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The network's jazz shows include The American Jazz Radio Festival and Marian McPartland Jazz.
FICTION: A vivid debut novel about war, families and friendship in a Nova Scotia fishing village.
In 1916, against the wishes of his pacifist father and contrary to his own artistic inclinations, Angus MacGrath straps on his kilt, leaves the fishing village of Snag Harbor and joins the Canadian army to fight in World War I. Set in Nova Scotia and France, "The Cartographer of No Man's Land" bridges a gulf as wide as the Atlantic. Through the alternating perspectives of Angus and Angus' son, Simon, P.S. Duffy's debut novel juxtaposes middle-aged man and idealistic boy, coastal fishing village and war-torn countryside, beauties of nature and monstrosities of war. It is a deep and vivid exploration of the human heart and the high seas, reminiscent of Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" or Annie Proulx's "The Shipping News."
Angus MacGrath is a skipper of a coastal trading ship but also an artist yearning to capture "things beyond his knowing" on canvas. After his brother-in-law goes MIA, Angus enlists to try to find him. Although Angus is assured a safe desk job as a cartographer, he soon finds himself in the trenches, where he displays a tough, fatherly devotion to the soldiers under his command even as the more tender aspects of his psyche duck and cover. Wherever he finds beauty — a lark singing on a bullet-ridden uniform suspended from barbed wire — he captures it in charcoal, quick sketches that end up trampled on the bloody terrain.
Meanwhile, back in Snag Harbor, Simon fights battles of his own, which include missing his father, defending a beloved teacher, attending to a withdrawn mother and a crusty grandfather and just being a 14-year-old. Equal parts sensitive artist and brave sailor, Simon keeps a scrapbook of the war and is kind to the town outcast, a vet who has come back mentally damaged.
The dual plot lines are compelling and well-rendered. How Angus tracks down his brother-in-law and discovers what happened to him is fast-paced, page-turning stuff, while the co-evolution of Angus and Simon's personalities from sentient artist to self-protecting cynic is subtle and pulls on heartstrings. While Simon navigates a friendship with an ostracized German immigrant who teaches him to read "The Iliad," appreciate butterflies and take notes on life — all as "a way of being in this world" — his father, an ocean away, is cursed by that same mindfulness, observing the ridge at Vimy as "a menacing man-made monster — its teeth, three parallel lines of twisting trenches lined with rifles and bayonets."
Such attentiveness can ruin a man in war, and it almost ruins Angus, who returns, as Simon puts it, "an empty husk." Unrecognizable to each other, father and son ultimately find their way back, and how Duffy accomplishes this is a beautiful ending for a beautiful novel.
Christine Brunkhorst is a writer and book critic in Minneapolis.
A Taiwanese flight carrying 58 people banked sharply onto its side, clipped a highway bridge and careened into a shallow river Wednesday shortly after taking off from Taipei, killing at least 19 people and leaving 24 missing, officials said.
Senior envoys from China and Taiwan signed an agreement Tuesday to cooperate in the development of new drugs, as the two economies continue to move closer.
China has expressed its outrage over a proposed US weapons sale to Taiwan, worth $6.4bn (£4bn), including helicopters and missiles.
EXPLOSIONS too weak to kill can still deform the skull enough to cause lasting brain damage. This may help explain traumatic brain injuries in soldiers returning from Afghanistan or Iraq with no obvious head wounds.
Soldiers equipped with today’s advanced body armour and helmets routinely survive explosions that would once have been lethal. After their visible wounds heal, however, many suffer from memory loss and other mental problems, conditions which could be the result of brain damage caused by exposure to blast waves.
Published: Aug. 27, 2015 at 04:33 p.m.
Reporting from Cardinals camp, Andie Hagemann identifies two Arizona rookies to keep an eye on: receiver J.J. Nelson and nose tackle Rodney Gunter. Plus, updates on position battles and injuries.
Almost three times as many parents in Merseyside are being prosecuted for truancy compared to five years ago, amid a government crackdown on unauthorised school absences.
Councils covered by Merseyside police took 637 parents to court in 2017, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show.
This was a huge increase from 2013, when there were just 231 prosecutions.
Of those charged in 2017, 459, or 72%, were found guilty.
Courts issued fines in 378 cases and handed out community sentences, such as an order to do unpaid work, on 10 occasions.
More than three quarters of prosecutions in Merseyside were against women.
Women were also more likely to be found guilty - 78% of those prosecuted were convicted, compared to 58% of men prosecuted.
In total, parents have been prosecuted for truancy 2,430 times in Merseyside between 2013 and 2017.
The courts found them guilty in 1,813 cases, imposed 1,452 fines and handed out 23 community sentences.
Wearing black armbands, dock workers of the Port Qasim observed black day on Thursday to mark 150th day of their ongoing protest outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC).
The protesting workers announced that they would start their march towards Islamabad on February 25 where they would observe hunger strike till death at the famous D Chowk.On the appeal of Workers Union of Port Qasim CBA, hundreds of affected dock workers have been spending their days and nights in a camp set up outside the KPC since September 25, 2018.
Social activists and leaders of various trade unions and journalist bodies joined the dock workers on the occasion of the 150th day of their protest as their demands have continuously been ignored by the Chinese company concerned, Port Qasim Authority and the federal ports and shipping ministry.
Labour leaders said on the occasion that Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of the protest twice and directed the ports and shipping minister, Ali Zaidi, and other officials to resolve the workers’ issues but they turned a deaf ear to the workers.
The leaders announced that the dock workers were now left with no other option but to start the Trade Union March on February 25 which would end in Islamabad where the workers would go on hunger strike at D Chowk until they died or their demands were accepted.
They called upon the Chinese company to accept the workers’ charter of demand, sign a new agreement with them and clear their outstanding dues. A demand was also made that the Port Qasim Authority ensure the implementation of the Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act 1974 and issue withheld cards of workers.
Labour and journalist leaders who addressed the workers included Karamat Ali, Imtiaz Khan Faran, Faheem Siddiqui, GM Jamali, Ashraf Khan, Hasan Abbas, Tariq Abul Hasan, Ahmed Khan Malik, Khursheed Tanveer, Khursheed Abbasi, Obaidullah, Shakil Yamin Kanga, Zafar Dara, Rana Yousuf, Ajiz Jamali, Nasir Mansoor, Abdul Salam, Aslam Samoo, Hussain Badshah, Abdul Wahid, Liaquat Ali Sahi, Kulsoom Jamal, Ajmal Malik, Irshad Khan Sawati, Habib Jan, Amin Baloch and Naimatullah Bukhari.
TRIPOLI, Libya — Four New York Times journalists missing in Libya since Tuesday were captured by forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and will be released, the Libyan leader’s son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi told Christiane Amanpour in an ABC News interview early Friday.
Like many other Western journalists, the four had entered the rebel-controlled eastern region of Libya over the Egyptian border, without visas, to cover the insurrection against Colonel Qaddafi.
Mr. Qaddafi was apparently referring to Lynsey Addario, a photographer, but Libyan government officials told the State Department on Thursday evening that all four would be released.
The Libyan government allowed the journalists to call their families on Thursday evening.
The journalists are Anthony Shadid, The Times’s Beirut bureau chief and a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent; two photographers, Tyler Hicks and Ms. Addario, who have extensive experience in war zones; and a reporter and videographer, Stephen Farrell, who in 2009 was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan and rescued by British commandos.
After The Times reported having lost contact with the journalists on Tuesday, officials with the Qaddafi government pledged that if they had been detained by the government’s military forces they would be located and released unharmed.
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Some old friends were back in the boat on Thursday. Cindy Franchek from Dallas, Texas mastered the crappies back in June after landing a 15-inch whopper that stands as the largest crappie in my boat. This time she brought along her husband Richard and son Jacob who now resides in St. Louis, Missouri. We spent the day on the St. Louis River and the action was hot right from the start.
Our first keeper was in the net before all of the rods were set, and they kept biting at a steady clip until noon. We landed several fish up to 26 inches trolling crankbaits in 5- to 7-feet of water including Cindy's fish of the day that had to be 'just a bit' bigger than the others ... Like she said, "Everyone in the boat will be happier if I catch the largest fish!" We all ended the day happy!
Water temperatures ranged from 72- to 74-degrees. As hot as the morning was, the afternoon bite was exactly the opposite. Bites were hard to come by, and the fish obviously had full bellies. This kind of action has been typical as of late. There are windows throughout the day where the bite turns on, and the action is steady.
When it turns off however ... it's a struggle.
TAUNTON — “Accreditation” is just one word school renovation proponents have been tossing back and forth, in an attempt to convince debt exclusion critics.
Those in favor of the $104 million high school and Parker Middle School overhaul, including Superintendent Arthur W. Stellar, have argued the district may lose its New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) accreditation, if the project fades away.
“When colleges look at scholarships and admissions for two students being [otherwise] equal, and one comes from an accredited high school, the accredited high school [graduate will have the advantage],” Stellar explained recently.
“Accreditation” is just one word school renovation proponents have been tossing back and forth, in an attempt to convince debt exclusion critics.
The city’s school administrators are expecting a visit from NEASC inspectors in the fall. It has been about a decade since their last on-site inspection.
He believes that a secure, documented plan — to be completed in the near future — for total high school renovation, may make the difference.
The facelift proposal will be considered during the upcoming inspection process, and may help the school hold on to its coveted accreditation, Stellar explained.
In turn, if the school retains its accredidation, Silver City graduates will have a better shot at post-commencment success.
Janet Allison, deputy director for NEASC’s commission on public secondary schools, confirmed an inspection visit has been planned for the near future.
She’s not so sure, however, that local taxpayers should fear the school’s accreditation may be at risk because of an aging facility.
Students, though, have been told the school’s accreditation is at risk.
As City Council debated the issue at last Tuesday night’s meeting, teenage Good Government Day participants sat beside elected officials. After the councilors voted to hold a June 23 special election — asking voters to approve a debt exclusion tax rate increase to fund the city’s share of the project — the students had a chance to offer their two cents on the project.
One student expressed her concern that the school would lose its accreditation if voters fail to support the debt exclusion.
Serving more than 2,000 public and independent schools, colleges and universities in the six states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont (plus American/international schools in more than 60 nations), NEASC approaches accreditation from multiple angles.
Self-evaluation and site visits by “peer evaluators” are just two of many modes of measurement.
Most city students, faculty, administrators and elected officials, contend the ailing high school and Parker Middle School complex is adversely affecting education.
Allison predicted that Taunton is most likely in the final stages of its own self-study.
This unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could one day be used to monitor high-profile, large-scale events for safety.
The UAV is made by European defence and technology company EADS, which has been showing off the vehicle - along with a number of other research projects - as part of its 'Pulse' demonstration.
Pulse was on show this week at EADS' Innovation Works at Newport in South Wales, which was formally opened by Welsh Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan yesterday.
silicon.com went along for a look.
The Pulse demonstration uses the 2010 Ryder Cup, which will be held near Newport, as an example for the kind of event the technology could be used to keep an eye on.
This image shows the UAV flying over and monitoring the Celtic Manor golf course which will be used in the biennial golf competition.
Police can monitor the whole event as it progresses using the footage from the UAV. In this mocked-up police command and control room scenario, the big screen on the left shows the view of the golf course from the vehicle.
Pulse also features a laser ion mobility spectrometer scanner which can detect if anyone is bringing substances into an event that could harm spectators.
It works by creating an updraft when someone walks through the scanner, releasing any loose particles which are picked up by sensors at the top. The sensors then analyse the particles for any sign of dangerous substances.
The system can also be used to detect substances on tickets and EADS claims it's more accurate than sniffer dogs.
If anything suspicious is picked up by the scanners, security officials could potentially use the UAV, as well as RFID chips in spectators' tickets, to track an individual and make sure they don't pose a threat to security.
This is an image that could be received from the UAV as it tracks a potential troublemaker. It shows a suspected criminal (with a red trail) being followed around the Ryder Cup course by a security team member (blue).
This is a water monitoring technology that EADS is working on. It shows how part of a water distribution network at a major event could be automatically shut off to isolate a contaminant minutes after it has been identified.
The technology has been developed from a system used by the EADS aerospace division Airbus to check drinking water in planes is clean.
In a separate but related demo, EADS and Edinburgh University showed off a research project which aims to show how meeting rooms in the future might operate.
The Instrumentive Meeting Room has a 360 degree camera (an image from which is shown on the screen) and microphone and uses speech recognition technology to identify which of the meeting's participants is talking, so when the minutes are transcribed, speech is attributed to the right person.
The idea behind the system is for the progress of meetings to be better understood and for people to be accountable for decisions that are taken.
Here's a transcript produced for a meeting using the technology. As well as what was said, the tech can also identify who is speaking at any given time during playback using colour coding. At the top it also shows who spoke when and for how long.
This shows technology developed by Pixcell with input from EADS: essentially, it's a system that can send information to the public in the event of a major incident.
After being wirelessly switched on to the alert system, screens that are normally used for advertising could be used to give a targeted group of people – at an event or particular area in a city - information about the incident.
For example, the screen on the right is alerting people that there is an explosive device in the building and giving instructions about what to do.
The system could also be used as a community notice board where information about local events could be posted from a central location.
This is an image processing technology currently being developed at the EADS Innovation Works at Suresnes in France.
The technology, UrbanView, uses CCTV camera networks to monitor the movement of objects in urban areas.
The system extracts and categorises information from video streams that can then be used by police or other security forces.
For example, police could identify a particular person or vehicle of interest and work out its movements over a certain period of time.
This shows the images that the UrbanView system has picked up in a video stream. These items can then be filtered to find the item of interest.
Using the system, the movements of a suspicious car can be traced back from the time it was parked to dtermine if it's been involved with anything suspect.
EADS company Infoterra demonstrated its geospatial mapping system, Rapid Surveyor, which can make 200,000 measurements per second usings various technologies such as digital photogaphy and laser sensors.
The image above is of Leicester City Football Club's Walkers Stadium.
The power of fandom has been much discussed in Hollywood, but when it comes to mega franchises like Star Wars, can it really make or break a movie?
Rey's training montage in Star Wars: The Last Jedi is actually foreshadowing Kylo Ren's due with Luke - and may be a subtle plot-point too.
Reflecting on his long-running career in the Star Wars franchise, Mark Hamill made a sad connection between real life and the Star Wars universe.
A group of fans claim to have the cash to remake The Last Jedi, and are begging Lucasfilm to give them a chance. Rian Johnson's reaction is perfect.
The prequels were hated by an entire generation of Star Wars fans. After nearly six years of Disney, the fandom may have finally got over the trilogy.
John Boyega offers his thoughts on Star Wars' toxic fandom, telling people they should not harass the franchise's actors on social media.
A Facebook community account released a statement, claiming responsibility for harassing Star Wars actress Kelly Marie Tran off of social media.
Mark Hamill is the latest of the Star Wars community to defend Kelly Marie Tran after the actress erased her Instagram due to harassing comments.