Lesson Three: Reflection.
I would highly encourage each and everyone here today to develop a reflective practice. And for those of you who already do this daily, you know how much of an impact this can have. Now what do I mean by having a reflective practice. I’m talking about things like Meditation, Mindfulness, journaling, going for long walks on your own, whatever works for you and doing this on a daily basis. Ideally you would combine a number of these activities. Honestly, I’d even go so far as to say: the more the better.
I was reading Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris for a couple of months, a book in which he spoke to over 200 of the most successful people in all kinds of disciplines. Now I didn’t necessarily get too much out of the book besides the fact that most of these people seem to have 29hr days looking at how long their morning and evening routines take and that I should take cold showers, which I hate….
BUT what WAS interesting is that over 80% of these world class performance had one thing in common which is that they have a daily meditation or mindfulness practice. And I can’t agree more.
So what I’d recommend is that everyone here ask themselves the question: How do I reflect? And start experimenting and stick to it, even if it feels hard in the beginning because it will change how you go about life. By reflecting on a daily basis, it will get way easier to be authentic because you are calmer which means that you will feel more resilient and confident to show yourself. Your awareness will significantly increase because you are processing all the things that happened to you that day and what it made you feel like.
We've covered a lot. So, to quickly summarise, these are the things I’ve learned over the years when it comes to leading.
1: Work on your self awareness as a leader to have better conversations.
To do this you can ask yourself the questions:
Why am I taking the lead? AND What am I doing that is making my environment respond like this?
Take extreme ownership of your own behaviour.
2: Authenticity
To get the best out of people, they need to feel safe. To make people feel safe, your behaviour needs to be consistent and the easiest way to do that is to be authentic. Your authentic self is something that is always there with you, and is something people can always relate to.
The easiest way to be authentic is to work and lead on things that have meaning to you.
Point 3: Have a reflective practice!
Find out how you reflect. In silence by meditating, by writing by journaling, or maybe you are a verbal reflector so get out your voice recorder or get a coach or mentor.
Through reflection you will get to know yourself better, increase your self awareness your EQ and authentic self.
Some thoughts on Self Awareness & EQ.
For those of you not familiar with the basic elements of EQ;
i. Self - Awareness → The ability to identify your feelings and intentions
ii. Self Management → The ability to adjust your thoughts and actions, based on your self awareness
iii. Social Awareness → The ability to pick up on other’s emotions and perspectives
Each of these 3 elements come together in the last part which is Relationship Management: Understanding yourself and others to the point that you can effectively work towards a positive outcome.
Some thoughts on Authenticity.
Now how do authenticity, safely, and predictability interact.
When you are leading a group over an extended period of time, they will see and interact with you at different times and places. So if I take my own situation, I am travelling with these groups of people 3 months at a time, where day see me in the morning, midday and evening, in 1:1 sessions, in socials, at workshops, on the beach, in the mountains, in our spare time etc
As we said before, for people to feel safe there needs to be a certain predictability in your behaviour.
Now, let’s for example, imagine a leader who is not being authentic. Maybe she or he’d put up a certain persona week one or two and will be able to get away with it, but over time, you will not be able to keep up this persona, right? You will at a certain point be caught off guard and behave in a way that is not in line with the person people thought you were.
In a nutshell:
Inauthentic → can’t be consistent in your behaviour because there is no central source of behaviour, inconsistent behaviour → which means people can’t predict your behaviour, taken by surprise, sometimes you are friendly, sometimes you are strict in other words unpredictable → feel unsafe, they don’t know how you will react and therefore will hold back in your proximity.
Inauthentic → inconsistent → unpredictable → unsafe
Some thoughts on Meaning.
Now, I’d like to look at what you can do to be as authentic as possible.
The easiest way to be as authentic as possible, is to engage in things that elicit the strongest feelings inside of you. When you don’t have to delve too deep inside yourself, to talk about what matters to you. And this is why it is so incredibly important that you work on things that actually matter to you.
Things that matter to you so much, that you almost have no other option than to take the lead on it. And the things that tend to matter to us are the things that have meaning to us, the things that have a purpose, things that resonate inside. It’s the reason why companies like On Purpose and Nomad Academy exist in the first place. Because if people engage in things that truly matter to them, they are able to lead and bring others along on their journey.
Some thoughts on Reflection.
By doing this regularly you will train your reflective muscles to get to a point where you can start doing this thing which is called: Reflection in Action.
Where you are able during a conversation, to observe what is going on within the interaction, and pick up on what it is that you are experiencing and what you are picking up on from the other person.
So for example when you have a difficult conversation:
I notice I feel a certain pressure in my chest, I’m not calm, Why is that? Hmm this person is making me feel like this because they need help but are talking around it. It looks like they are afraid. So I say in the moment “What you are talking about, what are you afraid of that could happen?
And suddenly their face changes, they truly feel listened to and seen, and suddenly go something like
“Well actually, yes, I’m super scared because XYZ”
“Ok, and what is it that I can do to help with that” and the conversation suddenly goes into a whole different direction."
- Steven Ebbers
You can watch the full webinar Conscious Leaders for the Future here.
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584,108,471 | Background of Vesuvius Plot:
Vesuvius Plot is dedicated to the mountain that never sleeps, Mount Vesuvius, still active after 2000 years.
The author visited Pompeii in the Amalfi Coast on her second trip to Rome she was 15 years old. She took a one day tour from the eternal city down the coast to the most famous archaeological ruin that exists anywhere. She was anxious to take notes and photographs for her Latin one class back at the high school.
She followed closely behind the guide all the way through the town, looking from left to right at all the ruined houses and artworks and taking copious notes. The guide would not allow her, her mother, or her sister to visit the art gallery devoted to nude statues and other controversial artwork. He would allow only her brother, even though he was younger, and her father to take the tour. Later she was able to view the artworks in various coffee table books that showed the reader the statues and paintings that now reside mostly in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. She was able to view Mount Vesuvius in the distance alongside of the Bay of Naples. That volcano probably made a bigger impression than anything else. It was easy to imagine even for a 15-year-old what it must’ve been like that day at noon time on August 24 79 A.D. When the volcano erupted. Up until now the author has never dealt with that event in any of her novels. She thought it was fitting that it become the subject the novel of its own entitled the Vesuvius Plot.
Here we follow the adventures of the grandson of the hero of the Cherusci Plot as he joins the administration of Pliny the Elder at Trier where the government then resided in the province of Germany. The ancestors of Arminius, Hermann the German, are still trying to resist Roman rule. In particular they are targeting Pliny the Elder because of his work entitled the Germania, which has since been lost. The governor, a famous scientist and philosopher and author of the encyclopedic natural history, the first encyclopedia ever written, criticized the Germans for being barbaric and outside the Roman world. This was an accusation that the descendants of Hermann the German were not likely to forget or forgive.
They follow Pliny the Elder and Caius Antonius back to Italy during the summer of 79 A.D. While the volcano blows its top they try to decide who will rule the Western world – will it be the Romans or will it be the Germans, under the sign of the swastika, symbol of their ancient religion, after all?
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89,573,381 | A Casper man allegedly stole three vehicles worth $240,000, but how that happened -- with one of them found in Riverton -- remains unclear because his explanations weren't either.
Austin Ideen, 24, was charged Friday with three counts of felony theft, possession of a controlled substance, prohibited possession of a firearm, use of a firearm while committing a felony, and interference with a peace officer.
We're talking some serious felony theft.
The vehicles are a 2019 black Dodge Durango GT valued at $50,000; a 2018 red Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT valued at $100,000 (with a 6.4 liter V8 with 475 horsepower); and a 2018 black Dodge Challenger Hellcat valued at $90,000 (with a supercharged 6.2 liter Hemi V8 punching 707 horsepower), according to a Casper Police affidavit filed with the Natrona County Circuit Court.
The case began at 3:53 p.m. Friday when a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper tried to stop the Durango on Interstate 25 when it took a Casper exit, according to the affidavit.
Fourteen minutes later, the general manager for Fremont Motors contacted police dispatch about the dealership missing the Durango, Jeep and Hellcat. Fremont Motors had the three vehicles at a sales event at the Casper Events Center from Dec. 22 when they were noticed missing on Dec. 26. The manager told police vehicles sometimes are unaccounted for after such events because they are not placed correctly back in the lot.
At 5:20 p.m., the manager activated the GPS on the Durango, which was located at an apartment complex at 600 E. M St., where five officers set up a perimeter. The Jeep soon pulled up next to the Durango.
Officers identified themselves to Ideen and began chasing him. One officer tackled Ideen right before both crashed through the ice and into the North Platte River. Ideen continued to fight with that officer, the other officers pulled them out and took Ideen into custody. Ideen had a gold-painted pistol with an obliterated serial number in his front pants pocket.
Ideen and the officer were treated for cold water exposure, then taken in separate ambulances to the Wyoming Medical Center.
Meanwhile, the Fremont Motors general manager activated the GPS in the Hellcat and located it in Riverton.
At 10:20 p.m., Ideen was released from the hospital and taken to the police station for an interview.
It got real incoherent after that.
Ideen said a friend, whose name he misidentified, called him about the chase in the Durango, parking it in north Casper, and told him to clean it, swap license plates, and go to an apartment complex in south Casper to get the Jeep, drive it to north Casper, and drive the Durango to the apartment complex.
Ideen said he found a pistol under the seat of the Durango, and "freaked out" because he wasn't supposed to have guns after a violent gun charge in 2012, according to the affidavit.
After other explanations about his friend, how Ideen communicated with him via his or his girlfriend's cell phone, how he had the key fob to the Hellcat in Riverton, and how he didn't steal the cars -- the police officer told him he was lying.
"Ideen stated he was terrified of what his charges would be and was concerned he would get prison time," according to the affidavit.
Ideen's girlfriend told police that he had the Durango and the pistol for about three days, and that both were intravenous drug users.
A subsequent search of the apartment of Ideen and his girlfriend in the 2300 block of East 18th Street, police found the gold paint used to paint the pistol, methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia.
The affidavit added Ideen had a no-bond warrant for his arrest out of Converse County, and he was arrested on that warrant.
More From Rock 96.7 |
100,635,176 | Update: Evidently the Gov. handed the President a letter demanding he visit the border with her whilst wagging her finger at him and declaring that she had “saved” the border. If any of this bears out, she purposely and publicly confronted him and then blamed HIM. Nice…very classy Gov. Brewer.
Arriving in Arizona yesterday, the President had what was characterized as a “tense” exchange with Gov. Brewer. Evidently it was about something in the Governor’s book that said he had “lectured her” back in 2009 about illegal immigration. The caption on the still of their conversation (see still capture below) used by the Today Show said “Obama Confronts Arizona Governor Over Book Claims”. Now look at the picture below, what do you see there? Who is giving off confrontational non-verbal body language? The Governor is the one who is pointing her finger, speaking with a lot of emotion in her face. The President on the other hand is leaning to the side, reaching out to the side, making himself vulnerable to her…it’s a sign of conciliation, not confrontation. Afterward, the Governor gave a statement where she said that SHE felt threatened by him because she was there to “welcome him”. Then I later read that the Governor said Obama told her “that he didn’t feel I had treated him cordially.” Wow, that’s really threatening isn’t it?! /snark (take a look at the raw footage at Huffington, not that revealing except that the President didn’t look threatening from the little that I could see, I couldn’t see her at all in that raw video).
Tense Exchange Still from the Today Show
Tense Exchange Still from the Today Show
I have a few thoughts about this. From the still the President actually looks conciliatory and slightly amused by her reaction. She looks like the aggressor. All I know is that if someone got in my face with their finger pointed like that I would feel threatened–and it’s not the President who is pointing there. However, a still is not the entire conversation so without a video I can’t say any more than that. Also, we don’t know who actually brought the topic up. It might not have been Obama, as the Today Show caption indicated, but maybe it was. If he did bring it up, his intention may not have been confrontation but a desire to clear up her misconception…we’ll never know unless we were a little birdy perched on their shoulder.
Yet we can still put it into some context. Ever since the President was elected, she has been ragging on him about illegal immigration, and that’s just one of a host of issues she vehemently disagrees with him about. The President, while also strongly disagreeing with her on those issues, has offerred time and time again to meet her halfway with a compromise solution. Here’s an example of that….Back in April of 2011, Sen. McCain and Sen. Kyl layed out a grand plan for border security requesting 3,000 National Guard soldiers in addition to the troops requested back in 2009. The Governor supported their plan. Indeed her own request around the same time for 250 additional National Guard soldiers paled in comparison. The Senators and the Governor expected the Federal Government to pay for those soldiers, which I believe would be the correct thing to do. This request would have been 12 times the number of troops sent to the border at the height of the Bush Admins push to secure the border back during a previous mission called Operation Jump Start back in 2006 to 2008. Although there has been an increase in crime in the U.S. it has almost been exclusively within the drug community–meaning that those involved were in the drug trade or closely related to someone in the drug trade. But that could begin to affect legitimate citizens so it is a real concern.
Pres. Obama approved sending 1200 additional troops to the border and requested additional funding from Congress to the tune of $500 million. Moreover the U.S. Border Patrol was in the process of recruiting and hiring more agents but that takes more time than just sending existing soliders. If the President had sent the number requested by the Senators, it would have probably cost around $1 billion. Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it because it is expensive. I am saying that if Republicans, like Governor Brewer, Senators McCain and Kyl want the U.S. to deliver democracy around the world at the end of gun (i.e., Iraq and Afghanistan), then they had better expect that funding and troops for other needs like border security are going to get shortchanged. The U.S., while the most prosperous and productive country in the history of the world, does not have unlimited funding.
They refuse to accept that the President can’t give them all that they want because he has to deal with ALL the issues such as a two front war, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, etc. And this would have been the case even if it had been a Republican President in office–they wouldn’t have gotten everything they wanted. As evidence that they won’t accept that he’s doing all he can do, Gov. Brewer instigated a lawsuit in federal court accusing the President of failing to enforce immigration laws or maintaining control over the border (this was basically a countersuit to the DOJ challenge to SB1070). Her accusation was patently absurd as I will show you in a minute and the suit was dismissed in Oct. 2011.
Furthermore the President, from an overall viewpoint, has been tougher than any previous administrations. President Obama’s administration deported more illegal immigrants in the first three years of his administration than G.W. Bush did in all eight of his years in office. The President has increased the number of troops on the border (as noted above) even though we really couldn’t afford it AND he continued the expansion of the number of agents in the Border Patrol begun by G.W. Bush. As of 2011 there are twice as many Agents as there were in 2004, and the majority of them (about 17,000 agents out of the total of 21,000) are on the Mexican Border.
So that’s your context…The Republican Party, with people like Gov. Brewer and Senators McCain and Kyl, demanding that he not only give them everything they want on the Border in addition to demanding just some of the following from President Obama and his adminstration:
1. continue a war in Iraq that he did not originally want
2. continue nation building in Afghanistan which he did not think was feasible and which was so ignored by the former Republican President that it was not likely recoverable
3. continue indefinite detention of enemy combatants in Guantanomo in spite of the fact that he wanted to close it and even requested that Congress fund the closing….they said no
4. continue prosecuting people using military tribunes instead of criminal courts
5. accept whatever laws the states chose to pass regarding illegal immigration (like SB1070, in spite of the fact that they were more likley unconstitutional) which forced the DOJ to fight back
And those are just the highlights. All of these things have diverted manpower and funds from important domestic problems. So it’s no wonder the President doesn’t get all warm and tingly when dealing with Governor Brewer and, quite frankly, she knows this. That’s why I think she is being manipulative and disingenuous when she felt “threatened” by the President. If anything, I would say it was the other way around.
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132,080,080 | While experiencing the effects of a literal force of nature, whereby I lost a considerable amount of money, I also came to experience the kinship of my neighbours. Many are familiar with the account of the event on that windy March day in Port Hawkesbury, as several media outlets carried the story. What many are not acquainted with is the response of a few extraordinary people.
Several individuals helped me, a stranger, in trying to retrieve bills that were flying through the air so quickly that one could hardly follow them visually. These witnesses to the event endured a miserably cold, wet, and (obviously) windy day to assist someone with whom they had absolutely no connection. This act demonstrated that they had immediately made an assumption that I was a legitimate owner of money obtained honestly. They displayed the empathy of thinking how they would feel if it happened to them, and sprang into action. It is easy to stop and take time to make careful consideration on whether one should or should not act, deliberating on the risk and benefits of doing so. However, the speed with which these people provided the help clearly showed that they thought that they should do the right thing without thought of reward, consideration of whether I merited the help, or their own discomfort.
This is in sharp contrast to others who made the assumption that my plight was a scam, a result of carelessness, that perhaps the money was illegitimately or distastefully obtained, or that I would not be negatively affected by the loss because it was believed that only those with plenty of money would have been carrying that amount.
I cannot adequately express in words my gratitude to Shelly Forgeron and her daughter and nephew, and to a gentleman and his wife who spent so much time to lend assistance to me. I regret not asking his name before we were separated. To Alan Findlay, who returned some of the found cash to the RCMP, my deepest thanks to you. I hope to be able to assist all of you some day in a similarly important time in your life. These people are truly selfless, decent human beings and deserve to be treated in kind by others.
It has been asked why this would happen to me, by well-meaning others attempting to be supportive as I assessed the loss. My response to this is that it was better to have happened to me than to someone less fortunate. I can still work, and have a job at which I have worked hard for 29 years. Though it will take considerable time, I will earn again what was lost.
Consider if that had happened to a senior who could no longer pay for heat, a single mother unable to buy groceries, someone unable to pay for a prescription, or someone unable to buy gas for or repair a car needed to get to work, or any hundreds of scenarios where the day-to-day life of someone would be devastated because of a similar loss.
On hearing the story and feeling badly about it, some have asked if there was anything they could do to help out. I am deeply appreciative of the offers, while I am not comfortable with my so-called 15 minutes of fame, I recognize that it does provide a platform. If I can do any good as a means to show thanks for the concern and help that I received, I would ask those reading this to look around purposely and recognize those in our community who might be in need of support and offer it to them. A selfless act of kindness and charity makes a difference, always.
I will remember and have gratitude for the people who leaped so quickly in to action to help.
Suzanne MacIntyre
River Bourgeois |
115,019,142 | More than 500 evacuated from Puerto Rican cruise ship blaze
Dozens of school-age athletes were aboard
Posted: 7:49 PM, Aug 17, 2016
Updated: 2016-08-17 19:49:15-04
500 evacuated from cruise ship blaze
500 evacuated from cruise ship blaze
500 evacuated from cruise ship blaze
500 evacuated from cruise ship blaze
More than 500 passengers and crew were evacuated from a burning ship about a mile off Puerto Rico's north coast on Wednesday, and many required medical care, though there were no reported fatalities or life-threatening injuries.
The fire burned as hundreds slid down emergency slides from the Caribbean Fantasy, a combination cruise and ferry ship. U.S. Coast Guard boats then carried passengers into San Juan's harbor as helicopters whirred overheard. Other agencies and even private vessels joined in the effort as firefighters were ordered to abandon the ship for their safety.
"It was like something out of a movie," said Maria Prensa, a 64-year-old Dominican passenger as she wiped away tears. "You panic when you see that. You're in the middle of the ocean and there's a fire. Imagine that."
The mostly Dominican passengers included dozens of school-age athletes headed to competitions in Puerto Rico, including a cycling team, a girls' volleyball team and a boys' baseball team. The ship runs several times weekly between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
The fire erupted in the engine room and apparently had been burning for some time before the alarm was sounded.
Gyno Funes told The Associated Press that he was one of two mechanics in the control room when a hose carrying fuel burst open and caught fire.
"We were trying to extinguish it for two hours, but couldn't," the other mechanic, Marlon Doblado, said after the two reached shore.
Officials with American Cruise Ferries, which operates the Panamanian-flagged ship built in 1989, did not return messages for comment about the fire.
Federal authorities were interviewing the captain, said Angel Crespo, director of Puerto Rico's Emergency Management Agency.
Ricardo Castrodad, a Coast Guard spokesman, said the agency had started its investigation into the fire, although it was too early to say what would happen to the ship, which remained grounded.
A ProPublica investigation found that the U.S. Coast Guard had discovered 107 deficiencies during 61 inspections of the ship since 2010. The most recent inspections found no major faults, but a January 2015 inspection stated that oil fuel lines should be screened or protected in some way to avoid any spray or leakage onto ignition sources.
Crespo said 105 people were treated at the scene, mostly for heat stroke, shock and dehydration, and 24 others had been hospitalized. Among these were three women who dislocated their ankles and a man who broke his leg while going down the emergency slide, he said. None of the injuries were serious, and everyone was expected to recover, he said.
The injured were followed by a small group of children who held hands as they disembarked from Coast Guard boats. Passengers were still arriving more than five hours after the fire was reported.
Pereira said she was at the beauty salon when her sister called to notify her. "She said, 'You need to be strong. The ferry has caught on fire." |
73,605,206 | This story was originally published in The Denver Post on May 28, 2006.
As Colorado, other states and federal officials increasingly look to toll roads to spur growth or clear clogged highways, a review of 23 new turnpikes nationwide shows that a clear majority are failing to meet revenue projections to justify their costs.
Even with adjustments for the break-in period in the opening years, 86 percent of new toll roads in eight states failed to meet expectations in their first full year.
By year three, 75 percent - 15 of the 20 that have been open that long - remained poor performers.
Despite that history of flawed forecasts, Colorado officials are promoting tolling as a way to build new roads or express lanes in an era in which other funding sources for roads are shrinking.
Three companies nationally do most of the revenue projections relied upon to sell bonds to cover road construction costs. Their representatives offer several possible explanations for consistent overestimates of road popularity.
Two scenarios never mentioned are troubling to securities experts:
Cases where the consultants doing the revenue and traffic forecast either had an interest in seeing the road get built or were later awarded additional work on that road.
Cases where the road's revenue projections were used as a negotiating tool to secure favorable financing terms rather than as an impartial scientific study.
Both situations apply at metro Denver's Northwest Parkway.
The $416 million, 11-mile parkway from Broomfield to E-470 has attracted just half the cars forecast since it opened in 2003.
Its director, Aurora City Councilman Steve Hogan, said that before seeking outside investors in the road, he didn't believe the optimistic forecasts for its profit potential. But, he said, he treated those estimates as a tool to persuade bond experts to give the debt a favorable rating, not as a solid predictor.
"My personal opinion was that the numbers were probably a little high," said Hogan, who thought the projections for the critical, early years could be as much as 25 percent above the mark. He expected bond raters to trim the revenue estimates and base their ratings for investors on more realistic projections, but they did not.
In the modern world of financing toll roads, those are the rules of the game, he says. Others agree.
"Big numbers win big prizes," said Robert Bain, a London- based analyst for bond-rating agency Standard & Poor's who has conducted international studies of toll roads. "Quite often, people shop around until they find the people who provide the numbers."
But if that's the case, it's a game that former enforcement officers with the Securities and Exchange Commission say should not be played. Inflated numbers expose investors to more risk and lower returns than they should be getting.
"To believe that they're 25 percent off - I would be extremely concerned about that," said Carr Conway, a former SEC enforcement officer, who spoke after current SEC officials declined to comment. "That's just flat wrong. ... It's not a negotiation. It's not anything like that."
Though consultants say they abhor mistaken studies, a review by The Denver Post of tolling projects in eight states finds there is no incentive for the estimates to be accurate. Even when wrong, the bonds are simply refinanced and the consultants are paid again for their work on new studies to support the new bonds.
New investors, now earning a higher return, pay off the old investors and hope that enough development follows the new road to make good on the payments. Even in a worse case, such as a Texas toll road that defaulted on $75 million in bonds, taxpayers or insurers can be counted on to bail out the lenders. And the same consultants are hired again and again.
Additionally at the Northwest Parkway, a consultant on the traffic study was promised a lucrative job - paying $350 an hour - if the road was built. Another consultant on the study was promised a contract to serve as oversight engineer if the deal went through. That contract proved to be worth $5.7 million.
Similar situations have occurred elsewhere.
In South Carolina, the company hired to prepare projections for Greenville's Southern Connector also was promised a pair of contracts worth millions of dollars if the bonds sold.
In Florida, too, the state's tolling officials hired their traffic consultant to do additional work for three of the roads funded by its studies.
One of those five roads will open this year, so its performance can't yet be measured against the projections.
In each of the other four cases, actual use of the roads ranged from 34.5 percent to 67.5 percent of their estimated traffic in their first year of operation. The projections remained dramatically off in the third year, where toll collections were from 35.3 percent to 78.4 percent of the forecast amount.
Consultants said their revenue projections were never influenced by the prospect or promise of future work. Instead, they said, estimating use is a tricky business, subject to the vagaries of development, the economy, weather and even terrorist acts.
Ed Regan, who directs forecasting at South Carolina engineering firm Wilbur Smith Associates, said bias is not an issue for his company. As proof, he pointed out that not every road idea gets to market.
Five times in the past 21 years, his company was paid for comprehensive studies of proposed roads and concluded that a reasonable tolling scheme would not work.
But Wilbur Smith's president and chief operating officer acknowledges that traffic consultants are under pressure from project sponsors to supply numbers that sell bonds.
"Some of them will come directly to us and say, 'Your numbers are too low,"' said Hollis A. Walker Jr. "It is not a rare situation to have clients try to influence the numbers, and we refuse. We make our best estimates, and then we stick by them."
Still, critics bristle at a process they say lacks the oversight of traditional road-building.
"It's a no-lose situation for the state," said George Price, who opposed Greenville's Southern Connector. "If the bonds sink, the bondholders are left holding the bag, but you will have a road.
"No matter what happens, you will get a road. And that's how they're selling them across the United States."
Missing projections
When planning a new toll road, backers usually turn to one of just three companies to conduct the traffic projections: Wilbur Smith, URS Corp. and Vollmer Associates, which did the projections for the Northwest Parkway.
Although each company worked on a project reviewed by The Post that surpassed expectations (the only three that did), collectively the three companies missed first-year projections on 19 of the 22 operating roads.
Several tolling officials said they had little choice in picking a traffic consultant because Wall Street analysts expect experienced firms. But the analysts say they have wondered about the errors.
"The track record for startup toll roads has been spotty," said Scott Trommer, a senior director at Fitch Ratings.
So much so that investors increasingly demand greater returns on the bonds, forcing toll authorities to borrow more money to use as a hedge against roads that don't perform as expected. The extra money is set aside to cover payments in early years should the toll collections not be sufficient.
But traffic and revenue consultants say many toll roads do finally come around and produce, once the new houses and businesses they make possible move in.
Colorado's E-470 is a good example, Hogan says, adding that he expects the Northwest Parkway to emulate the road he led for several years before taking over the Northwest Parkway.
But E-470 is still lagging well behind its original projected toll revenues. Vollmer predicted in 1995 that E-470 would collect $97.9 million in 2005. The road collected $77.8 million, a miss of more than 20 percent. But the miss is bigger than it seems. Vollmer's 1995 predictions were based on an E-470 only 34 miles long. The toll road opened to its present 47 miles in the first days of 2003.
Consultants at the Northwest Parkway blame missed forecasts on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which occurred after the bonds were sold that summer, and caused a drop in the expected trips between Denver's northern suburbs and Denver International Airport.
The collapse of the high- technology industry also hurt employment in the corridor, they say, and plans for a nearby housing development are just now getting underway.
But traffic at DIA is higher than it has ever been, and the tech-industry collapse had started well before Sept. 11. Yet the road has failed to come close to its projections.
The projections Vollmer gave to investors predicted that in its first full year, 2004, the Northwest Parkway would collect $6.3 million before expenses. Instead, the new road collected $4.2 million.
Vollmer said that toll plazas would collect $10.4 million in 2005. Instead, they collected $5.6 million.
Hogan predicts the authority will take in between $6.3 million and $8.5 million in 2006. Vollmer predicted $17.3 million.
Vollmer officials declined repeated requests to comment.
Analysts say that at its current rate of collections, the authority could be in danger of default when it is required to begin repaying debt in 2008. Hogan says that the money it saved in construction costs and some reserve funds could carry the authority until 2009.
"A reasonable basis"
In 1994, the SEC first warned that anyone selling municipal bonds should make sure they were giving potential investors the full picture.
"Municipal dealers must have a reasonable basis for recommending the purchase of securities," the SEC said.
Former SEC enforcement attorney David Zisser said the federal agency could easily become concerned about the failure of a tolling authority to disclose doubts about their revenue forecasts.
Hogan's admission that he doubted the numbers struck rating-agencies analysts as surprising. Analysts said they expected good-faith, rigorous estimates.
"It's interesting to actually hear an open acknowledgment of it, because when we sit here, we wonder if that's going on," said Tom Paolicelli, a senior analyst at Moody's, one of three agencies that gave the parkway strong initial ratings. "We wonder if there is an inflation because they expect us to cut (the revenue estimate) down."
Hogan, who earns in excess of $166,000 annually as the authority's director and whose signature is on the official statement, said his doubts wouldn't have mattered to investors.
"If I were buying the bonds, ... I would say, 'Well, here's an executive director whose job it is to be cautious, whose job it is to be careful ... but who has never issued bonds on his own."'
His explanation is echoed by others in the industry who say that the bonds are purchased by sophisticated investors who understand what they are getting into. And the official statements warn that the revenue projections could be in error and that the bonds are for the consideration of experienced investors.
"These are not mom-and-pop people," said Pamela Bailey- Campbell, a consultant Vollmer hired to help it prepare the traffic study.
But Colorado mutual-fund manager Chris Johns, who buys Colorado tax-exempt bonds for Kirkpatrick Pettis Smith Polian, says had he known of Hogan's doubts, he would have returned to the bargaining table.
Hogan's concern that the numbers might have been 25 percent too high means "more risk," Johns said. "Which means we would require a higher return."
Startup costs covered
One of the major differences between a traditional, taxpayer- constructed road and the public- private partnerships that create toll authorities such as the Northwest Parkway is that the contractors hired to build the toll road are required to cover many of the startup costs.
Because of this arrangement, the firm chosen to build the Northwest Parkway was required to cover the costs of hiring various consultants, including the contract with Vollmer to conduct the traffic and revenue study.
The firm, now known as Washington Group, also paid most of a $1.1 million fee engineering firm Carter & Burgess charged for an environmental-impact study.
The result is that Washington Group knew upfront that it would lose the money it spent if the bonds didn't sell and the road wasn't built.
If the bonds did sell, however, the construction company would win an immediate fee of $7.75 million, and the company would move forward on a project worth $191.6 million.
Washington Group partnered with another contractor in 2001. Its cut plus the $7.75 million would be worth $83.7 million in gross revenues.
Hogan says Washington Group's work was kept separate from Vollmer's work to prevent any undue influence on the studies that gauged the project's feasibility. But he acknowledged that the contractor, with so much to gain from the sale of the bonds, had key meetings with the consultants as the critical projections were being crafted.
A year before the bond sale, and with the blessing of Northwest Parkway officials, Washington Group representatives went to Vollmer's New York offices to get the preliminary picture on whether revenue generated by the road would be enough to persuade bondholders to invest. They returned and informed Hogan that the projections looked good.
The bonds sold. The Northwest Parkway Public Highway Authority was suddenly flush with cash. But officials discovered soon after it opened that it might not be able to repay that money. Now, because traffic has fallen so far short of expectations, some of that cash is being spent again in preparation for refinancing the bonds through sale to new investors who probably will have to accept more risk.
The authority paid $500,000 to Vollmer last year to recalibrate its traffic model in a failed start at refinancing, and another $42,465 to Bailey-Campbell's consulting firm for work on the refinancing. The authority abandoned the effort when it learned the interest costs would be too high.
The canceled bond sale cost the authority an additional $324,071 in payments to rating agencies and disclosure attorneys.
For its next attempt, the authority has agreed to pay Vollmer another $625,000 to update its traffic and revenue study. Bailey-Campbell, the rating agencies and attorneys will all be paid again.
The result could be that the authority doesn't default on its loans but that users of the road could pay tolls 10 more years beyond the expected bond payoff date of 2041, Hogan says.
The Northwest Parkway, like some others, paid to insure its bonds. It paid about $16 million to two insurance companies from the money it borrowed from investors.
So even if the authority fails to refinance and can't make payments, bondholders should get their money.
Johns, of Kirkpatrick Pettis, which bought $2 million of the Northwest Parkway bonds, said he knows what the insurance meant to him: Without it, his company would not own the bonds.
The policies, Johns says, give an extra advantage to his clients, whom he describes as mostly working people adding to their retirement savings and young couples saving for their children's college educations.
But Johns predicts that the certainty the insurance provides isn't so certain for future bond issues. The insurers may not wish to maintain or increase their coverage, he said.
"Would you insure the new bonds?" Johns said. "Here's what will happen: The existing bondholders aren't going to lose anything. ... When the new ones are issued, they will find a new group of investors who have to analyze the risk to determine whether to invest.
"It's going to be a kind of 'eyes wide open."'
Johns' point is all too clear to Hogan as the Northwest Parkway tries again to sell new bonds.
Hogan says he's thankful the toll road managed to save $20 million in construction costs it set aside as a rainy-day fund.
"If we hadn't done that, we would have been in trouble," he said. "Big, big trouble. There's no two ways around that."
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib and staff researcher Barbara Hudson contributed to this report.
Staff writer Chuck Plunkett can be reached at 303-820-1333 or |
624,327,869 | Adultery: What’s the problem?
Gen. David Petraeus resigned from his post at the CIA because of his adulterous affair. This was headline news for a week or so and has receded into the dustbin of memory. But the nagging questions that his extra-marital affair raised are unanswered.
Is there something intrinsically wrong with extra-marital relations? Or was it a sense of military honor that led to the general’s decision to leave the intelligence agency? Nothing in his CIA post would call for an automatic expulsion. Whether a CIA employee remains is contingent upon a number of other factors, such as whether the behavior compromises secrets. It is the action in relation to the bigger picture that matters. Can the person continue to perform his or her duties? That is the question.
But the military code is different and Petraeus is ashamed of what he did in his role as a military officer. He believes he owes his troops a model of untarnished virtue. We assume he believes he owes his wife as much.
Although adultery isn’t listed is an offense in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, there is a provision in Article 134 that prohibits conduct that brings discredit to the military or conduct which is prejudicial to good order and discipline.
Petraeus is free to think his conduct brought shame upon himself and his office and that he was right to resign. But this bypasses the basic question about adultery itself. Is it intrinsically wrong?
Adultery is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. That is the end of the matter for some; nothing more needs be said. But the biblical commandments also prohibit lying, yet no one could ever remain in office if this were taken without exception. We know that Parson Weems wasn’t exactly telling the truth when he wrote that George Washington said he could never tell a lie.
And certainly there would be no army from which Petraeus could resign if the prohibition against killing were taken literally. There is killing of varying degrees, as the law and common sense recognize, ranging from self-defense to pre-meditated murder.
All rules need interpretation; all principles need to be placed in context; all prohibitions need to be examined against reason.
There is a fear that if adultery is condoned, then all sexual standards must fall. However, sex between consenting adults is different than sex in which there isn’t mutual consent. It is also different from sex with children. Using another person as a means only is immoral because it violates a person’s inherent worth and dignity. This is why sex that is imposed on another is wrong and why children are a protected category. Children don’t have the capacity to make informed consent about several things, such as going to school, voting or making medical decisions. In addition, they are vulnerable to undue pressure by adults.
Similar reasons prevail regarding restrictions around sexual relations in the workplace between a manager and a subordinate. Lockheed Martin was right in accepting Lockheed Martin CEO’s, Christopher Kubasik, resignation when an internal ethics investigation found that he had a sexual relation with an employee.
The moral problem with adultery is two-fold. It is wrong if there is deceit. Cheating is morally wrong, in sex and in other matters, because it violates the ethical standard of reciprocity and fairness. If one partner entered into marriage with the understanding of sexual fidelity, adultery is wrong if that understanding is still in place.
Adultery is wrong if it hurts others. While the parties involved may consent and a spouse may be may also be agreeable to their spouse’s extra-marital affairs, there may well be a fourth party involved who doesn’t know about what is going on and hasn’t agreed. Everyone must be honest and offer consent or the affair is morally tainted.
The second problem with adultery is that it is often psychologically damaging to the spouse. Only the most secure person doesn’t feel threatened, believing that they don’t measure up to the lover.
Betrayal hovers heavy over extra-marital affairs.
But does this mean that Petraeus should have resigned? Since we don’t know what understanding the Petraeuses and other who were involved had, it is best left to them to make the moral judgment. As for his CIA role, it is for the CIA to determine whether it compromised his duties.
In and of itself, affairs are personal matters that may or may not be acts of betrayal. Private and public morals can be separated here. If good generals must also be faultless in their character, we would likely never have good generals.
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4 thoughts on “Adultery: What’s the problem?
1. The Petraeus issue aside, you raise germane issues about adultery and ethics. In my view, the greatest violation inherent in adultery is the betrayal of trust and honesty with the person with whom has been most intimate. In my professional experience as an Ethical Culture leader, I have never encountered a cuckolded wife or husband for whom his or her spouse’s affair with another was a matter of indifference. On the contrary, it is always a matter of deepest pain, and often great anger. The very intimacy of marriage leaves the betrayed souse most vulnerable. In a relationship in which extra-marital affairs are discussed and agreed upon beforehand, this moral dynamic wouldn’t pertain, But such marriages are very rare, and most likely suffer other problems, though this is a different matter.
A more daunting question, which is outside the scope of your blog, is how we the public are to assess the capabilities of people in positions of leadership ans responsibility who have affairs once they become known. Are we to conclude that such people are not to be trusted in positions of leadership on the presumption that if they can be dishonest toward their spouse their honesty overall is suspect? Or, can we conclude that there is a thick line between the private domain and the public, so that what goes on in a person’s marriage has no bearing on his or her moral capacity for public leadership? Are a person’s morals untrammeled, or can we contextualize a person’s moral character and behavior?
2. Great points. When this bit of news came out, I began having this debate with everyone I spoke to… Why would it matter to his post at the CIA? Some pointed out that the fact the affair was with his biographer might have been inappropriate because it may have affected the content of her work. Or that he was acting too far out of his proclaimed character such that he could no longer be respected as the same person. There are interesting issues, but to me it seems that this is between Petraeus, his wife and his mistress. I don’t agree with his actions but it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with his post. I think he may have just taken the opportunity to retire to avoid getting pulled into the press scandal further. It might have just been pragmatics on his part, not a recognition that he would be fired if he didn’t do it himself.
3. Petreus worked for the US Army and the US Code of Military Justice specifically prohibits adultery. To protect high ranking officers from breaking this rule, as much as possible they’re kept in the company of military comrades.
When Petreus retired and became head of the CIA he was required to report any affairs to his boss. But his boss had some discretionary powers regarding how to handle the situation. Mostly, they’ve been treated as private problems unless crucial secrets were found to have been revealed or the media was fed and published salacious details.
One of my thoughts on this is how rules can impede internalizing of ethical asperations (as in the first case, where it’s too risky to allow one to learn from their mistakes . Another is how ironic it is that personal codes of conduct in a group often distract us from larger, intrinsic goals:
In the case of military operations, warriros by psychological necessity must at some level dehumanize the “other”
In the case of intelligence organizations, the gaining of information often includes acts of subterfuge and the weaving of of larger webs of deception.
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368,213,220 | What Makes House Selling Difficult?
You’ve probably heard a lot about the state of the housing market since the global financial downturn in 2008. The crisis affected many aspects of financial life, but the housing market has been hit particularly hard, and is still struggling to improve to a situation that suits both buyers and sellers. The question is, what exactly is going wrong, and why isn’t your house selling?
The Sub-Prime Market
One of the major catalysts of the downturn was an excess of what are known as sub-prime mortgages in the United States. These were mortgages given to people with less than ideal credit ratings. Unfortunately, much of the debt became bad – meaning it wasn’t paid back. This caused serious negative implications for the lenders, some of which collapsed in numerous high-profile cases.
This situation caused banks all around the world to make their lending criteria much, much stricter to avoid the same thing happening again. Where once it was relatively simple to get a mortgage with a reasonable credit rating and income, it is now very difficult in many places around the world.
With lending a lot less common, it has become quite difficult for people, first time buyers in particular, to be able to actually afford a house to live in. Where once there had been many buyers, there are now far fewer around which has obvious implications when you’re trying to sell.
Not only are there fewer buyers, but the buyers that are around can afford less, and are only willing to pay smaller amounts. This has meant that a lot of people who bought houses in the last decade are not too keen on selling in this market.
Marketing, Marketing, Marketing
The upshot of all this is that it takes a lot of effort to sell a house these days, which means choosing the right marketing strategy is essential. Estate agents rely on custom packages rather than a one-size-fits all method. You need to tailor things to the buyers in your area and be prepared to change tack if necessary.
The market certainly isn’t impossible to operate in, but if you understand the reasons for a more difficult selling environment, you’ll be better placed to combat it, and ultimately sell your house for the price you want, and not have to wait an age for it to happen.
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225,927,858 | FILE - This Aug. 13, 2019, file photo, shows the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Suicide is such a constant concern at federal lockups such as the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s Special Housing Unit that guards keep ready access to “the stick,” a wooden pole with a sharpened blade at the end that’s used to cut down inmates if they try to hang themselves with bedsheets, which is how Jeffrey Epstein is believed to have died. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
For inmates like Epstein, suicide watch is meant to be short
August 14, 2019 - 9:33 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Suicide is such a constant concern at federal jails that guards have ready access to "the stick," a wooden pole with a sharpened blade at the end that's used to cut down inmates if they try to hang themselves with bedsheets.
That's believed to be exactly how Jeffrey Epstein took his life Saturday at the Metropolitan Correctional Center's Special Housing Unit after a possible previous attempt, and less than two weeks after he had been taken off suicide watch, in which the lights are left on all night, inmates are not allowed bedsheets, and they are monitored round-the-clock by someone making notes every 15 minutes.
For all the talk from politicians and conspiracy theorists that Epstein should have remained under such scrutiny behind bars, prison experts say suicide watch is intended for only short periods because it puts too much stress on the staff and inmate alike.
"It's just not humane to keep them on those restrictions indefinitely," said Lindsay Hayes, a nationally recognized expert on inmate suicide prevention and a project director for the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives. "Many times, suicidal inmates will deny they're suicidal so they can get their clothes and privileges back."
The 66-year-old Epstein was awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls when he killed himself, taking his life amid a cascading series of breakdowns at the MCC's Special Housing Unit, a chronically overcrowded, understaffed lockup-within-a-lockup that has held some of the world's most notorious terrorists, drug lords, sex traffickers and swindlers. The SHU can hold several dozen inmates at once.
Inmates say the unit — pronounced the "shoe" for short — is a soul-crushing high-rise gulag in the heart of lower Manhattan, with one prisoner once calling its constant noise, sewage leaks, mold, rodents and roaches "a stinking pond of depression whirling in an arc of madness."
"It's a place of torture. It's terrifying," said Sabrina Shroff, a federal public defender who has represented inmates in the unit facing terrorism charges.
Keeping the MCC's inmates from killing themselves is complicated by staffing shortages so severe that correctional officers often work so many overtime shifts in a row that they don't even go home, and employees who have other jobs in the jail are often pulled in to do the work of guards.
Of the two guards responsible for Epstein on the night of his suicide, one was working a fifth straight day of overtime and another was on mandatory overtime. Federal investigators are looking into whether the guards were sleeping on the job and falsified log entries to show they checked on inmates every half-hour as required.
In the meantime, the warden has been removed and the two guards have been placed on leave.
It's not known exactly how many inmates have taken their own lives over the years at MCC, but federal Bureau of Prisons figures show at least 124 killed themselves in the agency's prisons and jails between fiscal years 2010 and 2016. There was no breakdown on how many were on suicide watch.
Getting on suicide watch requires a determination by the institution's suicide prevention coordinator, usually its chief psychologist, that a person may be in imminent danger of suicide.
Hayes said it is not unusual for inmates on suicide watch to be taken off after a few days, because the conditions are so oppressive. Often their clothes and bed linens are taken away, and they are issued heavy, rip- and fold-resistant smocks and blankets to reduce the risk of hanging.
They are typically provided only finger foods so they do not have to be given utensils. Visits and phone calls are curtailed, and the inmates are often confined to their cells for up to 23 hours a day, unable to shower or exercise.
Typically no cameras are trained on inmates on suicide watch because of federal guidelines restricting such monitoring in areas where prisoners are likely to be naked. But a guard or specially trained inmate watches from a chair outside the cell, taking notes on what the prisoner is doing.
Guidelines say inmates are removed from suicide watch only when they are deemed no longer an imminent risk for suicide and only after face-to-face evaluation by the chief psychologist or a doctoral-level psychologist.
In Epstein's case, he was put on suicide watch after he was found on the floor of his cell with bruises on his neck July 23. By August, he was returned to a SHU cell, able to meet with his lawyers for up to 12 hours a day.
Inmates in SHU are typically paired with a cellmate and checked on by guards every half-hour. They are provided a mattress, blankets, a pillow and sheets, normal prison clothing, regular meals and access to a wash basin and toilet. Epstein had a cellmate for a while but was alone after the cellmate was transferred out.
Jack Donson, a retired treatment specialist who worked for the Bureau of Prisons for more than two decades, disputed any notion that Epstein was removed from suicide watch prematurely.
If anything, he said, Epstein spent more time on it than is typical: "It was really at least double what the agency policy suggests."
Associated Press writers Jim Mustian and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report. Biesecker reported from Washington.
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10,240,347 | Text by Shrisha Nepal
Photos by Satyan Shrestha
Zumba is a fitness dance form performed to energetic music. It fuses dance moves from a variety of dance forms. The intense dance workout form has been widely famous for its fun element. Contradicting the other tough fitness routines, zumba makes workout fun and interesting. An hour of Zumba, if done well, can help burn as much as 500 calories in just an hour.
To know more about the benefits of this workout routine, we interviewed Chandani Shrestha, a Zumba instructor from Shapes 2 gym. The 23-years-old Shrestha has been a Zumba and Aerobics instructor for 5 years now, and instructing zumba has come to become her hobby and passion.
Shrestha had an interesting story on how she landed as a fitness instructor. She first joined the gym in order to train herself to join an army. She, however, didn’t start with zumba as it was not a requirement of her training. But looking at zumba workouts, she would always cheer up and eventually, developed a desire to join zumba classes.
If you are looking for a change in your life, zumba just might be it. It has helped a lot of people, not just to gain physical beauty, but also to gain mental peace.
Zumba provides great health benefits. In order to be healthy and feel healthy, you need to take a step towards a healthy habit. Zumba can’t be that healthy habit.
Zumba helps you to lose your weight helps increase the level of energy and confidence. I experience this every day, and see other people feeling the same every day.
Finally, her love for zumba pulled her towards it, and she didn’t resist. Later, she gave up continuing the army training and began a new journey of helping people stay fit. Now looking at her confidence and her passion, we could see how much it meant to her.
Shrestha confesses, “Being an introvert, expressing my emotions was tough for me but after I practiced zumba starting from 18 years-old, I started expressing myself through dancing. I never thought I could be around people comely like today.”
“Zumba has transformed my life,” says Shrestha, and admits, “I used to be depressed. I had tried everything else from meditation to other things but they were just not helping. Now, I am never going to stop practicing zumba. I am addicted to it. It changed by life.”
1. Zumba word helps release endorphins the feel good hormones which will make you happy.
2. An hour of zumba helps burn as much as 500-600 calories, even without much physical burden or additional workout materials.
3. Zumba is choreographed in a way to achieve a full body workout. It is designed to start with a warm-up, which follows a full body cardio workout.
4. Weight loss is a clear result of zumba. It helps tone the body and lose unwanted body weight. Additionally, it helps improve the metabolism of the body and results in better immunity.
5. Zumba works for every age. People who do not have good dancing skills can also do it. It is simple, with repetition of steps in different timings, and can be learned easily.
6. Heart health boosts through zumba. It helps maintain a good cardiovascular respiratory system.
7. Confidence is seen as an outcome of zumba. People who do this workout have realized an increase in their level of confidence.
8. Zumba is fun if you have ever seen a zumba you would want to put on your dancing shoes and go for it! It is a fun workout and gives remarkable benefits from an upbeat and energetic routine.
9. The main areas zumba targets are core, arms, legs, glutes and back. It does not only boost a body part but focuses on the whole body.
10. Researchers have shown that regular practicing of zumba can help decrease blood pressure among people who are suffering from a high blood pressure.
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587,826,476 | ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel
The Greatest Financial Lesson You Can Teach Your Children
Updated on March 02, 2008
It is natural for parents to want the very best for their children. But we often make the mistake of trying to protect and shelter them rather than really sharing valuable life lessons with them.
If you ask most people what they want, invariably they will come to the conclusion that freedom is what we all strive for. And we will never have complete freedom until we have financial independence. But in our materialistic world where the emphasis is on getting more and more material things, we often become financial indentured slaves. There is only a very small percentage of Americans that retire financially secure.
It is not only possible to retire financially secure, it is rather easy. Easy if children are taught the greatest financial lesson they can ever learn.
Before we get to the lesson, consider this question. Person "A" starts a tax deferred savings plan when they are 20 years old. They invest $3,600 per year and the account earns 8% per year. At the end of 20 years, this person stops making additional investments but lets the account continue to grow. Person "B", wanting to obtain more material possessions, waits until they are 40 to start a tax deferred savings plan. Since they did not start younger, this person invests $7,200 per year and the account earns the same 8%. This person continues to invest $7,200 for the rest of their life. The question is how long will it take person "B" to match the investment balance of person "A"?
The answer may surprise you. Person "B" will not live long enough to ever catch person "A" who started their savings when they were 20. Let's assume that they both live to 90. Here is what things look like. Person "A", invested a total of $72,000 and at age 90, assuming he never made any withdrawals, he would have $7,726,716. Person "B" who started investing when they were 40, would have invested $360,000 but would only have a balance of $4,466,837.
Now for the most important financial lesson you can teach your children. It is the power of compound interest. Person "B" who waited until they were 40 to start investing, invested 5 times as much as person "A" who started when they were 20. But their total nest egg was some $3 million less.
If we looked at what happened at age 70, person "A" who started at age 20, would have a nest egg of $1,657,000 and could withdraw over $122,000 per year without touching the principal. Person "B" who started at age 40 would only have a balance of $888,090 even though he would have invested 3 times as much. And if he wanted to withdraw just the income, he would only have half as much to live on each year.
So teach your children about the power of compound interest. The earlier they start saving for their future, the less they actually need to save and the more financially secure they will be later in life.
You can also teach them a valuable lesson about choices they make when their income increases. When they get a raise, most people raise their expenditures to consume the entire increase in pay. A much smarter strategy would be to save 50% of the raise and let the balance go to enjoy a higher standard of living. If your children did that, they would squander less money and they would also find they would probably be able to retire much earlier in life and they would have sufficient funds to live the life of their dreams.
Let's look at the power of this simple strategy. Let's just work with Person A. Assume that at age 20, he has a job that earns him $30,000 per year and that he will get a 5% annual raise. If he increased his contribution to the tax deferred savings plan by 50% of his raise for the same 20 year period as the initial contribution (after investing it for 20 years he would make no further investments) at age 70, his total additional investments would have been $22,904. His balance at age 70 would be $2,170,743 and he would be able to withdraw $156,129 each year without touching any principal. Quite the return for a very little extra savings.
You need to have a little chat with your children and teach them the financial facts of life.
Submit a Comment
• profile image
jooles01 9 years ago
Hi John,
Those figures are amazing. I can see the advantage in what you are saying.
Unfortunately, here in the Uk many people have invested in pension plans that have been 'raided' by the government and companies running the the pension plans.
People are afraid and dissilusioned John - how do they get the best out of the limited investment they can make?
• John Chancellor profile image
John Chancellor 9 years ago from Tennessee
This situation is not limited to the UK. A lot of people in the US lost all or most of their retirement funds when the company they were working for went belly up - companies like Enron, MCI, etc.
The solution is to not put all your eggs in one basket. To put a certain amount in an account that is not tied to a particular company and is totally under your control. Now most people do not have the skills or discipline to monitor their own investments. For me, the best thing to do is to get with a company like Vanguard and put your funds in some index funds. If you are willing to stay on top of things a little more, you can rotate in and out of certain mutual funds - right now real estate and financial funds would be the ones to be out of. But again, only do specific industry sectors if you are willing to keep up with what is going on.
• Ruchi Urvashi profile image
Ruchi Urvashi 5 years ago from Singapore
Great information. I also think along the same line. Financial independence is very important and need to be taught early to children.
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30,019,202 | September 29th, 2008
02:00 PM ET
9 years ago
Palin takes on Biden directly as debate looms
Filed under: Joe Biden • Sarah Palin
soundoff (202 Responses)
1. brad
Wow. smart girl to be listening to Biden at age 2. Honestly the most stupid thing to say especially when McCain is 72. Sad
2. mmd
I thought she quit school in the third grade. Second grade wow, now that explain everything. She should have stayed another year.
I wonder how palin and first dude feel about john mccain dismissing them from debate night, and not only have rudy speak for him, but rudy and judy were waving to the crowd joined the mccain aboard john and cindy plane. and no palin
I feel sorry for palin, I mean how much more trashy can mccain get Also, I heard that CSB has more footage of the kate palin interview. And the word is, that it is worseeeeeeeeer than the released footage.
September 29, 2008 02:25 pm at 2:25 pm |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 |
172,270,234 | Tuesday, June 10, 2008
David's favorite hiding/playing places
I don't what is it with cabinets, but David loves sitting in them. He also loves rummaging through the stuff inside and making a mess. He asked Meng and me to take a photo of him while sitting in the cabinet where his diapers are stored.
Another favorite hiding place is the pantry. He would sometimes sit on the boxes in the pantry and close the door and play hide and seek with us. That's why now we usually keep the pantry locked.
One of the first places we go to when David goes missing is the CR. This boy just loves water and loves playing with the toilet bowl! There was a time he threw the entire roll of tissue inside the toilet bowl...tsk tsk naughty boy!
June 2, 2008
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271,326,654 | Monday, January 11, 2010
Hi Larry,
I have a question one of our students asked me and I was wondering if you could help me find the answer?
If a stylist is charged back bar charges from their salon, can that be a tax deduction for them? If yes what type of paperwork would they need from their salon for the IRS?
No one has ever asked me that before, I thought it was a great question.
Thanks for your help with this.
Olivia, I hope that this finds you well. Here is my best guess as an answer to your questions. I would have to have more information to make sure that this is correct.
Normally the service charge is a reduction to the wages so therefore there is no additional deduction. For example, the commission at 50% for $2,000 of services would be $1,000. But there is a service charge of say 10%. So the calculation of the wage would be $1,800 ($2000 less ($2000 times 10%) and the resulting wage before withholding would be $900 ($1,800 times 50%). As you can see, there is no additional deduction because the service charge is already deducted.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Larry Kopsa CPA |
571,569,972 | Monday, January 10, 2011
There Is No Superman
Semi-automatic weapons.
Automatic weapons.
Street sweepers.
A mentally ill young man was able to buy a terrible weapon of mass destruction and used it to destroy several lives this weekend.
I struggle to make sense of the recent tragic shooting in Arizona as I hear the words of self-important politicians, political pundits and shock jocks ricocheting through the airwaves like so many bullets, each one believing they can repel those missile-like words like Superman.
There is no sense to be made of it.
There is no Superman.
It is true that there will never be a gun in my house. I made that decision 37 years ago and stand by it.
You can have a gun in your house, but you are not welcome to bring it to mine.
I believe with all my heart that guns have no place at a grocery store parking lot, and challenge anyone to explain why I might be wrong.
I have no answers, and only one question:
What is the argument for owning a weapon designed to kill man?
Rebecca said...
There is not a rational argument for a rapid fire weapon. I am pro-gun but this is a weapon designed to kill mass amounts of people very quickly.
I carry a weapon for protection and if I was there, I could have stopped this mad man. Why he was able to get a gun amazes me. That is the problem. No one took all the signs seriously. He was a crazy man for a long time and folks knew it. The school had a responsibility to notify the authorities and they should have checked him out. I do not want to lose my rights because of a mad man.
My prayers are with everyone effected by this insanity.
Anonymous said...
beautifully expressed!
apronsandappetites said...
Pray for the day when mental health issues are taken as seriously as all other health issues, and quality mental health care is available to all people. Getting help for a mentally disturbed adult person is a challenging process.
TC Caldwell said...
I hate guns. I do own one though, it's a water pistol :) I squirt my cat when she claws the furniture. It doesn't hurt her, just annoys her.
Fresh Garden said...
That's inspiring!
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed the visit. :)
Perimenopause Answers said...
Wonderful post. Really well written, and you've raised an issue I think everyone should really think about a bit more before deciding their stand.
menopausal mama said...
Guns scare the hell out of me---I have older kids and when they go to someone else's house, you just never know if there is a gun there. Thanks for sharing your blog.
menopause age said...
Its a big issue you have described its true there is no superman but I really hate guns and all those stuff which use to harm anyone. Thanks
Anonymous said...
I agree with apronsandappetites. Most of these mass shootings have been done by the hands of someone suffering with a mental illness. There's no doubt a gun can kill people however, so can any device known to man. If guns were banned, there is no doubt they would still be pushed through the black market or bought illegally and put into the hands of dangerous people. Now we have an issue where all the "bad" people have guns and the average joe is not protected and cannot protect his family if attacked. Lifestyles are different from Miami to Nebraska. On farms and in the rural areas, guns are used for protection of one's family or livestock against predators such as coyotes, wolves, mountain lions. These are real factors and these predators are increasing rapidly in numbers. Family pets are getting attacked and killed. Hunting is a way of life and is used to control deer and other wildlife population. It's a tragedy that a hunter cannot donate his meat to a food pantry anymore. But that's another story. Abolishing a constitutional right to bear arms is not safe for anybody. However, increased education on gun safety is the key. |
603,409,957 | You've got family at Ancestry.
Find more Levensailor relatives and grow your tree by exploring billions of historical records. Taken every decade since 1790, the U.S. Federal Census can tell you a lot about your family. For example, from 1930 to 1940 there were 18 more people named Levensailor in the United States — and some of them are likely related to you.
Start a tree and connect with your family.
Create, build, and explore your family tree.
What if you had a window into the history of your family? With historical records, you do. From home life to career, records help bring your relatives' experiences into focus. There were 19 people named Levensailor in the 1930 U.S. Census. In 1940, there were 95% more people named Levensailor in the United States. What was life like for them?
Picture the past for your ancestors.
In 1940, 37 people named Levensailor were living in the United States. In a snapshot:
• 38% of adults were unmarried
• 20% owned their homes, valued on average at $1,600
• 30% were children
• Although 38% were female, the most common name for males was George
Learn where they came from and where they went.
As Levensailor families continued to grow, they left more tracks on the map:
• Most fathers originated from Texas
• 11% were born in foreign countries
• Most mothers originated from Texas
• 16% were first-generation Americans |
112,408,007 | THINK, for just a minute, about what makes your town or village a pleasant place to live.
Maybe it's the local library, where the staff and volunteers behind the desk recommend just the right books. Or perhaps it's a pleasant park where you take leisurely strolls on well-groomed paths. Or it could be the knowledge that you can call up your town supervisor or village mayor to discuss a civic issue without wading through layers of bureaucracy.
One reason so many local institutions work as well as they do is that lots of people make it their business to make that happen.
It's not about writing out checks to support good causes, although that is often a piece of community service. It's about willingly, cheerfully and eagerly doing the work that needs to be done, whether for a few hours a week, or a few hours a year. Here are portraits of some county residents who make a difference in their communities.
The Ultimate Volunteer
Emily Johnson is almost too busy to be bothered with an interview.
After all, she has work to do. There are volunteers to supervise and bric-a-brac to arrange attractively to catch customers' eyes for the one-day-a-week opening of the Rye Thrift Shop at the Rye Presbyterian Church, a project Mrs. Johnson has headed as a volunteer for the last five years.
''I'm a first generation American,'' said Mrs. Johnson, whose family emigrated from Denmark. ''I feel very strongly that America is as strong as its volunteers.''
Continue reading the main story
Mrs. Johnson, 74, worked as an administrative assistant at the Rye Historical Society for 25 years, until 1995. Now, in retirement, she spends nearly as much time as a volunteer as she ever did on her paid occupation.
One chunk of time goes to the Rye Thrift Shop, which raised $25,000 last year that was then donated to local nonprofit organizations. Mrs. Johnson is also the membership chairwoman of the Friends of Rye Town Park (and does her part each season to clean up the park); she weeds and cleans up trash for the Rye Nature Center; she helps to raise money for the United Hospital in Port Chester through its Twig organization and she clips newspaper articles for the Rye Historical Society's files.
That's not all. As a young woman, Mrs. Johnson was a companion swimmer at the Y.M.C.A. in Rye for a man who had been disabled by a stroke. She has helped prepare meals in the Saturday program of Helping Hands for the Hungry, and with her husband, Eddie, raised money for Habitat for Humanity.
''I do this work Mondays through Fridays,'' said Mrs. Johnson. ''I do it through the year. You can't take a whole summer off when you have responsibilities, although we do take some vacations and time off. I like to show others that they can help, and they don't have to be part of a group. I don't play cards. I've got to work. Everybody needs help, and I'm going to do this until I fall apart.''
Behind-the-Scenes Mover
Ever wonder how that new stop sign appeared at one of your town's heavily trafficked corners? Or where the newly painted pedestrian crosswalk came from?
Chances are your town has someone like Murray Bodin quietly at work behind the scenes.
Mr. Bodin, a 69-year-old resident of Hartsdale, says, by way of introduction, that he has attention deficit disorder and dyslexia and hands a visitor a button that reads, ''But We've Always Done It This Way,'' with a red slash through it.
Since his retirement as owner of the Life Cleaners dry-cleaning business in Yonkers, Mr. Bodin has turned his attention the quality of life and safety of residents in his village, in the county and in the state.
Mr. Bodin is a regular at meetings of the county Board of Legislators, attends traffic safety conventions in Albany and Washington, Metropolitan Transportation Authority meetings and meetings about the Tappan Zee and New York State Thruway. He never stops asking questions related to these issues. ''I'm in charge of asking stupid questions,'' he said. ''Why don't we have double-decker buses?
''Why don't we have flexible bus routes, where you can pick up a cellphone and have the bus pick you up to go to the train station?''
Mr. Bodin shuns committee assignments for himself and exerts his influence through quiet back channels.
''I'm so controversial that any committee I'm on tends to be punished,'' said Mr. Bodin, who credits his father's involvement in civic and other causes as a strong influence on his own endeavors. ''It's safer for me to do my work independently.''
Trained as an electrical engineer at Rensselaer Polytechnic University in Troy after graduating from Yonkers High School, Mr. Bodin embarked upon his volunteer and community efforts early in his career. He built two community gardens in Hartsdale, and a children's garden in Yonkers; was the president of the Yonkers Rotary Club, and president of the Yonkers Jaycees, and helped start the Yonkers soap box derby 35 years ago.
''I'm interested in solving the basic problem, not the symptom,'' said Mr. Bodin, whose business card proudly proclaims his identity, among other things, as a concerned grandparent.
''Most people treat the symptoms,'' he said. ''All of these issues are related. It's about the quality of life we leave for the next generation. The past is the past. The future is what's important. I do projects that need to get done, do them and move on. I don't do it for the recognition. I do it to get the job done.''
For Love of Music and Children
James Golson loves gospel music, Christianity and children.
That should be perfectly clear to anyone who sees him in action as a singer, pianist and chorus director.
As a musician, he is mostly self-taught, ever since he walked away from his mother's lessons and a piano duet one memorable Easter morning when he was 7 years old.
Still, for more than 26 years, Mr. Golson, whose day job is in the Ardsley post office, has brought music to residents of the Leake & Watts treatment center in Yonkers. He ran a choir there, the Voices of Praise, until about five years ago, when he stepped aside to let someone else direct it. And he still shows up faithfully on Sunday mornings for the center's worship service, helps chaperone out-of-town trips and escorts the residents when they sing at local nursing homes.
''A lot of people in the community think these children are bad,'' said Mr. Golson, 54, who lives with his wife, Gail, in Yonkers and has a grown daughter and three grandchildren in Dobbs Ferry. ''The children have always given me respect, and they keep me young. It's all about children and music.''
Besides working at Leake & Watts, he conducts an adult and youth choir at his own church, Community Memorial Baptist in Yonkers, rehearsing them on Saturdays and conducting them two Sundays a month.
''When I work with the children, I know that you can't save them all,'' said Mr. Golson. ''But if you save just one, you've accomplished something in your lifetime. I do this out of belief. I'll get my reward later. Man can't give me what God can. It's about good works that I can do now.''
Drum Major for Housing Homeless
The boxes of plaques and tributes sitting in his Briarcliff Manor basement aren't what inspire Stanley Schear to spend his days as a housing advocate and community advocate.
''If I get up in the morning and don't have something on my calendar to help somebody, I'm not sure I want to get up,'' Mr. Schear said. ''I need something to do to get up in the morning. I need a social change challenge. That's where my passion comes from.''
For more than 30 years, the 74-year-old Mr. Schear has directed his passion -- originally inspired by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- toward solving some of the county's housing needs.
''Every person in this country should have a piece of the American dream,'' Mr. Schear said. ''I think housing should be in the Bill of Rights.''
Mr. Schear, who used to own and operate Jespersen's Bakery in Scarsdale, where he and his wife raised their family, has done his share of marching and protesting.
But, he said: ''If you want to protest and yell, you have an obligation to come up with a better idea or do something. There's never going to be a revolution. I like to peck away at a problem, one issue at a time.''
The issue that has captured his heart, and energies, is housing -- whether it is for the mentally ill, the mentally disabled, the homeless, or, most recently, the county's increasing number of frail elderly people.
''If you're going to spend $10,000 a month for nursing homes, why don't you spend $2,000 to $3,000 a month to keep people in their own environment,'' he said, referring to his concept of enriched housing, offering services like housekeeping, cooking and personal care that can keep the elderly in their own homes.
His tangible contributions to the county's housing problems include his work in bringing a group home to Scarsdale; helping the homeless (Mr. Schear helped compel Andrew P. O'Rourke, the former county executive, to buy the Coachman Hotel and provide services to the homeless families residing there); a founding board member of the Housing Action Council, the Interfaith Housing Corporation, the Community Housing Resource Center, and the Bridge Fund, a nonprofit organization that makes modest loans to people so that they can avoid becoming homeless. Most recently, Mr. Schear has spearheaded the group Briarcliff Citizens for Affordable Housing, which is working to have developers set aside 20 housing units in a complex for the frail elderly.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Schear has also been on nearly every housing advisory board in the county.
''I have outside-the-box ideas,'' said Mr. Schear, who is now the paid program director for Life, which stands for Living Independently for Frail Elderly, a new program at Family Service of Westchester. ''I see the gap.''
Behind his activism, Mr. Schear has a memory.
''My mother used to bake a challah every Friday,'' said Mr. Schear, who was raised in the Bronx. ''She used to keep a small piece set aside for the poor, symbolically. I learned early that you have to share, and you have to care for others.''
Model for Other Hispanics
When a 9-year-old boy recently told Gisella Vivanco that he ''didn't want to go to school, because English is too hard,'' Ms. Vivanco identified only too well with his experience.
Ms. Vivanco, who emigrated from Peru in 1995, has not forgotten what it felt like to be an uncertain and scared 16-year-old trying to navigate not only the mysteries of White Plains High School, but also the rest of this bewildering new life.
''I had no English at all,'' said Ms. Vivanco, 24, who is enrolled at Lehman College in the Bronx, studying to become a teacher. She earned an associate's degree at Westchester Community College, after spending two years in English-as-second-language classes at White Plains High School.
Despite her full-time course load, Ms. Vivanco works with Latino Domestic Youth Corps, a nonprofit group, to help newly arrived Spanish-speaking immigrant children adjust more easily to American society. What she gets paid helps Ms. Vivanco with her college expenses, but she often works , unpaid, meeting with the students.
''I use myself as a model, and tell them that they can learn,'' said Ms. Vivanco.
Through the youth corps, Ms. Vivanco works at the Washington Irving Intermediate school in Tarrytown. She helps Hispanic students with homework before and after school, and spends time in their classrooms, helping them with reading, math, social studies and science.
''There's nobody to help these children at home,'' said Ms. Vivanco. ''The parents don't speak English.'' Ms. Vivanco also tutors their parents in Spanish, many of whom are illiterate in their native language.
It's a familiar role. She often was a translator at parent-teacher conferences for her mother, who cleans houses, and her father, who is a maintenance worker at the Valhalla medical center.
Her motivation is simple.
''We only had my aunt to help my family when we arrived from Lima,'' she said. ''I want to make it easier for other people.''
Giving Through Performing
When it was time for Seth Stone to select a volunteer project for his bar mitzvah, the choices available through his synagogue, Congregation Sons of Israel, didn't appeal to him.
Seth remembered visiting a great-aunt in a Pennsylvania nursing home when he was 11 years old, and how much she had enjoyed hearing him play the piano. Along with his friend, Adam Barruch, a dancer and performer, Seth organized other students in his Hebrew school class to form an ensemble to perform at nursing homes, assisted-living residences and pediatric wards.
That group, known originally as the ''Mitzvah Kids,'' remained together after the bar mitzvah year was over (minus Adam, who worked with the group until last year and now studies dance and performs professionally). The ensemble expanded to include non-Jewish high school students from Briarcliff and Ossining and evolved into ''Kids Care: Community Artists Reaching Everyone.''
Seth, who is now 16, seemed puzzled that anyone would wonder why the original group stayed together.
''It was clear that everybody enjoyed us,'' said Seth, who is the group's accompanist as well as piano soloist. ''It was a good feeling, and we decided to keep going with it through high school. It's what we'd do anyway, and it's a great feeling doing it for other people, so they get something out of it.'' '
The group performs at least twice a month during the school year, at places like the Bethel Nursing Home, Hebrew Hospital Home, New York Veterans Home, Cambridge House, Atrium Assisted Living and Blythedale Children's Hospital.
''I was raised in a house where charity was important,'' Seth said. ''I was one of the few kids who always went to Hebrew school with money for the charity box. I believe in doing charity through art.''
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Parakram Rana is saying Goodbye to Nafisa 'Jiah' Khan...
Parakram Rana Son of Sneha Rana vividly remember in Grade 9 when he was in Boarding School, the trailer of Nishabd had come out and he was really very imapressed with how it looked. Nafisa 'Jiah' Khan lasted in him a breathtaking first impression. That it where his love for Nafisa started. His friends then thought he was crazy to be looking forward to watch such a depressing looking movie but yet he was excited. It happened to be that he loved Nishabd, especially Nafisa's role and performance in it. So thats how he love for Nafisa started.
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Tell Me About It: Friend's ex-boyfriend doesn't seem as bad as she says
Q: My friend "Emily" dated "Andy" a few years ago. They broke up spectacularly. Emily has always said that Andy was the most controlling and insecure boyfriend she has ever had, which always surprised me because that does not come across when I interact with him.
Andy and I have gotten close over the years and have been on a few dates. Emily has moved on and is fine with it, but it really bugs me that I feel like I'm waiting for these negative traits to suddenly appear. Is this something I should talk to him about, or do I just discount Emily's opinion until given a reason to do otherwise?
A: Seems to me there's a lot Emily can say that will be useful to you. For example, did she see these traits in Andy early, or did they emerge as things got serious? Were there signs she didn't recognize at the time but that his later behavior explained? Were there specific triggers? Dig a bit to see if they had mismatch issues versus an Andy-is-bad issue.
Also, how reliable is Emily as a judge of character? I realize some people might recoil at such kiss-and-tell recon, but "controlling and insecure" are serious stuff. Yes, you have your eyes open, that's good, but borrowing a map would just be smart.
To Andy, don't blurt, "Emily said this and I'm wondering if it's true." That could make Andy both defensive and unwilling to look inward. Better to talk about life, love and hypotheticals, and see who both of you reveal yourselves to be. Listen to the way he talks about his exes. Are they all crazy? Is everything their fault? Is he a blamer, a perfectionist, a person of strong preferences?
12/30/13 [Last modified: Wednesday, December 25, 2013 5:29pm]
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436,406,420 | Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Ups and downs
I seem to be spending more time learning how to do YouTube videos than blogging lately. However, I'm going to try to keep up with both and do chores.
Last night, the overnight of June 2 to June 3, my dear sweet dog passed away. She got sick the day before and was thrashing around for hours while I held her wrapped in a towel. Eventually she calmed down from that but still had problems controlling her head movements. Also, she could no longer sit up or stand. I fed her water with a dropper and bits of food with my fingers. She ate very little and drank very little, and finally last night refused either food or drink. Mostly, she just lay next to me on the sofa and occasionally nuzzled my arm or leg.
Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, she crossed Rainbow Bridge and was gone. I am absolutely heartbroken even though she was about 15 years old. Anywhere I went around here, she was right with me. I'll miss that old girl so much and I can't even imagine how to conduct my days without her now.
Below is a picture from when we were camping and she was a lot younger.
The next one is when she was still a puppy and it looked like she wanted to taste the flowers. |
431,858,559 | 03 December 2009
Velib's striking success
I've just been in Paris for a couple of days. I'm very interested in visual art, and I certainly got the authentic French experience: standing outside art galleries which had been closed thanks to a public sector strike. Groups of young Parisians were standing around outside smoking and answering every question with a shrug. They were the pickets.
A very nice young lady from the Guardian interviewed me at the Louvre. I don't think she can have been in the job long, because she spelt my name correctly and got the quote right.
But at least I could shuttle between the inactive museums quickly and conveniently, thanks to the famous Paris bike-hire scheme, Velib'.
It really is a good system. Signing up for a day pass is quick and easy: you can do it online, or just at one of the terminals at every docking station (above right). You spend two minutes prodding the screen with a frown before you realise you should be pressing buttons on the numerical keypad below, but then all you need is a bank card and a few seconds.
A day-pass costs a token one euro (and you authorise a 150 euro deposit, but it's not taken from your account unless the bike is, say, stolen by a striking art gallery worker escaping the tourist mob). Then you can take a bike for free for up to half an hour, returning it to any of the very numerous docking stations across the centre.
The bikes (right) are chunky, solid, one-size-fits-all, with three hub gears. There are chain guards to protect those stylish Gallic trousers, and lights that stay on all the time, Volvo-like, some strobing nervously like a warning light. They're pretty front-heavy, especially if you plonk a daypack full of one-euro plonk in the front basket, but they run smoothly and are a pleasant ride.
Once you get the hang of it, like going on strike in the French public sector I imagine, you want to do it all the time. It's easy: you can take out and return a Velib' bike at the drop of a dog turd. (It's true what they say about French dog owners - a good reason not to cycle on the pavement. Or walk on one.)
To take one out, all you need is to key in your daypass subscriber number and a four-digit PIN of your choosing, and select your bike. To return it, you don't have to key in anything - you just slide your bike into a docking post where a bracket engages and a green light shows that it's safely docked. Yesterday I did seven journeys, all of them free.
The multilingual terminals at docking stations show locations of nearby stations, and show how many bikes and vacant posts are available (right).
This is valuable advance info: you can find some docking stations empty, with no bikes to be had (right), especially around popular start-points such as a rail terminus.
Even if there are bikes, you might find some are out of action through punctures (right) or other problems. Their posts show this with a red instead of green light, and the system knows they're en panne and won't let you take them out. Outside the Gare du Nord, one docking station had six bikes, five of which were unusable. There seems to be an additional informal system where duff bikes are left with their saddles the wrong way round as a kind of long-range-visible warning.
Conversely, some popular destination docking stations might be full of bikes (right) and have nowhere to dock your bike back into.
And, of course, the scheme's appetite for bikes - which get abused, trashed or stolen - is legendary. Each of the 21,000 bikes has been replaced already.
Navigating Paris's one-way system isn't always easy, and you often find your nice separated bike lanes suddenly throw you out onto a cobbled traffic bedlam. But it's great fun, a delightful way of getting from A to B to C-cedilla, a genuine must-do, and is popular with locals (right: she must be one). Every other cyclist you see is on a Velib' machine.
Just hope that, when you go, the public sector workers running Velib's electronic system aren't on strike instead. Otherwise you might have to spend all afternoon footslogging the Louvre's vast corridors. There's somewhere that could do with bikes to get around.
1. Bewildered?
I like the American woman who "had been looking forward to showing her 13-year-old daughter the wonders of French culture." Surely...
The jokes just write themselves when it comes to French strikes.
2. Also: interesting write-up of Rome's scheme. I don't think you covered it in your Bike hire cities series. Another holiday?
3. I wouldn't have described myself as bewildered - more pissed off - but what did throw me a bit was the lack of alternative entertainment, seeing as beer in Parisian bars is six quid a 'pinte' (ie 50cl, which I suppose is about as close to a proper pint of 56.8cl as you get in most London pubs anyway). At the exchange rate of 1.6 euro to the pound, like what we used to have, everything was London prices. At the current rate of 1.1 to the pound, everything is Copenhagen prices. Aieee.
Anyway, ta for the Rome link. Will investigate.
4. Given the bikes I saw in Paris - but didn't try, as we were both staying and working in the same arrondissement - in October were quite heavy and slow, how far can 30 minutes of free ride get you? The Boulevard Peripherique is maybe five miles across: that can't be less than half an hour on one of those things. You didn't get stung, but would a less experienced cyclist, do you think?
5. @jps... Mmm. In half an hour, 'not far', basically. Especially if you're not really sure where you're going. It took me 23 minutes, I see from my account details, to make it from the strike-hit Pompidou Centre to the strike-hit Louvre, which is only about a mile. I'd walked it the other way earlier in about the same time.
You're certainly right that progress is slow and that, especially as a tourist, you probably won't get very far in half an hour. I think the main thing that slows you though is unfamiliarity, rather than the 1960s Ford Zodiac-like handling of the Velib bikes.
If I had a similar bike in London, I'd be quite confident of zipping three or four miles in half an hour, from (say) Speaker's Corner to (say) the Eye.
6. I expressed surprise before at the use of exposed chains on these public bike schemes. The chain won't last, and will have to be replaced. However, given the rate of turnover, I guess that few ever make it as far as needing their chains replaced.
Claims of the effectiveness of these schemes at increasing cycling are massively over-stated. I worked out the numbers before as showing that putting 20000 shared bikes in Paris is enough to account for just 0.8% of the total journeys in the city. This was based on unrealistic claims from the promotors that the bikes would each be used 10 times a day. Recent feedback from Montreal shows that their shared bikes are actually used less than a fifth so often as that, and I would expect that the Paris bikes don't manage to be used an average of ten times daily each either.
And how about OV-Fiets ? It's probably the biggest scheme in the world, as it's national here in the Netherlands and at 200 railway stations and many other sites across the country. It'd also give you an excuse to come and visit the world's top cycling country. See cycling on a scale that you simply won't see elsewhere.
7. Indeed, @David, I've enjoyed many cycling trips to de Nederlandsh, and it's probably about time I enjoyed another.
How can you dislike a country whose coastal cycle route goes through villages called Slag and Monster? Whose language is throat-launched artillery? Whose inhabitants built the largest objects ever made by man but haven't got round to making off-the-peg curtains? A country that gave us Bosch, Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Gogh, Mondrian and Escher, as well as Mata Hari, Fanny Blankers-Koen and Miep Gies? Where everyone including the queen cycles?
Yup, I'm on that next ferry from Harwich. Oh, damn - they can't guarantee my bike on the train after I change at Manningtree.
8. David,
From what I remembered the Paris scheme is quite sucessfull in the way the system is used by in average 130 000 to 190 000 people a day(2008 numbers). So with 20 000 bikes in the scheme, each bike is used in average 6.5 to 9.5 times per day which is the highest figure ever achieved for this type of scheme. In Lyon the number is only about 4 times per bike.
The other main thing is that it created a kind of shock in Parisians' minds and convinced large number of then that cycling inn a city is possible and that cycling is not only a sport you watch on TV during summer.
I think the main critism we can give is that it has created modal shift from public transport to cycling rather than directly from car. The parians drivers are still driving. Though one good thing is that when the 1,450 stations were created, on-street parking space was removed (big stations can take up to 4-5 parking spaces). However it made only a small difference as the capacity of underground car parks in Paris is massive (though rental prices of these parking space are expensive, but Parisians who own a car are rich).
Also we could say that Paris spent quite some money in cycle infratsructure and tried to provide some segregated path. Many one-way street have also been converted to two way for cyclists. Though there is still loads to do to create continuity of path, make Parisian understand what paths are (prevent pedestrian using then, prevent motorcyclists using them, prevent cars/delivery vehicles parking in them) but Paris is really strating from scratch (since about 10 years ago) and I believe is improving slowly towards something better thanks to its mayor and the influence of the green party at the Paris City Council.
The main problem in the Paris Region remains in the outskirts where most mayors (who have the highways under their control) do not believe that cycling is a viable alternative mode of transport. |
480,909,886 | Rape Is an International War Crime Thanks to This Bosnian Woman
Nusreta Sivac vowed to memorize the names and faces of the guards that repeatedly raped her and 36 other women at a Bosnia concentration camp in the early '90s so that one day they would pay for their crimes.
One problem: rape wasn't actually considered an international war crime until 1995, after Sivac and her colleagues spent years gathering testimony from women across Bosnia that convinced the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague to take sexual assault more seriously.
From the AP:
For centuries, rape was considered a byproduct of wars - collateral damage suffered by women, horrors often overshadowed by massacres. Even though the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibited wartime rape, no court ever raised charges until Sivac and Cigelj presented their overwhelming evidence.
The effort finally paid off in June 1995 when the two traveled to The Hague to take part in preparations for the first indictment by the Yugoslav war crimes court.
Their collected evidence exposed the magnitude of rape which courts could no longer ignore. According to the United Nations, it was a major "turning point" in recognizing rape as a war crime.
A year later, the tribunal indicted eight Bosnian Serb men based on Sivac's work. It was the first time ever that an international tribunal charged someone solely for crimes of sexual violence.
Sivac, who has since testified in several cases, including one that put her serial rapist behind bars, said she's happy with her successes even though she's dissatisfied with the pace. "It's slow, very slow," she said. "But it is a start." |
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[–]HorusTheOwl 1 point2 points ago
In the 90's they were a violent commentary on the "the norm". Once they became the norm, they turned into a parody of themselves.
I'm pleased with the outcome. Any series that can transition to Motor Kombat is OK by me. |
506,513,819 | Author Note: Beware of spoilers for chapter 613 (and 614). Sadness ensues.
This isn't how she imagined her first time.
Pushed against a tree, bark digging into her back, his hands digging into her pants, Ino takes a large gulp of air and tries to clear her mind. Shikamaru's breath is fire on her neck, his teeth knives against her pale skin. Tan hands carve a trail down the warm flesh of her stomach, the thistles in his sleeves snagging on the jagged edges of her shirt where he dragged a kunai through her clothes.
She tries to push him away, her palms digging into the hollows of his shoulders to tell him to stop, that this wasn't right, wasn't how it should be, their fathers would never approve, it would only make the pain worse—
But he merely shoves her hands away, angry she would distract him from his goal, and she can see the stars dying in his eyes, the sun setting, and her heart breaks a little more at the sight of unbridled vulnerability in usually controlled, stoic eyes.
He reeks of sweat, grief, and death, and she imagines she can't be any better with her blonde hair matted with grease and disgrace. Her father gives his last breath to save the Ninja Alliance and here she is shoved against a tree, panting against her childhood friend like an animal, lying to herself that she isn't finding some relief from the pain in his tongue tracing its way between her breasts.
She adds their names to a list of fatherless children in Konoha, and her knees buckle at the thought. His hand between her legs and under her arm stop her from falling, but she's already long gone, six feet deep in despair and desolation. He steadies her by pressing their chests together, the hard flak jacket he's still wearing digging into her soft skin, but all she can see with the sun burning out behind him are broad shoulders and a strong neck, and she's thinking Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, I miss you please come home I need you.
His lips descend upon hers, shutting her up, because apparently she wasn't thinking those words, she was screaming them, her lungs burning for air and oxygen and for someone to fill this gaping hole where her father used to reside. He pulls away, breathing hard, and she's breathing even harder, but a shout in the distance has them freezing, stiffening in fear of discovery and shame.
Someone's calling their names.
Have they really been gone that long? Wasn't it only minutes ago when he slunk off to disappear into the surrounding trees, she shyly following at a distance because she had no idea what to do with herself? He knew she was following, had always known, and when they were far enough, he roughly pulled her with him, darting through the prickly underbrush and into the creeping darkness before slamming her against a tree and running a kunai down her shirt.
The voices fade.
He flicks a finger between her legs and elicits a startled noise from her, something unintelligible, a mix of a squeal and a moan. She shuts her mouth immediately, the probability of detection still unknown, but when no one pops around a bush or screams at the indecency of their actions, he pumps his fingers faster and hungrily attaches his lips to her again.
She moans, and rolls her hips against his fingers, her breaths coming in gasps and pants. There's a smoldering look on his face, lost somewhere between desire and disgust, but it disappears when she snakes her hands underneath his shirt and over his back, caressing the muscles jumping underneath her cold fingertips.
He knows she's moments from her high, so he retracts his fingers from her core, leaving her breathless and heated and incensed he would do such a thing, but he places his hands underneath her hips and lifts her away from the tree. He only makes it several steps before he drops her to the grassy floor, ripping off his jacket and shirt before joining her, and dragging her pants off the smooth expanse of her shapely legs. He runs his hands over her skin before prying apart her legs and dipping his head between her thighs, tasting her for the first time. She's sweet, and fragrant, just as he had imagined, but her tangy flavor does nothing to distract from the feeling of despondency and anguish raging inside him.
She digs her fingers in the grass to keep her hips from rising to grind against his tongue, a lame attempt at keeping them grounded, because if she doesn't do it, then who will? She's lost all rational thought, moans tearing from her throat to mingle with his jagged breath in the evening air.
When he finally slips into her, filling her like no one has before, she wraps him in her arms and threads her fingers through his dark hair, letting go of her last shreds of sanity and losing herself in the feel of his weight pressing down on her. They come together in a whirlwind of dissolving colors, green molding into blue, his brown blending into her blonde, swirling their lines together and erasing the division of self. He slips under her skin, swims in her beauty, and she drinks in the warmth of his soul.
Her spirit sings when he kisses her, pressing marks into her skin. They blend and blur, sunlight refracting off their glass hearts, a small beacon nowhere strong enough to illuminate their crooked path, but it's all they have and all they can afford.
He knows his father would be disappointed, humiliated to call him son, but Shikaku is long gone, and Inoichi merely a speck on the horizon. So he clings to her with all his earthly worth, because for once, he has nothing left to give and she has nothing to say.
One day, it'll be enough.
But for today, he'll lie beside her, carving the shape of her body against the night sky into his memory, and wish their fathers had a better ending, so they'd have had a better beginning.
Extraneous Author Note: Still grieving over Shikaku and Inoichi. (And Neji, my poor baby.) ;A; |
108,999,463 | Here Say: Your Stories about Travel, Told at the Jefferson City Amtrak Station
Apr 6, 2016
Rian Stallings
Credit Claire Banderas / KBIA
We talked to Rian Stallints, a high school student who was traveling with friends to St. Louis. She told us about seeing Niagara Falls during her trip to Canada with her family.
“It was beautiful, I had never seen anything like it before. It was really nice…You could maybe be a mile away and still feel the mist coming off, just from the waterfall. It was just, a nice time with my family, just to get to spend time and just see that beautiful place."
"Did you all drive to Canada?"
"We did actually, yeah"
"So how did you guys pass the time in the car? What’d you do?"
"We would sing songs or just play different games. One of them was something that I remember singing in preschool and it was umm ‘Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow. Back to my home, I dare not go. For if I do, my mother would say’ and you’d just make something up like if you ever see a whale with a polka dot tail, and we went on with that for like two hours.”
Floyd Harris
Credit Claire Banderas / KBIA
Floyd Harris used his business trips as a way to expand his collections.
“I enjoyed being in the position to take my family along also, and I was a collector at the time and so I would use public transportation to get to various antique shops and flea markets. I collect American Red Cross root beer, black memorabilia, laundry room collectibles. My major collection is on African American hair products, beauty care and finding those was a real challenge and most of the time I traveled in the south, the southeast part of the country to find those. Those items came about, were manufactured back in the 20s and 30s and it’s hard to find ‘em."
Deborah Austin
Credit Claire Banderas / KBIA
St. Louis attorney Deborah Austin told us about a memorable trek in a Puerto Rican rainforest.
“So we go through, and we’re walking quite a ways and we get to a point, and there was the landslide, blocking like the entire thing. We actually climbed up and over the mud and it was like, along this cliff and so there were some guys that were like from New York that were like helping everybody across, and I just remember walking across this cliff and you get to the end of the mudslide and you had to like jump down five feet. And then we get down to where the bus driver was taking us back and everybody was just covered in mud and he was not very happy and had to hose everybody down before we got back on the bus.”
Bill Graham
Credit Claire Banderas / KBIA
We talked to Bill Graham, who is the Amtrak volunteer in Jefferson City on Wednesday mornings. He told us why he believes everyone should travel.
"You learn how the rest of the world actually lives, you know. You can read it in a book, but you don’t really appreciate and, it’s different but it’s all good, it’s just different from what you’re used to. That’s the biggest thing. The only way you’re going to learn about other countries and other people is to go visit them and you know I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about how the people in different parts of the world live, but they live that way because it’s most convenient for them, where they are and their status in life and wealth, and all that sort of thing.” |
74,383,769 | USA - Yuba City Not Immune From Teasing Of Sikh Children | SIKH PHILOSOPHY NETWORK
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USA Yuba City Not Immune From Teasing Of Sikh Children
1947-2014 (Archived)
Jun 17, 2004
When Sikh students get teased about their religion, the newest immigrants are the most common victims, students say.
Less Americanized students, whether they have been in the United States for two years or two months, are often the target of taunts and teasing by Western students — including those within the East Indian community, said Kiran Samra, president of the Punjabi-American Club at Yuba City High School. The students are mocked for how they dress, speak and even smell.
"There is such a standard when you get to high school. You have to dress this way, You have to act this way," she said. "People make fun of you if you are your own person."
Students who were born in the United States do not face as much harassment or discrimination because they have adapted to blend in with their classmates. Many join their American counterparts in the bullying of immigrants, said Samra, a Yuba City native.
"I'm not too sure they know other people make fun of them, but if they knew, obviously it would hurt them a lot," she said. "I think that's why they separate themselves so much from other Indians, to protect themselves so they don't get hurt."
Samra has heard other students tease or taunt during classes or passing periods.
"They say, 'Oh they smell,' or 'Have you heard the way they talk? It's hella funny,'" she said. "It's kind of sad because I think they should be treated equally."
Blending into society
The bullying is more verbal than physical, said Yuba City High School senior Manraj Singh Garcha. The 17-year-old said few people have made fun of him, but he admits it's probably because he was born in the United States, cuts his hair and tries to meld his American roots with his Sikh background.
"I kind of blend into society," he said. "It's more those that just came from India two or three years ago or two or three months ago."
One of the worst forms of taunting Garcha witnesses is when students call other students "fobers," a derogatory term for someone who recently immigrated. That and other forms of bullying sadden him.
"It's not something that you want to see around our society," he said. "You want to see people coming together and enjoying life and not to be isolated."
Amarpreet Everest, 20, now attends UC Davis but said the bullying she witnessed as a middle and high school student in Yuba City was subtle but very much an issue.
"I had a few of those times, too, where just because I was different I was kind of picked on," she said.
Everest remembers hearing the story of a girl whose long hair was snipped off by non-Sikh classmates, and can recall girls called "hairy," and boys being asked, "What's that rag on your head?"
"It definitely impacts you, especially for those people who are not in touch with their history," she said. "If they are being made fun of, and they don't have that knowledge, that pushes them away from their identity and their religion."
Breaking down barriers
The Punjabi-American Club aims to promote breaking down cultural barriers and student involvement in the community, said its adviser, Sutter County supervisor and Yuba City High teacher Jim Whiteaker. At the high school, he tries to correct bullying and prevent it when possible.
"Most of the time it's due to the ignorance," Whiteaker said. "A majority of the time people don't understand the difference between Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus."
Jasbir Kang, a member of the Punjabi American Heritage Society, agrees.
"There is nothing in the school books, nothing in the history books or social sciences or the school curriculum for the average kids to learn who the Sikhs are," he said.
People often make their judgments on outward appearances, but the Sikh values are just like American values, he said.
Kids find their own ways to cope with discrimination.
"A lot of kids just suffer through it, especially the boys," Kang said. "Some kids give up their appearance because they don't want to be bothered and some kids are strong and they want to make every effort for people to understand."
Bullying can also be difficult for parents, who want their children to be accepted among peers while still maintaining Sikh values.
"You think with the large population there would be better awareness, but I think kids just look for something that's different," said Yuba City Councilman Tej Maan, also a member of the Tierra Buena Sikh Temple.
Understanding of the Sikh culture has improved in recent years, he said, but the teasing and taunts continue.
The entire social system is to blame, because there is little encouragement for people to be outside the norm, Everest said. Education that fosters understanding of the Sikh religion is critical for putting an end to bullying.
"If you don't know who you are, how do you expect other people to know that?" Everest said. "There has to be someone who is willing to be different, to put themselves out there. And at the same time you have to have support, too."
Apr 4, 2005
This world is full of double standards,When anyone tries to put dress codes on youngsters anywhere in world ,Youths start crying and give logic that we are living in free world and everybody has right to look wear or look what they like .On the other hand these same youngsters are biggest dictators in term of How a person Look ,or behave or the type of language he speak.The only difference is that they do it by making fun of person and that to an extent when the victim is completely broke down and starts feeling that he /she should fit in the majority.
1947-2014 (Archived)
Jun 17, 2004
Cutting down a child because he/she is the child of an immigrant is also very painful. It does immeasurable damage. Not only is the child shamed because he is different and therefore "odd." The parents, culture and motherland are also shamed in the eyes of the child by these cruel, heartless words. Schools need to get a grip on this. It has been going on for centuries. It has serious consequences for society when the children who are constantly taunted and ridiculed seek to find support and strength in gangs -- which some of them do. Every generation of new immigrants in the US has seen a percentage of its youth (in every racial and ethnic group) make up the loss of pride in culture and trust in the new world by finding strength in gangs, children guiding children, down a crooked path.
Nov 15, 2010
I am giving this very situation a lot of thought lately.
I went to a gurdwara here in the US for the first time this past Sunday, and my boyfriend and I were the only white people there. We made the embarrassing faux pas of sitting together because there were only 3 other people in the room when we arrived (aside from the man who was reading and the woman up front who was singing) so it wasn't clear that the men and women should sit separately. :blushhh:
Once we realized we needed to sit on opposite sides of the room, my boyfriend very sheepishly moved to sit with the men. :blushh: People were very kind and no one said anything or even looked at us funny. On the contrary, everyone was quite gracious (though I could tell they were a little puzzled by our presence!). It was a lovely service, though the entire thing was read and sung in Punjabi so I did not understand a word, alas. :-/ I will be learning Punjabi sometime in the next year, but for the time being it is a completely foreign language to me.
All this is to say I am someone who is embracing this faith, and I *want* to learn more, but it is not easy to do even though I am proactively taking steps to learn more about it, about Sikh and Punjabi culture, and to see how I can successfully align those things with my own culture, language, and my own core values as an American.
So what I am wondering is what can *I* do to contribute to Sikh awareness? How can we make it seem more accessible and less "other" to people in the dominant white US culture? What could I offer this Gurdwara that would not feel like an unwanted intrusion of white/American/Anglo culture into their worship?
Part of what I'm envisioning is posting flyers around town saying:
"Do you believe there is only one God for all people?
Do you believe that men and women are equal in God's eyes?
Do you believe that people of all nations and religions deserve respect?
Do you enjoy worshiping God with songs?
Do you value earning a living and then sharing your abundance with others?
Do you defend the defenseless and protect the weak?
If so, you may be a Sikh! Come to an informational session this Saturday..."
...or something like that.
It's not evangelism (which I know is eschewed by the faith) so much as it is public relations and outreach to the local community. It would be important to offer services in English, I think, given that most Americans would be unwilling to worship in a place that requires they learn not only a new language but a new set of characters. (I *love* learning new languages so for me this is a bonus, but I realize I'm the exception in that regard rather than the rule...)
Any thoughts would be welcome here.
1947-2014 (Archived)
Jun 17, 2004
Sri Kamala ji
I commend you for your desire to be part of the solution. This is only one person's humble opinion. Your effort and energy would go much further if you did not go it alone but joined forces with an organization that is already practiced in fighting these abuses. Find out how you can be part of local efforts through organizations like Sikh Coalition. See if there are local chapters of The Tolerance Project where you can become a local organizer and use the tried and true tools they have developed. Work with a local school district as part of their effort if they have anti-bullying projects. And remember that change happens one step at a time, one person at a time.
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Shabad Vichaar by SPN'ers
In honor of the gurgaddi of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji on October 20 the Shabad of the Week is taken from the Hukamnama drawn at Sri Harimandir Sahib early this morning.
It is found on Ang 555...
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65,278,142 | Home >Opinion >Online-views >Life Hacks | The Gladiators
Photo: ThinkStock
Photo: ThinkStock
Life Hacks | The Gladiators
Those who stay focused at their jobs are the ones who work at keeping their body in shape
The other day, Rajat Chauhan claimed something that came across as ludicrous. Entrepreneurs and CEOs ought to have the ability to run at 16km per hour if they intend to stay at the top. It was difficult to dismiss the claim outright because his credentials are impeccable—sports physician of repute, race director at La Ultra (www.laultra.in), among the world’s cruelest runs (as described by participants), speaker at international symposiums, and a Mint columnist.
To drive his point home, he wrote an interesting piece on Founding Fuel (www.foundingfuel.com). “Each one of you reading this, had to run to be born—or rather had to swim like hell to get to life. Each of you as a sperm was a leader, or an entrepreneur if you will, who believed you were the chosen from among 300 million other sperms. But that self-belief only became reality because you moved like you never did before… When a man ejaculates, sperm travels at approximately 16km to the hour. How many of us have managed to move unassisted at that speed after we were born?" The sum and substance of his argument was that all high achievers across the world are exercise fanatics as well.
Because he is an outlier who thinks running 333km through the Himalayas in 72 hours is par for the course, I turned to K. Ramkumar, executive director at ICICI Bank Ltd. He is responsible for the group’s human resource function as well. Superbly fit and somebody who swears by sport, I thought—for lack of a better word—Ram could offer a more grounded perspective than the maniacal one Chauhan offers.
Now, Ramkumar is the kind of person who has an incredibly tough job. The calls he takes hold the potential to decide what direction the lives of a little over 95,000 people the bank employs can take. His neck is on the block pretty much every day because, god forbid, if any of his calls go awry, the government, media, the families of 95,000-odd people, and his counterparts will haul him over the coals. Technically, he is on call 24/7. When you are part of a team that runs the country’s largest private sector bank, you never know when a crisis can strike—and it strikes often.
That said, he carves 90 minutes every day to engage in physical activity. On weekends, he takes more time out to spend either running or walking at least 15km. He likes to write, but thinks he is incompetent at it. So he consciously takes time off to engage with the craft and religiously maintains a weekly blog (www.theotherview.in) where the world has seen him slip, fall and evolve for almost two years now.
He is close to the family and “it is important my wife and children see me as a hero". So no matter what, he switches off from work at the end of the day. Even if that makes him boorish to others on the board, he holds his ground. He is loved and loathed in equal measure. Be that as it may, he is good at what he does and is incredibly productive. How does he do it?
“Why single me out?" he asks. “Everybody at ICICI does it. And everybody makes the time to work out." By way of examples he points out to chief executive Chanda Kochhar, who he thinks is incredibly focused. Much like Kochhar, he speaks of Lalita Gupte, chairperson of ICICI Venture, and Chinmay Sengupta, who heads ICICI Foundation. Kochhar and Gupte, who live and breathe pressure-cooker situations every day, are conscious of how fit they are. Sengupta is a long-distance runner.
“All of them keep punishing routines. My hypothesis is that high achievement orientation is common to all of us," says Ramkumar.
That doesn’t sound like an adequate answer. I can think of dozens of professionals, including me, who are highly motivated but do not have the time to do everything Ramkumar and his counterparts do. Work consumes pretty much all of our waking lives to the exclusion of everything else. What is it that makes me and my ilk different from Ramkumar and his contemporaries? When probed, Ramkumar comes up with a few interesting answers.
In his mind, the likes of him are gladiators. “There is a myth that in a gladiatorial combat, you have to land the last punch. Truth is, you simply have to be the last man standing after everybody has been battered equally and nobody can land another punch." By way of explanation, he offers that in his career, he has come across people who are obnoxiously more talented than him. But when it comes to the last mile, after everybody has put in much the same effort, it boils down to who continues to stand—not who is the most competent.
Gladiators who have lost rationalize it by using circumstances and an unfair pitch as crutches. But experience, says Ramkumar, has taught him, it is inevitably the fitter one who keeps standing. This shows in little ways. For instance, at marathon meetings where make-or-break decisions are taken and go on for as long as 16 hours, it boils down to whose mind can stay on the task at hand. Those who stay focused are the ones who work at keeping their body in shape.
But staying fit isn’t easy. To make sure he’s out on his run, walk or at the gym every day, he calls it a night at 11pm. He refuses to take red-eye flights because they hold the risk of coming in the way of his 90-minute regimen that starts at dawn. That is why in his head, Ramkumar has to justify even the number of hours he sleeps. “When you’re sleeping, you’re doing nothing. You’re dead. But if I tell myself I need seven-and-a-half hours to achieve peak performance during my waking hours, then sleep is a tool I have to invest in."
Pretty much every day, he reminds himself of his mortality as well. Given his current lifestyle, Ramkumar reckons he’ll live to be 80. In his book, he measures the years in hours. At his age (55 years), he reckons he’s got 10,000 days of life left in him. “How can I best compress the most of life into these days?" he asks rhetorically.
“That is why I begin everything on time and end on time. My social life is restricted only to those who matter. Everything is prioritized, including what tasks I participate in, the people I meet, how much time I spend with them and so on and so forth. The clock is ticking and I am aware of that. It pisses people off because I come across as rigid and selfish. But so be it. I have to do what is best for me." When viewed from this perspective, everything else then ought to fit into a system that works with clockwork precision. So much so that it can sound excruciatingly monotonous.
Ramkumar disagrees. “There are three parts to life," he begins. “First, how healthy do you feel? Second, what is the quality of your thinking? Third, how emotionally balanced are you?"
By way of explanation, he offers, if you’re mired in nostalgia, as is endemic to unhealthy people, you can’t think right. Emotional imbalances follow because you cannot deal with pressure, either professional or personal. To get all of these in place, you need the right kind of endorphins in the system. These are released only when you work out. “But the unhealthy don’t know that. If you’ve been unhealthy all your life, how will you know what it is to feel healthy?" he asks me, as the both of us stare uncomfortably at my large frame.
Which is Chauhan’s point as well. We were born because we fought hard for it. The fittest sperms made it to the world. We have forgotten all about that. Which is also why, right after getting out of Ramkumar’s office, the first thing I did was call my former tennis coach Karthick Raghuvaran and told him I’m signing up with him right away.
Charles Assisi is co-founder and director at Founding Fuel Publishing (www.foundingfuel.com), a media and education platform for entrepreneurs.
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