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Iditarod front runner drops out of race after dogs disagree over bathroom break
By Jacob Bogage
Nicolas Petit hugs one of his dogs before they leave Unalakleet, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 10, 2019. (Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News)
A favorite to win the Iditarod sled dog race, a nearly 1,000 mile arctic haul across Alaska from Nome to Anchorage, dropped out of the event Monday less than 200 miles from the finish line because his dogs refused to continue.
Nicolas Petit of Girdwood, Alaska, and his 10 dogs were just off the Shaktoolik check point on a stretch of Bering Sea ice when a disagreement between two dogs, a veteran and a younger dog, caused the sled to pause, then completely halt, when Petit raised his voice to discipline the animals.
The 38-year-old's sled earlier in the day left Shaktoolik in the lead "like a rocket," he told local television station KTUU. But then one of his dogs wanted to stop for a bathroom break and an older dog jumped on top of it in disagreement. Petit raised his voice and it spooked the rest of the team, which refused to mush.
"Everybody heard daddy yelling. Which doesn't happen. And then they wouldn't go anymore. Anywhere," he said to KTUU.
There's a sled dog race tougher than the Iditarod, and a 78-year-old crazy enough to try it
By Brad Joyal
Petit took his dogs back to a cabin at Shaktoolik to rest, but later decided to drop out of the race entirely for the good of his dogs.
"They're all fine, they all ate good, no orthopedic issue. Just a head thing," he said Monday.
Last year, Petit held a lead of several hours when his bid for first place was scuttled while on the sea ice. Lost in a snowstorm, he navigated off course and lost precious time. He ultimately lost the race by 2 hours 15 minutes. Petit, a native of France, made his Iditarod debut in 2011 when he finished in 28th place and was named rookie of the year. His highest finish came last year when he placed second overall and he had been a top 10 finisher in four consecutive races before this year's event.
Of the 52 mushers who entered this year's race, which began March 2, 10 have dropped out as of Tuesday afternoon. Peter Kaiser and his eight dogs led the pack with two check points remaining. Defending champion Joar Leifseth Ulsom is 31 minutes behind in second place.
The winner is expected in Nome early Wednesday.
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Death Notice: THERESA VANDERLAAN COLLINS
Theresa VanderLaan Collins, Oct. 9, 1906 to Jan. 9, 2007, age 101, of Ada, MI, formerly of Naples, FL and Chicago, died Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008 at Heather Hills Care Center in Grand Rapids, MI. She was the daughter of Lubbertus S. and Nettie VanderLaan and grew up in Hudsonville, MI. Mrs. Collins was a long time member of Ada Congregational Church, active with St. Cecilia Music Society, Shakesperiana, and she traveled the United States and Europe.
She greatly enjoyed sailing which she did for 80 years of her life.
She will be dearly missed by many for her joy of life, sense of adventure and presence for 101 years.
She was preceded in death in 1974 by her husband, Kreigh Taylor Collins-illustrator for whom she was muse and inspiration for his art and writing.
She was also preceded by three brothers and two sisters.
Surviving her are her one brother, Boyd VanderLaan of Hudsonville; her four sons Eric (Jan) of Wilmington, DE; David (Elvira) of Chicago, Glen (Mary) of Gurnee, IL, Kevin (Mary) of Ada; nine grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and many nieces, nephews and great-nieces and nephews.
She will be especially missed by her beloved nieces and nephew, Linda Buonanno, Martha Simpson and Tim Smith.
The family expresses special thanks to the staff at Heather Hills Care Center and Retirement Village, Homewatch Caregivers, and Hospice of West Michigan.
The family will receive relatives and friends at Metcalf and Jonkhoff on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008 from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. and Friday Jan. 18, 2008 from 7 to 9 p.m. A memorial service will be celebrated at 11 am on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008 at Ada Congregational Church with her pastor, Rev. Gary Burdick, officiating.
Interment Ada Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in her name to Ada Congregational Church or a charity of your choice.
The family is being served by Metcalf & Jonkhoff Funeral Service, ,4291 Cascade Rd. SE, at Kenmoor, E of I-96www.metcalfandjonkhoff.com
This is a paid death notice.
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Colorado Homes and Lifestyles /
November-December 2007 /
Best Local Artists to Collect Now
John Suhay has been documenting daily life in Pittsburgh and Pueblo for more than 40 years. His black and white prints highlight the mentality of the two cities, and the snapshots project powerful feelings and emotions. Growing up, Suhay was inspired by the photographic work in Life, and sold his first portrait to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1938 for $3. John Suhay has been documenting daily life in Pittsburgh and Pueblo for more than 40 years. His black and white prints highlight the mentality of the two cities, and the snapshots project powerful feelings and emotions. Growing up, Suhay was inspired by the photographic work in Life, and sold his first portrait to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1938 for $3. Sangre de Cristo Arts & Conference Center, (719) 295-7200, sdc-arts.org. "My paintings explore conflict and the struggle between dialectical tensions such as masculinity and femininity, chaos and structure, preordination and free will." Frank T. Martinez is a self-taught painter whose work can be interpreted in a myriad of ways by each viewer. + Gallery, (303) 296-0927, plusgallery.com. Born in 1959 in the small town of San Pablo in the San Luis Valley, Emilio Lobato's family has lived in that area for more than 200 years. According to Lobato, "My art is a reaction to the isolation and solitude I experienced growing up. I consider my paintings relics: souvenirs of a spiritual, inward journey molded with the passions, dramas and desires that constitute the human experience." William Havu Gallery, (303) 893-2360, williamhavugallery.com. Rodney Wood's past work included mixed media sculpture and jewelry and metalsmithing, while his current focus is on oil painting. His goal is for art to "make people see and feel something that reaches beyond the physical and intellectual." His work is influenced by the mythology, religion and symbolism of past cultures. Sangre de Cristo Arts & Conference Center, (719) 295-7200, sdc-arts.org.
This article appears in the November-December 2007 issue of Colorado Homes and Lifestyles
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Sudan: Omar al-Bashir must face justice for recent and past crimes
16th May 2019 Temilade Leave a comment
At around midday on 13 May uniformed security officers were captured on a widely circulated social media video whipping protestors. The onslaught escalated from around 6pm when live shots were fired resulting in at least four deaths, one of whom was a military officer, and more than 90 people injured, according to the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors. The doctors said they had also treated 40 injuries arising from whipping and suffocation by tear gas.
Sudan’s Public Prosecutor has said that he will charge former president Omar al-Bashir with the recent killing of protestors, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, Seif Magango said:
“While this promises to be a first step towards holding al-Bashir accountable for his heinous crimes, the Sudan authorities must hand him over to the International Criminal Court to answer charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Al-Bashir must face justice not only for recent crimes, but also for the crimes under international law he allegedly committed while he was in power.”
“This announcement is all the more significant coming off the back of yet another night of bloody violence in Sudan during which at least four people were killed, and about 90 sustained gunshot injuries. The prosecutor must also investigate and charge everyone else responsible for the continued use of excessive lethal force against peaceful protestors.”
“It should not be forgotten that the Sudan Transitional Military Council also bears responsibility for failing to protect peaceful protestors. They must hold to account any security officer who fired live bullets on the protestors camped out at the military headquarters and in other parts of the country.”
Amnesty International.
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Bill allowing collegiate athletes to profit off…
Bill allowing collegiate athletes to profit off name, likeness clears another step in California legislature
NCAA President Mark Emmert answers questions at a news conference at the Final Four college basketball tournament, Thursday, April 4, 2019, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt York)
By Ryan Kartje | rkartje@scng.com | Orange County Register
As California inches ever closer to a direct and potentially landscape-altering conflict with the NCAA, the state took another step Tuesday toward allowing its collegiate athletes to profit off of their names, images and likenesses.
The Fair Pay to Play Act, which was written as a direct rebuke of the NCAA and its long-standing rule barring athletes from receiving outside compensation, passed through the state Assembly’s Higher Education Committee on Tuesday with a unanimous 9-0 vote.
With an identical bill already approved by the state Senate, the Assembly’s bill will next be heard in August by the Appropriations Committee. From there, it would first move to the Assembly floor, then, if passed again, onto the Governor’s desk.
“No one else under California law can market your name, image or likeness without your permission,” said state senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), who co-authored the bill. “Only student-athletes are prevented from that.”
If that were the case in any other industry, Skinner added, “there would be universal outcry.”
But the NCAA has long clung to its strict definition of amateurism, maintaining that its athletes should not be allowed to profit from such possible revenue channels, which could include anything from local sponsorships to autograph and apparel deals. In a letter last month, before the bill was first heard in committee, NCAA president Mark Emmert warned of “unintended consequences” and lobbied to postpone the bill, which he wrote “threatens to alter materially the principles of intercollegiate athletics.”
Chargers left tackle Russell Okung, who spoke in favor of the bill Tuesday, didn’t disagree with that assessment.
“(Emmert) is absolutely correct,” Okung told the committee. “These so-called principles of the NCAA should be materially altered because they are far from virtuous.”
If passed, the bill would not go into effect until 2023, which, according to the bill’s co-authors, would give the NCAA ample opportunity to change its rules and the state plenty of time to make future adjustments.
In May, the NCAA announced it would form a commission to explore the possibility and potential pitfalls of allowing its athletes to profit off his or her name, image or likeness. But in the same announcement, Emmert made clear that the NCAA would not consider “concepts by which student-athletes are considered employees and paid for their athletics participation.”
No such shift would occur under the Fair Pay to Play Act, which would not allow universities to pay collegiate athletes, but rather prohibit them from penalizing athletes for seeking such compensation from outside sources. On Tuesday, with that opposition in mind, several members of the Assembly’s Higher Education committee expressed their doubt that the governing body would make any such changes unless otherwise forced.
“The NCAA is going to move as slow as it wants to move,” Assemblymember Marc Levine (D-Marin County) said. “Whether this bill becomes law is almost secondary to the fact that we need to coax this conversation further than it ever has been.”
Long Beach State athletic director Andy Fee, who spoke against the bill, said he was not opposed to having that conversation. “It’s the mechanism that I oppose,” he said.
Along with several state and private universities that stood against the bill Tuesday, Fee warned, like Emmert, of “unintended consequences,” such as a collegiate athlete partnering with a gambling entity or marijuana dispensary, both of which the NCAA has vehemently opposed in the past.
One of the purported consequences, however, seemed to be dispelled during Tuesday’s hearing.
Several committee members expressed concern that universities in the state could be excluded from NCAA member events, after Emmert implied as much in his letter to the Assembly’s Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media Committee. But attorney and sports law expert Marc Edelman noted for the committee Tuesday that such an action would presumably violate antitrust law under the Sherman Act.
As the NCAA again mounts an impassioned defense of amateurism, many committee members took the chance Tuesday to express their dismay with the current system and the governing body that maintains it. Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel (D-West San Fernando Valley) called the NCAA’s amateurism rules “deeply exploitative,” and assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) likened it to “a slave system.”
To Assemblyman Steven Bradford (D-Los Angeles), a co-author of the bill, the root issues addressed by the Fair Pay for Play Act aren’t about sports at all.
“It’s about fairness,” Bradford said. “It’s about allowing young men and women to take advantage of the small window … to monetize their name and likeness.”
Whicker: California lawmakers have put NCAA on notice
Miles for Montclair raises $23K for homeless students
Ryan Kartje
Ryan Kartje is a sports features reporter, with a special focus on the NFL and college sports. He has worked for the Orange County Register since 2012, when he was hired as UCLA beat writer. His enterprise work on the rise and fall of the daily fantasy sports industry (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/industry-689093-fantasy-daily.html) was honored in 2015 with an Associated Press Sports Editors’ enterprise award in the highest circulation category. His writing has also been honored by the Football Writers Association of America and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Ryan worked for the Bloomington (Ind.) Herald-Times and Fox Sports Wisconsin, before moving out west to live by the beach and eat copious amounts of burritos.
Follow Ryan Kartje @Ryan_Kartje
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News Military
Navy veteran recalls Omaha Beach: "I can't get that out of my head"
Kaitlin McKeown / Daily Press
A photograph in veteran Julius Shoulars' album shows damage on Omaha Beach. Shoulars landed on the beach with the 7th Naval Beach Battalion on June 7, 1944.
A photograph in veteran Julius Shoulars' album shows damage on Omaha Beach. Shoulars landed on the beach with the 7th Naval Beach Battalion on June 7, 1944. (Kaitlin McKeown / Daily Press)
Hugh LessigContact ReporterStaff writer
Julius Shoulars was supposed to hit Omaha Beach on D-Day. As the hours passed, he was ordered to turn around.
The beach was crowded with vehicles, with corpses, with wounded who needed care. Shoulars served as a Navy coxswain with the 7th Naval Beach Battalion. He was at the controls of a landing craft loaded with fighting men, but the beach had run out of room.
“It really wasn’t a sense of relief,” he said. “We wanted to go in and get it over with. It prolonged the agony.”
We wanted to go in and get it over with. It prolonged the agony. — Julius Shoulars on D-Day and the day after
The next day, he came upon the carnage.
“When you go ashore and you see these injured guys they hadn’t had the opportunity to take care of yet, crying ‘Momma save me.’ I can’t get that out of my head today. It’s still up there. I can’t get it out.”
That night he dug a foxhole on the beach and went to sleep. The tide had gone out and he had unknowingly picked a spot too close to the water. In the dead of night, the water rolled in and he felt something bump against his feet.
Body parts.
He looked down and saw an arm, a leg — and quickly moved farther inland.
Thursday is the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the massive Allied invasion at Normandy in northern France that marked the beginning of the end of World War II.
Omaha Beach was the largest assault area, targeted by units of the 1st and 29th infantry divisions. They faced withering fire from dug-in German troops that turned the beach into a killing field.
And yet the courage and sacrifice of the Allies prevailed. That’s why Shoulars, a sharp-witted 94-year-old with a ready smile, still wants to talk about the memories that still bring tears to his eyes.
On Thursday, he is scheduled to speak to fellow residents at Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay, the Virginia Beach senior living community he now calls home. The next day, he’ll entertain a group of students at Landstown High School, where his granddaughter teaches history.
Julius Shoulars, 94, holds the helmet he wore while serving as a Navy coxswain on Omaha Beach in June 1944. Shoulars landed on the beach with the 7th Naval Beach Battalion on June 7, 1944.
Julius Shoulars, 94, holds the helmet he wore while serving as a Navy coxswain on Omaha Beach in June 1944. Shoulars landed on the beach with the 7th Naval Beach Battalion on June 7, 1944. (Kaitlin McKeown / Daily Press)
“People forget what World War II was,” he said. “I want them to remember it as much as possible.”
A North Carolina native, Shoulars moved to Norfolk when he was 16. Drafted in 1943, he traveled to Richmond for a physical and recalled standing in a room with a group of other men after being poked and prodded by doctors.
“That particular day, the Navy was asking for 30 volunteers,” he said. “I raised my hand right away. I don’t want any foxholes. I don’t want any K rations. I don’t want any mud. I’m going to be in the Navy and get hot meals. You have a shower every day.”
He trained in what is now Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story and later in Florida. He went overseas early in 1944, leaving behind his girlfriend.
“We made a commitment to each other that we wouldn’t get married until after the war,” he said, “because if I got killed I didn’t want to leave her a widow.”
(Spoiler alert: Julius and Ruby Shoulars reunited after the war and remained married for 66 years until she passed away in 2013. He gleefully recounted how the Army in 1941 drafted the guy she was dating. Before shipping out, the guy made it clear Ruby was off limits. The next day, Julius asked Ruby for a date and the rest was history.)
Before D-Day, his unit stayed in an enclosure circled by barbed wire guarded by Marines and told not to leave. In fact, they couldn’t even approach the wire. Military leaders wanted everything locked down to prevent leaks of information.
They trained constantly, but no training could prepare him for the day after D-Day. As he recalled, Omaha Beach wasn’t completely safe even after the assault on June 6. He heard scattered gunfire, and one point had to duck for cover.
“I really didn’t see the tough fighting,” he said. “But I saw fighting.”
He spent three weeks on the beach, helping clear the area and bury the dead in initial graves. Each corpse had two dog tags. One was hung from the cross that marked the site, the other was sent home to their families. He never got used to the sight of dead bodies, but after a while he said men just dealt with it.
They were transformed by what they saw.
“Can you imagine 18-year-old boys getting wounded like that, and boys coming in and seeing them for the first time? Farm boys and guys from the city who have never been away from home long? It was something.”
Shoulars has collected hundreds of photographs from his time on Omaha Beach. Some show damaged vehicles. In a few shots, he’s horsing around. He’s written about his experiences at the insistence of his daughters, two of whom became teachers, the third a school librarian.
“They convinced me I needed to put it down because it was history,” he said.
Shoulars has returned to Omaha Beach five times, once with his children. They needed to see it.
As tears welled in his eyes, he said, “I told everybody, ‘you leave me alone. I’m going down to the beach with my daughters. So I did. I went down there and showed them where we landed. A lot of stuff down there. It was very emotional. As a matter of fact, I’m emotional now ... yes.”
Hugh Lessig, 757-247-7821, hlessig@dailypress.com, @hlessig on Twitter
Navy veteran describes landing on Omaha Beach the day after D-Day
World War II (1939-1945)
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Why Netflix Must Ensure ‘13 Reasons Why’ Is Safe for Kids
Tim Winter / @TimWinterPTC / April 19, 2018 / Leave a comment
The Netflix series "13 Reasons Why" depicts teen suicide and is marketed to children. (Photo: sd619/Getty Images)
Tim Winter / @TimWinterPTC
Tim Winter is president of the Parents Television Council, a nonpartisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment. He is also a former NBC, MGM, and streaming-media technologies executive.
Millions of children and teens recently watched another teen commit the most graphically explicit suicide ever depicted on TV—without any warnings to parents that such content existed.
A basic Netflix subscription allows children and teens access to watch “13 Reasons Why,” a story about the 13 reasons why a high school girl committed suicide.
We know the impact of this series’ first season was powerful and intense: millions of children watched, the Google search term for how to commit suicide spiked 26 percent, and there were news reports of children taking their own lives after the series was released a year ago.
We may never know the full extent of how grave the influence was.
As though that weren’t troubling enough, Netflix knows full well that this content is being consumed primarily by children—even ignoring a warning from an anti-suicide counselor not to air the series.
When the show was first released, no effort was made to provide a positive resource for those struggling with depression. The worst human behavior—intense bullying and violent sexual assault—was depicted in graphic form, and the lead character chose to take her life as a result.
There was no effort made to offer a semblance of hope or redemption. There was no public service angle that provided guidance for viewers considering suicide as an answer. There was no phone number to a hotline where people could find help.
Make no mistake: Children are the target audience for this series. When a film or TV series centers entirely on high school-aged young people for its storytelling, it is high school and junior high school-aged youths who watch and who feel most emotionally connected to the characters.
Grown-ups don’t put themselves into the position of high schoolers, but other children do.
Even research commissioned by Netflix and conducted by Northwestern University about the societal impact of “13 Reasons Why” demonstrated how much stronger the emotional connection to the characters was for young people ages 13 to 18 than for young adults or adults.
Sadly, it is those innocent young people, not adults, who don’t yet have the life experiences and perspectives to adequately process a romanticized suicide drama.
By adding some additional viewer precautions for the upcoming release of Season 2 (the date for which has not yet been announced), Netflix has demonstrated that it now has full knowledge of the program’s potential effect—especially on young viewers—and it cannot now feign ignorance should tragedy strike.
And unlike traditional television programming, Netflix is readily consumed by children and teens via their computers, cellphones, and other mobile devices.
Last August, a Parents Television Council study of streaming services found that children have easy access to adult content, in part because the parental controls are lax or nonexistent.
We published a number of recommendations to improve streaming services’ effectiveness in protecting innocent eyes from explicit material. Happily, some of our recommendations have been adopted by Netflix, but the company needs to do more.
We are calling on Netflix to take the following five steps:
Refrain from releasing Season 2 of “13 Reasons Why” until experts in the scientific community have determined it to be safe for consumption by an audience that is made up heavily of minors.
Implement a pricing structure similar to that of SiriusXM satellite radio, which allows subscribers—and especially parents—to opt out of adult or explicit programming in exchange for a reduction in the subscription price.
Work constructively and proactively with filtering service providers, such as VidAngel, which allow consumers the ability to filter explicit content from the entertainment they stream in their homes.
Use its platform as a positive resource for those who are at greatest risk from consuming the content of this program. For instance, the rapper Logic’s song “1-800-273-8255” is credited with a sharp increase in the prevention of suicide.
Participate in a national symposium to develop and identify effective protective measures for children and families. Congress passed the Child Safe Viewing Act almost a decade ago, and industry representatives need to help deliver real solutions, rather than seek cover from its intended reach.
Parents may think that Netflix is “safer” for their families than other forms of entertainment, but the reality is that it isn’t. Parents need to be aware of “13 Reasons Why” and this insidious digital media culture that is engulfing our children and teens.
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Medicare Data Makes Pathology Prices Public
Medicare now posts every pathologist’s price
By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXV No. 15 – October 22, 2018 Issue
Boston Heart Case Ruling Raises Questions for LabsRespected Pathology Consultant Laurence J. Peterson Dies
CEO SUMMARY: Each year since 2015, Medicare officials have posted the prices charged by every physician. That now makes it possible for pathology group practices to conduct a price study of their region and state to learn how their group’s prices compare with other pathology providers. A national pathology consultant points out that one way to use this data is to identify which services a pathology group has underpriced and overpriced.
For anatomic pathologists, the time approaches when patients, payers, and referring physicians can easily discover what each pathology group charges. Already, most hospital administrators know what pathologists charge, as do health insurers.
Soon, pricing data will be readily available to patients as well. When that happens, pathologists may want to publish their fees online and start competing morefiercely on price.
To help pathologists navigate the potential pitfalls of fee transparency, Robert Tessier, a Senior Reimbursement Consultant with HBP Services in Woodbridge, Conn., developed a pricelist based on Medicare data that offers significant insights.
“Medicare knows what pathologists are charging and is making that data available to the public,” Tessier said in an interview with The Dark Report. “Soon, patients will also know what pathologists are charging and will start comparing prices.
“However, that is not today’s reality,” added Tessier. “I have yet to see any pathology group that publishes what it charges. That day is coming, but it is not here yet.”
To prepare, Tessier recommends that pathology practice administrators do two things. First, become familiar with the Medicare physician price data available on the national Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website that shows what every pathologist in the country charges by CPT code.
Second, use the data to compare pathology group fees within each state or local community.
“Pathology groups unaware of this data will be at a competitive disadvantage going forward, noted Tessier. “This Medicare data is easy to access and download from the CMS website. It can be sorted by state or address. Using this information, a practice administrator can find what other pathology groups charge.
“The reports we produce are limited to Medicare data provided by pathologists, not from laboratories,” he explained. “Therefore, companies such as Quest Diagnostics, Inc. and Laboratory Corporation of America were not included.
“Also, the data we examined relate specifically to Medicare code 88305,” stated Tessier. “This code represents a gross and microscopic examination of a specimen. In the Medicare database, there are six million records showing pathology payments for the professional component of 88305 and about 4.5 million records showing payments for in-office or facility billing for 88305s.
Alarming Discrepancies
“There is a good reason why it is time for pathologists to determine their ideal price point when dealing with hospital administrators, patients, and third-party payers,” he added. “Thirty years ago, Medicare defined the prevailing rate for pathologists and other healthcare providers as being at the 75th percentile of what everyone charged. Since then, Medicare has moved away from having a single prevailing rate.
“For pathology clients, we have begun to use the Medicare data to assess their region and state and help them develop a smart pricing strategy that keeps their prices competitive, while at the same time helping them identify services they have underpriced and raise those up to current market levels,” said Tessier.
“We now have statistical models showing charges at the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles,” he added. “Using these numbers, pathologists can determine the prevailing rates in their areas. (See chart below.)
“As the chart shows, rates vary widely from one state to another,” he said. “A more granular look at these numbers shows that rates vary even among cities and towns.
“Another factor to consider is that the Medicare database includes both facility and non-facility fees,” Tessier said. “The facility fee is what pathologists charge for the professional component only. The non-facility fee is mostly identified as what they bill globally, meaning for both the professional component (PC) and the technical component (TC).
“Sometimes, practices will further complicate their charges for non-facility fees, which is why it’s not often as simple as looking at a table to determine pricing,” he added.
National Average for 88305
“At the top of the chart is the national average—meaning all the data on six million units of 88305, regardless of the state,” said Tessier. “Once you know the percentile, it’s possible to compare that with the individual charges in each state. So, for example, the 50th percentile in Arizona is only $98, but the 50th percentile nationally is $173. That’s a significant difference, which pathologists in Arizona need to know.
“To understand how pricing works in different states, we can highlight what pathologists charge in a given state and then compare those figures to what pathologists charge nationally,” he said. “CPT code 88305 is, by far, the most common pathology code in the database, representing 45% to 50% of all pathology billing.
90th, 75th, 25th Percentiles
“Nationally, the 90th percentile for an 88305 professional component is $260, while the prevailing rate at the 75th percentile is $213,” he noted. “Our review also provides information on what pathologists charge at the 25th and 50th percentiles.
“In my view, the ideal pathology pricing lies between the 50th and 75th percentiles,” commented Tessier, who has been advising pathology practices on reimbursement issues for more than 30 years. In addition, he once worked for the Health Care Financing Administration, which was the forerunner to the current federal agency that pays healthcare providers, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“Pathologists should not charge at the 90th percentile unless they have a particular reason to do so,” he advised. “The only reason to charge at that level is if you already have a high contracted rate—but that would be unusual.
“When pathologists or hospital executives compare fees for pathology practices, they’re interested in determining whether the practice is within the norm for its area,” he said. “Hospital and health systems want to know what the norm is, and they want to keep their group within that norm.
Ceiling for Pathology Prices
“In recent years, hospital systems have indicated that the 75th percentile is considered the prevailing rate,” Tessier noted. “However, if a pathology group is charging a very low rate, such as the 25th percentile, we recommend they raise their rates gradually. We think the 75th percentile is not only a good benchmark, but also a ceiling for what a pathology practice should charge.
“It is a fact that price transparency is a trend in healthcare,” he added. “That is why it is timely for all pathology groups to know what other pathologists in their area are charging.
“For example, we recently showed a client what pathologists charged in Miami and in nearby Fort Lauderdale,” continued Tessier. “These numbers were then compared to pathologists’ fees for the entire state of Florida.
“While the Medicare data show a rate of $213 in Florida for the 88305 professional component at the 75th percentile, the national number for global billing is $224,” he said. “This shows how price sensitive global billing is for referred patients.
“In other words, there’s not much difference between the professional-only ($213) and the professional-plus-technical ($224) national rates in the Medicare database,” he added.
“Of course, while these numbers are interesting, it is more relevant for pathologists to compare their rates to those of other pathologists in the same state,” he said. “It is also an effective business strategy to fine-tune your fees by examining the region served by your pathology group.
“We worked with a client group in Michigan, for example, that charged an extremely low rate—$99 for the professional component of an 88305,” Tessier added. “At the time, the 50th percentile in Michigan was $152 and the 75th percentile was $172.
“Our client leveraged this information to ask for higher rates from their payers, he noted. “However, the reaction from the payers, who were reimbursing at $65, was less than positive. Payers said their norm was to reimburse, on average, 50% of what is normally charged in a particular area. Because our client had set its rates so low, they were at a disadvantage when negotiating with their health insurer.
Medicare Data Show Pathology Prices, Nationally, by State, by Doctor
IT HAS ONLY BEEN THREE YEARS since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began releasing information about the prices charged by individual physicians to the public. Robert Tessier, Senior Reimbursement Consultant with HBP Services, recommends that pathologists and their practice administrators use this data to understand why other pathologists are charging in their region and state. Below is the table which shows how Tessier presents the price data for CPT 88305, including the national price and state prices for 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles.
Negotiating with Payers
“This is one reason why pathologists need to know what’s representative in their communities,” advised Tessier. “This information helps them negotiate with third parties from a position of strength. Once this Michigan group understood that, they did not want to leave money on the table.
“With our recommendation, the group increased its fee from $99 to $150,” he said. “This put them in line with the 50th percentile in Michigan. The higher rate also brought them closer to the norm compared with what other pathologists were charging in their market.
“Ultimately, it is difficult to achieve a significant rate increase,” added Tessier. “The attitude among third-party payers is, ‘No matter how low your rates were set, we are not going to compensate for years of neglect.’
“The payers we work with expect pathology practices to challenge their reimbursement rates and request a cost of living adjustment when contracts come up for renewal,” he noted. “If groups don’t do that on a regular basis, they can’t expect to get a raise several years later.
“Now that this Medicare data is readily available,” emphasized Tessier, “there is no reason to be unprepared for negotiating. Ideally, we recommend pathology groups set their fees close to the 75th percentile. If you’re lower, you may have trouble getting a better reimbursement rate. It’s that simple.
“Many factors determine what pathologists charge,” Tessier explained. “One anomaly is in New Hampshire. There, the 75th percentile for an 88305 is $365, and the 90th percentile is $366. Now, why is that? This usually happens when one dominant health system charges a particularly high rate.
“In Maine—which borders New Hampshire—the 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile rates are just $147, $213, and $213, respectively,” he added. “Even in Massachusetts, which has a reputation for high healthcare rates, the fees for an 88305 are $147, $184, and $199. All of those are neighboring states, yet in New Hampshire the numbers are considerably higher.
“Now look at Montana, where the prices go from $106 at the 50th percentile to $150 at the 90th percentile,” he added. “Those are very conservative numbers.
“In this new era of fee transparency, it is wise for pathologists to re-examine their fees in the context of their competitors’ rates,” advised Tessier. “Not only does this help when negotiating contracts with payers, but it will help the pathology group with those patients who want to know prices in advance of service.”
Contact Robert Tessier at 203-397-8000 or rtessier@hbpworld.com.
Tags: cpt, cpt code, dark report, laboratories, Medicare, pathologists, pathology billing, pathology consultant, Pathology group, pathology groups, pathology practice, pathology providers, the dark report
Volume XXV No. 15 – October 22, 2018
ACLA Files Appeal in Federal PAMA Lawsuit
Are More Criminal Charges Coming in Theranos Case?
Walgreens, LabCorp Announce Expansion of PSC Partnership
Boston Heart Case Ruling Raises Questions for Labs
Respected Pathology Consultant Laurence J. Peterson Dies
Biggest IVD Manufacturers Report Robust Third Quarter Earnings
Quest Acquires Two Labs, Two Other Health Firms
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QuadrigaCX Founder Was Running Fraudulent Crypto Business for Years
in Crypto news
Controversial Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX turned out to be a fraudulent business run by the company’s late founder Gerald Cotten, according to a new report by Ernst & Young. The news was shared by litigator Evan Thomas on Twitter, pointing out the process via which customers were defrauded.
After being appointed the monitor in the QuadrigaCX case, Ernst & Young launched an investigation into the company’s internal workings. They dropped a bomb on the crypto world on Wednesday with a 70-page report that states the wrongdoings of Gerald Cotten. The late founder and CEO of the company were using customer funds to trade in his own account on other crypto exchanges.
Cotten’s mysterious death in December 2018 left the customers scratching their heads, and the company went bust soon after. It informed users that Cotten ran the entire operation via his laptop and was the only person with access to the company’s funds and crypto holdings worth millions of dollars. The firm filed for bankruptcy and was given creditors’ protection for a few weeks. At the time, some crypto analysts had pointed out that the cold wallets. Quadriga is claiming to own may not have any holdings.
A $200 million fraud
Cotten used Quadriga to take funds from customers and then transferred them to his personal accounts on various other digital currency exchanges. He also used the money to fund his personal lifestyle and a margin trading account. This account, which he used to margin trade in Dash, OmiseGo, Dogecoin, and Zcash, “generated substantial losses” according to the report. The total impact of his fraudulent business is calculated at over $200 million.
The founder also created fake accounts on the exchange and credited them with non-existent fiat amounts. He used this fake fiat currency to buy real cryptocurrency from users. One of his largest accounts used the alias Chris Markay.
Quadriga started seeing losses because of which its crypto reserves were depleted. However, the monitor noted that money was also sent to wallets whose owners could not be confirmed. The report states that a crypto exchange (unidentified) received 21,501 Bitcoin worth over $201 million in Cotten’s account. All but 8 Bitcoins were liquidated by Cotten, netting around $60.4 million.
Cotten transferred 9,450 Bitcoin (worth $88 million), 387,738 Ethereum (worth $105 million) and 239,020 Litecoin (worth $33 million) between 2016 and 2018. Note that during this time, the price of these assets increased exponentially only to nosedive in 2018. Evan Thomas, a commercial litigator at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt, noted that Quadriga was more likely a “calculated and deliberate fraud.”
Tags: Chris MarkaycryptocurrencyErnst & YoungEvan ThomasQuadrigaCX
Viraj Shah
Viraj has been writing for FXTimes covering Cryptocurrencies and Forex news for 2 years now. Also known as 'Sherlock', Viraj comments on the latest businesses emerging in the blockchain industry. His areas of expertise are Bitcoin and Blockchain. He enjoys covering new startups and busting myths across the industry.
email:viraj@fxtimes.com
FXTimes (formerly CryptoVibes) is a daily Cryptocurrency and Forex industry news website that has covered the latest news in the industry since 2017. Our goal is to drive transparency in the finance industry and provide news for our users on blockchain, exchanges, business and industry regulation.
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Gaye Hirsch was named Executive Vice President, Development, The CW, in January 2018, and oversees all scripted and alternative series development for the network, as well as current alternative series and specials.
Hirsch was previously Senior Vice President of Scripted Development for The CW, and has been closely involved in the development of all The CW’s scripted series, including THE FLASH, ARROW, JANE THE VIRGIN, CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, and RIVERDALE. Hirsch transitioned into scripted development at The CW in 2009, after serving in the network’s current programming department as Senior Vice President, where she oversaw the day-to-day production on CW series, including GOSSIP GIRL. She first joined The CW in 2006 as Vice President, Current Programming.
Previously, Hirsch had served as a Senior Executive at Cruise/Wagner Productions since 2000. Prior to Cruise/Wagner, she was Vice President of Production for HBO Films, working on such Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning films as “Gia” and “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.” She began her career at Touchstone Pictures, where she eventually became Vice President, Production.
Hirsch earned her MBA in entertainment management from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned her bachelor of science degree from Cornell University.
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IT Vendors Features
VMware ponders Novell purchase, claims report
VMware is among a number of companies in talks to purchase Novell, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal.
Joab Jackson September 17, 2010
Novell is reportedly looking to split up the company and sell it in separate pieces. It is now in "advanced talks" with at least two buyers, including VMware, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
VMware appears to be solely interested in acquiring Novell's SUSE Linux operating system and associated business. Novell's NetWare enterprise file sharing software may be purchased by Attachmate, a software firm specializing in supporting legacy applications, the Journal said.
The paper reported that up to 20 companies were interested in Novell, which put itself on the market in March, but that there are only a handful are serious contenders. Rumors have been flying around this week about the potential sale after an article in the New York Post said advanced acquisition talks were taking place between Novell and two unnamed companies.
Acquiring SUSE Linux would make sense for VMware, which has been actively acquiring companies to build a stack of software for running cloud services. Novell has partnered with VMware, making SUSE Linux the preferred OS for VMware-packaged virtual appliances. Novell has been building cloud services off its Linux base. Also, Red Hat has taken on VMware for the nascent cloud computing market, leveraging its own Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution.
Neither VMware nor Novell immediately responded to requests for comment.
Cisco, VMware and NetApp team up for FCoE and virtualisation Windows no longer centre of innovation in the IT industry, says VMware
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Chuck E. Cheese’s Expands Sensory-Friendly Offerings
by Shaun Heasley | March 29, 2017
Chuck E. Cheese's will offer sensory-friendly events at locations across the country starting in April. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News/TNS)
Citing “overwhelming” interest, Chuck E. Cheese’s says that it will expand its efforts to be more accessible to kids with autism and other disabilities nationwide.
The children’s entertainment center will offer “Sensory Sensitive Sundays” at its 355 locations across the country beginning in April.
For the once-a-month events, Chuck E. Cheese’s welcomes kids with autism and other sensory issues two hours before opening to the general public. During these times, the lights are dimmed, music is turned down or muted and appearances by characters are more limited.
“Our tagline is where a kid can be a kid, and we want to ensure we extend this ideal to kids who otherwise may not be able to enjoy Chuck E. Cheese’s due to the sensory overload,” said Ami Anderson, senior director of advertising and media at CEC Entertainment, the restaurant chain’s parent company.
Chuck E. Cheese’s first conducted a pilot of Sensory Sensitive Sundays in Attleboro, Mass. before rolling out the program at 54 locations in the Northeast earlier this year.
Sensory Sensitive Sundays will be held on the first Sunday of each month beginning April 2.
View this article online at https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2017/03/29/chuck-e-cheeses-expands/23516/
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New Jersey to Require Certain Employers to Participate in a State “Auto-IRA” Retirement Savings Plan Program
Act Now Advisory April 24, 2019 Sharon L. Lippett, Rina Fujii
Download a PDF of this piece
On March 28, 2019, New Jersey became the sixth state to pass legislation requiring that certain employers offer to employees a state-sponsored individual retirement account (“IRA”) program with automatic enrollment and pre-tax payroll deduction contributions (the “NJ Auto-IRA Law”). “By creating the Secure Choice Savings Program, we are ensuring that every worker in New Jersey will have the opportunity to save for the future,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy stated when he signed the program into law.
New Jersey joins California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, and Oregon in offering auto-IRA programs. Other states, including Washington, are considering offering similar programs.
Who Is Subject to the NJ Auto-IRA Law?
Employers will be subject to the NJ Auto-IRA Law and required to automatically enroll their employees in the New Jersey Secure Choice Savings Program (the “Program”) if they:
Employed no fewer than 25 employees at all times in New Jersey in the prior year;
Have been in business for at least two years; and
Have not offered a qualified retirement plan (e.g., a 401(k) plan or 403(b) plan or a plan sponsored by an employee leasing company or professional employer organization that the employer has used in the preceding two years).
Employers subject to the NJ Auto-IRA Law include for-profit and non-profit employers, but do not include any governmental employers in New Jersey.
What Is the Deadline to Comply with the NJ Auto-IRA Law?
Implementation of the Program and the beginning of employee enrollment are to occur by March 28, 2021, which is 24 months after the effective date of the NJ Auto-IRA Law. However, the NJ Auto-IRA Law allows the New Jersey Secure Choice Savings Board (the “Board”), which will administer the Program, to extend the time period for implementation by up to 12 months.
What Will Employers Need to Do to Comply with the NJ Auto-IRA Law?
Distribute an Information Packet on the Program, Prepared by the Board
For the first six months following the opening of the Program, the Board will provide a process by which employers may register for the Program. Participating employers will be required to distribute an employee information packet prepared by the Board to (1) existing employees, upon the implementation of the Program, and (2) new employees, at the time of hire.
Set Up a Payroll Deposit Retirement Savings Arrangement for Automatic Enrollment
Employers subject to the NJ Auto-IRA Law must set up a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement no more than nine months after the Board opens the Program for enrollment, and automatically enroll any employees who have not opted out of the Program.
Deposit Employee Payroll Deductions into the Program Fund
Participating employers must deposit employee payroll deductions into the New Jersey Secure Choice Savings Program Fund (the “Program Fund”).
Offer an Annual Open Enrollment Period Following Initial Implementation of the Program
Following the initial implementation of the Program, participating employers must offer an open enrollment period, at least once every year, to allow employees who originally opted out of the Program to enroll.
Enroll a New Employee No Later Than Three Months Following the Date of Hire
No later than three months following the date of hire, employers must also enroll an employee hired more than six months after the Board opens the Program for enrollment, unless that employee opts out of the Program prior to automatic enrollment.
What Penalties Apply for Noncompliance with the NJ Auto-IRA Law?
The NJ Auto-IRA Law imposes various penalties—ranging from a warning to a $500 per employee fine—upon employers for failing to timely enroll employees in the Program. The potential penalties will increase over the course of the Program’s implementation and over multiple violations.
Employers that collect employee contributions but fail to deposit any portion of the contributions to the Program Fund will be subject to (1) a penalty of $2,500 for a first offense and (2) a penalty of $5,000 for the second and each subsequent offense.
What New Jersey Employers Should Do Now
Given that the implementation of the Program and the beginning of employee enrollment in the Program are to occur by March 28, 2021, New Jersey employers that will be subject to the NJ Auto-IRA Law do not need to take action for compliance at this time. However, these employers may want to do the following now:
Consider whether to establish a qualified retirement plan instead of having to comply with the NJ Auto-IRA Law (assuming it is not preempted by federal law[1]); and
Continue to monitor the New Jersey Department of Treasury’s website for further guidance on compliance with the NJ Auto-IRA Law.
For more information about this Advisory, please contact:
Sharon L. Lippett
Rina Fujii
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure: To ensure compliance with certain IRS requirements, we inform you that any tax advice contained in this publication is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code.
[1] There have been questions as to whether state auto-IRA programs are preempted by federal law. The CalSavers Retirement Savings Program, California’s Auto-IRA program under the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust Act (the “CalSavers Program”), has been in the news as of late because a federal court recently held that the CalSavers Program is not preempted by the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
The NJ Auto-IRA Law addresses ERISA preemption concerns. It expressly requires that the Board request in writing an opinion (presumably from the United States Department of Labor) as to the ERISA status of the Program. In addition, the NJ Auto-IRA Law expressly states that the Program is not an “employer-sponsored plan and it is not operated or administered by the employer” and that a “participating employer shall not be a fiduciary, or considered to be a fiduciary.”
ERISA and Benefit Plan Litigation
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Entertainment Theater
Raven-Symone Debuts in Sister Act Broadway Musical!
Melanie Yvette
Raven-Symone, who is best known for her TV roles as Olivia on The Cosby Show and the star of Disney’s, That’s So Raven, debuted in the Broadway musical, Sister Act last night in New York City.
Symone stars as Deloris Van Cartier, whom Whoppi Goldberg played in the original film back in 1992.
The singer-actress has been out of the lime light for a few years now, but is back with a hit starring role and a slimmed down figure. In an interview to Broadway.com, Symone shared advice that Goldberg gave her telling her to “listen to [director] Jerry Zaks and really concentrate” before the show premiered.
The Broadway musical is expected to be a big hit and will run for six months, with Symone headlining the show.
Visit Broadway.com for more ticket information.
In this article:Black Theater, broadway, Raven-Symone, sister act
Phylicia Rashad Set to Make Broadway Directing Debut
Play Inspired by Maya Angelou’s Life and Work Is Headed to Broadway
T-Boz & Chilli Are Bringing the Story of TLC to Broadway
Michelle Williams Quits Broadway Musical Under Doctor’s Orders
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Do Ecologists Study Communities
Last Updated on Mon, 06 Mar 2017 | Population Dynamics
Apart from ecologists who have not been consistent in using any definition of a community, there are many who have attempted to define community and, perhaps, have attempted to demonstrate that what they study actually fits the definition. Searching the ecological literature for studies of communities is, however, revealing about the nature of community ecology. It is surprising to discover that many studies are, in fact, only about components of a community. The most common type of study is actually about a group of species that are closely related taxono-mically, for examples, the warblers in a forest, or all the birds in a watershed, or all the beetles on a farm. Apart from being in different habitats, these three examples would usually involve increasing numbers of species. But, does this sort of study actually have anything to do with a community, where this has been defined in a useful or meaningful way.?
The assemblage of fish on a patch-reef, or birds in a patch of forest, could only represent a community if no other species were interacting with them. Each group is generally interactive with other animals and plants as sources of food (and for other things). Such groupings are sometimes and should more generally be described as 'taxocoenes', that is, species that are related taxonomi-cally and are found together in the same area.
Other ecologists study a 'guild', defined as an assemblage of species of similar or quite different taxonomic affinity that are found together and that use the same resources (for food, or shelter, etc.). For these, the term 'guild' is more informative than community (unless the definition of community is the same as guild, which makes the former redundant). An example would be to study, in some area, the set of birds, mammals, and ants that feed on seeds of the same species of plants.
So, most community ecologists do not actually study communities! There are, nevertheless, some cases where the unit of study is a community, where this means tightly coevolved species of different kinds of animals, living in close association, in the same arrangements at many times, in many places.
The classical examples are communities of hostparasite or host-pathogen relationships. The parasites are generally considered to persist because they adapt, immunologically, behaviorally, etc., to the host, despite the host's attempts to get rid of the parasites. Thus, nematodes and tapeworms are well adapted to their host's morphology, behavior, physiology, biochemistry, etc. If they were not so tightly integrated with the host, they might be likely to kill the host or to prevent it from reproducing. Both host and parasite would go extinct. Alternatively, the host would adapt to be able to rid itself of infestation and the parasite would not persist. Close coadaptation is therefore essential for the various species involved in a host-parasite community.
It is thus the case that some specialist communities do exist, can be objectively defined, and can be demonstrated to fit the definition. These are then the cases of communities which deserve the term as a description that identifies their usefulness as units of study. Caution is, however, still required. Not all cases of host-parasite (and similar) assemblages are so tightly structured. Many parasites have a complex life cycle, involving several quite different types of hosts (snails and sheep for some cestodes; invertebrates, birds, and fish for others). Under these circumstances, understanding the ecology of the assemblage of host and parasites requires understanding the direct and indirect trophic and competitive interactions between the hosts and other species that interact with them, but which are not involved with the parasites. This immediately creates all the problems of definition that were involved for any other apparent community.
See also: Ecosystems; Emergent Properties; Gaia Hypothesis; Succession.
Oplan Termites
You Might Start Missing Your Termites After Kickin'em Out. After All, They Have Been Your Roommates For Quite A While. Enraged With How The Termites Have Eaten Up Your Antique Furniture? Can't Wait To Have Them Exterminated Completely From The Face Of The Earth? Fret Not. We Will Tell You How To Get Rid Of Them From Your House At Least. If Not From The Face The Earth.
Plant Population
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You're currently on the Review of the socio-economic status (SES) score methodology page
Go to the Submissions to the review of the socio-economic status (SES) score methodology details page.
Go to the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education overview page
Review of the socio-economic status (SES) score methodology
On 29 June 2018, the National School Resourcing Board (the Board) presented to the Government its final report on the review of the SES score methodology.
The National School Resourcing Board’s Review of the socio-economic status score methodology: Final report June 2018 is the product of extensive consultation through a public submission process, targeted consultations across all states and territories, and in-depth research and analysis on a range of issues and options proposed by stakeholders.
On 20 September 2018, the Australian Government announced its response to the National School Resourcing Board’s (the Board’s) Review of the socio-economic status (SES) score methodology.
An issues Paper was released on 19 December 2017 which proposed principles and questions for public submissions to consider. The public submission process closed on 20 February 2018 at 5.00pm (AEST).
A total of 295 submissions were received and considered by the Board.
Note: Not all submissions have been published, including those from authors who specifically requested that their submission remain confidential.
A research sub-committee, Chaired by Professor Stephen Lamb, was established to undertake research projects on behalf of the Board.
The following research reports were commissioned by the Board:
Tanton, R. and Peel, D. Stability of Incomes for small geographies, University of Canberra, Canberra
Wade, A. The potential for including household wealth in a measure of capacity to contribute, Victoria University, Melbourne
Wade, A. The potential for including school income and wealth in a measure of capacity to contribute, Victoria University, Melbourne
Issues Paper
Research paper – Victoria University: SES score methodology used in recurrent school funding
Last modified on Monday 12 November 2018 [20171|146436]
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Thursday, 02.10.2014 | 09:00 - 12:00
Session 2 | From local to international health leadership, and prospects for the future
Strong leadership is crucial to achieving progress in the public health field and solving unprecedented and complex health challenges. This requires a style of leadership that is rarely of a command and control variety but more often what has been termed ‘adaptive’ leadership: leading in contexts where there is considerable uncertainty and ambiguity, and where there is often imperfect evidence and an absence of agreement about both the precise nature of the problem and the solutions to it.
This session will examine leadership from local, national and international perspectives, featuring leaders from Asia and Europe, and will compare the similarities and differences between leadership at these different geo-political levels. Towards the end of the session we will examine the important concept of health diplomacy and take a look at the prospects for health leadership in light of the outcome of the recent European elections. Throughout these sessions we are keen for the audience to share their experiences of the biggest leadership challenges they have encountered or witnessed in their work. We are also especially keen to hear the opinions of the next generation of public health leaders.
Local leadership in Taiwan
Jason Hu, Mayor of Taichung City, Taiwan, R.O.C
Local leadership in Europe
Shpend Ahmeti, Mayor of Pristina, Republic of Kosovo
Effective national leadership for improving health and reducing inequalities
Shu-Ti Chiou, Director General, Health Promotion Administration, Taiwan R.O.C.
The challenge of leading for health at an international level
Alojz Peterle, Member of the European Parliament (EPP, Slovenia)
Health diplomacy and prospects for better public health leadership in light of the European elections
Ilona Kickbusch, Director, Global Health Programme, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland
Plenary discussion
What are the audience´s experience of the biggest leadership challenges they have come across in their day to day work and the positive or negative ways these were dealt with?
Do young professionals feel they are equipped with the right skills and have received the necessary training to join the next generation of public health leaders?
Summing-up
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Probe Reopened in Emmett Till Slaying
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- The federal government has reopened its investigation into the slaying of Emmett Till, the black teenager whose brutal killing in Mississippi shocked the world and helped inspire the civil rights movement more than 60 years ago.
The Justice Department told Congress in a report in March it is reinvestigating Till's slaying in Money, Mississippi, in 1955 after receiving "new information." The case was closed in 2007 with authorities saying the suspects were dead; a state grand jury didn't file any new charges.
Deborah Watts, a cousin of Till, said she was unaware the case had been reopened until contacted by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The federal report, sent annually to lawmakers under a law that bears Till's name, does not indicate what the new information might be.
But it was issued in late March following the publication last year of "The Blood of Emmett Till," a book that says a key figure in the case acknowledged lying about events preceding the slaying of the 14-year-old youth from Chicago.
The book, by Timothy B. Tyson, quotes a white woman, Carolyn Donham, as acknowledging during a 2008 interview that she wasn't truthful when she testified that Till grabbed her, whistled and made sexual advances at a store in 1955.
Two white men -- Donham's then-husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam -- were charged with murder but acquitted in the slaying of Till, who had been staying with relatives in northern Mississippi at the time. The men later confessed to the crime in a magazine interview, but weren't retried. Both are now dead.
Donham, who turns 84 this month, lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. A man who came to the door at her residence declined to comment about the FBI reopening the investigation.
"We don't want to talk to you," the man said before going back inside.
Paula Johnson, co-director of an academic group that reviews unsolved civil rights slayings, said she can't think of anything other than Tyson's book that could have prompted the Justice Department to reopen the Till investigation.
"We're happy to have that be the case so that ultimately or finally someone can be held responsible for his murder," said Johnson, who leads the Cold Case Justice Initiative at Syracuse University.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the status of the probe.
Watts, Till's cousin and co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, said it's "wonderful" that the killing is getting another look, but didn't want to discuss details.
"None of us wants to do anything that jeopardizes any investigation or impedes, but we are also very interested in justice being done," she said.
Abducted from the home where he was staying, Till was beaten and shot, and his mutilated body was found weighted down with a cotton gin fan in the Tallahatchie River. Images of his mutilated body in the casket gave witness to the depth of racial hatred in the Deep South and helped build momentum for subsequent civil rights campaigns.
Relatives of Till pushed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reopen the case last year following publication of the book.
Donham, then known as Carolyn Bryant and 21 years old at the time, testified in 1955 as a prospective defense witness in the trial of Bryant and Milam. With jurors out of the courtroom, she said a "nigger man" she didn't know took her by the arm.
"Just what did he say when he grabbed your hand?" defense attorney Sidney Carlton asked, according to a trial transcript released by the FBI a decade ago.
"He said, 'How about a date, baby?'" she testified. Bryant said she pulled away, and moments later the young man "caught me at the cash register," grasping her around the waist with both hands and pulling her toward him.
"He said, 'What's the matter baby, can't you take it?'" she testified. Bryant also said he told her "you don't need to be afraid of me," claiming that he used an obscenity and mentioned something he had done "with white women before."
A judge ruled the testimony inadmissible. An all-white jury freed her husband and the other man even without it. Testimony indicated a woman might have been in a car with Bryant and Milam when they abducted Till, but no one else was ever charged.
In the book, author Tyson wrote that Donham told him her testimony about Till accosting her wasn't true.
"Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him," the book quotes her as saying.
Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, introduced legislation this week that would make the government release information about unsolved civil rights killings. In an interview, Jones said the Till killing or any other case likely wouldn't be covered by this legislation if authorities were actively investigating.
"You'd have to leave it to the judgment of some of law enforcement agencies that are involved or the commission that would be created" to consider materials for release, Jones said.
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DF OFFERS ORIGINAL SPIDEY ART SIGNED BY STAN LEE
February 14, Runnemede, NJ -- Thanks to our good friend Stan Lee, DF is bringing you a one-of-a-kind offer featuring Spidey and Stan "The Man" Lee!
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Featured are original art from the strips - each one-of-a-kind from Stan's personal collection - and each autographed by Lee himself and priced to move.
In 2004 Stan Lee's personal comic collection of File Copies and other assorted pieces of Stan's History were auctioned by Heritage with proceeds coming back in excess of $1,000,000!
Items from that auction -- Stan Lee's personal file copies of key Marvel comics such as Fantastic Four #1 Amazing Spider-Man #1, Daredevil #1, X-Men #1 and others brought anywhere from 2 to 45 times our [Heritage] estimates according to the post-auction PR sent out by Heritage!
And in DF's opinion, these are the rarest of the rare. Though the daily's are enjoyed by millions of fans world wide, only one person will be able to enjoy each single piece. Just like a snowflake, no two are alike!
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SPIDER-MAN NEWSPAPER STRIP ORIGINAL ART (PRE-1985) - SIGNED BY STAN LEE!
http://www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/p-C103232.html
With the release of these pieces of original Spider-Man Strip Art you can hang a piece of the legend in your own home or office. Each piece created prior to 1985 will be offered for just $299.95. Due to the limited number of available strips - and the fact that each one is the only one of it's kind and original art orders will be filled randomly from this period.
SPIDER-MAN NEWSPAPER STRIP ORIGINAL ART (POST-1985) - SIGNED BY STAN LEE!
With the release of these pieces of original Spider-Man Strip Art you can hang a piece of the legend in your own home or office. Each piece from 1985 until the end of the run will be offered for just $149.99. Due to the limited number of available strips - and the fact that each one is the only one of it's kind and original art orders will be filled randomly from this period.
This initial offer is good for a limited time and as supplies shrink and demand increases so will the prices. You're part of the first group to be told of this incredible offer so take advantage today!
For more information on Dynamic Forces specialty merchandise, product art, exclusive creator interviews and upcoming releases, please visit the Dynamic Forces website at www.dynamicforces.com
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Home People Literature and the Arts Film and Television: Biographies Jim Henson
Select Source:
Encyclopedia of World Biography
COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc.
Influential children's entertainer Jim Henson (1936-1990) is best known for inventing the Muppets, asofter versions of puppets. His characters were a key component of Sesame Street, the children's educational television program seen worldwide. Henson'screations also appeared in their own program, The Muppet Show, as well as a number of other television programs and films.
Henson was born on September 24, 1936 in Greenville, Mississippi, and grew up in the nearby town of Leland. His father worked for the federal government as an agronomist. When Henson was about ten years old, his family moved to suburban Maryland when his father's job took him to Washington, D.C. While in high school, Henson became intrigued by television and its possibilities. He was a fan of early puppet television shows Kukla, Fran and Ollieand Life with Snarky Parker, and their creators Burr Tillstrom and Bil and Cora Baird, respectively. Henson became involved in a local puppetry club. During the summer of 1954, a local television station, WTOP in Washington, D.C., needed a puppeteer for one of their children's programs. Henson and a friend put together several puppets and worked there for a short time.
Created the First Muppets
In 1955, Henson entered the University of Maryland where he studied theater arts. He also landed a job as a puppeteer for another television station, WRC-TV, an NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. Within a few months, Henson had his own show called Sam and Friends. The five-minute long program aired twice daily before two of the network's most popular shows for six years. While working on the show Henson met his future wife, another University of Maryland student named Jane Nebel. They eventually had five children together, who often accompanied their parents to work. Sam and Friends also marked the beginning of the Muppets, Henson's own invention.
Unlike puppets, who have solid, unchanging heads, Muppets were softer, with mouths that moved and expressive eyes. The Muppets were more animated than puppets. As was written in Broadcasting magazine: "Jim Henson was the first and the best to create a new form of puppetry tailored to the technical constraints and newfound freedoms of television." One of Henson's most famous Muppets, Kermit the Frog, was introduced on Sam and Friends in 1955. The original Kermit was made from Henson's mother's old spring coat and a ping pong ball cut in half. Kermit did not begin as a frog but evolved into one. Similarly, Kermit's character gradually became more complex. As Stephen Harrigan wrote in Life magazine: "he [Henson] did not just perform Kermit, he was Kermit." Harrison Rainie in U.S. News & World Report quoted Henson as calling Kermit "literally my right hand."
In addition to Kermit, Henson created over 2000 Muppets in his lifetime. James Collins of Time wrote, "The beauty of the Muppets … was that they were cuddly but not too cuddly, and not only cuddly. There is satire as sly wit.… By adding just enough tartness to a sweet overall spirit, Henson purveyed a kind of innocence that was plausible for the modern imagination. His knowningness allowed us to accept his real gifts: wonder, delight, optimism."
Henson took six years to graduate from the University of Maryland because of the demands of his television show. However, the success of Sam and Friends gave Henson the money to pay his way through college. On graduation day in 1960, Henson bought a Rolls Royce automobile to take himself to graduation. He then turned his attention to the Muppets full time. They were featured in commercials for Wilkins coffee, their first nation-wide exposure in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Throughout the 1960s, Henson and his Muppets appeared on television variety shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Steve Allen Show, and The Jimmy Dean Show as well as NBC's The Today Show.
Moved to Sesame Street
In 1969, Henson was approached by the Children's Television Workshop for a new show they were creating called Sesame Street. Henson hesitated at first, because he did not want to be just a children's entertainer. But he eventually signed on and developed some of his most memorable Muppets: Grover, Big Bird, the Count, and Bert and Ernie, among others. Older Muppets like Kermit the Frog also made appearances. Henson's Muppets contributed to the popularity of the show. Sesame Street appeared in 100 countries in 14 different languages. Its international success made Henson famous throughout the world. As Eleanor Blau wrote in the New York Times, "the Muppets helped youngsters learn about everything from numbers and the alphabet to birth and death. They were role models and they imparted values."
By the mid-1970s, Henson wanted his own television show, but had problems getting one on American network television. Henson created two pilots for ABC under the title of The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence in the mid-1970s, but all major networks eventually passed on the project. Brian Henson told David Owen of The New Yorker, "The show was so wacky, so out of left field, that the networks didn't want anything to do with it." Still Henson managed to expand his Muppet empire in other ways. Muppets appeared in the first seven episodes of NBC's Saturday Night Live during its first season in 1975.
Henson's pilot was viewed by a British producer named Lew Grade. He agreed to fund the first season of what became known as The Muppet Show. The first episodes aired in 1976, appearing in syndication in the United States. The Muppet Show used both Muppets and Hollywood stars in a parody of the backstage antics. The Muppet Show also introduced another popular Muppet, the femme fatale pig named Miss Piggy, who was perpetually in love with Kermit. At its peak, the show had 235 million viewers each week in over 100 countries, making it one of the most widely watched programs in history. After five years, Henson voluntarily ended the show in 1981, when he feared the quality might begin to diminish. As Henson Associates Vice President Michael Firth told Kristin McMurran of People Weekly, "every time he reaches a plateau, he rumbles around and comes up with something new."
Henson's horizons expanded in a number of ways after The Muppet Show. He created new television programs. In 1983, Fraggle Rock was introduced, featuring completely new Muppet characters. Airing on HBO in the United States, the program featured three species living below ground, the Fraggles, the Gords, and the Dozers. The show primarily followed five Fraggles, including Gobo and Mokey, and promoted harmony in living. Fraggle Rock aired for four season in the United States, Canada and several other countries. It was eventually syndicated in 96 countries. Of his experience on the show, producer Duncan Kenworthy told Kristin McMurran of People Weekly, "When Jim directs, there is an excitement and a delight. He draws the best from everyone. He keeps track of the small things that are so key to all puppet work on television." Henson also produced a successful cartoon based on The Muppet Show called The Muppet Babies, beginning in 1984, as well as numerous television specials.
Henson also produced television shows that were relatively unsuccessful, including Jim Henson's The Storyteller, a rather dark show which featured adapted folktales and stories from mythology. It was canceled after only a few episodes. In 1989, Henson produced a variety show called The Jim Henson Hour. It was canceled after ten episodes, though it eventually won an Emmy award. He also created a show for HBO called The Ghost of Faffner Hall, which featured music, Muppets, and special celebrity guests.
Henson had done some corporate work beginning in the late 1960s, when he produced short films and videos for IBM that touched on business topics. Beginning in 1985, Henson expanded his corporate work and produced more than two dozen short films and videos designed for business meetings, continually adding new titles. He also designed characters and creatures for other films via the Jim Henson Creature Shop, based in London, England. For example, he designed the face masks for the movie version of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Henson also dabbled in his own feature films. Characters from The Muppet Show were featured in a trio of films beginning in 1979 with The Muppet Movie. It was followed by 1981's The Great Muppet Caper, which was also Henson's directorial debut, and 1984's The Muppets Take Manhattan. All three movies did extremely well at the box office. His subsequent efforts, however, did not fare as well. The Dark Crystal, with all new Muppets, made a poor box office showing in 1982. The dark fantasy, Labyrinth, was also a box office failure. These failings affected Henson deeply, though he was wealthy and had had good business sense throughout his career. Though a quiet, kind man, Henson was also a strong leader who valued employees and let them have fun with their jobs. Harrigan of Life magazine described him as "a quiet, authoritative, beloved man without a trace of aggression but with a whim of steel."
In 1989, Henson began negotiating a merger with Disney Corporation to reduce the pressure of running his own business. Had the sale been completed, Henson's already large fortune would have increased by an estimated $100 to $180 million. Puppeteer Kevin Clash told Harrigan of Life, "He wanted those characters [the Muppets] to be around when he wasn't and the main company that could do that was Disney." Henson had doubts about the merger because Disney's corporate policies were quite the opposite of his. As Owen of The New Yorker explained, "To Henson and his associates, the Muppets were not products; they were friends."
While the negotiations were still in progress, Henson became seriously ill. A kind and patient man, Henson did not alert a doctor or visit a hospital because he did not believe he was sick; nor did he want to bother anyone. He had been raised as a Christian Scientist, a religion that does not subscribe to conventional health care practices. By the time he sought medical attention, it was too late to treat him. Henson died an untimely death from an aggressive form of pneumonia called Group A streptococcus in New York City on May 16, 1990.
Henson left his company to his children, as he and his wife had separated in 1986. His son Brian continued the family tradition by becoming a puppeteer and president of Jim Henson Productions. The deal with Disney was never completed, but the companies did do some business together, most notably by including the Muppets in Walt Disney World and producing one of Henson's last ideas, the television show, Dinosaurs. At the time of Henson's death, James Collins in Time magazine wrote, "Through his work, he helped sustain the qualities of fancifulness, warmth and consideration that have been so threatened by our coarse, cynical age."
Brownstone and Irene Franck, People in the News, Macmillan, 1991.
Curran, Daniel, Guide to American Cinema, 1965-95, Greenwood, 1998.
Monaco, James, The Encyclopedia of Film, Perigee, 1991.
Broadcasting, May 21, 1990.
Forbes, June 11, 1990; November 21, 1994.
Fortune, February 4, 1985.
Life, July 1990.
Maclean's, May 28, 1990.
Newsweek, May 28, 1990.
The New York Times, May 17, 1990.
The New Yorker, August 16, 1993.
People Weekly, July 17, 1983; Spring 1990; May 28, 1990; June 18, 1990; April 8, 1991.
Time, May 28, 1990; June 8, 1998.
U.S. News & World Report, May 28, 1990; July 2, 1990. □
"Jim Henson." Encyclopedia of World Biography. . Encyclopedia.com. 15 Jul. 2019 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Jim Henson." Encyclopedia of World Biography. . Encyclopedia.com. (July 15, 2019). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/jim-henson
"Jim Henson." Encyclopedia of World Biography. . Retrieved July 15, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/jim-henson
Henson, Jim
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
Animator, Puppeteer, Director, and Producer. Nationality: American. Born: James Maury Henson in Greenville, Mississippi, 24 September 1936. Education: Studied theater arts, University of Maryland. Family: Married partner in puppetry Jane Nebel, 1959, children: Lisa, Cheryl, Brian, John, and Heather. Career: 1954—while still attending high school in Washington, D.C. worked as puppeteer on local TV show; while in college, produced regular five-minute TV puppet show, Sam and Friends, whose characters evolved into the Muppets; 1960s—Muppets featured on Steve Allen Show, Ed Sullivan Show and other prime-time programs, becoming a cult; 1965—short film Timepiece nominated for Academy Award; 1969—Sesame Street launched on PBS network, subsequently shown in 80 countries, winning numerous Emmys and a Peabody Award; 1976—The Muppet Show launched with backing from UK TV mogul Lord Grade, winning three Emmys and seen in 100 countries by an estimated 235 million viewers; 1979—set up Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London; made first feature film, The Muppet Movie; 1981—film-directing debut with The Great Muppet Caper; 1982—first all-animatronic feature, The Dark Crystal. Awards: Local Emmy, 1958. Died: Of streptococcal pneumonia, in New York City, 16 May 1990.
Films as Animator/Puppeteer:
Timepiece (short) (+ d)
Hey Cinderella (+ d)
Number Twelve Rocks (short) (+ d)
Frog Prince (+ d)
The Muppet Movie (Frawley) (+ pr, ro)
The Great Muppet Caper (+ d, pr, ro)
The Dark Crystal (+ co-d with Oz, co-pr, co-sc)
The Muppets Take Manhattan (Oz) (+ pr, ro)
Labyrinth (+ d, co-sc)
Other Films:
Into the Night (Landis) (ro as man on phone); Dreamchild(Millar) (creature des)
The Bear (Annaud) (creature des)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Barron) (creature des); TheWitches (Roeg) (creature des, co-pr)
By HENSON: article—
Interview in American Film (Washington, D.C.), November 1989.
On HENSON: books—
Finch, Christopher, Of Muppets and Men, New York, 1981.
Froud, Brian, The World of the Dark Crystal, New York, 1982.
Finch, Christopher, The Making of the Dark Crystal, New York, 1983.
Finch, Christopher, Jim Henson the Works: The Art, the Magic, the Imagination, New York, 1993.
St. Pierre, Stephanie, The Story of Jim Henson: Creator of "The Muppets," Milwaukee, 1997.
Bacon, Matt, No Strings Attached: The Inside Story of Jim Henson's Creature Factory, New York, 1997.
Canizares, Susan, Meet Jim Henson, New York, 1999.
Minghella, Anthony, Jim Henson's Storyteller, New York, 1999.
On HENSON: articles—
Skow, John, "Those Marvellous Muppets," in Time (New York), 25 December 1978.
American Cinematographer (Hollywood), July 1979.
Magid, Ron, "Goblin World Created for Labyrinth," in American Cinematographer (Hollywood), August 1986.
Wells, Theresa, "Henson: From Muppets to 'Storyteller,"' in Hollywood Reporter, 30 January 1987.
Prady, Bill, "Jim Henson," in Rolling Stone (New York), 28 June 1990.
Owen, David, "Looking out for Kermit," in New Yorker, 16 August 1993.
Johnson, Richard, "Muppet Master," in Radio Times (London), 8 July 1995.
"Jim Henson 40th Anniversary," special issue of Variety (New York), 11 December 1995.
Ecran Fantastique (Paris), June 1996.
Collins, James, "Jim Henson," in Time, 8 June 1998.
"Jim Henson: A Gentle Genius Changed Forever the Way America Looks at Talking Frogs—and Children's Television," in People Weekly, 15 March 1999.
As a child, Jim Henson devised his first puppets by cutting bits of cloth from a discarded coat of his mother's. When he made his television debut, on a local station in Washington, D.C., his puppet was an old green sock with his hand inside it. Though he was to pioneer a revolution in puppeteering through such intricate and subtle techniques as animatronics and computer-generated imaging (CGI), something of the same basic simplicity always remained at the heart of Henson's creations. Kermit the frog, his most famous character, was visibly close kin to that old green sock. Henson could stick two eyes on a lump of wood and the thing would take on a life and personality of its own.
It was this mix of simplicity and sophistication that fueled the success of the Muppets, Henson's best-known creations. Both the educationally oriented Sesame Street and its successor, The Muppet Show appealed to children and adults alike because, although the shows' outlook on the world (which was also Henson's outlook) was essentially benevolent, it was never sugary or sentimental. As well as the engagingly laid-back humor, there was an underlying anarchy to the Muppets; characters could be spiky, grotesque, malicious, even tragic. Fozzie Bear was an unstable depressive; Miss Piggy was a monster of vanity, all the funnier for recalling so many human showbiz counterparts; Rowlf the jazz-pianist dog was clearly high on something more potent than lemonade; and melancholy lurked behind Kermit's perky resilience. When he sang, "It's Not Easy Being Green" (voiced, as Kermit always was, by Henson himself), it was with a heartbreaking and universal sadness.
Like most acts originally conceived for television, the Muppets never worked quite so well on the big screen. Henson himself masterminded the first three Muppet films (there have been two more since his death), but despite his direct input the need to sustain a feature-length plot and the loss of the enclosed, backstage music-hall world of the television show left the characters feeling overextended and adrift, and the films rarely attained the same level of exuberant irreverence. Their chief value lay in the opportunities they afforded Henson to exercise his creative ingenuity and stretch his technique—such as the famous scene in The Great Muppet Caper where Kermit and Miss Piggy ride (real) bicycles around each other in Hyde Park.
Even more ambitious in terms of sheer technique were Henson's two excursions into the realm of semi-adult fantasy, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. In these films he seized every chance to extend the boundaries of animatronics, his technique of remote-controlling puppet figures via multiple electronic impulses—thus allowing a far wider range of emotions to be expressed than could ever be achieved through traditional puppeteering. But in both films the technique, dazzling as it was, and Henson's evident delight in the minutiae of his blinking, twitching creatures, tended to swamp the already fairly thin story lines.
Had Henson not died suddenly at age 53, he would almost certainly have found ways of reconciling sophistication with simplicity, of rendering his increasingly complex techniques unobtrusive and placing them at the service of a strong, clear story line. Five years after his death the company he founded, Jim Henson Productions, succeeded in producing just such a film, Babe—and reaped the reward both critically and at the box office. As Babe shows, Henson's legacy is twofold: through Henson Productions, now headed by his son Brian and resurgent from the trauma of its founder's death; and in wider terms through his achievement in advancing puppet-animation technique into areas of complexity undreamt of when he started out armed only with humor, ingenuity, and a green sock.
—Philip Kemp
"Henson, Jim." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. . Encyclopedia.com. 15 Jul. 2019 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Henson, Jim." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. . Encyclopedia.com. (July 15, 2019). https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/henson-jim
"Henson, Jim." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. . Retrieved July 15, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/henson-jim
Jim Henson (James Maury Henson), 1936–90, American puppeteer, creator of the Muppets, b. Greenville, Miss., grad. Univ. of Maryland (A.B., 1960). In 1954 he got his first job as a local television puppeteer, soon created (1955) his alter ego, the debonair Kermit the Frog, and subsequently introduced several early Muppets (a cross between hand puppets and marionettes, with mobile, expressive faces and gesturing hands). With these creations, Henson reinvented the art of puppetry. Henson, associate Frank Oz, and the numerous Muppets went on to star (beginning in 1969) in public television's Sesame Street, which became an international hit. The Muppet Show, an Emmy-winning television variety series (1976–80), was also a success, and Henson developed many other television projects. In addition to Kermit, Henson's dramatis personae include the flamboyant Miss Piggy, the insatiable Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, the nonpuppet Big Bird, and a host of others. Henson's Muppets began their film career in The Muppet Movie (1979), later appearing in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) and a number of other films. Henson died of pneumonia in 1990. In 2000 his company was sold to a German firm, but in 2003 his family reacquired the company, which continues to produce a variety of mainly Muppet-related projects.
See biography by B. J. Jones (2013).
"Henson, Jim." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. . Encyclopedia.com. 15 Jul. 2019 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Henson, Jim." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. . Encyclopedia.com. (July 15, 2019). https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/henson-jim
"Henson, Jim." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. . Retrieved July 15, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/henson-jim
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Partnership with Sydney Opera House
Etihad Airways and the Sydney Opera House today announced the extension of their Major Partnership for a further five years.
The extension will take Etihad Airways well into the Opera House’s Decade of Renewal – launched in its 40th Anniversary year in 2013 to ensure the World Heritage-listed ‘masterpiece of human creativity’ continues to inspire new generations of audiences and visitors.
Today’s announcement comes at an exciting time for Etihad Airways and Australia’s number-one tourist destination.
In addition to being named Air Transport World’s Airline of the Year 2016, Etihad Airways was last year voted World’s Leading Airline* for the seventh consecutive year. The Abu Dhabi-based airline is also rapidly increasing its global footprint through groundbreaking innovations in product and service, major investments in destination marketing, and brand campaigns.
Meanwhile, Opera House Renewal is well underway, from a suite of building projects that will touch all four corners of JørnUtzon’s masterpiece to a renewed focus on integrating the experience audiences and visitors enjoy at the Opera House – transformative arts and culture, the greatest contemporary and classical music, inspirational speakers, creative shows for children and families, insightful tours and incredible Australian cuisine.
Under the terms of the new deal, Etihad Airways will continue as the Sydney Opera House’s Major Partner and Opening Nights Presenting Partner. The airline will support Opera House programming by flying guest artists and performing arts companies to Sydney from across its extensive network of 116 international destinations. It will also leverage its investment in Australian tourism – through its partnership with Tourism Australia – to bring more visitors to Sydney and to the Sydney Opera House.
NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant said: “The Sydney Opera House is a world-renowned performance venue and continuing a partnership with the award-winning global airline Etihad Airways makes perfect sense.
“I would like to congratulate both the Sydney Opera House and Etihad Airways on this agreement that will deliver countless benefits to both organisations.
“The Sydney Opera House has attracted commercial sponsorship in a way that has brought serious innovation and investment in Australia’s most recognised building while maintaining its heritage and integrity.”
Sydney Opera House CEO Louise Herron AM said: “We began our partnership in the Opera House’s 40th Anniversary year, which was an important milestone for us. Three years on we are now seeing huge momentum across Renewal, so this is the perfect time for us to explore how we can continue to work together, building on our shared commitment to Australia and its central role in global culture and the arts.
“We want everyone’s experience of the Opera House to be as inspiring as the building itself. Working closely with Etihad Airways we want to explore how they can best support a more integrated artistic and visitor experience as we prepare the Opera House for future generations.”
Etihad Airways General Manager Australia and New Zealand Sarah Built said extending the partnership with Sydney Opera House for another five years underscored the airline’s commitment to Australian tourism and to the arts and culture worldwide.
“The partnership with the Sydney Opera House, one of the world’s architectural wonders, is especially significant for Etihad Airways.
“Together with the five-year, $30 million deal we signed with Tourism Australia last year, it multiplies our efforts to promote travel to Australia and to elevate Sydney’s profile as one of the world’s great tourist and cultural destinations in key markets.
“It also increases our investment in Australia’s cultural sector enabling us to support the programming of arts and entertainment experiences that enrich the lives of local citizens as well as visitors to the city.
“The partnership is a natural fit because both organisations share many of the same values, including a shared passion for excellence and inspirational guest experiences.”
* Voted World’s Leading Airline at World Travel Awards, the Oscars of the travel industry for seven consecutive years from 2009-2015.
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Tomorrow, May 3, Eugene Police will send representatives to the Oregon Law Enforcement Officer Memorial at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem (4190 Aumsville Hwy. SE, Salem, Oregon), at 1:00 p.m. Since Eugene hired the City’s first law enforcement officer in 1862, three officers have been killed in the line of duty.
Officer Chris Kilcullen, 43, was shot and killed during a traffic stop on I-105 and 52nd Street in Springfield, Oregon on Friday, April 22, 2011. He left behind a wife and two children. The suspect was apprehended.
Officer Jesse Jennings Jackson, 35, was killed in a car crash during pursuit of a reckless driver on Saturday, June 2, 1934. The fleeing vehicle forced its way in front of the patrol car, resulting in the patrol car landing upside down in a mill race pond He left behind a wife and daughter. The suspects were apprehended.
Officer Oscar Duley, 35, was shot by a bootlegger hiding in ambush while assisting Lane County Sheriff’s Office during a liquor raid in Marcola on August 28, 1930. He left behind a wife. There was a second shootout that resulted in the death of Deputy Game Warden Joe Saunders of Hillsboro and the wounding of Deputy Game Warden Rodney Roach and Deputy Sheriff Lee Bown. The suspect was subsequently located and killed during another shootout near Westfir.
NATIONAL POLICE WEEK
National Police Week is May 15 through May 21, a time when our country memorializes law enforcement personnel who died in the line of duty. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week.
Currently, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from around the world converge on Washington, DC to participate in a number of planned events which honor those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice. There is a contingent from Eugene and Lane County honoring Officer Chris Kilcullen by participating in the Police Unity Tour and events of Police Week. The Police Unity Tour is a bicycle ride beginning in Somerset, New Jersey, and ending at the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial in Washington DC to raise awareness about those officers who have died in the line of duty and money for the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial.
Eugene Police Department Officers Chris Kilcullen, Oscar Duley and Jesse Jennings Jackson.
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Fossils tell a different ancestral story of North American mammoths
A detailed analysis of mammoth teeth from around the globe suggests that the first mammoth species to arrive in North America was much more evolved than previously thought. While the evolutionary origins of Eurasia's mammoths are established, much less is known of Columbian mammoths, the species that later resided in North America. It's currently believed the earliest mammoths arrived in North America between 1.5 to 1.3 million years ago (MYA), and that these early settlers were of "primitive" morphology, with a closer relationship to the mammoths found in Europe, M. meridionali, than to their more advanced counterparts from eastern Asia, M. trogontherii. This would suggest that primitive mammoths migrated across the Bering Strait into North America, as well as into Europe, before further evolving into different species within their respective continents. Studies of mammoth evolution often rely on the nature of molar teeth to determine divergence between species. However, Adrian Lister and Andrei Sher note that previous studies do not account for the wear and tear that occurs over the mammoth's lifetime, and weakening of the teeth as the molars shift from the back of the mouth to the front. After adjusting for these factors, the authors believe that the more evolved M. trogontherii first crossed the Bering Strait 2 to 1.5 MYA and later evolved into the species of Columbian mammoths. The Eurasian woolly mammoth followed suit later, residing in an area north of the Columbian mammoths for some time before the two animals' ranges overlapped, perhaps leading to interbreeding, the authors suggest. This research appears in the 13 November 2015 issue of Science.
Natasha Pinol
npinol@aaas.org
@AAAS
http://www.aaas.org
ECOLOGY/ENVIRONMENT
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aac5660
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Inside view of the build-up to FC Barcelona v Celtic FC
A cracking video that captures the full build-up to the opening encounter of the Champions League 2016/17 campaign
09:25AM Wednesday 14 Sep
FC Barcelona could not have got their bid to go to Cardiff for the 2016/17 Champions League Final off to a more glorious start. A 7-0 crushing of Celtic on the opening day! It was a grand old day all round, and our cameras captured all of the action going on behind the scenes in the build-up, including the press conferences and both teams training before the match.
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Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Amendment No. 1 and Order Instituting Proceedings To Determine Whether To Approve or Disapprove of a Proposed Rule Change, as Modified by Amendment No. 1, To Introduce Order Book Priority for Equity Orders Submitted on Behalf of Retail Investors
Release No. 34-86280
File No. SR-CboeEDGX-2019-012
I. Exchange's Description of the Proposal, as Modified by Amendment No. 1
II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
1. Purpose
Retail Priority Orders
Retail Priority Proposal
Example 1: Displayed Retail Priority Order Has Priority at a Given Price
Example 2: Better Priced Non-Retail Priority Order Has Priority
Example 3: No Retail Priority for Non-Displayed Orders
Example 4: No Retail Priority in Discretionary Range
Example 5: Retail Priority Reserve Order has Displayed and Non-Displayed Priority
Example 6: Display-Price Sliding Retail Priority Orders are Eligible for Priority at Midpoint
Example 7: Reserve and Other Orders on EDGX Book
Example 8: Display-Price Sliding and Midpoint Peg Orders on EDGX Book
Retail Attribution
2. Statutory Basis
B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition
C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed Rule Change Received From Members, Participants, or Others
III. Proceedings To Determine Whether To Approve or Disapprove SR-CboeEDGX-2019-012 and Grounds for Disapproval Under Consideration
IV. Procedure: Request for Written Comments
Electronic Comments
Paper Comments
Start Preamble July 2, 2019.
On March 18, 2019, Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc. (“Exchange” or “EDGX”) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”), pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Act”) [1] and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,[2] a proposed rule change to introduce order book priority for equity orders submitted on behalf of retail investors. The proposed rule change was published for comment in the Federal Register on April 5, 2019.[3] The Commission received four comment letters on the proposed rule change.[4] On May 16, 2019, the Commission extended the time period within which to approve, disapprove the proposed rule change, or institute proceedings to determine whether to approve or disapprove the proposed rule change to July 4, 2019.[5] On June 18, 2019, the Exchange filed Amendment No. 1 to the proposed rule change.[6]
The Commission is publishing this notice and to solicit comments on the proposed rule change, as modified by Amendment No. 1, from interested persons and to institute proceedings pursuant to Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the Act [7] to determine whether to approve or disapprove the proposed rule change, as modified by Amendment No. 1.
The Exchange proposes to introduce order book priority for equity orders submitted on behalf of retail investors.
The text of the proposed rule change is also available on the Exchange's website (http://markets.cboe.com/us/options/regulation/rule_filings/edgx/), at the Exchange's Office of the Secretary, and at the Commission's Public Reference Room.
In its filing with the Commission, the Exchange included statements concerning the purpose of and basis for the proposed rule change and discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The text of these statements may be examined at the places specified in Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared summaries, set forth in sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant aspects of such statements.Start Printed Page 32809
The purpose of the proposed rule change is to introduce order book priority for equity orders submitted on behalf of retail investors. Forty three million U.S. households hold a retirement or brokerage account,[8] and these investors are increasingly turning to the equities markets to fund important life goals. It is therefore critical that our markets are sensitive to the needs of the investing public. The Exchange continuously strives to innovate and improve market structure in ways that facilitate ordinary investors achieving their investment goals. The proposed introduction of retail priority is designed with this objective in mind. The Exchange believes that introducing retail priority may provide retail investors with better execution quality and better position the Exchange as the “home” for retail limit orders. This, in turn, will further allow retail liquidity to contribute to overall price formation and attract more market participants to the Exchange, creating a richer and more diverse ecosystem with deeper liquidity. Retail priority would therefore be consistent with the goals of the Commission to encourage markets that are structured to benefit ordinary investors,[9] while facilitating order interaction and price discovery to the benefit of all market participants.
As defined in EDGX Rule 11.21, a “Retail Order” is an agency or riskless principal order that meets the criteria of FINRA Rule 5320.03 [10] that originates from a natural person and is submitted to the Exchange by a Retail Member Organization, provided that no change is made to the terms of the order with respect to price or side of market and the order does not originate from a trading algorithm or any other computerized methodology.[11] A “Retail Member Organization” or “RMO” is a Member (or a division thereof) that has been approved by the Exchange under EDGX Rule 11.21 to submit Retail Orders. Pursuant to EDGX Rule 11.21(b), which describes the qualification and application process for becoming a Retail Member Organization, any member may qualify as a Retail Member Organization if it conducts a retail business or routes retail orders on behalf of another broker-dealer.
Today, the Exchange operates based on a price/display/time priority execution algorithm that is similar to those employed by most other U.S. equities exchanges.[12] As such, the first Displayed [13] order resting on the EDGX Book [14] at a particular price has priority over the next order and so on based on the time of order entry. Non-Displayed [15] orders at that price are further categorized into a number of priority bands, with orders within each priority band prioritized again based on the time of order entry, as provided in EDGX Rule 11.9. The generally applicable allocation bands for orders executed on the Exchange are described in EDGX Rule 11.9(a)(2)(A), and similar allocation bands applicable to orders executed at the midpoint of the NBBO are described in EDGX Rule 11.9(a)(2)(B).[16] The price time allocation model has provided significant benefits to the equities markets as it encourages increased efficiency by rewarding market participants that are the first to provide liquidity at a particular price. At the same time, because this allocation methodology preferences speed, retail investors may have a more limited ability to secure an execution for their non-marketable orders under this model. The Exchange believes that retail priority would improve trading outcomes for retail investors and could perhaps encourage even more retail order flow to be entered into the displayed market.
The Exchange would offer priority benefits exclusively to Retail Orders that are entered on behalf of retail investors that enter a limited number of equity orders each trading day. As such, the Exchange would define a new term, “Retail Priority Order” to designate Retail Orders that are eligible for priority on the EDGX Book. Specifically, a “Retail Priority Order” would be defined as a Retail Order, as defined in Rule 11.21(a)(2), that is entered on behalf of a person that does not place more than 390 equity orders per day on average during a calendar month for its own beneficial account(s). The selected 390 orders per day threshold to qualify as a Retail Priority Order is similarly used for the options industry Priority Customer definition,[17] and represents one order entered each minute during regular trading hours—i.e., from 9:30 a.m. ET to 4:00 p.m. ET. All orders entered on behalf of the retail customer would be counted to determine whether a customer's Retail Orders could be identified as Retail Priority Orders. This would therefore include both orders routed to other exchanges and orders that are not entered as Retail Orders (e.g., because the price of such orders is modified by a broker-dealer algorithm). The Exchange believes that limiting the Retail Orders that would be priority eligible, as described, would assist in ensuring that these benefits flow only to retail investors that are not engaged in trading activity akin to that of a professional.
Similar to the rules of the Exchange's options trading platform (“EDGX Options”),[18] the EDGX Equities rules would describe how to count parent/child orders and cancel/replace orders when determining whether the 390 order per day threshold has been exceeded. As proposed, parent/child orders would be counted as a single order—i.e., a “parent” order that is broken into multiple “child” orders by Start Printed Page 32810a broker or dealer, or by an algorithm housed at a broker or dealer or by an algorithm licensed from a broker or dealer, but which is housed with the customer, would count as one order even if the “child” orders are routed across multiple exchanges. Similarly, with one exception for parent/child orders, any order that cancels and replaces an existing order would count as a separate order. An order that cancels and replaces any “child” order resulting from a “parent” order that is broken into multiple “child” orders, would not count as a new order. The Exchange believes that this guidance would assist RMOs in determining whether Retail Orders entered on behalf of a particular retail customer would qualify to be entered as Retail Priority Orders. Similar to the implementation of the Priority Customer designation in the options industry,[19] RMOs that enter Retail Priority Orders would also be required to have reasonable policies and procedures in place to ensure that such orders are appropriately represented on the Exchange. Such policies and procedures should provide for a review of retail customers' activity on at least a quarterly basis. Retail Orders for any retail customer that had an average of more than 390 orders per day during any month of a calendar quarter would not be eligible to be entered as Retail Priority Orders for the next calendar quarter. RMOs would be required to conduct a quarterly review and make any appropriate changes to the way in which they are representing orders within five business days after the end of each calendar quarter. While RMOs would only be required to review their accounts on a quarterly basis, if during a quarter the Exchange identifies a retail customer for which orders are being represented as Retail Priority Orders but that has averaged more than 390 orders per day during a month, the Exchange would notify the RMO, and the RMO would be required to change the manner in which it is representing the retail customer's orders within five business days.
The Exchange proposes to introduce retail priority in order to ensure that non-marketable orders submitted on behalf of retail investors can more readily compete for execution with orders entered by sophisticated market participants that may be better equipped to optimize their place in the intermarket queue. Retail priority would be in place during all trading sessions, and would also be available to orders entered for participation in the Exchange's opening process and the re-opening process following a halt.
As proposed, the portion of a Retail Priority Order with a Displayed instruction would be given allocation priority ahead of all other available interest on the EDGX Book. This would be true of both orders executed pursuant to the regular priority bands described in EDGX Rule 11.9(a)(2)(A), and orders priced at the midpoint of the NBBO pursuant to EDGX Rule 11.9(a)(2)(B) where Retail Priority Orders subject to Display-Price Sliding [20] would have priority ahead of limit orders entered with such an instruction as well as any other orders resting at the midpoint of the NBBO.[21] In addition, since Reserve Orders contain a Displayed instruction but include both Displayed and Non-Displayed shares, the Reserve Quantity [22] of Retail Priority Orders would be given priority ahead of the Reserve Quantity of other limit orders on the EDGX Book.
Retail Priority Orders that are not willing to be displayed, or are only willing to be displayed at a less aggressive price than the execution price, would not receive any special priority. For example, a Retail Priority Order that is entered as a MidPoint Peg Order,[23] which by definition is Non-Displayed, would be prioritized along with all other MidPoint Peg Orders notwithstanding the fact that it is a Retail Priority Order. Similarly, a MidPoint Discretionary Order (“MDO”) [24] executed within its Discretionary Range would receive the same priority as other orders entered with a Discretionary Range instruction, regardless of whether the MDO is displayed at its pegged price.
The following examples illustrate the proposed implementation of retail priority: [25]
NBBO: $10.00 × $10.10
Order 1: Buy 100 shares @$10.00—Displayed, Non-Retail Priority Order
Order 2: Buy 100 shares @$10.00—Displayed, Retail Priority Order
Order 3: Sell 100 shares @$10.00
A Retail Priority Order entered with a Displayed instruction would have priority over Non-Retail Priority Orders at the same price. As a result, Order 3 would trade with Order 2 for 100 shares @$10.00, securing a timely execution for the retail investor.
Order 1: Buy 100 shares @$10.00—Retail Priority Order
Order 2: Buy 100 shares @$10.01—Non-Retail Priority Order
Allocations would continue to be prioritized based on price. Although Retail Priority Orders entered with a Displayed instruction would have priority over Non-Retail Priority Orders at the same price, they would not have priority over Non-Retail Priority Orders at a better price. As a result, Order 3 would trade with the better priced Order 2 for 100 shares @$10.01.
Order 1: Buy 100 shares @$10.01—Non-Displayed, Non-Retail Priority Order
Order 2: Buy 100 shares @$10.01—Non-Displayed, Retail Priority Order
A Retail Priority Order entered with a Non-Displayed instruction is not eligible for retail priority. As a result, Order 3 trades with Order 1 for 100 shares @$10.01 based on time priority. Retail Priority Orders would need to be submitted with a Displayed or Reserve instruction to qualify for the benefits of retail priority, which should encourage displayed retail liquidity.
NBBO: $10.00 × $10.10Start Printed Page 32811
Order 1: Buy 100 shares @$10.00 + $0.03 Discretion—Non-Retail Priority Order
Order 2: Buy 100 shares @$10.00 + $0.03 Discretion—Retail Priority Order
Retail Priority Orders would only have priority if willing to be displayed at the execution price. Although orders entered with a Discretionary Range instruction may be displayed at their ranked price, the execution would occur at a non-displayed price within the Discretionary Range. As a result, Order 3 trades with Order 1 for 100 shares @$10.02 based on time priority.[26]
Order 1: Buy 500 @$10.00—Non-Retail Priority Reserve Order, 100 shares displayed
Order 2: Buy 500 @$10.00—Retail Priority Reserve Order, 100 shares displayed
Order 3: Sell 300 @$10.00
A Retail Priority Order entered as a Reserve Order would have retail priority for both displayed and non-displayed size. However, any Reserve Quantity would be executed after other orders with a higher priority, including the displayed size available from Non-Retail Priority Orders. As a result, Order 3 would trade 100 shares @$10.00 with Order 2 based on retail priority, then would trade 100 shares @$10.00 with Order 1. After exhausting the available displayed size, Order 3 would trade the remaining 100 shares @$10.00 with Order 2 based on retail priority.
EDGX BBO: $10.00 × $10.02
Order 1: Buy 100 shares @$10.01—Book Only, Display-Price Sliding, Non-Retail Priority Order
Order 2: Buy 100 shares @$10.01—Book Only, Display-Price Sliding, Retail Priority Order
Order 3: Sell 100 shares @$10.01—Post Only
Due to the Display-Price Sliding instruction, both Order 1 and Order 2 are ranked at $10.01 and displayed at $10.00 to avoid locking the National Best Offer at $10.01.[27] Then, because of the Post Only instruction, Order 3 posts and displays on the EDGX Book at $10.01. Since there is displayed interest now resting on the same side of the order book, Order 4 is eligible for execution on entry at the midpoint price of $10.005—i.e., one-half minimum price variation better than Order 3.[28] At the midpoint of the NBBO, a Retail Priority Order subject to Display-Price Sliding that is willing but unable to display at or better than the execution price would have priority over other orders. As a result, Order 4 would trade with Order 2 for 100 shares @$10.005, securing a timely execution for the retail investor.
Due to the Display-Price Sliding instruction, Order 4 is displayed at $10.00 to avoid locking the National Best Offer at $10.01, but ranked and executable at its $10.01 limit price. Since allocations would continue to be prioritized based on price, Order 5 would first trade 100 shares @$10.01 with Order 4. At any given price, the displayed size of a Retail Priority Order would have priority over Non-Retail Priority Orders at the same price. As such, Order 5 would next trade 100 shares @$10.00 with Order 3. Next, the displayed size of Non-Retail Priority Orders would trade in time priority. Order 5 would therefore trade 100 shares @$10.00 with Order 1, followed by 100 shares @$10.00 with Order 2. Finally, after exhausting the available displayed size, the Reserve Quantity of the remaining Reserve Orders would trade, with Retail Priority Orders being eligible for retail priority. As a result, Order 5 would trade the remaining 100 shares @$10.00 with Order 3.
Order 2: Buy 500 shares @$10.01—Book Only, Display-Price Sliding, Retail Priority Reserve Order, 100 shares displayed
Order 3: Buy 100 shares @$10.01—MidPoint Peg, Non-Retail Priority Order
Due to the Display-Price Sliding instruction, both Order 1 and Order 2 are ranked at $10.01 and displayed at $10.00 to avoid locking the National Best Offer at $10.01. Order 3, meanwhile is ranked at the midpoint price of $10.005. Then, because of the Post Only instruction, Order 4 posts and displays on the EDGX Book at $10.01. Since there is displayed interest now resting on the same side of the order book, Order 5 is eligible for execution on entry at the midpoint price of $10.005—i.e., one-half minimum price variation better than Order 4. At the midpoint of the NBBO, a Retail Priority Order subject to Display-Price Sliding that is willing but unable to display at or better than the execution price would have priority over other orders. As a result, Order 5 would first trade with Order 2 for 100 shares @$10.005. Non-Retail Priority Orders with Display-Price Sliding would be next in priority, and Order 5 would therefore next trade 100 shares @$10.005 with Order 1. Finally, Order 5 would trade the remaining 300 shares @10.005 with Order 2. Order 3 would not receive an execution since its ranked price of $10.005 is worse than the ranked price of Orders 1 and 2, which are both ranked at the locking price of $10.01.[29]
A Retail Member Organization on EDGX has the option of designating Retail Orders to be identified as such on the EDGX Book Feed,[30] which may increase potential execution opportunities for that order. Today, pursuant to EDGX Rule 11.21(f), this designation may be made on either an Start Printed Page 32812order-by-order or port-by-port basis,[31] thereby giving members flexibility in how they would like their Retail Orders attributed on the Exchange. To support the introduction of retail priority, the Exchange proposes to provide that Retail Priority Orders will always be designated as such on the EDGX Book Feed—i.e., Retail Priority Orders would be identified as having been entered with a priority designation.[32] Retail Orders that are not designated as Retail Priority Orders could continue to be attributed, or not, at the discretion of the RMO entering the order. Although RMOs have the choice to determine which Retail Orders would be marked as retail on market data, the Exchange believes that it is important to ensure that Retail Priority Orders would be attributable as priority eligible. Designating Retail Priority Orders on the EDGX Book Feed will increase transparency by informing market participants when there is priority eligible retail investor interest available to trade on the Exchange, thereby allowing market participants to make informed routing decisions, including the decision to route contra-side interest to trade with such orders. Based on the Exchange's experience with Retail Order attribution, this approach has the potential to increase execution opportunities for Retail Priority Orders (and other non-marketable orders) by encouraging additional order flow to be routed to the Exchange to trade with resting Retail Priority Orders.[33]
In addition, since only Retail Priority Orders would be required to be attributed, RMOs would retain the option of not attributing Retail Orders entered into the EDGX Book. While Retail Orders not entered with the Retail Priority Order designation would not be eligible for priority, they would retain all other benefits associated with Retail Orders today, including the materially enhanced rebates that are made available to such orders.[34] The purpose of requiring attribution of Retail Priority Orders is, first and foremost, to ensure that market participants can ascertain their priority on the order book. Although the Exchange believes that RMOs are comfortable attributing their orders, if a specific RMO would prefer not to have one or more of their orders attributed, the member would be able to choose not to enter such orders as Retail Priority Orders without losing any of the benefits that they are provided today. Customer indicators are widely-used in the options industry, and the Exchange believes that they would be equally appropriate on EDGX with the introduction of retail priority.
The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the requirements of Section 6(b) of the Act,[35] in general, and Section 6(b)(5) of the Act,[36] in particular, in that it is designed to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a free and open market and a national market system, to promote just and equitable principles of trade, and, in general, to protect investors and the public interest and not to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers.
The Commission has consistently emphasized the need to ensure that the U.S. capital markets are structured with the interests of retail investors in mind, and recently highlighted its focus on the “long-term interest of Main Street Investors” as the agency's number one strategic goal for fiscal years 2018 to 2022.[37] The Exchange believes that retail priority is consistent with the goals of the Commission to ensure that the equities markets continue to serve the needs of the investing public. Specifically, introducing retail priority would protect investors and the public interest by giving retail investors the tools needed to compete for executions on non-marketable order flow submitted to a national securities exchange. The Exchange is committed to innovation that improves the quality of the equities markets, and believes that retail priority may increase the attractiveness of the Exchange for the execution of orders submitted on behalf of the millions of ordinary investors that rely on these markets for their investment needs.
Although the Commission has approved other allocation methodologies for equities trading,[38] most equities exchanges, including EDGX, continue to determine priority based on a price/display/time allocation model today. This has contributed to deep and liquid markets for equity securities as liquidity providers compete to be the first to establish a particular price. At the same time, ordinary investors may not be able to compete with market makers and other automated liquidity providers to be the first to set a new price. Importantly, retail investors, in contrast to their professional counterparts, tend to have longer investment time horizons and are not in the business of optimizing queue placement under a time based allocation model. Thus, in order to facilitate the needs of these ordinary investors, the Exchange believes that an alternative approach is needed.
The proposed introduction of retail priority is designed, first and foremost, to benefit retail investors by increasing both the likelihood and speed with which their non-marketable orders are executed. Unlike marketable retail order flow that is routinely executed in full on entry at the national best bid or offer or better, non-marketable retail order flow has to compete for execution with orders entered by sophisticated market participants that may be quicker to establish a new price. As shown in the chart below,[39] the Exchange has found that in 2018, of volume executed from retail limit orders, 28.3% joined the national best bid or offer (“NBBO”) on entry, 17.8% were priced better than the inside, and 49.4% were priced worse than the inside.
Start Printed Page 32813
Although potentially beneficial for all Retail Priority Orders that do not trade immediately on entry, the Exchange believes that retail priority would be particularly beneficial to Retail Priority Orders that join the NBBO, as there would often already be a queue at this price. Introducing retail priority would thus give retail investors the ability to compete for an execution for these orders, and may therefore improve trading outcomes. As such, the Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent with the goals of the Exchange, and of the Commission, to ensure that market structure evolves in ways that protect ordinary investors that participate in the capital markets. Furthermore, since retail priority is designed to improve trading outcomes for ordinary investors, the Exchange also believes that it may encourage retail brokers to route additional non-marketable retail order flow to the EDGX Book, which may broaden execution opportunities for other market participants. If successful in attracting retail order flow to the Exchange, the proposed rule change would benefit market participants by increasing the diversity of order flow with which they can interact on a national securities exchange, thereby increasing order interaction and contributing to price formation.
Giving queue priority to ordinary investors is not a novel concept in the securities markets. In fact, customer priority has a long tradition in the options market where orders entered on behalf of non-broker dealer public customers have historically been afforded priority over orders submitted by registered broker dealers. Today, most options exchanges, including the Exchange's equity options platform (“EDGX Options”),[40] employ a customer priority execution algorithm where orders submitted by a subset of public customers with more limited trading activity (i.e., “Priority Customers”) [41] are provided order book priority ahead of orders submitted by broker-dealers or other market professionals at the same price. This allocation model, which was first introduced by the International Securities Exchange LLC (“ISE”) in its current retail focused form a decade ago,[42] ensures that orders from Priority Customers are executed ahead of similarly priced interest from sophisticated market participants. The Exchange believes that the time has come to introduce a similar concept for the equities market in order to facilitate the needs of retail investors that increasingly rely on these markets.
Similar to the options market Priority Customer definition, the Exchange proposes to introduce a new definition of “Retail Priority Orders” that would allow the Exchange to differentiate between more and less active retail investors. Although the Exchange currently has a robust regulatory program for Retail Orders that includes a number of safeguards to prevent misuse,[43] some equities market participants have expressed concerns that the current definition of Retail Order could provide market structure advantages to a subset of investors that are more akin to market professionals. The Exchange believes that limiting retail priority to Retail Orders that are entered on behalf of less active investors would alleviate any potential concerns while ensuring that retail investors would be able to reap the proposed priority benefits. As such, Retail Orders entered on the EDGX Book would be priority eligible only if the end investor submits fewer than 390 orders per day on average, or the equivalent of one order per minute during regular trading hours. The Exchange believes that this approach is consistent with the public interest and the protection of investors as an investor that enters more than one order per minute is effectively engaged in active trading activity that is more akin to a professional trader. A similar approach is used to differentiate between Priority and Professional Customers in the options industry today. Thus, identifying Retail Priority Orders based on the average number of orders entered for a beneficial account Start Printed Page 32814is both a familiar and appropriately objective approach that would reasonably distinguish between ordinary retail investors from more active traders that may compete with market professionals.
The Commission has approved other equities proposals to introduce meaningful market structure benefits for retail investors in recent years. For example, in 2012, the Commission approved proposals filed by the New York Stock Exchange LLC (“NYSE”) and its affiliate NYSE Amex LLC (“Amex”) to introduce retail price improvement programs.[44] Those programs were designed to provide price improvement opportunities for retail investors on a national securities exchange by allowing liquidity providers to give sub-penny price improvement to their orders pursuant to an exemption granted from Rule 612 of Regulation NMS. Similar programs now exist on a number of exchanges, including the Exchange's affiliate, Cboe BYX Exchange, Inc. (“BYX”),[45] and have provided millions of dollars of price improvement to ordinary investors.[46] When approving such retail price improvement programs on a pilot basis, the Commission consistently found that the pilots were consistent with the Act because they were “reasonably designed to benefit retail investors” and could “promote competition for retail order flow among execution venues.” The benefits to retail investors in the form of meaningful price improvement opportunities similarly animated the Commission's recent approval of the NYSE retail liquidity program on a permanent basis.[47] Although retail priority is designed to increase fill rates and speed of execution rather than price improvement, the Exchange believes that it could have a similarly meaningful impact on execution quality for ordinary investors that trade in the public market. Furthermore, retail priority would complement existing retail price improvement programs by offering market structure benefits to non-marketable retail order flow that cannot participate in those programs.
Similarly, in 2017, the Commission approved a proposed rule change by The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) to introduce the “Extended Life Priority Order Attribute” for Retail Orders that were willing to remain on the book unaltered for a period of one second (“Retail Extended Life Order” or “Retail ELO”).[48] As proposed, displayed orders entered on Nasdaq with the Retail ELO attribute were to be provided a higher priority than other orders resting on the Nasdaq order book. When the Commission approved this proposed rule change, it opined that the proposal “should benefit retail investors by providing enhanced order book priority to retail order flow that is not marketable upon entry,” and that “[s]uch enhanced order book priority could result in additional or more immediate execution opportunities on the [e]xchange for resting retail orders that otherwise would be farther down in the order book queue, and thereby enhance execution opportunities for retail investors.” [49] The same is true of the Exchange's retail priority proposal, which would provide similar benefits to retail investors without the additional complexity of requiring that the order be willing to exist unaltered on the order book for a specified period of time. While the Exchange believes that the majority of retail investors have a longer investment time horizon and therefore do not actively manage their trading interest at sub-second time intervals, the Exchange believes that giving retail priority broadly to orders entered on behalf of less active retail investors may be more effective in encouraging retail brokers to route order flow to the Exchange.
The Exchange also believes that it is appropriate and not unfairly discriminatory to provide enhanced priority benefits solely to retail investor orders as the proposal is designed specifically to ensure that retail investors can compete for executions with sophisticated market participants. In today's highly automated and efficient market, retail investors have a more limited opportunity to compete for an execution based purely on the time an order is placed. While sophisticated, latency sensitive market participants can compete to be the first at any particular price, retail investors with longer investment horizons cannot compete in the same fashion. The proposed introduction of retail priority would ensure that non-marketable Retail Priority Orders get filled first when there is available contra-side interest, and thereby improve investment outcomes for ordinary investors. The Commission has consistently held that it is consistent with the Act to offer certain advantages to retail customers,[50] and the proposal follows a line of other initiatives to improve the retail investor experience in the public markets. The Exchange believes that it is an important goal of both the Exchange and the Commission to ensure that our market structure continues to benefit retail investors by providing the tools that they need to invest in the capital markets. Although there are many ways to achieve that goal, the Exchange believes that doing so requires innovation in how retail investor orders are handled on the national securities exchanges in order to attract that order flow back to the displayed market.
The Exchange also believes that it is consistent with the public interest and the protection of investors to provide retail priority exclusively to those orders that contain a Displayed or Reserve instruction. The goals of the proposed rule change are twofold. First, the proposed change is designed to facilitate better trading outcomes for retail investors, which may encourage retail brokers to send additional retail order flow to the Exchange. Second, the proposed change is designed to encourage additional displayed retail liquidity, which could contribute to price discovery and encourage additional order flow and liquidity from other market participants. Although the first purpose could be achieved without limiting retail priority to orders that contain a Displayed component at a particular price, the second is only achieved when such orders are displayed to the broader market. For that reason, recent priority enhancements for retail investors, such as Nasdaq's Retail ELO, have also focused on displayed interest that could improve quote quality and contribute to a vibrant market.Start Printed Page 32815
Finally, the Exchange believes that it is consistent with just and equitable principles of trade to require that Retail Priority Orders be attributable as this would allow other market participants to gauge the available size in orders that would be eligible for retail priority. Although RMOs would not have the option to submit eligible Retail Priority Orders as non-attributable, the transparency achieved by so designating these orders is important to the proper functioning of a market where such orders would be eligible for priority. As explained in the purpose section of this proposed rule change, RMOs would retain the ability to enter an order without a priority designation, and in doing so would ultimately retain the ability to control which orders are publicly attributed to retail investors. Priority Customer orders entered on the EDGX Options platform are similarly designated as such on the Exchange's market data feeds today, and the Exchange believes that this has contributed positively to the overall market environment.
The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change would impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. Rather, the proposed rule change is designed to increase inter-market competition for retail order flow, and intra-market competition for orders as market participants compete to transact with retail investor orders entered on the EDGX Book. The proposed rule change represents an effort by the Exchange to enhance the ability for retail investors to participate effectively on a national securities exchange without unnecessarily burdening competition. Although retail priority would be limited to retail investors, the Exchange does not believe that this produces an unnecessary burden on competition as these changes are necessary to attract retail order flow to a national securities exchange where they may interact with a wide range of market participants. If successful, the Exchange believes that retail priority would enhance competition by encouraging retail brokers to route increased order flow to the public markets, creating a more vibrant and competitive trading environment that benefits all market participants.
No comments were solicited or received on the proposed rule change.
The Commission is instituting proceedings pursuant to Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the Act [51] to determine whether the proposed rule change should be approved or disapproved. Institution of such proceedings is appropriate at this time in view of the legal and policy issues raised by the proposed rule change. Institution of proceedings does not indicate that the Commission has reached any conclusions with respect to any of the issues involved. Rather, as described below, the Commission seeks and encourages interested persons to provide comments on the proposed rule change.
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the Act,[52] the Commission is providing notice of the grounds for disapproval under consideration. The Commission is instituting proceedings to allow for additional analysis of the proposed rule change's consistency with Section 6(b)(5) of the Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be “designed to perfect the operation of a free and open market and a national market system” and “protect investors and the public interest,” and not be “designed to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers, brokers, or dealers,” [53] and Section 6(b)(8) of the Act, which requires that the rules of a national securities exchange “not impose any burden on competition not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of [the Act].” [54]
The Commission requests that interested persons provide written submissions of their views, data, and arguments with respect to the issues identified above, as well as any other concerns they may have with the proposal. In particular, the Commission invites the written views of interested persons concerning whether the proposal is consistent with Section 6(b)(5), 6(b)(8) or any other provision of the Act, or the rules and regulations thereunder. Although there do not appear to be any issues relevant to approval or disapproval that would be facilitated by an oral presentation of views, data, and arguments, the Commission will consider, pursuant to Rule 19b-4, any request for an opportunity to make an oral presentation.[55]
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and arguments regarding whether the proposal should be approved or disapproved by July 30, 2019. Any person who wishes to file a rebuttal to any other person's submission must file that rebuttal by August 13, 2019. The Commission asks that commenters address the sufficiency of the Exchange's statements in support of the proposal, which are set forth in Amendment No. 1,[56] in addition to any other comments they may wish to submit about the proposed rule change.
Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
Use the Commission's internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
Send an email to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include File Number SR-CboeEDGX-2019-012 on the subject line.
Send paper comments in triplicate to Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090.
All submissions should refer to File Number SR-CboeEDGX-2019-012. This file number should be included on the subject line if email is used. To help the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently, please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on the Commission's internet website (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all written statements with respect to the proposed rule change that are filed with the Commission, and all written Start Printed Page 32816communications relating to the proposed rule change between the Commission and any person, other than those that may be withheld from the public in accordance with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for website viewing and printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549 on official business days between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the filing also will be available for inspection and copying at the principal office of the Exchange. All comments received will be posted without change. Persons submitting comments are cautioned that we do not redact or edit personal identifying information from comment submissions. You should submit only information that you wish to make available publicly. All submissions should refer to File Number SR-CboeEDGX-2019-012 and should be submitted on or before July 30, 2019. Rebuttal comments should be submitted by August 13, 2019.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated authority.[57]
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Deputy Secretary.
End Signature End Preamble
1. 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
2. 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
3. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 85482 (April 2, 2019), 84 FR 13729 (“Notice”).
4. See letters to Vanessa Countryman, Acting Secretary, Commission, from Sean Paylor, Trader, AJO, L.P., dated April 25, 2019 (“AJO Letter”); Joseph Saluzzi and Sal Arnuk, Partners, Themis Trading LLC, dated May 8, 2019 (“Themis Letter”); T. Sean Bennett, Principal Associate General Counsel, Nasdaq, dated May 9, 2019 (“Nasdaq Letter”); letter to Eduardo A. Aleman, Deputy Secretary, Commission from Stephen John Berger, Global Heady of Government & Regulatory Policy, Citadel Securities, dated April 26, 2019 (“Citadel Letter”). All comments received by the Commission on the proposed rule change are available at: https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-cboeedgx-2019-012/srcboeedgx2019012.htm.
5. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 85879, 84 FR 23591 (May 16, 2019).
6. Amendment No. 1 modifies the proposed rule change by: (1) Adding a proposed definition of “Retail Priority Order”; (2) applying the proposed enhanced priority to “Retail Priority Orders” instead of “Retail Orders”; (3) imposing certain requirements on Retail Member Organizations that enter “Retail Priority Orders”; (4) removing the proposed requirement that “Retail Orders” must be identified as such on the EDGX Book Feed; and (5) requiring that all “Retail Priority Orders” be identified as such on the EDGX Book Feed. Amendment No. 1 is available at: https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-cboeedgx-2019-012/srcboeedgx2019012-5705327-185928.pdf.
7. 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B).
8. See The Evolving Market for Retail Investment Services and Forward-Looking Regulation—Adding Clarity and Investor Protection while Ensuring Access and Choice, Chairman Jay Clayton, Commission (May 2, 2018), available at https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/speech-clayton-2018-05-02.
9. See e.g., U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2018-2022, available at https://www.sec.gov/files/SEC_Strategic_Plan_FY18-FY22_FINAL_0.pdf (“Commission Strategic Plan”).
10. FINRA Rule 5320.03 clarifies that an RMO may enter Retail Orders on a riskless principal basis, provided that (i) the entry of such riskless principal orders meet the requirements of FINRA Rule 5320.03, including that the RMO maintains supervisory systems to reconstruct, in a time‐sequenced manner, all Retail Orders that are entered on a riskless principal basis; and (ii) the RMO submits a report, contemporaneously with the execution of the facilitated order, that identifies the trade as riskless principal.
11. Retail Member Organizations are able to designate their orders as Retail Orders on either an order-by-order basis using FIX ports or by designating certain of their FIX ports at the Exchange as “Retail Order Ports.” Unless otherwise instructed by the Retail Member Organization, a Retail Order will be identified as Retail when routed to an away Trading Center. See EDGX Rule 11.21(d).
12. See EDGX Rule 11.12.
13. “Displayed” is an instruction the User may attach to an order stating that the order is to be displayed by the System on the EDGX Book. See EDGX Rule 11.6(e)(1).
14. “EDGX Book” means the System's electronic file of orders. See EDGX Rule 1.5(d)
15. “Non-Displayed” is an instruction the User may attach to an order stating that the order is not to be displayed by the System on the EDGX Book. See EDGX Rule 11.6(e)(2).
16. In addition, EDGX Rule 11.9(a)(2)(C) describes the sequence in which orders are timestamped when re-ranked by the System upon clearance of a locking quotation.
17. See e.g., EDGX Rule 16.1(a)(46),(47).
18. See Interpretations and Policies .01 to EDGX Rule 16.1. Due to differences between equities and options trading there are some differences between the proposed methodology and the methodology used by options exchanges. For example, EDGX Options rules contain provisions related to complex orders and pegged orders, and differentiate between parent orders that are broken up into multiple child orders on the same side and series or both sides and/or multiple series.
19. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 78221 (July 1, 2016), 81 FR 44353 (July 7, 2016) (SR-BatsEDGX-2016-28).
20. Display-Price Sliding is an order instruction provided for compliance with Rule 610(d) of Regulation NMS. See EDGX Rule 11.6(l)(B). While a significant majority of Retail Orders are entered into the EDGX Book with a routing instruction, an RMO may choose to perform its own routing, in which case those orders may be handled pursuant to the Display-Price Sliding process, which is the default handling unless Price Adjust or Cancel Back is elected. See EDGX Rule 11.8(b)(10).
21. Orders entered with Display-Price Sliding are ranked at the locking price and are therefore given priority when executed at the midpoint of the NBBO pursuant to current EDGX Rule 11.9(a)(2)(B).
22. “Reserve Quantity” is the portion of an order that includes a Non-Displayed instruction in which a portion of that order is also displayed on the EDGX Book. See EDGX Rule 11.6(m).
23. A “MidPoint Peg Order” is a non-displayed Market Order or Limit Order with an instruction to execute at the midpoint of the NBBO, or, alternatively, pegged to the less aggressive of the midpoint of the NBBO or one minimum price variation inside the same side of the NBBO as the order. See EDGX Rule 11.8(d).
24. A “MidPoint Discretionary Order” is a Limit Order that is executable at the NBB for an order to buy or the NBO for an order to sell while resting on the EDGX Book, with discretion to execute at prices to and including the midpoint of the NBBO. See EDGX Rule 11.8(g).
25. In each example, orders are shown in the order in which they are entered.
26. If Order 3 was to sell 100 shares @$10.00 then retail priority would be observed at the displayed price and Order 3 would trade with Order 2 for 100 shares @$10.00.
27. An order with a Display-Price Sliding instruction that would be a locking quotation on entry is instead ranked at the locking price and displayed at a price that is one minimum price variation less aggressive than the locking price. See EDGX Rule 11.6(l)(B).
28. See EDGX Rule 11.6(l)(1)(B)(v); EDGX Rule 11.10(a)(4)(D).
29. Pursuant to EDGA Rule 11.9(a)(1), the best-priced orders to buy or sell have priority on the EDGA Book in all cases. Although executable at the midpoint, Orders 1 and 2 are the highest-priced buy orders based on the $10.01 ranked price. As such, the full size of those orders would trade before orders that are both ranked and executable at the midpoint.
30. See EDGX Rule 13.8.
31. A Retail Member Organization that instructs the Exchange to identify all its Retail Orders as Retail on a Retail Order Port is able to override such setting and designate any individual Retail Order from that port as Attributable or as Non-Attributable, as set forth in Rule 11.6(a). See EDGX Rule 11.21(f).
32. The retail indicator on the EDGX Book Feed would indicate that the order is a Retail Priority Order and would not provide the market participant identifier (“MPID”) of the entering firm. Members may separately include an Attributable instruction on their orders pursuant to Rule 11.6(a) if they would also like MPID attribution.
33. Prior to the original introduction of retail attribution, the Exchange conducted a study that found that Retail Orders received an 18% higher execution rate when members used Attributable Orders to include their MPID in the published quote on the EDGX Book Feed. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 72016 (April 24, 2014), 79 FR 24463 (April 30, 2014) (SR-EDGX-2014-13).
34. The equities industry is highly competitive, and competition for retail order flow is particularly fierce as the equities exchanges compete vigorously with each other, and with wholesale market makers that execute this order flow off-exchange. As a result, the Exchange provides a rebate of $0.0032 per share to all Retail Orders. This rebate applies irrespective of whether the RMO attributes Retail Orders on the EDGX Book Feed.
35. 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
36. 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
37. See Commission Strategic Plan, supra note 4.
38. Nasdaq PSX, for example, operates with a price setter pro rata model that rewards liquidity providers that set the best price and then rewards other market participants that enter larger sized orders. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 72250 (May 23, 2014), 79 FR 31147 (May 30, 2014) (SR-Phlx-2014-24).
39. Based on Retail Orders entered by members that have completed a retail attestation.
40. See EDGX Rule 21.8(d)(1).
41. The term “Priority Customer” refers to any person or entity that is not a broker or dealer in securities and does not otherwise qualify as a “Professional” by virtue of placing more than 390 orders in listed options per day on average during a calendar month for its own beneficial account(s). See e.g., EDGX Rules 16.1(a)(46),(47).
42. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 59287 (January 23, 2009), 74 FR 5694 (January 30, 2009) (SR-ISE-2006-26).
43. The current Retail Order definition is enforced through an established process for approving the RMOs that are permitted to enter Retail Orders; an attestation that such RMOs must provide about the retail quality of their order flow; policies and procedures to ensure the effectiveness of that attestation; surveillance conducted by Exchange staff; and an exam process implemented by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
44. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 67347 (July 3, 2012), 77 FR 40673 (July 10, 2012) (SR-NYSE-2011-55; SR-NYSEAmex-2011-84).
45. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 68303 (November 27, 2012), 77 FR 71652 (December 3, 2012) (SR-BYX-2012-019). Nasdaq BX Inc. (“BX”) similarly operates its own retail price improvement program. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 73702 (November 28, 2014), 79 FR 72049 (December 4, 2014) (SR-BX-2014-048).
46. See, e.g., Securities Exchange Act Release No. 83831 (August 13, 2018), 83 FR 41128 (August 17, 2018) (SR-CboeBYX-2018-014).
47. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 85160 (February 15, 2019), 84 FR 5754 (February 22, 2019) (SR-NYSE-2018-28).
48. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 81097 (July 7, 2017), 82 FR 32386 (July 13, 2017) (SR-NASDAQ-2016-161) (“Retail ELO Approval”). Nasdaq ultimately decided not to implement Retail ELO following Commission approval, and has since introduced a “Midpoint Extended Life Order” that is not limited to retail participation.
50. Where the interest of long-term investors, such as the retail investors whose experience this filing is attempting to improve, diverges from that of short-term professional traders, the Commission “repeatedly has emphasized that its duty is to uphold the interests of long-term investors.” See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 61358 (January 14, 2010), 75 FR 3593 (January 21, 2010) (File No. S7-02-10) (“Concept Release on Equity Market Structure”).
51. 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B).
55. Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, as amended by the Securities Act Amendments of 1975, Public Law 94-29 (June 4, 1975), grants the Commission flexibility to determine what type of proceeding—either oral or notice and opportunity for written comments—is appropriate for consideration of a particular proposal by a self-regulatory organization. See Securities Act Amendments of 1975, Senate Comm. on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs, S. Rep. No. 75, 94th Cong., 1st Sess. 30 (1975).
56. See supra note 6.
57. 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12); 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(57).
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Kentucky offers last 1.5-mile NASCAR stop before Cup playoff
SPARTA, Ky. (AP) — NASCAR drivers know there is little data from Kentucky Speedway’s unique 1.5-mile layout that can be applied to the remainder of the intermediate tracks on the Cup schedule.
But there are four stops at 1.5-mile tracks looming in the upcoming playoffs and Saturday night at Kentucky gives teams a chance to hone their intermediate packages. Different banking at opposite ends of the Kentucky track adds intrigue to the 400-mile race as well as curiosity as to whether NASCAR’s new aerodynamics package generates more passing.
Two-time defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. welcomes a challenge after dominating last July. He led 174 of the 267 laps while starting from the pole.
“I think that’s one of the most unique parts about our sport and what we do as drivers and teams,” said Truex. “This stuff is always changing. … They change the tires all the time. The rules of the cars are changing all the time. All the top drivers are consistently working on how they drive the cars and how they do better. It’s a huge challenge to try to stay near the top of the sport, and that’s part of what makes it fun.”
Truex is among the favorites Saturday night as he and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch lead the series with four wins each. One of Truex’s victories came at 1.5-mile Charlotte in May, but Truex desires more consistency at that length.
Brad Keselowski is a three-time winner at Kentucky, while Busch has won twice and both figure to be in the picture after qualifying inside the top 10. The winner of seven of the last eight races at Kentucky has started inside the top 10.
Toyota teams have won five times at Kentucky, while Ford has two wins and Chevrolet is still seeking its first trip to this victory lane. But Chevy is coming off back-to-back wins the last two weeks with Alex Bowman at Chicago for Hendrick Motorsports and Justin Haley on Sunday at Daytona for Spire Motorsports. Bowman and Haley marked the first back-to-back first-time winners in the Cup Series since Casey Mears and Truex in 2007.
Kurt Busch, who might have won at Daytona on Sunday if he had not pitted from the lead right before weather stopped the race, is hoping Chevrolet shines at Kentucky.
“I’m hopeful to have the right sequence of pit stops,” said Kurt Busch. “This place is really starting to act a lot like Texas with the tire and the banking on both ends of the track. What we’re looking forward to doing is just kind of simulate the way we’ve seen sister tracks and how the winds have happened.”
The field’s mission is handling a tri-oval where turns 1 and 2 are banked slightly higher (17 degrees) than turns 3 and 4 (14 degrees) following a 2016 reconfiguration and repave. Finding a groove is another matter, though drivers seem pleased with a mixture of rubber and traction additive that has improved grip.
How much that will be a factor on Saturday night and several months from now remain to be seen. The drivers’ objective is just making the most of Kentucky and hoping that provides some baseline for a layout they’ll see often this fall.
“Now the track’s pretty smooth,” Keselowski said. “And the grip is mostly on the bottom, except for the PJ1 (additive) they put down. Long story short, it was a little more comfortable before it was repaved, but it is what it is now, a roller coaster.”
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Ending Poverty, Together.
The world is hungry, but the emptiness goes far beyond the table. The need is physical and spiritual. People hunger for opportunity, starve for resources, and have been stripped of value. These injustices keep us up at night.
AND YET HOPE REMAINS
Food for the Hungry seeks to end ALL forms of human poverty by going to the hard places and walking with the world’s most vulnerable people. We’ve been serving through purposeful relief and development for over four decades. We believe in the fight against poverty, which is why we serve the vulnerable in over 20 countries globally. We’re moved and inspired by our Christian belief
that every person has intrinsic value, and that it’s our responsibility to advocate for the poor and marginalized without regard to race, creed or nationality and without adverse distinction of any kind. We serve on the basis of need alone. We strive to respect the culture and customs of the people we serve in order to preserve their humanity and dignity.
We provide life-changing resources such as clean water, medical aid, food, equal educational opportunities to girls and boys, vocational training and empowerment in the midst of unimaginable hardships. Our view of poverty is holistic and complex. We honor the people we serve by inviting them to contribute to the process. We are grateful to be invited into the communities we serve and work side-by-side with local leaders, responding to their needs with transformative solutions, which are both sustainable and implemented at the hands of the communities themselves.
Our international staff belongs to the nations they serve. We are not foreigners or outsiders offering a new way of life. We are sisters and brothers lifting the shared burden from the shoulders of our global family.
THE EXIT PLAN
We’re proud of the communities we enter, but more than that, we’re proud of the ones we exit. These are the communities where extreme poverty no longer has a seat at the table. They’re self-sustainable and living out God’s purpose for their lives. We celebrate with them and then we intentionally seek out the next community suffering under the heavy weight of poverty.
We are created for this work.
Food for the Hungry proudly adheres to the Red Cross Code of Conduct to ensure beneficiaries receive the best quality assistance.
FH is also a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
Come work with us! We're ending extreme poverty, together!
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Independent Filmmaking the Fred Olen Ray Way, Part Two: An Interview with Actor Jesse Dabson
Last post I profiled low budget filmmaker Fred Olen Ray and his extremely varied output, from his ‘80s and ‘90s knock-offs of popular sci-fi and action films to his current specialty, Hallmark Channel-style romantic TV movies.
Fred’s early path to success was to take box office-proven sci-fi concepts, enlist veteran name actors on the downswing of their careers, mix in young actors eager to work, and borrow as much as possible from other productions -- sets, props, costumes, etc. -- to keep costs low.
One of those eager young actors was Jesse Dabson, who at the time had just two movies on his resume when he went to work for Ray on Deep Space (1988). Jesse would work again with Ray on Alienator (1990), a Terminator clone featuring an impressive list of veteran actors (Jan-Michael Vincent, John Phillip Law, Robert Clarke, Leo Gordon and Robert Quarry), and a female cyborg terminator played by bodybuilder Teagan Clive.
Benny (Jesse Dabson) gets a well-deserved rest after
a long night of battling the Alienator.
In Alienator, Jesse plays Benny, the brainy member of a group of vacationing college kids who, while driving their camper through the woods, accidentally hit a weird drifter (Ross Hagen). They enlist the aid of a park ranger (Law) to get him medical attention, but little do they know that the stranger is an intergalactic fugitive who is being hunted down by a unstoppable, deadly cyborg. When the Alienator shows up to menace the space renegade and his newfound earthling friends, Benny has to grow up fast and find his inner-hero.
Since Alienator, Jesse has appeared in a diverse array of movies and TV. He had a major recurring role in the 1990 TV series Elvis, co-starred with Susan Griffiths in the TV movie Marilyn and Me (1991), and has appeared in such shows as The Golden Girls and Beverly Hills 90210, among others. Most recently, he’s guested in two episodes of Chicago P.D.
In an exclusive Films From Beyond interview, Jesse talks about getting into acting, and his work on the sets of Deep Space and Alienator.
How did you become interested in acting?
I was always a bit of a ham and have one of those personalities that thrives on attention. I can remember as far back as childhood watching Creature Features on WGN in Chicago when we visited my Grandparents and wanting to be in those movies. I did a few plays in High School for something to do; small town Pecatonica Illinois didn't have a lot of diversions. However, it was my Freshman year of college at Knox College the bug bit hard. I was playing football and the ADD kicked in and I auditioned for a play fall term, got cast in the lead and proceeded to do a play every semester for the next 4 years. Of course it was supposed to be training for going to law school because I was majoring in Economics, but I soon picked up Theater as a second major and graduated with a BA in Economics and Theater.
Your first movie credit according to IMDb is The Hanoi Hilton (1987), a drama about U.S. POWs in a North Vietnamese prison camp. How did you get the part? What were the biggest challenges for you on your first movie set?
Jesse Dabson today.
Not only was that the first movie I did, that was the first movie audition I ever had. I met a Casting Director named Perry Bullington who worked at Cannon Films and was a Northwestern Grad. Back in the day there were "showcases" where you could pay a small fee to do a monologue or a scene and the organizers of the showcases would invite Casting Directors to come view them. It was sort of pay for play and has since been discontinued as a practice, but I viewed it as a ticket to get to know "people in the biz" because basically I didn't know anybody in Southern Calforinia except the bartenders and other waiters at the restaurant that I was working in. So Perry sees me in this show case, I don't remember what I did, but he sees on my Resume that I attended Northwestern for Grad school. I must have made an impression on him beyond the resume because the next thing you know I am driving up to Cannon studios and auditioning for this movie. I, of course, don't know the first thing about that whole process, so when it's my turn, I stride into the room, walk around the table, shake Lionel Chetwyn's hand and proceed to do three different versions of the sides, with commentary about the approach to the part blah blah, like I am auditioning for my college professor, wind things up and walk out. Perry comes dashing down the hall yelling "What the hell was that?" And the next day I got a call telling me I got the part. Sometimes its good to not know what you don't know.
You first worked for Fred Olen Ray on Deep Space (1988). How did you get that part?
I met Fred through some friends. He never had any money to do his movies. He shot very fast and was a genius at cobbling crap together and talking people into financing his projects. 1988 I think was the year of the writers strike so there wasn't a whole lot going on and Fred contacted me about making this movie over the course of about 5 days outside of LA near where he was renting a home. Fred always had great cigars, good booze and was a riot to work with so when he called, I went.
Your next role for Fred was in Alienator (1990), as Benny, the brainy member of a group of college kids threatened by the alien-cyborg assassin. At this point in his career, Fred was known for doing low budget knock-offs of sci-fi hits (Alien, The Terminator) with name actors who were in the twilight of their careers. What sorts of things about a Fred Olen Ray production stand out for you, as opposed to the other movie work you have done?
He had as much fun as you can have directing. He shot fast and furious, wasn't afraid to change stuff on the fly. It was all just run and gun and he would let you improvise if you had a decent idea. He was also a very bright guy and knew his film history so he told great stories. During Alienator he was dating or married to Dawn Wildsmith, I believe she was a wiccan at the time and the canyon we shot in was where her Coven met. To this day, I'm not sure we actually had permission.
In Alienator, you worked directly with veteran actors John Phillip Law, Leo Gordon and Ross Hagen. What was that like? Any other members of the cast who were especially fun or interesting to work with?
The Alienator sets the fashion scene ablaze with her no-cost outfit.
John Phillip Law was very funny and I enjoyed his stories about Barbarella. I don't remember a ton about Ross or Leo other than they came and went and were there for a paycheck. Old School. None of us ended up being drinking buddies. I do remember Gary Graver the Cinematographer also shot porn and those were some interesting conversations.
What did you think of the idea of a Terminator knock-off, but featuring a female bodybuilder instead of a male? The Alienator costume is unique to say the least. Did Teagan Clive have fun with the role?
I honestly don't remember Fred telling me what the movie was about when he called me. He said, you want a job? I said sure and the next thing you know we are shooting. I'm not sure Fred ever had the whole thing planned out when he started.
That costume was cobbled together from stuff Fred got for free or borrowed. He was a master at that kind of thing. When Teagan showed up on the set, let's just say she didn't look quite like the bodybuilder picture she submitted and there were some alterations.
What have been your most gratifying roles?
Definitely the first one in the Hanoi Hilton, playing Scotty Moore in Elvis the series and at this stage of game usually the last one I did because I'm happy to still be doing it.
Posted by Brian Schuck
Labels: Alienator (1990), Deep Space (1988), Fred Olen Ray (Director), Jesse Dabson, Sci-Fi
Independent Filmmaking the Fred Olen Ray Way, Part...
Independent Filmmaking the Fred Olen Ray Way: Alie...
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Alleged Serial Killer's Creepy 911 Call About Victim Released: 'He Collapsed'
By Oliver McAteer
A chilling 911 call has emerged in which an alleged serial killer claims to have found a man -- believed to be his first victim -- "collapsed outside."
Stephen Port, 41, of East London in England told paramedics his 23-year-old victim Anthony Walgate (pictured below) may have had a seizure or been "just drunk."
The emergency call was played to a jury for a court case where Port faces 29 charges including four counts of murder, along with rape and sexual assault.
He denies all the charges.
In one part of the conversation, he tells the call handler,
Appears a young boy looks like he's collapsed outside. Looks like he has collapsed or had a seizure or something - or just drunk.
Port had already hung up by the time the paramedic asked for his telephone number.
He is believed to have gone to sleep.
Mr. Walgate, a fashion student, told his friends he was going to meet a man named Joe Dean who was going to pay him around $1,000 for his company.
Police later found out Joe Dean was, in fact, Port.
His body was found in the sitting position with his underpants inside out and backwards, heard the court.
He had multiple bruises on his body, but his death was a result of GHB intoxication, said pathologist Olaf Biedrzycki.
He is accused of plying Mr. Walgate with the drug GHB at his home.
Authorities tracked down port through his telephone number. They initially interviewed him as a witness and later realized he had been lying about the course of events that unfolded.
Port is accused of carrying out similar attacks on three other people.
One of the victims is believed to be Port's housemate.
He has already been jailed for perverting the course of justice and fabricating a story to authorities.
The trial continues.
Citations: Daily Mail
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2009 ISU World Figure Skating Championships - Men's Free Skate
LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 26: Brian Joubert of France competes in the Men's Free Skate during the 2009 ISU World Figure Skating Championships on March 26, 2009 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Harry How / Staff
Men's Free Skate
Staples Centre
World Figure Skating Championship
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Federal Circuit Update (March 2018)
This March 2018 edition of Gibson Dunn’s Federal Circuit Update discusses the three pending Federal Circuit cases before the Supreme Court that consider issues regarding inter partes review proceedings and extraterritorial damages, and a brief summary of the process for seeking an interlocutory appeal. This Update also provides a summary of the pending en banc case involving attorneys’ fees for litigation involving the PTO. Also included are summaries of recent decisions regarding the fair use defense to copyright infringement, factual issues underlying patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, and the jurisdiction of the Federal Circuit over Walker Process antitrust claims.
Federal Circuit News
On Friday, March 16, 2018, the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was held in Washington, D.C. At the Conference, Judge Pauline Newman was recognized with the 2018 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award. Judge Newman has served on the Federal Circuit in active status for the past 34 years.
Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has heard oral argument on two cases from the Federal Circuit this term, and recently granted certiorari on a third case:
Case Status Issue
WesternGeco LLC (Schlumberger) v. ION Geophysical Corp., No. 16-1011 Certiorari granted Jan. 12, 2018; Argument Apr. 16, 2018 Recoverability of lost profits for foreign use in cases where patent infringement is proven under 35 U.S.C. § 271(f)
Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, No. 16-712 Argued on Nov. 27, 2017 Constitutionality of inter partes review under Article III and the Seventh Amendment
SAS Institute Inc. v. Matal, No. 16-969 Argued on Nov. 27, 2017 The number of claims that must be addressed by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a final written decision during inter partes review
Upcoming En Banc Federal Circuit Cases
NantKwest, Inc. v. Matal, No. 16-1794 (Fed. Cir.): Whether the PTO can recover attorneys’ fees in litigation under 35 U.S.C. § 145.
After the PTAB affirmed the examiner’s rejection of NantKwest’s patent application, NantKwest appealed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia under 35 U.S.C. § 145. The PTO prevailed on the merits of the appeal and moved to recover both attorneys’ fees and expert fees. Section 145 provides that “[a]ll the expenses of the proceedings shall be paid by the applicant.” Applying this provision, the district court granted the PTO’s request for expert fees, but rejected the PTO’s request for attorneys’ fees. A panel of the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s holding as to attorneys’ fees, holding that the “[a]ll expenses of the proceedings” provision under § 145 authorizes an award of attorneys’ fees. (Decision available here.)
The Federal Circuit sua sponte ordered that the panel decision be vacated and that the case be reheard en banc. Seven amicus briefs were filed, five in support of NantKwest (the International Trademark Association, the Intellectual Property Owners Association, the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago, the Association of Amicus Counsel, and the American Bar Association) and two in support of neither party (Federal Circuit Bar Association and American Intellectual Property Law Association). Oral argument was held on March 8, 2018. (Audio recording is available here.)
Question presented:
Did the panel in NantKwest, Inc. v. Matal, 860 F.3d 1352 (Fed. Cir. 2017) correctly determine that 35 U.S.C. § 145’s “[a]ll the expenses of the proceedings” provision authorizes an award of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s attorneys’ fees?
Federal Circuit Practice Update
How to Appeal from an Interlocutory Decision. The Federal Circuit has exclusive jurisdiction over interlocutory orders in patent law cases. See 28 U.S.C. § 1292(c)(1). Interlocutory orders are appealable as of right if they relate to an injunction, receivers, or certain admiralty cases. See § 1292(a)(1)–(3). All other interlocutory appeals are discretionary and require that both the district court and the appeals court agree to hear the issue on appeal.
The district court judge must first certify that the issue “involves a controlling question of law as to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion and that an immediate appeal from the order may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.” 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). There is no deadline after the substantive order to move for certification under section 1292(b), but the prospective appellant should move promptly. If the district court declines to issue such a certification order, that is the end of the road (absent mandamus or other extraordinary relief).
If the district court certifies an issue for interlocutory appeal, the appeals court has discretion to permit the appeal. See § 1292(b); see also Regents of U. of Cal. v. Dako N. Am., Inc., 477 F.3d 1335, 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (“Ultimately, this court must exercise its own discretion in deciding whether it will grant permission to appeal an interlocutory order certified by a trial court.”). A party has ten days after the district court’s certification order to petition the court of appeals. See § 1292(b); see also Fed. R. App. P. 5(a)(3). The petition must contain a summary of relevant facts, the question presented, the relief sought, a statement of the reasons why the appeal should be allowed, and copies of the relevant district court orders. Fed. R. App. P. 5(b)(1)(A)–(E). A party then has ten days to file an answer in opposition to the petition. Fed. R. App. P. 5(b)(2). The petition is decided without the benefit of oral argument, unless the court of appeals orders otherwise. Fed. R. App. P. 5(b)(3).
Key Case Summaries (February – March 2018)
Oracle Am., Inc. v. Google LLC, Nos. 17-1118, 17-1202 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 27, 2018): Direct copying of a copyrighted work for use in a competing platform using the material for the same purpose and function did not, on the facts of the case, amount to fair use.
After a jury had determined that Google’s use of Oracle’s copyright in Java API packages was a fair use, the district court denied Oracle’s post-trial motions for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial. Applying the four factors for fair use from 17 U.S.C. § 107, the district court held that a reasonable jury could have concluded that the use was fair because: (1) the purpose and character of Google’s use was transformational; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work was not “highly creative”; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used was only as much of the work as was necessary for its transformative use; and (4) Google’s use of the code did not cause harm to the potential market for the copyrighted work.
The Federal Circuit (O’Malley, J.) reversed. At the outset, the Federal Circuit discussed the standard of review and found that fair use is “primarily a legal exercise” and thus, under the Supreme Court’s recent decision in U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n ex rel. CWCapital Asset Mgmt. LLC, No. 15-1509 (U.S. Mar. 5, 2018), the inferences to be drawn from the fair use factors are legal in nature and subject to de novo review.
In analyzing the first factor, the court found that Google’s use of the Java APIs to create its Android platform was commercial under Ninth Circuit law even though Google gave a free open source license to Android because direct economic benefit is not required, and Google profited indirectly from the platform. The court also found that Google’s use was not transformative because Google (1) used the API packages for the same purpose as they were used in the Java platform, (2) made no alterations to the expressive content of the copyrighted material, and (3) did not adapt the material for a “new context” when it provided Android for smartphones. As to the second factor, the court found that the evidence presented at trial would allow reasonable jurors to conclude that functional considerations were substantial and important. Addressing the third factor, the court noted that Google directly copied 37 API packages and 11,500 lines of code, even though only 170 lines of code were necessary to write in the Java language. Although the amount of code was a small percentage of the roughly 2.86 million lines of code in Java libraries, the court found the copying qualitatively substantial because it copied 37 APIs in their entirety—even though Google admitted they could have written their own APIs—in order to make the Android platform familiar and attractive to Java programmers. Turning to the fourth factor, the court noted that Android competed directly with Oracle’s Java platform and that the free nature of Android caused significant market harm to Oracle’s efforts to license Java.
Based on those findings, the court noted that the second factor favored a finding of fair use, whereas the first and fourth factors weighed “heavily against” a finding of fair use. The court considered the third factor to be neutral “at best.” In balancing these factors, the court concluded that the factors weighed against a finding of fair use, and the court explained that “[t]here is nothing fair about taking a copyrighted work verbatim and using it for the same purpose and function as the original in a competing platform.” The court added the caveat that it was “not conclud[ing] that a fair use defense could never be sustained in an action involving the copying of computer code.”
Berkheimer v. HP Inc., No. 2017-1437 (Fed Cir. Feb. 8, 2018): Patent eligibility under section 101 presents issues of fact and, under the facts of that case, summary judgment was not appropriate.
The Federal Circuit held that the second prong of the Alice ineligibility inquiry under 35 U.S.C. § 101—whether the claim elements “transform the nature of the claim” into patent-eligible subject matter if they “involve more than performance of well-understood, routine, [and] conventional activities previously known to the industry”—is “a factual determination” that may not be suitable for summary judgment if facts are disputed.
The district court ruled on summary judgment that eight claims from U.S. Patent No. 7,447,713 were directed to abstract ideas and thus ineligible for patenting under section 101. The ‘713 Patent describes a means of digitally processing and archiving files by “parsing” the files into multiple parts, comparing those parts, and eliminating redundant material to allegedly improve storage efficiency and reduce storage costs.
The Federal Circuit (Moore, J.) reversed. Berkheimer alleged that the claims at issue covered linking data so as to facilitate “one-to-many” editing (i.e., allowing a single edit to populate to multiple points that use the same data). The patentee asserted that this “inventive feature” operated in an “unconventional manner” versus mere “copy-and-paste” functionality in the prior art. Although the panel agreed that all the challenged claims were directed to the abstract ideas of parsing and comparing data—the first prong of the Supreme Court’s Alice test—the panel reversed the district court’s ruling on the second Alice prong for four claims on the basis that the second prong “is a question of fact.” Specifically, the Federal Circuit panel held that whether the “one-to-many” editing feature was “well-understood, routine, and conventional” was a disputed factual question that could not be decided on summary judgment. In light of this, the Federal Circuit panel held that whether this added feature was “well-understood, routine, and conventional” was a disputed factual question that could not be decided on summary judgment.
On March 12, HP petitioned for rehearing en banc, supported by several amici curiae. On March 15, the Federal Circuit invited a response to HP’s petition.
Aatrix Software, Inc. v. Green Shades Software, Inc., No. 2017-1452 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 14, 2018): Patent eligibility presents issues of fact not amenable to a Rule 12 motion to dismiss.
Following Berkheimer, the Federal Circuit (Moore, J.) issued a parallel ruling concerning the appropriateness of deciding patent eligibility at the Rule 12 stage. Judge Reyna wrote separately in partial dissent.
Aatrix Software asserted two patents directed to systems and methods for importing data onto a computer to allow that data to be processed and viewed. The district court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss, holding that the claims were not directed to patentable subject matter.
On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed, holding that the complaint set forth a question of fact as to patentability because the complaint alleged that “the claimed software uses less memory, and results in faster processing speed” and thus is patent eligible because “the claimed invention is directed to an improvement in the computer technology itself.”
Judge Reyna dissented, challenging the practical implications of the ruling and arguing that Federal Circuit precedent “is clear that the § 101 inquiry is a legal question” and a question “that can be appropriately decided on a motion to dismiss.”
Xitronix Corp. v. KLA-Tencor Corp., No. 2016-2746 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 9, 2018): Jurisdiction over Walker Process-antitrust claims is in the regional circuits, not the Federal Circuit.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1), the Federal Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over actions arising under “any Act of Congress relating to patents.” Walker Process claims involve allegations that enforcing a patent procured by fraud on the PTO constitutes an antitrust violation under the Sherman Act. The Federal Circuit has historically treated such claims as presenting “a substantial question of patent law” and thus accepted jurisdiction over them.
In Gunn v. Minton, the Supreme Court held that a state law claim alleging legal malpractice in handling a patent case—which likewise implicates U.S. Patent law—did not itself “arise under” or depend on a question of patent law sufficient to convey jurisdiction to federal courts. 568 U.S. 251, 258 (2013).
In Xitronix, both sides asserted that the Federal Circuit had appellate jurisdiction over the Walker Process claim under appeal in that case. No other patent-related claim was asserted on which to base Federal Circuit jurisdiction. The Federal Circuit, however, raised the question of jurisdiction sua sponte, ruling that, given the Supreme Court’s analogous view in Gunn, jurisdiction for Walker Process claims rested with the regional circuits. Accordingly, the Federal Circuit overruled its prior contrary precedent and transferred the appeal to the Fifth Circuit.
Upcoming Oral Argument Calendar
For a list of upcoming arguments at the Federal Circuit, please click here.
Gibson Dunn’s lawyers are available to assist in addressing any questions you may have regarding developments at the Federal Circuit. Please contact the Gibson Dunn lawyer with whom you usually work or the authors of this alert:
Blaine H. Evanson – Orange County (+1 949-451-3805, bevanson@gibsondunn.com)
Blair A. Silver – Washington, D.C. (+1 202-955-8690, bsilver@gibsondunn.com)
Please also feel free to contact any of the following practice group co-chairs or any member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law or Intellectual Property practice groups:
Nicole A. Saharsky – Washington, D.C. (+1 202-887-3669, nsaharsky@gibsondunn.com)
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Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban on Registration of Disparaging Trademarks on First Amendment Grounds
On June 19, 2017, the Supreme Court unanimously held in Matal v. Tam that a decades-old statute prohibiting the registration of disparaging trademarks violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Court concluded that, because trademark registration is a mere administrative recognition of private speech rather than government speech, the registration process must be viewpoint-neutral. Gibson Dunn filed a brief in the case on behalf of the United States Chamber of Commerce as amicus curiae, urging the conclusion that the Court reached.
The Tam case arose from a decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) to refuse registration of a trademark for “THE SLANTS,” the name of an Asian-American rock band. The PTO relied on a provision of the Lanham Act prohibiting the registration of trademarks that “may disparage . . . persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt, or disrepute.” 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a). Applying the PTO’s framework for disparagement, the examining attorney concluded that “THE SLANTS” was likely to disparage a significant number of Asian Americans.
On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that the Lanham Act’s disparagement clause was facially unconstitutional under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court agreed, though several Justices expressed a difference of opinion as to the reasoning.
Justice Alito announced the judgment of the Court, which was unanimous with respect to the conclusion that, despite the role of government in the registration process, trademarks constitute private rather than government speech. The Court reasoned that the government merely registers the contents of others’ trademarks; it “does not dream up these marks,” “it does not edit marks submitted for registration,” and the PTO has made clear in the past that registration does not constitute government approval of a particular mark. It also found that prior Supreme Court precedents fail to support trademark registration as a form of government speech. Trademarks are vastly different from, for example, speech used to convey a government message—as was the case with selected monuments placed on governmental property in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum—and there is no evidence the public associates trademarks with the government itself—as was the case with specialty license plates in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Further backing away from Walker, which the Court noted “likely marks the outer bounds of the government-speech doctrine,” the Court emphasized that government registrations in other, related contexts like copyright registration do not constitute government speech.[1]
Justice Alito went on to reject the remainder of the government’s arguments, writing only for himself, Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Thomas, and Justice Breyer. First, Justice Alito explained that trademark registration is not a form of government subsidy, which would permit the government to subsidize speech expressing a particular viewpoint while refusing to subsidize activities it does not wish to promote. He also refused to create a new “government-program” doctrine for trademarks that would allow for some content- and speaker-based restrictions. Finally, Justice Alito explained that it is unnecessary to decide whether the relaxed-scrutiny afforded commercial speech under the First Amendment applies here, because the disparagement clause is too broad to withstand even that lesser standard of review.
Justice Kennedy, in a separate opinion joined by Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan, emphasized in greater detail why the First Amendment protects “THE SLANTS” trademark from governmental disapproval of a viewpoint the government finds unacceptable. He reasoned that the case involved viewpoint discrimination that warranted heightened scrutiny, without undertaking a commercial speech analysis as in Justice Alito’s opinion.
Justice Thomas filed a short concurrence in part and in the judgment, reiterating his view that whenever the government seeks to restrict truthful speech in order to suppress the ideas conveyed, strict scrutiny applies. Justice Gorsuch took no part in the consideration or the decision.
Tam‘s central holding—that the Lanham Act’s disparagement clause is unconstitutional—is likely to have only a limited impact, as most trademarks are not accused of disparagement. One company likely to benefit from the decision, however, is the Washington Redskins professional football team, which had seen several of its trademark registrations invalidated by the PTO under the same Lanham Act provision. The Supreme Court’s decision resolves a split on the constitutionality of the statute between the approach of the Federal Circuit in the Tam case and that of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in the Washington Redskins case, Blackhorse v. Pro-Football, Inc.
More broadly, the Supreme Court’s unanimous government-speech ruling suggests that it is poised to cabin what is considered to be government speech in the context of government registration and regulation. The Court explicitly warned that courts “must exercise great caution before extending” government-speech rules to messages that originate from private parties. And the Justices’ emphasis on viewpoint-neutrality as it relates to the government suggests that the Court is unlikely to extend the government speech doctrine any time in the near future.
[1] In a portion of the opinion in which only Justice Thomas abstained, Justice Alito also wrote for the majority in concluding that the term, “persons,” in the Lanham Act’s disparagement clause was meant to prohibit registration of marks that disparage members of a racial or ethnic group.
Gibson Dunn’s lawyers are available to assist in addressing any questions you may have regarding these developments. Please contact the Gibson Dunn lawyer with whom you usually work, or the authors:
Howard S. Hogan – Washington, D.C. (+1 202-887-3640, hhogan@gibsondunn.com)
Michael R. Huston – Washington, D.C. (+1 202-887-3793, mhuston@gibsondunn.com)
Christine Demana – Dallas (+1 214-698-3246, cdemana@gibsondunn.com)
Rachel Y. Wade – Dallas (+1 214-698-3273, rwade@gibsondunn.com)
Please also feel free to contact the following practice group leaders:
James C. Ho – Dallas (+1 214-698-3264, jho@gibsondunn.com)
Fashion, Retail and Consumer Products Group:
David M. Wilf – New York (+1 212-351-4027, dwilf@gibsondunn.com)
Media, Entertainment & Technology Group:
Ruth E. Fisher – Los Angeles (+1 310-557-8057, rfisher@gibsondunn.com)
Scott A. Edelman – Los Angeles (+1 310-557-8061, sedelman@gibsondunn.com)
Orin Snyder– New York (+1 212-351-2400, osnyder@gibsondunn.com)
Sports Law Group:
Andrew S. Tulumello – Washington, D.C. (+1 202-955-8657, atulumello@gibsondunn.com)
Maurice M. Suh – Los Angeles (+1 213-229-7260, msuh@gibsondunn.com)
Richard J. Birns – New York (+1 212-351-4032, rbirns@gibsondunn.com)
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Welcome Back to Hawkins
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Audra DiPadova Wilford Is Changing the World, One Cup of Soup at a Time
Last year was one of the biggest years in Audra DiPadova Wilford's life: her son, Max, was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in a memorable, tearjerking segment. Her charity, the MaxLove Project, partnered up with the Honest Company to launch a social media campaign that earned more than 20 million impressions and raised over $30,000. And all of Wilford's hard work earned her a nomination as a L'Oreal Paris Woman of Worth. We caught up with Wilford for an update on her and the MaxLove Project, and how her dreams have evolved since winning the award. Being a WoW was, in Wilford's words, "Beautifully legitimizing. We received national recognition, and it was just a wonderful vote of confidence." With so many great nonprofit organizations doing such amazing work around the world, it can be hard for worthy charities to raise funds—but with her growing press exposure and ensuing fundraising successes Wilford was able to launch new programs including the Broth Bank Initiative, which aims to provide nutritional broths to families whose children suffer from cancer. "What I found was that, in most hospitals, the broth kids were being served was based in bouillon, which has high-fructose corn syrup as a
Jennifer Memmolo
Last year was one of the biggest years in Audra DiPadova Wilford's life: her son, Max, was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in a memorable, tearjerking segment. Her charity, the MaxLove Project, partnered up with the Honest Company to launch a social media campaign that earned more than 20 million impressions and raised over $30,000. And all of Wilford's hard work earned her a nomination as a L'Oreal Paris Woman of Worth. We caught up with Wilford for an update on her and the MaxLove Project, and how her dreams have evolved since winning the award.
Being a WoW was, in Wilford's words, "Beautifully legitimizing. We received national recognition, and it was just a wonderful vote of confidence."
With so many great nonprofit organizations doing such amazing work around the world, it can be hard for worthy charities to raise funds—but with her growing press exposure and ensuing fundraising successes Wilford was able to launch new programs including the Broth Bank Initiative, which aims to provide nutritional broths to families whose children suffer from cancer.
"What I found was that, in most hospitals, the broth kids were being served was based in bouillon, which has high-fructose corn syrup as a main ingredient," Wilford said. "What the broth bank does is replace that with a broth that's much healthier and actually conducive to the healing process."
Wilford's been working with local chefs to make the new broth, and MaxLove Project has taken the healthful eating news to another level for local Santa Ana families—they've introduced family cooking classes, enlisted the support of a local Whole Foods, and started working with local elementary schools on another awesome new initiative: Fierce Food Academy, where kids work together to devise healthy, delicious recipes not just for themselves, but for their peers and friends in the hospital.
"We had the kids compete in a 'Fierceness Challenge,' where they worked with local chefs to come up with these recipes and debut them in a teaching kitchen to a panel of community judges made up of teachers, local police, doctors—it was really, really amazing, and we look forward to expanding that," said Wilford.
If you think those projects are impressive, you should know this: Wilford still works full-time in college admissions. Everything she's accomplished with MaxLove has been in addition to her day job, and with the help of an amazing group of volunteers and paid interns. Her dream for the organization is to be able to dedicate 100 percent of her time to it, and to grow it to be financially viable while at the same time providing a model to other communities to take charge of their own health and nutrition.
"I want MaxLove to inspire a movement across America to make necessary changes to help our kids thrive," she says. "I want to be a part of that movement full-time, and it doesn't need to have my or MaxLove's name on it. I want to be a part of that change with moms, dads, and hospitals across the nation. I want teaching kitchens in every hospital. We can't do it if our communities don't step up. I want to be a part of that change."
August will mark the four-year mark of Max's cancer diagnosis, but Wilford is more determined than ever. With more projects than ever on the horizon, the future of MaxLove is looking bright.
For more information or to make a donation to the MaxLove Project, check out the website here.
Topicscharityinspirationinspiring women
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Cost Could Be SpaceX’s Biggest Barrier to Satellite Internet
Industry experts cite expensive hardware as the foremost hurdle for the company to overcome when it comes to delivering reliable, high-speed Internet service through a constellation of satellites.
by Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times / July 1, 2019
(TNS) — Elon Musk and SpaceX have staked their legacy on a spaceship capable of carrying a hundred passengers to Mars. But to pay for that dream, the Hawthorne company is banking on a project that is ambitious in its own way: selling broadband Internet service delivered by more than 1,000 small satellites.
Chief Executive Musk has mused to reporters about the technological hurdles facing SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, including antennas that track the satellites as they move through the sky and laser communication systems that allow the spacecraft to talk to each other. Last month, SpaceX launched the first 60 satellites of its planned constellation.
But industry experts say the company’s biggest challenge is financial. SpaceX must drive down the cost of sophisticated hardware and software to the point where it can deliver fast, reliable Internet service at a price point that competes with cable or fiber-delivered broadband services, while finding enough underserved markets to provide scale.
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SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell hasn’t been shy about the hurdles Starlink faces.
“This is probably one of the most challenging, if not the most challenging, project we’ve undertaken,” she said during an onstage conversation at a TED conference last year. “No one has been successful deploying a huge constellation for Internet broadband. I don’t think physics is the difficulty here. I think we can come up with the right technology solution, but we need to make a business out of it.”
Here’s a look at what Musk and SpaceX must overcome:
Finding a market
SpaceX previously said its broadband coverage would be aimed at customers in the U.S. and around the world, “including areas underserved or currently unserved by existing networks.” In mid-June, Musk seemed to narrow the scope, telling shareholders of Tesla Inc. — Musk’s other high-wire venture — that the broadband plan’s main value was in providing Internet access to “rural or semi-rural areas, places that don't have connectivity right now.”
In 2017, more than 26% of people who lived in rural areas in the U.S. were not covered by terrestrial broadband Internet service, according to a May report from the Federal Communications Commission. Industry experts have estimated that only 10% to 20% of the Earth’s land area is covered by terrestrial cell towers.
“It’s probably able to serve 3% to 5% of people in the world, but it’s actually not ideal for high-density cities,” Musk said. “It’s really to serve the unserved or poorly served.”
If successful, Starlink will be a major boon for SpaceX’s business and would diversify the company’s revenue streams beyond rocket launches. During a call with reporters last month, Musk estimated that, with a successful Starlink service, SpaceX could grab at least 3%, or $30 billion, of a $1-trillion global Internet connectivity market.
That’s important since Musk said the company’s launch revenue probably “taps out” at about $3 billion a year.
“We would need the revenue from Starlink to fund Starship,” he said during the May teleconference with reporters, referring to the company’s Mars spaceship. “We think this is a key steppingstone on the way to establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars and a base on the moon.”
Space is about to get crowded
SpaceX faces a range of competitors, including London-based OneWeb, which is backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. and British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, and LeoSat Enterprises, a Washington, D.C., company that has partnered with major European satellite maker Thales Alenia Space. Heritage satellite manufacturer Boeing Co. has also submitted paperwork to the FCC proposing its own satellite broadband constellation. Just recently, Amazon.com Inc. entered the race.
Of these, only OneWeb has actually launched satellites for its constellation.
Musk said during the May teleconference that he figured there would be at least one other satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit, besides SpaceX’s, and that having more than one provider would be “the best thing for the consumer.”
“At the end of the day, it’s always good to have competition,” he said.
But having as many as three to four providers in the market is “very unlikely, unless they are very differentiated,” said Carissa Christensen, chief executive of analytic consulting firm Bryce Space and Technology. And first movers may not necessarily have an advantage here — providers that are convenient, well-priced and have an “extremely high-performing product” will likely win, she said.
Satellites are only part of the equation. These operators also need to get the Earth-bound architecture in place, including user terminals to access the service. In a space-based Internet system, customers must have a device in their home to receive and transmit signals from satellites as they cross the sky.
“There’s a lot to getting an entire system and network established,” said Suzi McBride, chief operations officer of satellite operator Iridium Communications Inc.
McBride worked on the Iridium program for Motorola Inc. from 1993 to 1999, when the company was the lead investor in the original Iridium satellite constellation. That operator filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after subscriber growth did not meet expectations. Iridium was later acquired by an investor group.
“There’s a lot of focus on satellite systems, but there’s more to it than satellite systems,” she said.
SpaceX’s development and initial build-out costs for the constellation are apparently already covered. The company raised $535.7 million in an equity offering that began in April and another $486.2 million from a round initiated in December, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated May 24 — the day after the company launched its 60 Starlink satellites.
Musk said before the launch that the fundraising, along with launch revenue from commercial satellites and NASA contracts, would generate enough capital for the company to get the Internet plan to an “operational level.” The constellation could reach initial operational capability with 360 satellites, he said.
“But of course, if things go wrong … we’ll need to raise more capital in that situation,” Musk said in May. He described the entire constellation as a “multibillion-dollar endeavor;” last year, Shotwell estimated it would cost the company $10 billion or more to deploy the system.
Musk has a lot at stake. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that SpaceX now makes up two-thirds of Musk’s wealth, based on the private company’s most recent valuation of $34 billion.
But Christensen pointed to SpaceX’s record of wedging past veteran competitors in the launch business. “It took away business from very established launch companies with a brand new capability,” she said. “So SpaceX certainly has a track record of success in competing.”
High tech at low cost
Beyond start-up costs, satellite experts say affordable Internet service will depend on how cheaply SpaceX can make components.
Some parts, such as phased array antennas, have benefited from improvements in silicon chip technology, which reduced the size and price of electronic components, said Gabriel Rebeiz, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC San Diego.
Unlike a dish antenna, which is perched atop a customer's house and aimed at a fixed spot where it can connect with its corresponding satellite, a phased array antenna can electronically change its beam to meet constantly moving satellites in low-Earth orbit, such as the Starlink spacecraft. The antenna itself looks like a large, flat serving tray — Musk has said the Starlink antenna is about the size of a medium pizza — and is reliable because it involves no moving parts, Rebeiz said.
On Friday, SpaceX said in a statement that 57 of the 60 satellites were communicating with ground stations using their phased array antennas.
When these antennas were first developed more than 30 years ago, they could cost $100,000 or more to make. Today, manufacturing costs range from $300 to $500, Rebeiz said. By comparison, a DirecTV dish costs only $50 to make, but it has much less capability, for instance, being only able to transmit data and communicate with one satellite, he said.
That will be key to keeping the price of user terminals low — about $100 each is a good goal, said Kerri Cahoy, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT.
For any satellite constellation to be “really, really economically viable,” user equipment needs to be sold at three to four times the operator’s monthly service rate to make back investments, said Bulent Altan, head of space at laser communication technology manufacturer Mynaric and an early SpaceX employee who served as vice president of satellite mission assurance from 2016 to 2017.
“It will be a make-or-break factor,” he said.
Another manufacturing challenge for Musk?
SpaceX’s first 60 satellites took a few months to build at the company’s Redmond, Wash., satellite facility, but Musk said in May that the company aims to get that down to a batch at least every two weeks — a rate it could reach by the end of the year.
He likened the ramp-up to Tesla, which went from producing 500 to 600 two-seater Roadsters per year to manufacturing 1,000 cars a day, he said. But the company’s shift to higher-rate Model 3 car production was fraught with difficulties, including a wholesale rethinking of the company’s approach to automation, which led Musk to describe the process as “production hell.”
For SpaceX, the question will be whether it can outperform competitors — including OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture of OneWeb and Airbus that will soon open a high-volume satellite manufacturing facility in Florida — on cost and production efficiencies.
SpaceX has not yet released details about its pricing and costs. Rival OneWeb has said it is aiming for a user terminal price of $200 to $300.
“Nothing that they’re proposing is impossible to build,” Cahoy said of SpaceX’s plan. “The question is, can they do it cost-effectively enough to have a profitable business?”
And targeting sparsely populated areas means SpaceX needs to be even more aware of its user pricing. If SpaceX is providing service in an area that’s not served by mobile phones, Christensen said, “is the price point consistent with what people in that area can pay?” In mostly rural counties in the U.S., the median annual household income is about $47,000, according to the 2010 census.
Remote customers could include cruise ships and passenger planes, which already provide Internet access to customers via satellites. In those cases, SpaceX would face established competition and would have to deliver high reliability, Christensen said.
Musk said last month that SpaceX had not yet tried to sign up any customers for Starlink — largely because it wanted to make sure it was confident in the timing and quality of the constellation — but was interested in talking with potential strategic partners around the world, including telecommunications companies or governments.
Of the 60 satellites launched last month, 45 have already reached their operational altitude, SpaceX said Friday. Two satellites are intentionally being de-orbited to test “end-of-life disposal,” while three that initially communicated with the ground but are no longer in service will passively de-orbit. Ten others are either continuing to raise their orbits or going through last checkouts before that orbit raise, SpaceX said.
The company will test the satellites’ capacity and speed by “streaming videos and playing some high-bandwidth video games using gateways throughout North America,” SpaceX said.
But McBride has a word of warning for SpaceX from her experience at Motorola: Watch for market shifts, particularly as the constellation is being built out. After all, Iridium’s plan to offer satellite phone service was undercut by cheaper ground-based systems.
“It’s not just the [low-Earth orbit] competitors you need to watch,” she said. "You have to watch all the markets and all the technologies that may come into existence.”
©2019 the Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Innovation Space Targets Akron, Ohio, Tech Entrepreneurs Is Space the Next Frontier for Innovation in Gov Tech? Meet the Companies That Could Bring Government to Space
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Exhorder to release new studio album “Mourn the Southern Skies” on September 20th 2019
NOLA thrash metal legends Exhorder have announced plans to release their first album in 27 years, “Mourn the Southern Skies”, which will be released on September 20th, 2019, via Nuclear Blast Records.
The wait is finally over; today the band has also debuted the record’s lead track, “My Time”, alongside a music video that can be seen at the link below. Fans can pre-order the album now as well.
Watch the official video for “My Time” below.
Read more about Exhorder to release new studio album “Mourn the Southern Skies” on September 20th 2019
Helloween to release new live album “United Alive” on October 4th 2019
It was The Sensation of the year 2016. During the Hellbook production to celebrate Helloween’s 30th anniversary, the contributors came to realize that the chemistry in the band had always been unique – and that what belongs together needs to be together again. However, the birth of “Pumpkins United” wasn’t just an original line-up reunion, but the real deal. The ultimate cast consisting of all seven metal heroes: Deris, Kiske, Weikath, Hansen, Grosskopf, Gerstner, and Löble.
Read more about Helloween to release new live album “United Alive” on October 4th 2019
Sonata Arctica to release new studio album “Talviyö” on September 6th 2019
On September 6th, 2019, Finnish melodic metal titans Sonata Arctica will release their tenth studio album, called “Talviyö” (which means “Winter Night”), which includes eleven new tracks.
“We were speaking about having an album cover made from a photo, and luckily managed to find the award winning photographer Onni Wiljami, who actually hails from a village not too far from our hometown. His pictures were just perfect for this album”, explains keyboardist Henrik “Henkka” Klingenberg.
Read more about Sonata Arctica to release new studio album “Talviyö” on September 6th 2019
Alter Bridge to release new studio album “Walk the Sky” on October 18th 2019
For over 15 years, Alter Bridge has been a band known for blurring the line between hard rock and heavy metal. Building upon the sound that has won the band worldwide critical acclaim and a devoted global fan base, the band returns with their sixth studio album, “Walk the Sky”.
Read more about Alter Bridge to release new studio album “Walk the Sky” on October 18th 2019
Austin-based, atmospheric doom duo and the brainchild of James Cl and Philip Hook, Monte Luna, have finally revealed the first details about their sophomore studio album, set for release on October 4th, 2019, with Argonauta Records!
Known for their interminable long doom tracks, “Drowners Wives” will mark a change for the band, while Monte Luna will still keep leading you into another dimension and a challenging trip to fill your musical voids.
Read more about Monte Luna to release new studio album “Drowners Wives” on October 4th 2019
Idles release new animated video for “Never Fight a Man with a Perm”
Idles today release the animated video to fan-favourite and album highlight “Never Fight a Man with a Perm”.
The video was put together by the team behind Fluffer Records (Al Brown, Russell Taysom & Stella Belle Hex), who have said the following about the concept:
Read more about Idles release new animated video for “Never Fight a Man with a Perm”
Puddle Of Mudd to release new studio album “Welcome to Galvania” on September 13th 2019
Multi-Platinum-selling rock band, Puddle Of Mudd, will release their long-awaited new album, “Welcome to Galvania”, on September 13th, 2019, via Pavement Entertainment. It marks the band’s first full-length album of new material since 2009’s “Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love and Hate”.
Having sold over 7 million albums worldwide and releasing a string of chart-topping hits, including “Blurry”, “She Hates Me”, “Psycho”, and “Control”, Puddle Of Mudd is finally ready to share some new music with their fans.
Read more about Puddle Of Mudd to release new studio album “Welcome to Galvania” on September 13th 2019
Alien Weaponry releases new official video for “Blinded”
While all of us are patiently waiting for their new album, Alien Weaponry makes the wait a little sweeter by bestowing the new official video for “Blinded” upon us.
Read more about Alien Weaponry releases new official video for “Blinded”
NorthTale release lyric video for new digital single “Shape Your Reality”
Only three weeks are left until Swedish-American power metal supergroup NorthTale release their much-anticipated debut album “Welcome to Paradise”, through Nuclear Blast.
Today, the band has unveiled a lyric video for the second single off the album, “Shape Your Reality”. Check the lyric video below.
Purchase the song here.
Read more about NorthTale release lyric video for new digital single “Shape Your Reality”
Scott Stapp reveals visualizer video for new single “Gone Too Soon”
Today, Scott Stapp revealed “Gone Too Soon”, the final advance track from his first album in six years, “The Space Between the Shadows” (Napalm Records). Thus far, radio single, “Purpose for Pain”; “Name” about the cycle of abuse and abandonment; and uplifting rocker “Face of the Sun,” have been revealed to fans, who have responded to the tune of 3 Million plays across global, cross-platform, streams, and socials.
Read more about Scott Stapp reveals visualizer video for new single “Gone Too Soon”
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By Anuradha Raghunathan
Abachelor's degree in engineering from the premier Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai. A master's in operations research from Cornell University. And a job offer at the famous Rand Corp. think tank.
T.T. Jagannathan thought he had his career as an academic charted out. But he hadn't even started at Rand when he got a frantic call from his parents in India asking him to save the family business, which was reeling under debt. The TTK Group started by his paternal grandfather was in 29 different businesses--from toys to heart valves. And it was bleeding.
"We had [cumulative] losses of $20 million and annual losses of $2 million," says Jagannathan.
That was in 1972. Over the course of the next two decades Jagannathan refashioned the business conglomerate into a $450 million (revenues) enterprise with interests in everything from condoms to consumer goods to concierge services for nonresident Indians.
The flagship, TTK Prestige, is a play on the modern and expanded Indian kitchen.
That kitchen increasingly features not just pressure cookers--a longtime TTK specialty and mainstay of Indian rice, lentil and curry preparation-- but a range of other counter appliances and cookware. Revenues at the listed TTK Prestige unit have grown from $51 million five years ago to $172 million in the year ended Mar. 31--a "plumping" that helped place the company on FORBES ASIA's Best Under A Billion list.
"Customers don't want fuddyduddy old pressure cookers or pots and pans that their grandmothers used," says Jagannathan, 63. "Aspirations have changed."
TTK is responding with its eight manufacturing plants across India, 1,500 employees and a $50 million expansion plan. It's doubling pressure cooker capacity and quadrupling that for its cookware.
TTK Prestige (it initially had a technical tie to Prestige of the U.K.) went four decades focused on southern India with a single cooker line. Fortunes changed in the 1990s with a diversification into nonstick pans, and in 2005 it forayed into kitchen appliances from mixers to gas stoves to coffeemakers.
"Today nearly 80% of our revenue is from products that were introduced in the last three years," says Jagannathan. "We are a 56-year-old company, but really we are a 3-yearold company." The new wares include redesigned pressure cookers, which are still 40% of total sales.
TTK has also ventured into retail with its Prestige Smart Stores. It's expecting to increase the number of retail outlets from 300 to 350 by the end of this fiscal year.
Jagannathan travels 100 days of the year meeting dealers and customers across the country. He has created a "chairman's club" for the top 1,000 dealers. They're given cash incentives for meeting sales targets and regaled in locations like Switzerland, Italy and Australia for their achievements.
"The best thing about the company is the personal relationships that they have," says Jayanta Dey, a chairman's club dealer in the state of West Bengal. He became a TTK dealer six years ago and now derives more than 30% of his nearly $10 million revenues from TTK products.
"They have a good brand and a good range," says Dey. "They also have schemes that are well advertised through regional and national ads." Jagannathan, too, is constantly pushing for innovations. He has 100 beta versions of pressure cookers in his own house, and he himself cooks at least two times a week--Indian, Western, whatever.
While he's cooking he stumbles onto good ideas, like a microwave pressure cooker. It took five years to make, but now the company has a global patent. Other innovations have emerged from chats with consumers--like the atta-kneader, which is suited to dough for Indian breads, or a coconut shaver, for a common ingredient.
Jagannathan is the second son in a family of three sons. Grandfather T.T. Krishnamachari, who was India's finance minister for three terms, started a trading business in 1928 selling foreign products in India. It sold everything from Cadbury chocolates to Waterman pens. Jagannathan's father took over in 1939.
Growing up, Jagannathan--who did his schooling in Chennai--was a master of many trades. "I was good at everything I did," he says unabash - edly. "I played tennis and was a diploma holder in violin. I knitted and sewed. I was the daughter that my mother never had."
His older brother died early, so it was Jagannathan who got the call to put the business in order. Not long after his return to India his father exited, and the son and mother-- Padma Narasimhan, who joined the board--shut down units and struggled to bring TTK to the black.
"197585 was the toughest phase in the business when I constantly thought about going back to America," recalls Jagannathan. "I had debtors calling me at home, visiting me at home and threatening my children."
Finally in 1997 the group declared profits of $3 million against revenue of $56 million. TTK then got ahead of itself, developing a cooker brand, Manttra, specifically for the U.S. market, and started selling it everywhere from Wal-Mart to Sears.
But domestic issues and sluggishness in the U.S. economy after Sept. 11 combined to put the pressure on TTK. It showed a $17 million hole on its balance sheet in 2003. Again, Jagannathan set to work and fortunes improved, including his own--he debuted on the FORBES INDIA rich list this year with a net worth of $620 million. He, his younger brother, Raghunathan, who runs the listed TTK Healthcare out of Chennai, and their families own 75% of TTK.
But Jagannathan has learned to be cautious."If the economy slows down, it'll have a direct impact on the business--no question about that," he says. "We'll continue to grow because the penetration is low, but the growth rates will come down."
Rising material costs threaten margins, and there's competition both domestically in cookers and from multinationals like Philips and Whirlpool as well in appliance lines. They are all chasing young consumers with buying power.
"Today the kitchen isn't just a place to cook--you see a lot of importance given to color, shapes and size," says Anjan Bose, who heads Philips India's consumer lifestyle business. The domestic arm of the Dutch company now sells everything from toasters to juicers and mixers. "The younger generation is more fastidious and analytical," says Bose. "Add to that the buying power. You can buy basic appliances just by sacrificing a few dinners out."
Philips recently acquired southern Indian mixermaker Preethi to strengthen its presence in kitchen appliances.
After 40 years in the business, however, Jagannathan enjoys some perspective. The keen golfer--who was president of the Indian golf union--now has a clear succession recipe for the cooker outfit. Although two of his three sons are in the group, "I don't see any family member running TTK Prestige hands on after me," he says. "It'll be professionally run."
For now, though, he's the first one to hit the office at 9:30 a.m. "I love coming to work. I love to see the numbers and the results," he says. Obviously there's a lot cooking at TTK.
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Film Review 19th February 2019 23rd February 2019
TOKYO DRIFTER (1966)
by Remy Dean
After his gang disbands, a yakuza enforcer looks forward to life outside of organized crime but soon must become a drifter after his old rivals attempt to assassinate him.
The first time I saw Tokyo Drifter was with friends at the college arts cinema in the late 1980s. We’d heard it was an ultra-hip gangster movie from Japan. There was a 1960s revival going on so this fitted the bill beautifully with its pop-art aesthetic and cool suits. Of course, when it was made, it wasn’t retro at all but up-to-the-minute and cutting-edge. So much so that the director Seijun Suzuki was given a proper dressing down by the executives at Japan’s Nikkatsu studios. They thought it was incomprehensible!
After that first viewing I, too, remembered it as a psychedelic, freewheeling experience, but back then we didn’t have any method of re-watching to check. We all agreed it was great fun and held our attention. It left a lasting impression. For a while after, we’d greet each other with a somewhat cheesy exchange that had struck us as incongruous yet hip: “Hey, Shooting Star!” to which the reply would be “Don’t get familiar.”
Years later, I jumped at the chance to see it again at Nottingham’s Shots in the Dark crime film festival. Quentin Tarantino was a headlining guest and had a hand in selecting the films being screened. In post-Tarantino cinema (most of) Tokyo Drifter made perfect sense as a groundbreaking work of genre-busting genius. It was clearly a major influence on Tarantino himself, which he freely admits, along with other energetic filmmakers coming out of the ‘80s New Wave like Jim Jarmusch, John Woo, and Japan’s own Kitano ‘Beat’ Takeshi.
Tokyo Drifter has now been digitally restored on high definition Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection. They’ve released DVD and Blu-ray versions previously, but this time the colours are super vibrant, as intended, and the soundtrack crisp and clear. This is great news because cinematographer, Shigeyoshi Mine, who often worked with Suzuki, pulls out all the stops with this film. There are several sets, all with distinct lighting styles and colour palettes. The scenes shot on location vary from baroque nighttime low lighting to scenes played out against a glaring snow-blanketed landscape. He utilises filters experimentally; their diffuse edges slicing across the frame to give an almost constructivist composition, splitting the expansive wide shots into sections.
The rectilinear design of traditional Japanese homes offers plenty of opportunity for this, but Suzuki rarely misses a chance to shoot through bars, mesh, windows, doorways, even the floor! Or to use the walls of a set to divide the picture and draw the eye to the important parts. He also uses traditional triadic composition typical of classical Japanese woodblock prints—thought by some to be the origins of manga comics, which were also increasing in popularity in post-war Japan. Triadic composition achieves a sense of depth by placing figures or objects in the immediate foreground to emphasise the middle space between these and the more distant background.
This graphic influence is evident throughout and often the screen is broken down like the frames on a page. In the use of comic book aesthetics and its reinterpretation of the B Movie gangster genre, it reminds me of another colourful masterpiece of ‘60s super-cool: Mario Bava’s hugely enjoyable Danger: Diabolik (1968).
When Tokyo Drifter went into production at Nikkatsu, there wasn’t anything to suggest that it would be anything special. Still active today, the studios had a turbulent history since their founding in 1912, being one of just three Japanese studios to survive WWII. It rode out the war as a distribution company and didn’t return to film production until the mid-1950s after the construction of their new Chôfu studios as the cinema industry began to expand with an injection of investment.
The post-war years were the heyday of the B Movie. In a similar approach to the Hollywood studios model, Italy’s pulp cinema and, to some extent, Britain’s Hammer Films, they pushed out movies at quite a rate—averaging two per week at their peak. These films relied on a stable of writers, an ensemble of contracted talent with in-house technicians and directors. They exploited popular genres and, as Toho Studios seemed to have monopolised the daikaiju (a creature-feature genre typified by their Godzilla franchise), Nikkatsu went for mukokuseki akushun (crime-action potboilers often featuring Japanese yakuza gangs that paralleled Hollywood noir and Italian poliziotteschi).
As one of Nikkatsu’s contracted directors, Seijun Suzuki had already made dozens of films, many of which are now recognised as cult classics. He began to confidently assert his personal vision with the evocatively titled Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! (1963), and started to garner a reputation as a problematic director who, increasingly, experimented with style and structure whilst disregarding the tried and tested formula. When he was assigned Tokyo Drifter, it came with a restrictively reduced budget, the studios expecting this to reign in his experimental flamboyance. It had the opposite effect!
The Japanese studio system was star-driven and the cast was more valuable than the crew. Tokyo Drifter was intended to create a new star in Tetsuya Watari, who’d recently signed with Nikkatsu. (It worked, Watari’s still a star in Japan and has made more than 100 films since.) It was written as a ‘pop-song’ film; a sort of extended promotional video intended to market a hit that rockets the singer to overnight stardom.
Watari plays Tetsu ‘the Phoenix’, an ex-yakuza assassin whose boss, Kurata (Ryûji Kita), has decided to give up crime and deal in legit real estate. One of the operations is a nightclub where Tetsu’s girlfriend Chiharu (Chieko Matsubara) sings torch songs—well just the one song it seems, “Tokyo Drifter”, written by Hajime Kaburagi who’d already composed music for more than 60 films and would go on to write another 160 in a career spanning 50 years. Tetsu also sings and whistles the song at various key moments in the film and Suzuki said he liked how it reminded him of the musically inclined heroes of classic westerns. The Paleface (1947) or Johnny Guitar (1954), perhaps?
Cinematographer Shigeyoshi Mine shot the opening sequence using spoilt monochrome stock. This made the start seem overly serious, almost expressionistic. It also features suited heavies walking toward the camera in a row—Tarantino did say this was a favourite, right? There’s a prolonged beating during which there’s the first hint we’re in for something a little bit weird and wonderful as the action is intercut with a hip figure in a yellow jacket shooting off-screen in various directions against a black background. When the recipient of the beating staggers off among the rolling stock of a rail yard he looks down to see a broken plastic gun at his feet. It’s the only thing in colour and it’s bright 1960s orange…
It turns out that it’s not so simple to walk away from a life of violent crime, and rival boss Otsuka (Eimei Esumi) is pressurising Tetsu to join his gang. When Tetsu flat refuses, Otsuka decides he’d be too big a risk to have around as a free agent, partly because if he ever turned evidence, he could sink both gangs, and partly because Otsuka intends to muscle-in on Kurata’s legit business. He knows that Tetsu’s sense of duty to his old boss would be a problem. So, Tetsu leaves Tokyo to live the life of a drifter until it all blows over. Not happy with that outcome, Otsuka sends his best assassin, Tatsu ‘the Viper’ to track down and neutralise Tetsu ‘the Phoenix’.
Here the story veers away from the yakuza genre and starts to feel more like a modern western, especially with the introduction of a third rogue assassin, Kenji ‘Shooting Star’, who steps in to help his old rival, Tetsu. We pretty much have a three-gun setup like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), which itself had drawn inspiration from Japanese samurai films…
Just like in spaghetti westerns, there are some beautifully staged shoot-outs. One memorable scene against a backdrop of snow involves a showdown on a railway track with an approaching train in the background. Tetsu must calculate the speed of the train, the range of his pistol and how fast he can run. We see through his eyes as he counts the railway sleepers, the one marking the mutual range of his and his adversary’s pistols has been painted red for us.
The only scene that really doesn’t gel is a sort of slapstick bar brawl in which drunken Japanese hoodlums take on some GIs in a Western-themed saloon. It’s exuberant and included for two reasons: as light relief, we get to see three of the protagonists having a laugh together, and as a sort of big neon sign to point out the central subtext. Post-war Japan was having an identity crisis. On one hand, there’s so much heritage to be proud of, yet the old way of life led to a war with a very bad outcome and the influence of western culture was growing. They were now a protectorate of the US, which meant their military budget was freed up for regeneration through commerce.
Seijun Suzuki isn’t on a soapbox with Tokyo Drifter but it’s considering how the traditional culture was being swept aside by imported western values. The script reflects this with the new, younger gangs breaking old agreements to turn a profit and declaring quite openly that money and power are all that matter now. Although it never really becomes deeply philosophical, much of the dialogue between the rogue assassins is addressing the potential goods and evils of duty and honour.
The plot has often been criticised for not making sense and playing second fiddle to the cool style and clever set-pieces. Before viewing this version, I’d be inclined to agree, but this time through, the story seemed to make perfect sense. True it never gets bogged down with joining the dots in real time and we do tend to skip along to the interesting bits. Isn’t that a strong point and something a lot of other filmmakers could learn here?
In Seijun Suzuki’s own words, “viewers don’t care about anything except if the film’s interesting or boring.” Tokyo Drifter is never boring. The brand-new subtitle translation certainly helped it work even better. This time around, the story’s solidly constructed and told very clearly, albeit with what was such a cool narrative style it’s remained fresh to this day… Sadly, though, at the expense of the line “Don’t get familiar!”
Blu-ray Special Features:
New high-definition digital restoration, with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.
New 12-minute video piece featuring unseen interviews with director Seijun Suzuki and assistant director Masami Kuzuu. His assistant director speaks highly of Suzuki and talks a little about the making of Tokyo Drifter. Suzuki explains some of his thinking behind the monochrome opening sequence and the final scenes he was forced to remove which involved a green moon as a symbol of peace and the antithesis of the red rising sun of the Japanese flag—that was just too weird for the studio bosses!
A 20-minute interview with Suzuki filmed during a 1997 retrospective of his films at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles organised by the Japan Foundation and FilmForum L.A. He talks very openly about his approach to filmmaking as a studio hack in the 1950s and ‘60s, explaining the usual shooting schedule of one week for prep, 25 days shooting, plus 3 days for editing and mixing. He remembers that he rarely changed any dialogue in the scripts he was given, as he saw that as the domain of the writer, but would generally ignore shooting suggestions and plan every aspect of costume and set from scratch. There wasn’t time for storyboarding, so after initially planning the layout of sets and the movement of actors, the rest would be adlibbed on the day. Suzuki comes across as humble and likeable and still looked dapper in his 70s (he was once voted best-dressed man in Japan). He talks about his acrimonious dismissal from Nikkatsu (making just two films for them after Tokyo Drifter) and how he was supported by film students eager to learn from the sensei until he eventually began making independent films and took up a successful acting career…
Original theatrical trailer.
New and improved English subtitle translation. Making for a greatly improved viewing experience.
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Howard Hampton. Not available at the time of review.
director: Seijun Suzuki.
writer: Yasunori Kawauchi.
starring: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Hideaki Nitani, Tamio Kawaji.
1960s, 1966, CHIEKO MATSUBARA, CRITERION COLLECTION, FOREIGN LANGUAGE, GENRE: CRIME THRILLER, GENRE: YAKUZA FILM, JAPANESE CINEMA, SEIJUN SUZUKI, TETSUYA WATARI
Remy Dean
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Shenmue 1 and 2 HD remasters are being 'investigated' by Sega
By Connor Sheridan 2016-05-12T16:12:03.132Z News
Shenmue 3 is still coming and is definitely not a collective hallucination, but what about the many folks who never played the first two games? Or those Shenmue fans who want to refresh their memory a decade and a half later - without having to steal their Dreamcast back from the museum?
Sega Europe community and social marketing manager Dan Sheridan (no relation) said in the latest Sega Central video that the company would be happy to put out HD remakes of the existing Shenmue games - but that it wouldn't be a simple process.
"Of course we would love to release these tomorrow," Sheridan said. "Sadly it's not as simple as porting the games to the current platforms as we would need to ensure that any HD remaster lived up to the quality of the original titles. And with games as immersive as Shenmue 1 and 2, there are further complications from licensed products that were included in the original games. That said, we'd love to do it, and are currently investigating how to make it a reality."
If you weren't aware, the Japanese version of Shenmue totally had licensed Coca-Cola machines, among other real-world products. Here's Ryo throwing back a can of Coke (note he could have also gone with Orange Fanta, Grape Fanta, or Sprite).
Shenmue 3 is still slated for a December 2017 release date, which doesn't give Sega much time to get those HD remasters together if it's not already working on them. It's a lot simpler than making a whole new game, granted, but as Sheridan (still no relation, at least that I know of) says it would still take plenty of work.
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The Predator may have an R rating but it also might be as funny as hell
By Lauren O'Callaghan 2018-08-21T14:46:23Z Feature
From the exclusive footage GR has seen so far, The Predator has a lot more to offer than just action. Take a sneak peek at what we saw here...
The Predator is... funny? It’s not something I thought I’d be saying, but after seeing a couple of exclusive clips from the upcoming movie, what got me most excited for Shane Black’s soft reboot is the amazing chemistry between the cast, the hilarious jokes they batted back and forth and, of course, the Predator-on-Predator violence. Sitting down to watch the sneak peek 20th Century Fox prepared for us, I was keen to get a look at the new Predator film, which held promise despite the franchise seemingly running dry a long time ago (Alien vs. Predator… *shudder*). I didn’t know what to expect, but I certainly wasn’t prepared for one of the funniest clips I’ve seen in a long time and if the whole film mixes humour and violence in the same way, we’re in for a treat. Now is a good time to say that if you want to watch The Predator completely spoiler-free, be warned, I’m going to be talking about the two clips I’ve seen, in detail, below.
The first clip is the perfect introduction to the main cast as Olivia Munn’s Casey Bracket lies unconscious on a bed in a rundown motel surrounded by a ragtag group of soldiers who are bringing her gifts of water, sweets, and unicorns made out of tinfoil. Straight away you can tell these aren’t your usual army guys and as she starts to rouse, they panic like school children caught doing something they shouldn’t and quickly back off so as not to “freak her out”. Standing to one side of the room and trying to act as normal as possible (and failing), they wait for Bracket’s reaction and boy is it worth waiting for. As she wakes up Munn’s biologist is clearly concerned about the men who are just stood watching her, but it’s quickly apparent that she’s already been through some kind of Predator encounter so she initially appears to opt for explanations over escape.
And then, boom! She’s up off the bed in lightning speed, grabbing the shotgun which has been carelessly left within her reach and pointing it at the soldiers with a calm precision that suggests she’s more than just a scientist. The group of soldiers couldn’t be more delighted and you can hear exclamations of “I told you she’d go for the gun!” mixed in with the general excitement and comradery being passed back and forth. Munn doesn’t let their unusual reaction shake her though and she continues to point the gun at Boyd Holbrook’s Quinn McKenna demanding they let her go. He’s adamant that they can’t let her go outside and the pair square off, each self assured and strong in their position, and all the while the rest of the men in the room are laughing, joking around, and enjoying every minute of the staredown until Bracket feels she’s warned McKenna enough and pulls the trigger…
Once again, the soldiers go wild (“I told you she’d pull the trigger!”) as the empty barrel spits nothing forth and Munn realises she never had the upper hand. Not one to give up easily, she makes a break for the door anyway, but is stopped by one of the group who apologetically makes it clear he can’t let her leave without putting hands on her. Finally resigned to not getting out of the room any time soon, she turns towards McKenna and demands answers. The whole group joins in with what they think is going on, but it’s clear none of them really know yet, and as Bracket continues to make angry demands it becomes too much for one of the soldiers. “Yeash, you’re pushy,” he mutters. “Did you just say ‘eat your pussy’?” Munn exclaims - and so erupts an argumentative exchange between the pair with one of them adamant that he said ‘eat your pussy’ and they other swearing he said ‘yeash, you’re pushy’ and both repeatedly saying both phrases over and over again to hilarious effect. And the best bit is that you’re not even sure what he said, but his childlike indignation makes it clear that whatever happened, it wasn’t a threat or anything else which might have made the sequence icky, so instead it’s just childishly hilarious.
If this all sounds a lot more sinister than funny, then I’m telling it wrong. While the core plot point of the scene might read as; defenceless woman caught in world-ending events is tormented by her male saviours/captors, the whole sequence is given a hilarious wash thanks to the background banter of the supporting characters (jump to 0.58 in this trailer for a taste of what I mean). They aren’t laughing at Bracket, they’re laughing at each other. At those who lost the bet, at their awkward and sometimes even shy reactions to the strong woman within their midst, and at the ridiculousness of the situation because even though we don’t know at which point this scene comes in the movie, it’s clear that something really bad has happened and they don’t know how to handle it. This is clearly a close knit group of individuals who have been through a lot together and so have no problem ragging in on each other like family, which not only injects a fun and light-hearted edge to the scene, but is also incredibly watchable.
The whole scene is a lesson in character development and so expertly done that you don’t even realise you’re starting to feel a strong affinity for these individuals only seconds after meeting them. So often, action movies lack well-rounded characters who feel like real people, but even if this is the only time we really get to know these characters in The Predator, it’s enough. Munn plays the scared yet capable biologist to perfection and the soldiers are pleasingly unusual in the world of blockbusters as well. Too often do we see a group of male soldiers and one woman take on the big bad in an action movie and every single one of them is painfully one-dimensional. From the outside, The Predator looks like it’s repeating that pattern (I mean, why can’t at least one of the soldiers be a woman too?), but this very human and funny scene, proves that this hero group will be able to hold our attention throughout the film.
By comparison, the second, much shorter clip is all action and used to show off The Predator’s other big selling point: Predator-on-Predator violence. The footage is further on in the movie and an extension of the scene you can see from 1.39 to 1.48 in this trailer. Bracket, McKenna, and McKenna’s son Rory (played by Jacob Tremblay) are trying to escape from a Predator, which is hunting them through what looks like a school building. Just when it looks like it’s the end of the road for the trio, the Predator is pulled out through a window by a massive Hulk-like Predator, which lacks any armour but makes up for it with muscles. He throws the smaller Predator out into the street and squishes him like a bug while Bracket, McKenna, and Rory run towards a vehicle containing the rest of the soldiers and quickly speed away, all the while trying to take the big Predator down. Suffice to say, they don’t manage it, and it looks like he’s going to be the one to beat come the finale.
I don’t want to say too much about this new kind of Predator because it’s clearly a big plot point for the movie and not knowing everything going in is half the fun, but the fact that Fox showed a character-heavy and funny clip and an action-packed Predator sequence has me hopeful that the entire film mixes humour and action in the same way. If it does - and it pulls it off as well as I’ve seen in the preview footage - it might be time to welcome The Predator franchise back with open arms because it’s finally got something new to say.
For more adrenaline-pumping viewing, check out the best action movies everyone should watch.
Feature ents
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Leavenworth theater department wins nationwide recognition
By Mark RountreeLeavenworth Times
When Jennifer Morgan joined the Leavenworth High School staff four years ago as a theater teacher, she created a five-year plan to take the program to a higher level.
And the program appears to be well on its way to that level.
The Educational Theatre Association recently announced that the theater department won the Theatre in Our Schools Impact Award for their student theater advocacy, outreach and performances at their school, in their community and at the state capitol.
“We came in second place last year,” Morgan said of the exclusive national honor. “This year we set a goal to win.”
Morgan also announced that Leavenworth High School is one of four schools in the nation to receive the Outstanding School Award, given annually to high schools with theater programs that exemplify and promote high standards in educational theater.
“That award takes into account the theater curriculum, community impact and outreach and the quality of the productions,” Morgan said.
The students produce 12 shows each year in addition to leading theater camps for elementary school students and performing for hospital patients. The troupe also advocated for the creation of a drama program at the middle school level.
In 2018, the theater program was one of only 50 in the nation to receive a R.I.S.E. America grant for $10,000 from the television network NBC and the Educational Theatre Foundation.
The grant covered a portion of the cost for a new stage floor in the high school auditorium. The school district provided the rest of the funding to pay for the floor upgrade.
Morgan also announced that the program has received four nominations for the Blue Star Awards for last fall’s musical “Newsies.”
Award nominations were for Community Impact, Outstanding Costume Design and Construction Tier II, Outstanding Scenic Design and Construction Tier II and Outstanding Actor in an Ensemble Role. That actor was Brian Bartenslager, who played the character Romeo in the musical.
The Blue Star Awards program, sponsored by Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Mo., is similar to Broadway’s Tony Awards in which high school theater programs in the Kansas City area are recognized for their theater productions and stagecraft.
The winners will be named May 23 at the Blue Star Awards ceremony at the Starlight Theatre.
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The future of extreme e-sports: The gamepad that draws blood every time your character gets hit December 2, 2014 at 9:08 am
In a rather chilling case of dystopian sci-fi made real, some Canadians have created a modified Xbox gamepad that draws blood from your arm every time your in-game character takes damage. While this is ostensibly a rather noble effort, it’s hard not to see this as the first step towards extreme gaming and e-sports where losers actually die in real life.
Super Mario World speedrun hack takes up up down down left right left right B A to the next level January 14, 2014 at 9:47 am
Over the last week, Awesome Games Done Quick 2014 has raised over $1 million for charity by live streaming some of the world’s best video game speedruns. While most of these speedruns were performed live and unassisted by dexterously gifted gamers, a select few were tool-assisted speedruns, or TAS for short. My favorite, by far, was a TAS by Masterjun that used an exact combination of acrobatic Yoshi moves to exploit Super Mario World on the SNES, allowing him to run arbitrary code that’s uploaded to the console via its controller ports. Within moments of the “total control” exploit being executed, Super Mario World is replaced by a game of Pong that uses Mario’s head as a ball. At this point, you should really watch the video below.
Humble Bundle & Bundlelytic: Donate to charity, receive great games and apps November 3, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Have you ever wanted to fork out for LastPass Premium, but couldn’t quite justify the grievous $12 per year expense? Or likewise, maybe you want to pick up a few games to help you unwind at the end of the day but you don’t have the spare $60 that most modern games require?
5 cross-platform indie games for $1: Humble Indie Bundle 3 July 27, 2011 at 6:40 am
The much-loved Humble Indie Bundle is back, and yet again you can pay whatever you like (or donate your entire purchase to charity) to get your hands on five great indie games.
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These Middle Easterners Support Donald Trump
In this podcast, meet the Americans of Middle Eastern descent supporting Donald Trump.
Razan Alzayani, Hebah Fisher and Kerning Cultures • Oct 15, 2016
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,” reads Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican nominee for president at a rally in December 2015, following the San Bernardino shooting in the United States.
You can imagine our intrigue when we learned that there is a growing movement among Americans of Middle Eastern descent, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, who are supporting Trump.
We spoke with Hossein Khorram, an Iranian Muslim American living in Seattle, who is a fundraiser for Trump Victory Inc. So far, he has raised $140,000 for the Trump campaign.
Iranian Revolution of 1979
Hossein was born in northern Tehran, went to public schools and, in the 1970s, he remembers “when everything went south.”
“I clearly recall the inception of the revolution in Iran,” remembers Hossein. “They were a small group of people, not popular. In my high school maybe 5% were the Islamists. [And] 95% were people like me who respect the religion and God, and Prophet Muhammad, but felt that was not a license to override other people with.”
As the Islamic Revolution picked up momentum in Iran, Hossein’s parents encouraged their two sons to go abroad for their schooling. So Hossein got a visa and went to the US. His family followed him a few months later, but his father, Farhad Khorram, continued going back and forth to check on the family business. Farhad and his brother owned a large manufacturing company with a couple hundred employees selling fireproof safes and metal cabinetry in Tehran.
On one trip back to Tehran, Farhad was planning a hunting trip with his brother and four friends, about 3,400 miles away from the capital. As he spoke freely about the trip in his office, one man from the Foundation of the Weak, Bonyad Mostazafan, was stationed at the office as a guard and overheard his plans. These foundations were notorious during the time of the revolution for doing political work under the guise of charitable organizations, including seizing private assets.
“And when [my father] went hunting, the revolutionary guards were waiting for them.” The guards claimed his father and friends were plotting a coup against the regime as enemies of God, and they pointed to the weapons Farhad and friends were carrying as proof of their ill intent. The guards blindfolded Farhad and party, put them in a mini bus and drove them to the Evin Prison, which is notorious for its executions and political prisoners.
At the prison, the guards brought pieces of paper, handed them to Farhad and the others, and instructed the group to write their wills because they were going to be executed.
Hossein Khorram © Hebah Fisher
The guards blindfolded them and lined them up, but instead of shooting at them, they shot into the air. “It took them a few minutes to kind of touch and figure out which world they were in—is it this world or the next? And after a minute or so, no they’re not dead yet, they’re still here.” The guards said they changed their minds and would execute the group in the morning.
The following morning, the guards lined the group up and shot in the air. This went on for four or five days. Each day, Hossein’s father was told that he would be executed, and by the next morning the guards changed their minds. Eventually, his father was transferred to a different prison where he was held for another eight months. Then, one day, the clergy walked up to Farhad and offered him a deal: Pay $80,000 as compensation for their hospitality, and they would let him out for a vacation for one day.
“My aunt came up with the money, and they had him leave for one day, but the understanding was he would never come back.”
By this time, the regime had seized all the Khorram family’s assets, and Hossein’s father had nothing—they lost possession of their houses, bank accounts, everything. The family borrowed money from friends, and Farhad was driven to the border and escaped into Pakistan. At the kindness of strangers, he found his way to the US to reunite with his family, and they began rebuilding their lives.
Middle Eastern Supporters of Donald Trump
Today, Hossein lives in Seattle in the United States and is a real estate developer. We met him in one of his buildings, an apartment complex that has Trump/Pence signs hanging off the balconies. Most of the tenants are Iranians—older men and women who sit in the common room and play board games, talking in Farsi. And most are voting for Trump for the same reasons as Hossein.
“Politics tore our life apart,” says Hossein. “Before this revolution, we were just ordinary people who didn’t really care for politics, but we paid a very dear price. Our life became political. I became active in the Iranian resistance to the regime. And one thing that compels me to the Trump campaign is the way appeasement policies have not paid off. Since President [Barack] Obama signed the nuclear agreement with Iran … we have to let go of appeasement, and the time is now.”
Among Christian Arabs or ethno-minorities such as Yazidis, Assyrians and Chaldeans, supporters of Trump feel that the US has not been tough enough on rising Islamist extremism that threatens their home country communities. “We don’t think that a third Obama term is going to be good for the Middle East,” says David William Lazar, a member of the American Mid East Coalition for Trump. “And by third Obama term I mean Hillary Clinton. So we looked at what Mr. Trump was saying about his Middle East policies, and that’s why we’re working to get him elected.”
The American Mid East Coalition for Trump comprises Lebanese, Iraqis, Assyrians, Turks and Iranians, who outline seven of Trump’s Middle East policies they support:
“(1) His opposition to the destructive Iran Deal signed by the Obama administration with the Ayatollah regime in Tehran; (2) His firm opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist influence in the United States; (3) His determination to destroy ISIS [Islamic State] and push back against all terror groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and all other Jihadi terror groups; (4) His willingness to take action in defense of the persecuted Christians and Yazidis in the Middle East; (5) His determination to help in the creation of free zones inside Syria and Iraq to resettle the refugees; (6) His support for the formation of an Arab coalition against terrorists; (7) His vision to help the Middle East become stable and prosper.”
One rising sentiment seems to be that while Hillary Clinton is politically correct, her policies voting twice for the PATRIOT Act and for the Iraq War have adversely impacted the Middle East as a region and its diaspora population in the US. We heard a lot of: “I’d rather have someone slap me in the face than stab me in the back. At least I know what I’m dealing with.”
Or, we heard that Trump’s volatility and unfamiliarity with politics are perceived as his strengths: “I’m going to vote for Trump,” says Ray Hanania, a Palestinian American journalist living in Chicago. “Even though it’s a 50/50 risk he may be just as bad as Hillary … or! Maybe, there’s a chance, because he’s so uncontrollable, that he could turn out to be the catalyst that changes the dynamics of how this country deals with the Middle East. Now, people say, oh that’s a big if! But I say, OK, it’s a chance. But you know, when you gamble, you’re taking a chance, and I’m willing to risk it with him rather than risk with somebody I know is going to take me down a road I don’t want to go down.”
While statistics are difficult to gather with any certainty on the Middle Eastern American population in the US, one survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in March 2016 found that 11% of their surveyed 1,850 registered Muslim voters across six states support Donald Trump.
From our on-the-ground conversations with Middle Eastern Americans in Maryland, Washington, DC, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle, we found quite a few who plan to vote for Trump—some are silent in their support, some are vocal.
*[Author’s note: The views expressed herein do not reflect the views of Kerning Cultures and company. This feature was originally published on Kerning Cultures, a partner institution of Fair Observer.]
CategoriesPodcasts Tags2016 US presidential election news, Donald Trump, Donald Trump for president, Donald Trump supporters, Hillary Clinton, International political magazine, International political news, news on Donald Trump, Today’s news headlines, world news analysis
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Peter Thomas Presented ‘Order of the Towel’
Rev. Peter Thomas, field director for the Church of God in Africa, was inducted into the ‘Order of the Towel’ during the World Missions banquet held July 30, 2018 at the recent International General Assembly in Orlando, Fla.
The recognition was presented by Doug Small, director of Church of God Prayer Ministries. The honor is bestowed “in recognition of servant leadership and the creation of an ethos of character in leadership.”
In the decade in which Peter Thomas has served as the Church of God field director for much of Africa, 43 nations have felt the temperate passion of a man who has given himself to a continent. For more than two decades, he served as the education director, forging relationships, pressing the character of the church deeper, creating a continent-wide network committed to the complete evangelization of African peoples, and establishing a self-sustaining movement.
In Africa’s leadership conferences, Peter Thomas can often be seen sitting quietly on the sidelines. He leads by serving. He directs by sharing authority and influence. He guides with affirmation and, when necessary, clear, dispassionate principled engagement.
Doug Small, second from right, presents the Order of the Towel to Peter Thomas, while General Overseer Tim Hill, right, and Direcotr of Church of God World Missions, David Griffis, look on (click photo to enlarge)
“In 2008, 1,798 churches with 424,227 members were reported” stated Small. “The figures proved to be inflated, and were adjusted, by as much as 25 percent, for accuracy. Still, after a decade, with more credibility in statistics, the number of churches reported total 6,524, with 817,150 members. Conservatively, the net gain is 4,726 new churches and 393,923 new members.”
Where Islam has been pushing south, with an agenda of making all of Africa Muslim, the Firewall Project has been established, not as a defensive mechanism, but as a good-news evangelism and church-planting initiative. In four short years, 3,837 churches planted have been in the 10/40 window/Sahel zone. These are Muslim-dominated territories where there was only one struggling church or there were diaspora churches that spoke a foreign tongue and were not culturally, effectively evangelizing the indigenous locals. In Niger, there was one church. Now there are 27 new churches planted through the Firewall initiative—all indigenous, evangelizing congregations. In Chad, 197 churches have been planted, one a week, through the Firewall initiative. All are indigenous. Togo—struggling with 13 churches, and a national bent toward animism, ancestor worship, and voodoo—has seen 127 new churches planted.
“There are few people among us who rightly deserve the appellation of ‘apostolic,’” Small stated. Peter Thomas is such a man. “Too often our ideas are clouded by images of strong and dominant personalities. The apostle Paul, on the other hand, often spoke of being weak and gentle among the churches. He forged forward meeting rejection and acceptance.”
“Along his journey, Peter Thomas has been taken hostage and virtually left for dead,” Small concluded. “He has been turned out of countries, injured and wounded, falsely accused and arrested, and in peril that threatened his life. Nevertheless, he has quietly persisted in a mission to see an entire continent set ablaze in the glory of God. Youthful Africa, with an average age of 19, is the rising continent. It is the harvest that could change the world.”
Some of the previous recipients of the Order of the Towel Award have been Dr. Robert Fisher; Dr. Horace Ward; Missionary Margaret Gaines; Former Attorney General, John Ashcroft; and Times Square pastor, Carter Conlon.
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Kathy Griffin has become famous through her many television and reality show appearances, as well as her acerbic stand-up comedy. Her television credits include a four year stint on the NBC sitcom SUDDENLY SUSAN, six seasons of her own reality show KATHY GRIFFIN: MY LIFE ON THE D-LIST, which won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Reality Program; she was also a host of her own talk show, KATHY, and made appearances on shows such as THE SIMPSONS, THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR, ER, MAD ABOUT YOU, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, SEINFELD, AMERICAN DAD, GLEE, WHITNEY, THE X-FILES, DILBERT, UGLY BETTY, WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?, LAW & ORDER: SVU, and LAST COMIC STANDING. She also had multiple HBO stand-up specials and 19 Bravo stand-up specials— more than anyone else on the network. Her film credits include SHREK FOREVER AFTER, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, THE MUPPETS, HALL PASS, and PULP FICTION. She has also written a memoir, OFFICIAL BOOKCLUB SELECTION: A MEMOIR ACCORDING TO KATHY GRIFFIN, that became a New York Times Bestseller.
Kathy Currently Appears In
Kathy Has Previously Appeared In
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Groundlings A Go-Go
Full Frontal Groundlings
Worship The Groundlings You Walk On
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The Tories can’t muzzle election talk of Europe
by Timothy Garton Ash
'We should be committed to a stronger European voice in the world," he says. "It is the common will to act together that is decisive." But unfortunately "European unity is lacking on so many issues". Who is this speaking? Jacques Delors? Herman Van Rompuy? No, it is William Hague, the famously Eurosceptic shadow foreign secretary, sitting in his modern corner office with its bow-window view of Parliament Square and delivering a carefully calibrated message of reassurance to the Guardian and the world.
Why? For reasons of strategic realism and electoral guile. The realism is explicit. The Tories were against the Lisbon treaty but "we have to work with what's there". That includes the EU's new foreign service, into which, he assures me, he would despatch some of Britain's brightest and best diplomats. Yes, the Tories want the repatriation of some powers, but "we've taken a strategic decision that we're not starting in government [with] a confrontation with the EU". He had an "excellent meeting" with the German foreign minister the other day. And so on. Welcome the new, pro-European Monsieur Hague.
Continue reading Timothy Garton Ash in The Guardian…
Contemporary History
European Politics and History
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Reading, Leeds and Latitude shortlisted for multiple awards!
Reading Festival and Leeds Festival have been shortlisted in two categories at the UK Festival Awards 2009!
It's now time for the second round of voting! Please visit www.FestivalAwards.com to vote!
Reading Festival has been nominated for best major festival, and Radiohead's Reading performance has been nominated for best headline performance.
Leeds Festival has been nominated for best major festival, and Kings of Leon's Leeds performance has been nominated for best headline performance.
Latitude Festival has also been shortlisted in three categories at the UK Festival Awards 2009!
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Voting ends on Wednesday 4th November and the winners will be announced on Thursday 19th November.
Don't forget, by voting you'll be in with another chance to win tickets to all of next year's winning festivals!
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Expertise news at the Higher School of Economics
Students Examine Cybersecurity Contextualization in Russia and the United States
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Students from HSE ISSEK, Stanford University, and Rice University have researched how Russia and the US cooperate in cybersecurity and explored the nuances present in the approaches that each country takes in this area, including different understandings of cybersecurity-related terms. The research was conducted in 2016-2017 as part of the Stanford US-Russia Forum (SURF), a programme dedicated to developing US-Russia cooperation. Over a period of 8 months, 30 American and Russian students and young professionals worked on their projects.
The project’s goal was to identify the most controversial terms in the field of cybersecurity, that prevent Russia and the US from communicating effectively. The research group used the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) to find the top 10 most popular cybersecurity terms in all content published between November 2015-2016. GDELT is the largest open project, which comprises over a quarter-billion event records in more than 100 languages. Using this data it was possible to visualize the relationship of the terms related to cybersecurity in the US and Russia.
‘The SURF programme provides a detailed plan outlining the research stages and sets deadlines for the submission of drafts, papers, and presentations. Using this plan we identified our mutual interests and areas of expertise. We worked both on our own and collaboratively, discussing the findings and future steps in weekly online calls,’ explains Elza Ganeeva, project participant and MA student in HSE’s Governance of Science, Technology, and Innovation programme.
The first goals and project plans were discussed at the HSE autumn conference and the final results were presented at Stanford this spring.
For each of 10 terms, the students looked at the top 100 terms that appeared with those terms in content published in English and in Russian. This gave them 20 co-occurrence networks, at the edges leaving cybersecurity terms and connecting to 100 other related terms. The team did additional graph processing so that these graphs would have different structures. For each pair of graphs, the network distance was then measured. The larger the network distance, the most discordant the term. The students conducted additional analysis on the features that drove the network distance number and on qualities of the most discordant ‘cybersecurity’ term, and then translated the technical findings into policy recommendations.
Choosing the term “cyberattack” as a focal term, it was possible to identify the most common cybersecurity-related terms across the full range of content and to determine the distance between English and Russian-speaking counterparts. The greatest distance revealed the areas of the greatest dissonance in understanding the same terms in Russia and the US. Interestingly, rather than being a discordant word, “cyberattack” turned out to be contextualized similarly across English and Russian content, while terms that relate to policy, public sector management, information, and communication technologies (ICT) and digital government were understood differently in two countries, that is, were highly discordant.
That means that there is a fundamental difference in how English and Russian speakers understand the role of government in regulating information and communication technologies. While cybersecurity falls under the umbrella of information security in Russia, in the US it is its own military domain and perhaps less likely to touch the lives of civilians than in Russia. Therefore, more themes fall into the concept of digital government in Russian content than in English content. Practically, this may mean that, to a Russian speaker, an understanding of cybersecurity is more nuanced than it is to an English speaker. Finally, for both English and Russian speakers, cybersecurity terms are either highly contextualized or not well-defined.
Elza Ganeeva, HSE
Participation in SURF became one of the brightest events of the year 2016-2017. In June, 2016, I decided to apply to join the cybersecurity working group of SURF because I was inspired by my colleague, who specializes in cybersecurity. This research was a unique experience, which allowed me to learn a lot about cybersecurity policy on different levels, technical aspects of cybersecurity and, most importantly, about different reflections of the Russian and English speakers on the same phenomenon. Participation in this project helped me to expand my horizons and to realize that the core of cybersecurity is not the concern over security in cyberspace, but it is rather the matter of trust which starts on the individual level. Besides the research, we had a great academic programme that included meetings with the most interesting speakers and the experts, such as Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, Dr. Francis Fukuyama, an American political scientist and economist, Secretary William Perry, Dr. Ilya Strebulaev, Stanford, and Professor Fyodor Lukyanov, HSE, and many other talented people. I would like to give huge thanks to SURF leadership team, SURFers 2016/2017 and everyone who supported this project for the life-changing experience!
Ashe Magalhaes, Stanford University
I chose to participate in this project because it enabled me to work at the intersection of Computer Science and US-Russian relations, two areas I am passionate about. In the literature, network analysis is often applied to social graphs and less frequently applied to language co-occurrence networks, so I was really not sure what to expect from the technical outcome of our paper. I was surprised at the role Average Node Clustering Coefficient played as a driver of network distance; essentially, this means that nodes in our network have a low degree of separation and can be understood as words that are highly nuanced. A trend we found was that a cybersecurity-related term could be highly nuanced to an English speaker and be less nuanced to a Russian speaker (or vice versa). This means that for policy negotiations, disagreement could easily arise when one party does not understand all of the associations and definitions of the cybersecurity term held by the other party.
Susan Wen, Rice University
Similar to Ashe, I'm a computer science major and I'm also double major in political science. This project was a great opportunity for me to discover the intersection of the two fields. During the initial proposal stage of our research, we discovered how deeply computer systems have infiltrated our critical infrastructures and how vulnerable the two countries are to computer attacks. Thus, we do see a huge potential for the develop of computer security and cybersecurity policies that would facilitate collaborations. Yet our trip to Moscow and our literature review made it clear that we still lack the foundation for all these collaborations, which is mutual understanding on cybersecurity, which motivated our network analysis approach on contextualization of cybersecurity terms. For me, this discovery came in different stages and such realization was a great learning experience in research. In addition, what's unique about this project is that we are collaborating across universities and across country borders (I am actually a Chinese national). I have learned to see so many different perspectives and that helped me understand what kind of work is required for effective collaboration.
Application for participation in SURF 2017-2018 is open until 18 June.
Maria Besova
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Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, Master's Programme 'Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation'
Participants of Russian-Chinese Summer School on International Affairs Tackle Trade, International Institutions, and More
On Thursday, July 11, students and faculty of the International Russian-Chinese Summer School on International Affairs bid farewell with a festive awards ceremony and closing lecture by Professor Sergey Karaganov, Academic Supervisor and Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs.
Educationinternational studentsinternational affairsinternational cooperationsummer schools
‘It Is a Great Opportunity to Enhance Your CV and Meet Other Researchers’
One of the perks of studying at HSE University is its wide range of academic mobility programmes. Ksenia Semykina, a master’s student of Comparative Social Research, recently spent a semester at the Free University of Berlin with the support of an Erasmus+ scholarship. She shared some practical advice on how to live and study abroad with HSE News Service.
Educationstudentsmaster's programmes international cooperation
HSE University and UN-Habitat Sign Collaboration Agreement
HSE University and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme signed an agreement to conduct joint research on urban development. HSE Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov and UN Under-Secretary-General Maimunah Mohd Sharif, who heads the UN-Habitat programme, signed the letter of intent at the recent Moscow Urban Forum, which was held on July 4-7 at Moscow’s Zaryadye Park.
Societyinternational cooperation
University of London and HSE University Offer a Second Degree Programme in Law
Students who have been accepted to the HSE bachelor’s programmes in ‘Law’ and ‘Private Law’ may simultaneously enroll in the second degree programme at the University of London to supplement their basic training. The second degree programme is also open to external students and working professionals.
Admissionsadmissions 2019bachelor's programmesinternational cooperationlaw
First University Startup Fest Held at HSE St. Petersburg
On June 24 – 28, HSE University – St. Petersburg hosted the International University Startups & Spin-Offs Festival (HSE Fest), which brings together students from across the world to pitch their startups for a one-time chance to win grants that will help them take their projects to the next level.
On Campusinternational cooperationstartupsSt. Petersburg
Russian and French Scholars Present Research on Soviet History at Graduate Seminar
The International Centre for the History and Sociology of World War II and its Consequences at HSE University held a Graduate Student Seminar in Soviet History together with Sciences Po (France) on June 17 – 18, 2019. HSE News Service spoke with participants and instructors of the seminar, which examinedthe impact of WWII on the Soviet Union and surrounding regions, as well as aspects of the Soviet system from Stalin up to the 1980s.
Research&Expertiseconferences & seminarshistoryinternational cooperation
International Partners’ Week at HSE: Preparing Students for an Uncertain Future
On June 18, the third International Partners’ Week ‘Academic Agility: Preparing Students for an Uncertain Future’ began at HSE University. The event brings together representatives of more than 30 universities from 16 countries, including France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, the USA, Finland, the United Kingdom, and China. They have all come to Moscow to learn more about the kind of learning experience HSE University can provide, as well as to discuss practical challenges and solutions regarding international mobility.
On CampusReporting an eventpartnershipseducationinternational cooperation
Where Is the Truth in Post-Truth Time?
On June 3-4, a conference entitled ‘Beyond Post-Truth: Media Landscapes in the “Age of Insecurity”’ was held in St. Petersburg. The conference was jointly organized by the Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities (IGITI) at HSE University, the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe at GWZO Leipzig, the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt, and Justus Liebig University Giessen.
Research&Expertiseinternational conferencesinternational cooperation
HSE ISSEK Researchers Sign Cooperation Agreement with Korean Colleagues
This May, HSE and the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI, Republic of Korea) signed a cooperation agreement on science and advanced technology research. This agreement was signed by Leonid Gokhberg, HSE First Vice Rector, Director of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, and Dr. Hwang-Hee Cho, STEPI President.
On Campusforesightinternational cooperation
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Groceries With Surprisingly Long Shelf Lives
Groceries...
The National Honey Board says that honey stored in tightly sealed containers can last decades, and even centuries. However, it will darken and lose its aroma and flavor or crystalize if it's not properly processed, packaged and stored, so a shelf life of two years is often printed on the label. Pro tip: Crystalized honey can be brought back to liquid form by placing the honey container in a pot of hot water. Glass bottles work best when reheating, but plastic will do.
Salt will last forever. In fact, what you're eating may have already been around for billions of years before it was harvested from rock deposits or the ocean. Kosher and sea salt do not expire, but table salt will because it contains additives. Iodine and anti-caking agents spoil over time, so the shelf life for table salt is about five years.
Like salt, white sugar does not expire because it does not contain water and therefore cannot foster bacteria growth. If sugar is compromised by moisture, it might clump. In this case, just pop it in hot coffee or tea and let it melt, or stick it in a plastic Ziploc and pound away. Brown sugar also lasts forever, but is best within two years because it contains molasses. Unlike white sugar, it actually keeps longer in more humid environments. If your brown sugar clumps, put it in a bowl and cover it with a damp paper towel. Microwave for about 20 seconds to restore it. Any longer and you could end up with a big, gooey mess.
While cooked rice only lasts days, an unopened bag of dry white rice is good indefinitely. Once you break into the original packaging, transfer any unused contents to an airtight container or freezer bag. You can even keep it in the fridge or freezer to keep it safe from bugs and other contaminants. Uncooked brown rice has a shelf life of only six to eight months because it has a higher oil content.
The Whole Grains Council says that whole intact grains including wheat berries and brown rice can last up to six months on a cool, dry pantry shelf or up to one year in the freezer so long as they're stored in an airtight container. Whole-grain flours and meals spoil sooner because their protective bran layer is broken, allowing oxygen to compromise them. These will keep for just one to three months in the pantry, and two to six months in the freezer.
Dried corn
Dried corn has a hard outer shell that protects it from spoilage for a very long time. You can expect a shelf life of 10 to 12 years if you keep dried corn (like popcorn) stored in an oxygen-free container in an area that's steadily 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Colder temperatures could help it keep even longer.
Baking soda is technically good indefinitely, but most will have a "best by" date because it will lose potency over time. If you want only top-notch baking soda, try to use an unopened package within two years and an opened package within six months.
When stored at 40 degrees Fahrenheit and below, powdered milk can last two to 10 years unopened. Once you break into the package and activate it with water, however, it should be kept in the fridge and consumed within four to five days. You'll know it's gone bad if it has a yellow discoloration and odor.
There was once a rumor that Twinkies don't ever expire, but that's simply not true. This treat has a shelf life of 25 days, which doesn't sound like much, but in the grand scheme of things that's actually a long time for a baked good. The reason for this is that there are no dairy products used in Twinkies, so they spoil relatively slowly. Little Debbie's Zebra Cake, Nutty Buddy and Oatmeal Creme Pie are guaranteed fresh for 60 days or six months when frozen. The brand's Honey Bun keeps for 90 days.
Dried beans do not expire, but they will begin to lose their moisture and nutritional value after one to two years. After five years, all vitamins that were once inside will be gone completely. If you don't care about nutrients, you can eat dried beans whenever - as long as bugs or mold haven't gotten to them first. (It is OK to eat these moldy foods, though.)
The true shelf life of oatmeal depends on variety, packaging and storage, but as a rule of thumb it's good for one to two years. If it's flavored or made with cream, expect it to go bad within six to nine months. Minute and five-minute oatmeal lasts for two to three years, and steel-cut keeps for one to two years. This is all dry, of course. Prepared oatmeal is only OK to consume for five to seven days.
Potato flakes
Potato flakes, or dehydrated mashed potatoes, store indefinitely so long as they're kept dry, but expert preppers advise you eat any dried vegetable within eight to 10 years. This does not always apply to instant potato mixes though, as some brands add other ingredients to make them tastier.
Dehydrated fruit slices
Dried fruit doesn't keep as well as dehydrated vegetables, but they're still good for about five years if they're stored in a cool place and kept away from oxygen. The cooler the temperature, the longer they'll last.
Fresh pasta will last just four to five days beyond the "best by" date, and should ideally be eaten within a day or two of production. Dried pasta stays fresh for years because it contains no eggs or moisture. Cooked pasta has a relatively short shelf life of seven days in the refrigerator or six to eight months in the freezer.
In a pantry, instant coffee can last anywhere from two to 20 years. In the freezer, unopened containers will never go bad. If you break the seal on the original packaging, there's a chance that moisture could get inside. If you see mold or any sort of bacterial growth, don't chance it. Although instant coffee lasts the longest, it isn't the best coffee in America - this is.
More from The Daily Meal:
Things Your Grocery Store Doesn't Want You to Know
12 Ways You're Being Rude at the Grocery Store
Childhood Breakfasts You Forgot Existed
Old Etiquette Rules We Need to Bring Back
50 of the Most Terrifying Places on Earth
Top 31 best island beaches for swimming and snorkeling
What to Eat to Repel Bugs Gallery
The 50 Best All-Inclusive Resorts in the Caribbean
The Weirdest Regional Slang Across America
How to Cook Spaghetti Perfectly Every Time
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A Road Map to Medicare Reform: Building on the Experience of FEHBP
Testimony Health Care Reform
May 6, 2003 23 min read
Robert Moffit
Moffit specializes in health care and entitlement programs, especially Medicare.
Testimony before the Senate Special Committee on Aging on May 6, 2003
My name is Robert E. Moffit. I am the Director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. In that capacity, I supervise a staff of analysts who examine federal and state health care policies and programs, as well as developments in the private health insurance markets. The testimony I give today is my own and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Heritage Foundation, its officers, or its trustees.
I deeply appreciate your invitation to appear and discuss Medicare reform and the lessons we can learn from the experiences of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the largest group health insurance program in the world. In this connection, neither Medicare nor the FEHBP is for me simply a matter of academic interest. As a former federal employee, I served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) during the Reagan Administration and also as an Assistant Director for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which has administrative responsibilities for the FEHBP. It was not until 1992, however, that my colleagues at The Heritage Foundation persuaded me to publish on the FEHBP, focus on its unique features of consumer choice and market competition, and outline key lessons for a broader reform of the American health care system.[1]
THE FUTURE PROBLEM
Within eight years, the first wave of the 77 million baby-boom generation will start to retire and become eligible for Medicare. This generation's retirement will double Medicare's enrollment, dramatically increase Medicare spending and costs, and impose enormous financial pressures on the Medicare Hospitalization Trust Fund, the general revenue fund, taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries alike.
More important, the retirement of the baby-boom generation will stimulate the greatest demand for medical services in history. This is not only because of the sheer size of the baby-boom generation and the volume of services that such a large retiree population will require, but also because of the rapid changes in medical technology, the fruits of advancing biomedical research, and the expected level of quality of care and service that this next generation of retirees will wish to consume.
Today's $271 billion Medicare program is a universal, defined benefit program, financed largely by today's taxpayers for today's retirees. This, given America's rapidly changing demographic profile, presents its own formidable financial challenges, as the Medicare trustees, the Congressional Budget Office, and the U.S. General Accounting Office have already described in significant detail to Congress and the public.
But there is an equally, if not more serious, challenge for the Congress, as well as for doctors, hospitals, nurses, and other medical professionals: How do we assure the cost-effective and efficient delivery of high-quality medical services to this very diverse and rapidly aging population? Under the current system of Medicare governance, medical benefits, treatments, and medical procedures must be authorized by law or approved through the regulatory regime developed and enforced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In short, Medicare is governed by a system of detailed central planning.
Moreover, beyond the definition and determination of medical benefits, treatments, and procedures, and the conditions under which such services are to be delivered to Medicare patients, Congress and the CMS must price more than 7,000 medical procedures offered by more than 800,000 physicians and other medical professionals; more than 500 hospital procedures; and various medical devices and technologies, skilled nursing and home health care services. In short, Medicare is also governed by a massive system of price regulation.
The central policy question facing Congress and the Administration is whether Medicare, as it exists today, can absorb the demographic shock of the baby-boom generation and continue to deliver high-quality medical care in an economically efficient fashion. I do not think that it can.
Neither Congress nor the Administration can control the popular and growing demand for medical services. For example, in the area of prescription drugs alone, of the 11.8 percent increase in drug spending in 2002, 8 percentage points were attributable to the use of new drugs as well as the expanded use of existing pharmaceuticals for a variety of medical conditions.[2]
In the face of an unprecedented demand for modern medical services, there is no question that Congress can control the supply of medical services, and thus the cost of the program itself, simply through tighter controls on reimbursement to doctors, hospitals, and other medical professionals.
The proposition that the government can control the growth in Medicare spending through the imposition of price controls or caps on overall Medicare spending is an intellectually unimpressive one; of course, it can. But, likewise, there is no reason to believe that Congress can impose such controls and cap such spending and simultaneously accommodate the rising demand for those services without reducing their quantity or compromising their quality.
THE NEED FOR A SUPERIOR MODEL
If Medicare's current structure of central planning and price regulation is not the best model for Medicare's future, however, it does not logically follow that conventional private-sector health insurance is a better one.
In the private-sector health insurance market, individuals and families generally do not have portability or security in their coverage. Nor do they exercise control over the terms and conditions of their benefits. Employers, corporate benefits managers, or managed care executives often make all of the key decisions over the terms and conditions of coverage, and therefore can create obstacles to their access to physicians and medical specialists, treatments, and procedures. In most instances, individuals and families, whose coverage is tied to their jobs, cannot "fire" poorly performing health insurance companies in the same way they can dump poorly performing firms in many other areas of insurance coverage or in the provision of all other services in an open market.
A Public-Private Partnership. If the private-sector experience cannot yield the best model for a better Medicare program, that does not mean we cannot enter into a public-private partnership that can yield solid results for the next generation of senior citizens.
The best serviceable model of a public-private partnership is, in fact, a government program. It is the 43-year-old Federal Employees Health Benefits program (FEHBP), which serves 8.3 million federal employees, retirees, and their families, including more than 172,000 persons who rely on FEHBP as their primary coverage in retirement.Created by an Act of Congress in 1959, the FEHBP is governed under the provisions of Chapter 89 of Title V of the United States Code. It is administered by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and annually financed through congressional appropriations. Based on choice and competition, it is a government program older than Medicare, Medicaid, or most private managed care arrangements.
BUILDING ON THE FEHBP EXPERIENCE
Building on the FEHBP experience, Congress and the Administration can work together to create a new and improved Medicare program that is characterized by patient choice, including plan choice in rural areas, market competition, and solid consumer information. Other features of the FEHBP model include an openness to change, administrative flexibility, stability in the insurance market, and rationality and predictability in the financing of care. Specifically:
The FEHBP model guarantees enrollees, regardless of where the live, a broad range of health plan choices. The professional literature, including recent surveys of Medicare beneficiaries, proves conclusively that choice of health plans is highly valued and that there is a direct relationship between the choice of a health plan and patient satisfaction.[3] Not surprisingly, in the FEHBP, enrollee satisfaction is higher than that found among enrollees in the health insurance industry as a whole.[4]
In any transition to a new program, Medicare patients may wish to remain in conventional Medicare, but they should also have the right to pick and choose from a diversity of options, a variety of health plans, the benefits, the doctors and medical specialists, and the medical treatments they think are better for them at the prices they wish to pay.
The FEHBP is an excellent model for designing a system based on broad personal choice. Every FEHBP enrollee, rural or urban, has a multiple choice of national health plans.[5] Today, there are 12 national health plan options, mostly fee for service or preferred provider organization (PPO) options, available to all enrollees nationwide. About 70 percent of all enrollees are enrolled in fee for service or PPO plans.[6]
The FEHBP rules governing the participation of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are very different. HMOs participate at the state level, and the number of participating HMOs, which today cover roughly 30 percent of all FEHBP enrollees, varies from year to year.[7] There is no reason, of course, why a reform of Medicare could not establish a similar structure for national plan options, as well as geographically based HMOs, for future Medicare enrollees.
In assuring choice, and in restructuring the Medicare program, Congress can improve on the experience of the FEHBP in two key areas:
First, it could integrate private retiree health insurance into the new system, creating a seamless continuity of coverage and care. If individuals have had a good experience with a private plan in their active working life, and want to carry that plan with them into retirement as their primary coverage and keep the doctors and specialists that they already have, they should be able to do so and get a government contribution to offset the costs of that plan.
Second, Congress can make sure that the new consumer-driven options are also easily accessible to retirees who want them. Such options include medical savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, health reimbursement accounts, or other forms of health care accounts. In any case, retirees should be able to take accumulated funds from these accounts with them into retirement to use as payment for medical services. Right now there are 1.5 million Americans with such options,[8] and there are prospects for significant growth.
The FEHBP provides for a benefits package significantly superior to that of Medicare, beyond prescription drug coverage. Beyond the broad range of health care choice, basic FEHBP coverage is typically of greater value than Medicare. According to a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis, when drug coverage, home health, and skilled nursing care are factored into the comparative equation, FEHBP has a total actuarial value that is 28.8 percent more generous than Medicare.[9]
Perhaps even more significant is the ability of FEHBP enrollees to secure value for money. Drug coverage in the FEHBP (all plans have such coverage) provides an excellent case study. According to analyses conducted by the General Accounting Office (GAO), health plans in the FEHBP typically contract with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). These PBMs offer "generally non-restrictive drug formularies across a broad range of drugs and therapeutic categories."[10] The GAO found that for 14 selected major brand-name drugs sold in retail pharmacies, enrollees were able to secure discount prices at about 18 percent below what cash-paying customers would otherwise have paid; for four selected generic drugs, the discount prices were 47 percent below prices paid by cash-paying customers.[11] For mail order prescription drug options, the GAO found that the performance was even more impressive.[12]
The FEHBP has a record of reasonable administrative costs. With a relatively small staff, OPM incurs administrative costs that are 1 percent of the "aggregate cost of plan premiums, but generally are less than that amount." [13] The administrative costs of the major health insurance carriers, the national fee for service and PPO plans, average about 7 percent.
Parenthetically, it is worth noting that Medicare's administrative costs are routinely assumed to be much lower, running between 1.5 percent and 2 percent annually. Technically, as a percentage of administration to benefits, this is correct. This widely held assumption, however, neglects the administrative costs that are routinely incurred by doctors and medical practices, hospitals and clinics, home health care and skilled nursing facilities in complying with Medicare's regulatory regime and paperwork requirements.
A 2001 study conducted by PricewatershouseCoopers for the American Hospital Association reports that for every hour of care delivered to a Medicare patient in an American hospital, hospital officials typically spend at least a half-hour or more complying with Medicare paperwork. Doctors and other medical professionals bear similar costs in time, energy, and effort. Every dollar spent on complying with the increasingly onerous requirements of Medicare's growing regulatory regime is a dollar that is not spent on patient care. None of these very real costs, of course, show up in the Medicare budget.
The FEHBP -model allows and encourages innovation in the delivery of health care. In a restructured Medicare program, there shouldbe ample room for plans and providers to innovate and make changes in delivery of medical services, such as the inclusion of new benefit combinations or increasingly sophisticated coordination of care for persons who are chronically ill. Medicare patients should also be able to take advantage of the latest in cutting edge technology or medical treatments without waiting literally for years for a central agency to make decisions about coverage, or about coding for procedures, or payments for these procedures or technologies.
In this respect, also, the FEHBP provides a solid working model. The program is not, strictly speaking, a pure defined contribution system; nor is it a pure defined benefit system. It is, in effect, a combination of both. While the law defines categories of benefits, such as hospitalization or physician services,that must be included in any plan wishing to participate in the FEHBP, the specific medical benefits, treatments, or procedures, including the kind of medical technologies that are available, are largely determined by the health plans themselves and subject to the satisfaction of consumer demand in a competitive market. In other words, the FEHBP provides a structure that accommodates and encourages innovation.
The FEHBP model provides a regulatory system that focuses on consumer protection rather than provider regulation. Under its statutory authority, OPM is to contract with health plans that are licensed in the states; that are reinsured with other companies; that offer detailed statements of benefits with definitions of limitations and exclusions that OPM considers "necessary or desirable"; that charge rates that "reasonably and equitably" reflect the costs of the benefits; and that agree to provide benefits or services to persons entitled, as OPM determines, under the terms of its contract.
OPM enforces fiscal solvency requirements and makes sure that plans can pay claims. The agency is authorized to levy a surcharge on plans of up to 3 percent of premiums to establish a contingency reserve fund for the payment of unforeseen claims.
OPM is also solely responsible for the benefits available to federal employees and retirees. Under Section 8902 of Title 5, the terms of any contract between OPM and a competing plan pre-empt any state or local law governing health insurance or health plans.
There is no reason why a new Medicare administrative agency could not perform the very same functions as OPM in a restructured Medicare program.
The FEHBP model provides for a stable health insurance market. Adverse selection or risk segmentation is normally a concern with a system based on pluralistic, competing health plans with a variety of benefits packages and voluntary enrollment. The concern is that older and sicker enrollees will congregate in certain plans, drive up the cost of those plans, and drive younger and healthier enrollees out, further driving up costs and premiums with a resultant unraveling of the market.
The FEHBP, however, offers a working model to alleviate this concern. Extensive research on the issue of adverse selection in the FEHBP shows that, in fact, the program is remarkably stable.[14] In the FEHBP, there is no risk-adjustment mechanism to deal with the problem of adverse selection, yet it is characterized by features that should gravely aggravate problems of adverse selection: There is no standardized benefits package; premiums are governed by a crude form of community rating (older persons pay the same rates as younger ones); and all plans are required to enroll persons without regard to their health status.
Professor Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University found, however, that while more than half of regular active workers and older, Medicare-eligible workers are enrolled in low-cost health plans, the age distribution is roughly the same across all competing health plans in the FEHBP: low-cost, medium-cost, and high-cost plans. The research indicates that the generosity of the subsidy, a government contribution up to 75 percent of the cost of the health plan, is enough to encourage younger and healthier persons to pay extra for the attractive benefits in higher priced health plans.[15]
The FEHBP experience, therefore, has positive implications for Medicare reform, where proposed Medicare contribution formulas for competing health plans would likely be more generous than those in the FEHBP.
The FEHBP model provides for a regulatory environment that is light and flexible and that does not demoralize doctors and other medical professionals. The FEHBP provides a solid working model of regulatory flexibility. Under Section 8902 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, OPM "may prescribe reasonable minimum standards" for health benefits plans and for carriers. As the CRS observed in its comprehensive 1989 analysis of the FEHBP, the legislative language authorizing the FEHBP gave OPM "broad powers" to administer the FEHBP, and OPM has thus had "wide latitude to institute changes it felt were needed…."[16]
Under Section 890.201 of the Code of Federal Regulations,[17] OPM has set forth rules to admit and negotiate with health plans that comply with the provisions of law. Under OPM rules, there are no mandatory government fee schedules or price controls and no flawed formulas governing reimbursement updates for the services of doctors, hospitals, or medical professionals.
Medical professionals should not have to wrestle with literally tens of thousands of pages of incomprehensible rules, regulations, guidelines, and related paperwork governing virtually every aspect of their operations. They should also be paid on the basis of real market conditions, reflecting real consumer demand and provider supply, rather than the current system of administrative pricing which, because it often bears little or no relationship to existing real market conditions, often results in taxpayers and patients either overpaying or underpaying for medical services or benefits. In short, health plans and providers should be able to operate in a system governed by a small bureaucracy and minimal regulation. The FEHBP provides a model for designing such a system.
The FEHBP regulatory system is a model that provides a level playing field for competing health plans. As noted, OPM rules focus primarily on consumer protection, but they also enforce a level playing field for private health plans. For example, all competing health plans have to accept enrollment of employees and retirees without discriminating against them on such grounds as age, race, sex, pre-existing physical or mental conditions, or health status. Health plans must also provide health benefits to enrollees "wherever they may be" and guarantee their right to renew coverage.
Plans are also required to have a standard rate structure for individuals and family coverage and to maintain statistical records for the plan covering federal employees separate from their other insurance business. In order to insure their ability to pay claims, health plans must have "a special reserve fund" for operations and reinvest any fund income in the fund. Health plans must also provide for continued enrollment of persons during the contract period and ensure enrollment without a waiting period for covered persons.
The FEHBP model gives enrollees the ability to act on solid information in selecting plans, as well as doctors, hospitals, and medical treatments. In the 21st century, information technology will accelerate and become a vehicle for increasingly sophisticated personal decision-making. As of September 2001, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce study, 143 million Americans, or more than half of the U.S. population, were using the Internet with a growth rate of roughly 2 million new Internet users per month.[18] About 70 percent of Americans in the workforce during their prime years, from their 20s into their 50s, use computers; and as the same study notes, Americans who used the computers when they were younger "will likely continue to do so as they age."[19]
Already, 35 percent of Americans are going on-line to secure health information.[20] By the time the baby-boom generation starts to retire, information technology will almost certainly play an increasingly important role in decision-making among doctors and patients alike. They should have routine access to the best possible information from authoritative sources on plans, benefits, treatments, and procedures. Information on quality, price, and benefits should characterize plan choice for the next generation of Medicare patients, and that information should be provided not simply by health plans themselves, but also by various consumer and retiree organizations, union and employee organizations, and ethnic, fraternal, and even medical and religious organizations.
Historically, enrollees in the FEHBP have had regular access to clear, comparative health information from both government and private-sector sources. OPM annually publishes a Guide to FEHBP plans. This is a simple, detailed, and plain-English comparison of health plans, rates, and benefits.
Prominent private-sector organizations publish comparative information on health plans. The National Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) publishes Federal Health Benefits and Open Season Guide, which is oriented specifically to federal retirees and rates plans on benefit packages. The Washington Consumers Checkbook publishes Checkbook's Guide to Health Insurance Plans for Federal Plans for Federal Employees. Written in plain English, both of these guides provide excellent comparative information on price, benefits, and service. Beyond the published guides, FEHBP enrollees are now getting comparative information on the Internet. As a matter of policy, OPM is accelerating the provision of on-line information, particularly for retirees.
There is no reason why 21st century retirees, particularly the baby-boom generation, should not be able to take advantage of rapidly advancing information technology for periodic health plan comparisons, and even more detailed comparative information on quality, service, outcomes, and the availability of evidence-based medicine among providers.
The FEHBP model provides for a financially stable program. The FEHBP trust fund is unified, and its administration is comparatively simple. Both the government contribution and all beneficiary premium payments are combined and deposited in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Trust Fund.
For federal retirees, OPM administers their enrollment, provides for an automatic deduction of their portion of the premium from their monthly federal retirement checks, adds the applicable government contribution, and deposits that money in the FEHBP trust fund. Congress appropriates projected amounts for the FEHBP trust fund for federal retirees as part of the annual Treasury and Postal Appropriations process.
While the FEHBP trust fund is administered by OPM, it is formally a part of the United States Treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with OPM, has the legal authority to invest the assets of the trust fund in federal government securities, and interest income from these government securities is also credited to the trust fund. During the contract year, payments to health insurance plans or carriers are made directly from the U.S. Treasury and charged to the FEHBP trust fund. OPM's administrative expenses are also charged to the FEHBP trust fund.
Premium income and disbursements in the FEHBP trust fund are easily tracked. The fund's income is routinely subject to congressional action and oversight. If, for any reason, there is a need for a supplemental appropriation for the FEHBP trust fund, Congress can and does provide for it. In this respect, the FEHBP trust fund model is superior as a mechanism for monitoring the solvency and ensuring the financial stability of a modernized Medicare system.
The FEHBP is 43 years old. It is older than Medicare, Medicaid, and most private employment-based managed care arrangements. We know a great deal about it, both its strengths and its weaknesses. While the program is by no means perfect, there is little doubt that it is a government program with a solid record of success. This success is evident in its ability over time to deliver high-quality health care within a pluralistic framework of consumer choice and market competition.
In designing a superior program for retirees, the challenge is to match the FEHBP in its performance. Specifically, the challenge is to match it in the breadth of choice available to enrollees, the flexibility of its administration, the ease with which benefits are added or modified, and the comparative absence of bureaucracy and red tape in its operations. In these areas, the FEHBP provides an excellent model for designing major improvements in the way in which we can finance and deliver medical benefits to America's senior citizens, particularly the first wave of the baby-boom generation set to retire in just eight years. Thank you.
The Heritage Foundation is a public policy, research, and educational organization recognized as exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is privately supported and receives no funds from any government at any level, nor does it perform any government or other contract work.
The Heritage Foundation is the most broadly supported think tank in the United States. During 2013, it had nearly 600,000 individual, foundation, and corporate supporters representing every state in the U.S. Its 2013 income came from the following sources:
Individuals 80%
Foundations 17%
Corporations 3%
The top five corporate givers provided The Heritage Foundation with 2% of its 2013 income. The Heritage Foundation’s books are audited annually by the national accounting firm of McGladrey, LLP.
Members of The Heritage Foundation staff testify as individuals discussing their own independent research. The views expressed are their own and do not reflect an institutional position for The Heritage Foundation or its board of trustees.
[1]Robert E. Moffit, "Consumer Choice in Health: Learning from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 878, February 6, 1992.
[2]"Rx Spending Growth Slows to Lowest Level in Six Years," Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Spring 2003.
[3]For an overview of the recent surveys and the professional literature, see Derek Hunter, "Just the Facts: Health Care Choice and Patient Satisfaction," Heritage Foundation Web Memo No. 259, April 17, 2003, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm259.cfm.
[4]Ibid.
[5]For a discussion of coverage in rural as well as urban areas, see Nina Owcharenko, "Giving Rural Seniors a Choice of Health Plans: The FEHBP Model for Medicare Reform," Heritage Foundation Web Memo No. 258, April 17, 2003, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm258.cfm.
[6]U.S. General Accounting Office, Federal Employees' Health Plans: Premium Growth and OPM's Role in Negotiating Benefits, Report to the Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation and Federal Services, Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, GAO-03-236, December 2002, p. 6.
[7]Ibid., p. 7.
[8]See Jon R. Gabel et al., " Consumer Driven Health Plans: Are They More than Talk Now?" Health Affairs Web Exclusive, at http://www.healthaffairs.org/WebExclusives/Gabel_Web_Excl_112002.htm.
[9]Derek Hunter, "Just the Facts: The Disparity in Value Between FEHBP and Medicare Coverage," Heritage Foundation Web Memo No. 262, April 23, 2003, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm262.cfm.
[10]David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, "Medicare: Observations on Program Sustainability and Strategies to Control Spending on Any Proposed Drug Benefit," testimony before the Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, GAO-03-650T, April 9, 2003, p. 20.
[11]Ibid., p. 19.
[12]Ibid., p. 20. The GAO analysis revealed that for mail order prescription drug options in the FEHBP, the prices were 27 percent lower for the selected brand-name drugs and 53 percent lower for the selected generic drugs.
[13]"These sums pay the personnel costs of OPM actuaries and employees who negotiate with carriers, monitor plans, and generally oversee all aspects of program administration. OPM adds a charge to each plan's premium to cover these administrative costs." Carolyn L. Merck, The Medicare Program and The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Purpose, Design and Operations, May 26, 1999, p. 34.
[14]Curtis S. Florence and Kenneth E. Thorpe, "How Does the Employer Contribution for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Influence Plan Selection?" Health Affairs, Vol. 22, No.2 (Spring 2003), pp. 211-218.
[15]Ibid.
[16]The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Possible Strategies for Reform, A Report prepared by the Congressional Research Service for the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, U.S. House of Representatives, 101st Cong., 1st Sess., Committee Print 101-5, May 24, 1989, p. 238.
[17]Code of Federal Regulations, Title 5, Volume 2, Parts 700 to 1199, revised as of January 1, 2001, pp. 410-412.
[18]See A Nation On-Line: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Information, Economics and Statistics Administration, February 2002, p. 1.
[20]Ibid., p. 2.
Read Full Testimony
More on This Issue
COMMENTARY3 min read
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Here’s the Conservative Plan to Improve Health Care
Trump Really Does Have a Plan That’s Better Than Obamacare
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Vastness
Vastness by Christopher Sky
By The Ocean by Christopher Sky
Sky’s first solo work in seven years finds him crafting shimmering compositions that feel boundless despite their brevity. The EP features five brand new songs, plus remixes by Mirror, Jubilant Ecstasy Dream and HEARTMIND.
Christopher Sky is an American composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer based in Los Angeles. His first EP, Cotton Dream, featuring contributions from Paul Espinoza on guitar, was released in 2011 through his own label, Sejatski Ltd. This was followed by Audio Memory, with a stronger emphasis on guitar-based loops and sound design.
After taking some time off to focus on his Let’s Drive to Alaska project – releasing In the Fifth House in 2016 – Sky returned in 2018 with By the Ocean, his first solo work in seven years, featuring five brand new songs, plus remixes by Mirror, Jubilant Ecstasy Dream and HEARTMIND. Two-track EP Orpheus and Eurydice, an ode to the classic tale of love and loss, was released on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Christopher Sky‘s stunning new album Vastness is finally upon us! The album is available digitally via Bandcamp, Spotify, iTunes (and the rest) and also on vinyl via Aagoo Records. Christopher Sky’s music is also available for licensing through Hidden Shoal across film, tv, games, web and beyond. Hit us up for more info.
Slow Dancing Society “My Blue Heaven” Release – Double Vinyl & Digital
We’re very excited to welcome the wonderful Christopher Sky to the Hidden Shoal family. Sky brings with him the gorgeous By The Ocean album, released early 2018 and which now forms part of the Hidden Shoal licensing catalogue. His stunning forthcoming album Vastness will see digital release through hidden Shoal and vinyl release via Aagoo Records on the 9th of November.
Christopher Sky’s music is available for licensing (film, tv, web, games and beyond). More info here.
New Isophene Single, Album in October
No video’s yet, sorry.
Christopher Sky’s music is available for licensing (master & sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please contact us with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.
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Lawsuit threat cancels Christmas concert
By Rick Daysog | December 4, 2012 at 11:43 PM HST - Updated June 28 at 11:21 AM
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A threatened lawsuit had put a halt to what's become a Christmas tradition for members of the Moanalua High School orchestra.
For the past six years, the award-winning group and volunteers from the New Hope Church have raised more than $200,000 for a charity that treats poor people in Africa.
But that all came to a halt on Monday when the Department of Education decided to cancel the concert just four days before the event.
In a letter to the Department of Education, Mitch Kahle, founder of the Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church, took issue with the involvement of New Hope Church, which handles ticket sales and sells those tickets at its services.
"The issue here is an entanglement between a public school and a Christian church," said Kahle.
"And one of the things about the constitution is that it prohibits the involvement of public schools and churches."
Concert volunteer Chad Brownstein said that this year's event has sold more than 600 tickets and would have generated about $30,000 in sales and donations.
"(The students) could have done something that they're good at it and benefit others instead of themselves," Brownstein said.
"So I'm very disappointed that they won't be getting that lesson through that concert anymore."
Concert organizers are still looking at other locations but chances of finding a new place before Christmas that are very slim.
Religion watchdog investigating relationship between churches and schools
Windward City Lights celebration controversy
Heavy equipment arrives at base of Mauna Kea ahead of TMT construction
TMT construction is expected to begin Monday.
Watch protest leader Kahookahi Kanuha’s message to demonstrators at Mauna Kea
Published 8:50 AM at 8:50 AM
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Hay Festival 2017, Thursday 25 May 2017
Sparkes worked in the theatre and as a journalist before she began her career as a writer. Her books now include The Shapeshifter series and she has won two Blue Peter Awards for Frozen in Time. She will discuss what it takes to create an award-winning title, based on Thunderstruck, her latest dramatic adventure which features the effects of being struck by lightning and the setting up of a Strike Club. Who can join a Strike Club? Only those who have recently taken 70,000 volts. Alisha and Theo don’t expect to get struck by lightning – or to meet Doug and Lizzie who also got struck. Especially as their strike, in the 1970s, killed them. Sparkes will describe how she develops her characters and makes up her imaginative storylines in a fun and interactive event.
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The First Five Years: '30 Under 30' Edition
In this special First Five Years post, four alumni recently named to the Forbes 2019 “30 Under 30” list—Akash Pradhan (MBA 2017), Kiran Gandhi (MBA 2015), Anthony Tucker (MBA 2017) and Anish Pathipati (MBA 2016)—talk careers, HBS, and why you need to “put yourself out there.”
How did you find out you had been named to the 2019 "30 Under 30?"
Akash Pradhan, investor, TPG Capital and TPG Growth: “I woke up to text messages congratulating me from friends on the East Coast.”
Kiran Gandhi, musician, entrepreneur: “I was buying some bananas from a 7/11 in Seoul, South Korea, when the email appeared in my inbox. I was with a dear friend of mine, Elliott Davis, who graduated from HBS in 2016. He gave me a huge hug and hearty congratulations!”
Anthony Tucker, principal, Troy Capital Partners: “The list came out at 9 a.m. on the East Coast. I live in LA and so at 6 a.m. my time I woke up to congratulatory calls and text. This was way better than my usually alarm.”
Anish Pathipati, founding director, North Island: “I woke up, checked my email, and saw a message from the editor of Forbes welcoming me to the “30 Under 30.” I immediately shared the good news with my family and had a great day!”
What does this honor mean to you, personally and also professionally?
Pradhan: “This really is a team award. On the personal side, it is an award that belongs to my wife, my parents, and my broader friends and family, who collectively deserve the credit for getting me to this point in my life and career. Professionally, it is a team award for the various folks I work with at TPG Capital, who make showing up to work every day a great privilege and pleasure.”
Gandhi: “I think when you’re doing things as an entrepreneur and activist, you can often feel solo in your journey or that you are operating on the periphery of mainstream culture. So being recognized with such a prestigious accolade alongside many leaders of the mainstream music industry today made all of the hard work of the past decade deeply worth it.”
Tucker: “I think professionally it provides nice exposure for the work we have been doing here at Troy Capital. I’d like to think it doesn’t only highlight my individual accomplishments, but more so what we have all done as a team. Personally, I hope it serves as an example for others. Any success that I have had has been the product of peers and mentors who have provided support and inspiration for me along the way. So, it’s nice to think that I can be that for others in some small way.”
Pathipati: “It offers a gratifying moment to pause, smell the roses, and reflect on what I’ve accomplished to date. But more importantly, being included among such illustrious company is a source of motivation to keep working hard and accomplish even more in the future.”
Can you tell us about your current work?
Pradhan: “I work as a technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) investor at TPG, a global private equity firm. While I work across the TMT sector, I primarily focus on TPG’s middle market buyout and growth equity investments, which are made out of TPG Growth and The Rise Fund, a double–bottom line impact fund that was launched in 2016.”
Gandhi: “I am a music producer and drummer whose mission is to elevate and celebrate the female voice. I produce music that tackles issues of modern gender equality today, and I travel the world to speak and perform about these issues.”
Tucker: “I’m a principal at Troy, a venture capital firm investing in what we believe are the most transformational technology companies. We do this across the spectrum––from our early-stage seed and Series A fund all the way through our two later-stage vehicles. We are only three years old and so my role is not only to invest but to grow our platform, which is a bit of a startup itself.”
Pathipati: “I am a member of the founding team and lead the investment effort at North Island, an innovative private equity firm established by Glenn Hutchins, MBA 1983, (previously cofounder of Silver Lake and a fellow Harvard alum). Our vision is to improve on traditional private equity by building a more concentrated portfolio and extending the time horizon for our investments.”
How do you use what you learned at HBS in this work?
Pradhan: “My time at HBS gave me a great appreciation for the fact that most businesses are really just made up of hundreds or thousands of human beings working together under various incentive structures and schemes. As a result, incentive and organization design are probably the most important factors in determining whether a business is ultimately successful. Getting that right requires the ability to think about a business from the lens of various stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, and most importantly the employees of an organization. Having only worked as an investor professionally, I used to think about a given business simply through that investor lens, but spending time with classmates at HBS who came from all different backgrounds really helped give me a broader perspective on all that it takes for an organization to be effective.”
Gandhi: “I find myself referencing lessons from my time at HBS almost every day, and sharing them with my audiences across the globe. I love the lesson from negotiations about defining value in different ways, or from LEAD (Leadership and Organizational Behavior) about placing a strong emphasis on emotional intelligence as a core value in conducting business. I love the lesson from strategy about defining blue oceans instead of competing in red oceans.”
Tucker: “I was skeptical about how quickly some of the case work we did would resonate. I was so wrong. It isn’t as much about the individual lessons on finance, marketing, etc. It is much more about the interpersonal relationships and team building. I take these learnings into my every day. You can put together a strategy for anything pretty easily. The hard part is bringing everyone else along, having them contribute to make the strategy stronger, and then having the buy-in that leads to execution.”
Pathipati: “I constantly use takeaways from HBS. The investing, finance, and strategy classes helped me develop the pattern recognition to identify opportunities and risks when evaluating investments. The technology classes gave me some subject matter expertise on the industries in which North Island invests. The general management and negotiations classes gave me a toolkit to manage people and processes while executing deals and implementing value creation plans.”
What is your favorite HBS case and why?
Pradhan: “I don’t know if it is my favorite, but a case that comes to mind that I really enjoyed was “Europe, Russia and the Age of Gas Revolution.” I’d always thought about natural gas prices largely on economic terms. The shale revolution and advancements in LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), as I saw it, had consequences that could largely be understood in terms of dollars and cents. This case showed me that perspective was wrong, and that the technological innovation that enabled fracking in the US has had significant geopolitical consequences in Europe and in Russia.”
Tucker: “We had a case on Disney and Alan Horn (MBA 1971) in SMICI (Strategic Marketing in Creative Industries), which is now called BEMS (Business of Enterainment, Media, and Sports). Alan Horn came to class and gave one of the most open and honest guest appearances I had at HBS. It was invaluable to hear from a leader who has been so successful in his career. He didn’t only share his ‘how,’ but he also shared his ‘why’ when it came to many of the key decision he has made in his career.”
Pathipati: “In my second year at HBS, I coauthored a case on The Priceline Group (now known as Booking Holdings) with Professor Len Schlesinger. We conducted thorough research using public sources and also spoke with several members of the company’s senior leadership team. I really enjoyed the case-writing process; it’s one of the best ways to learn about a business.”
What did you enjoy doing at HBS when you weren’t studying?
Pradhan: “The most fun part of the HBS experience was participating in skydeck and professor roasts. I have to admit I probably spent way more time preparing for the roast of a HBS professor than I did for any individual case.”
Gandhi: “Touring the world playing the drums for artist M.I.A.!”
Tucker: “Traveling. It brought me closer to sectionmates and friends. It allowed me to add a more global context to the things we were learning at campus. Also, it’s not something I get to do as often for leisure now that I am no longer a student.”
Pathipati: I really enjoyed our section activities and events. Class of 2016 Section G is the best!”
What advice do you have for current HBS students interested in pursuing a career in your field?
Pradhan: “Force yourself to be an outbound person and spend time researching and getting to know people at various private equity or investment firms. The downside of recruiting for private equity jobs out of HBS is that it all happens during a ‘recruiting cycle’ that takes place early in the fall for second-year students. But those cycles don’t necessarily line up with the times when private equity firms decide they need to hire. So, putting yourself out there, whether it’s through informational interviews or coffee meetings, can really help ‘put a face to a name’ when the job opportunity does come up.”
Gandhi: “The rules of the music industry today change every few months. The best way to learn about the industry is to get active in music in whatever capacity you are able to! A scrappy and entrepreneurial attitude is a must in order to succeed and thrive these days.”
Tucker: “Venture capital as a career is highly dependent on so many factors. What stage do you invest? What geography? What industry? And most importantly, with whom? Take the time to really figure out why you want to be an investor and what excites you most. Then be as diligent about interviewing your potential firms as they are about interviewing you.
Pathipati: “Remember that investing isn’t just about finance. As an investor, you’ll find that all of your HBS courses come in handy in one way or another.”
Can you finish this statement? "My HBS experience was..."
Pradhan: “All about the people I met and the time I spent with them.”
Gandhi: “Challenging, energizing, empowering, and rigorous.”
Tucker: “All about adding perspective. I think your judgment improves as you gain experiences. However, you only have so many hours in a day to experience things. Looking back, HBS was an opportunity to learn from the experiences of others. I met some really great people with such different perspectives and approaches.”
Pathipati: “Among the best two years of my life. I learned a tremendous amount and developed lifelong friendships. A big thank you to HBS!”
This post was originally published on Alumni Stories.
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Hilton Head People
Helping Heroes
By Jacquelyn Lewis
People Profiles
For 10 years, Hilton Head Heroes has provided vacations for families with sick children
Like many couples, Gregg Russell and Lindy Ellison Russell like to flip through photo albums and reminisce about family vacations.
But some of their most precious scrapbooks don’t contain a single photograph of the Russells, or of a faraway location. Instead, they’re filled with snapshots of other families on Hilton Head Island — all kinds of families with one thing in common: a child who has been diagnosed with a serious illness.
In the pictures, these “hero children,” as the Russells call them, are frail, but beaming nonetheless.
Hilton Head Realtor dedicated to Meals on Wheels
By Charles Edwards
Realtor Sean Ryan brings food to those in need as a Meals on Wheels volunteer
In an advertisement, a smiling Realtor named Sean Ryan casually leans on a picket-and-wire fence on the beach, holding up a sign that says, “I will help you buy or sell property on Hilton Head for food.”
Given the real estate market over the last few years, the image elicits a few chuckles and defnitely warrants a closer look. It’s at that point, once you look past the picture and see what Sean Ryan is doing for the community, you realize there’s much more to him than real estate.
Ryan does in fact work for food. Only the food isn’t for him. It’s for the Lowcountry’s many invisible poor, who wonder every day where they’re going to get their next meal. And a percentage of every real estate commission Ryan makes goes toward putting food on their tables.
Brionna Anderson
A Christmas miracle and the perfect ambassador for the March of Dimes
By all accounts, Brionna Anderson is a typical, vivacious 7-year-old girl. A second-grader at Red Cedar Elementary, Brionna impresses classmates and adults alike with her talent for sports and her incredibly detailed drawings, fights of fancy that only youthful imagination and energy can create. Her bright personality and energetic zest for life are all the more amazing when one hears her story.
Brionna was born on Christmas Day in 2001, coming into this world 29 weeks ahead of schedule. Right away, she had health problems.
Her respiratory system wasn’t functioning normally, so she was quickly sent to the Medical University of South Carolina. There, she was given Survanta, which helps keep the air sac open and lungs from collapsing. The treatment was developed with funding from the March of Dimes.
This guy is happy as a clam
Meet Joe Leland, the Lowcountry’s ‘Clam Man’
Going back nearly to the dawn of man, there’s been a mystique to the sea. When it gets in your blood, any old salt will tell you that it never leaves.
For Joe Leland, that salt had been in his blood for generations, but it wasn’t until after retiring that he answered its call.
Leland, who goes by the afectionate nickname “The Clam Man,” traces his roots back to McClellanville, well known for its seafood.
“My family name goes back there. My daddy grew up in McClellanville,” Leland said. “My family’s background is in the seafood business.”
Destined to lead the Way
Clarece Walker is devoted to helping others as head of United Way of the Lowcountry
Clarece Walker, president and CEO of United Way of the Lowcountry, was born to lend a helping hand.
“I think I might have been destined for this,” she said of her 30-plus-year career with the national organization whose mission is to improve lives by mobilizing communities.
The United Way’s credo is “Live United.” Raised in Maiden, N.C., Walker experienced that lifestyle before she even knew what the United Way was. “It was the kind of place you grew up knowing everyone and taking responsibility for helping your neighbors,” she said. “I remember my sister and I going through our toys and clothes to donate to other kids who could use them.”
July's MVP: Gordon Deal
By Michele Roldán-Shaw
Actions are louder than words for well-known volunteer
If it’s for a good cause, Gordon Deal probably has a hand in it. Known around town as the man who belongs to every volunteer committee and appears at all the major charitable events, Deal just doesn’t have it in him to turn down a request for help. “My wife used to say to me, ‘Let me take your jaw and help you say ‘NO,’ ” jokes Deal, who is originally from Savannah but has lived on Hilawards ton Head Island since 1998. “I said to her, ‘But I’m having a good time!’ I work seven days a week because I like to stay active and give back.”
Much of Deal’s community involvement stems from his nine-year membership in the Rotary Club. For example, when a fellow Rotarian mentioned he was also the executive director of the Mental Health Association on Hilton Head, Deal asked what he could do and soon found himself with a Christmas gift wish list in his hands.
New foundation to help cancer victim
Sally Mahan
The Curry Foundation, started by Tom Curry of Lowcountry Paver, is raising money for Ben and Brittany Kennedy of Bluffton, who are facing mounting medical bills since Ben was diagnosed with follicular non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Treatment could take six months to a year. Meanwhile, the Kennedys are struggling to pay for their house, car, food and utilities.
Intriguing Person: Spotlight on Lauren Osborne
By Anne Feldman
Young actor shines onstage
WITH A NATURAL POISE beyond her years, fresh-faced Lauren Osborne brings the stage to life. The 15-year-old found her calling onstage with her first lead role as Laurey in “Oklahoma!”
“It’s one of my favorite places to be,” said Osborne.
“I have a good feeling — must be the adrenaline!”
“Oklahoma!” was an ideal role for Osborne, according to Jodi Layman, Main Street Youth Theatre artistic director and choreographer.
“Lauren studied ballet with Hilton Head Dance Theatre for years and is a beautiful dancer,” Layman said. “She’s a triple threat — voice, dance, acting — and those are hard to come by. Most of all, she’s a natural. It’s in her eyes! She’s so believable.”
June's MVP: Bob Cooke
Upwardly Mobile Coach
It’s no surprise that St. Andrew By-The-Sea United Methodist Church’s Upward sports program is so popular. In fact, it’s tripled in size in the last two years, and that has a lot to do with coach Bob Cooke.
“It’s one of the largest faith-based, youthsports programs, with guidelines that help with coaching,” Cooke said of Upward, which is part of a national program with more than 750,000 kids across the country. “The key piece of Upward is being out there with the kids, making sure they hear a consistent message.”
May's MVP: Kenneth Nagle
By Amy Rigard
Retired lawyer Kenneth Nagle finds fulfillment as volunteer.
Kenneth Nagle, a volunteer for Lowcountry Legal Aid, is no stranger to service.
After attending The Citadel in Charleston on a basketball scholarship and graduating from law school at the University of Cincinnati, he served in the Army Judge Advocate General Corps in Vietnam, Germany and other assignments where he tried courts-martial cases among other duties.
He left active duty but remained in the Army Reserves and retired as a colonel in the JAG Corps.
Upon leaving the Army, he began a career with the Defense Department as a contract law attorney and was involved in litigating contract disputes. Nagle’s other professional experience includes working for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as a litigation attorney in banking cases.
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Jul 13, 2019-Saturday
Copa America 2019: The Argentine mastermind behind Peru’s resurgence
Peru’s transformation has also been down to Gareca’s ability to reduce the team’s reliance on individuals.
football Updated: Jul 05, 2019 21:16 IST
Bhargab Sarmah
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Peru's coach, Argentine Ricardo Gareca, gives instructions to Peru's Christofer Gonzales (C) and Edison Flores.(AFP)
For the better part of the last three-and-a-half decades, former Argentine forward Ricardo Gareca, nicknamed ‘El Tigre’ (the tiger), was better known in Peru as the guy whose late equaliser in a World Cup qualifier denied the country direct qualification for the 1986 edition. Gareca’s goal at the iconic Estadio Monumental in June, 1985, not only earned Argentina a place in the main tournament in Mexico but also put Peru in the difficult play-off route, from where they failed to make the World Cup cut.
While it was not the cause of it, Gareca’s goal also began a period of international wilderness for Peru, who subsequently stopped being a part of the World Cup conversation and struggled for relevance even in South America.
A year after that Argentina-Peru game, Diego Maradona took the world by storm and led Argentina to a second World Cup triumph. Gareca, whose heroics saw Argentina play the World Cup in the first place, was left out of the 22-man squad for the tournament by coach Carlos Bilardo.
As fate would have it, Gareca would end his career without ever playing at a World Cup.
Then, thirty years after he broke Peruvian hearts, Gareca was appointed as the country’s head coach in 2015. At the time, Gareca had already accumulated two decades of experience coaching clubs across South America—in Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Brazil. For a team that looked some distance behind the top South American teams, Peru saw an immediate reversal in fortunes under Gareca.
In 2015, Peru finished third at Copa America, and in its next edition a year later, finished top of their group, which also featured Brazil. Despite losing to Colombia on penalties in the quarters, Peru continued their upward surge. In 2017, Gareca’s side went unbeaten and finally fulfilled a long Peruvian dream as they qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1982.
“I was constantly reminded of that goal as soon as I arrived in Peru, but I never saw it as something I had to make up for. I just did what I had to do as an Argentina player; it was nothing personal,” Gareca told fifa.com shortly before last year’s World Cup. In Russia last year, two narrow 1-0 defeats to Denmark and France put paid to Peru’s knockout hopes before they ended their campaign with a 2-0 win over Australia.
Yet, the signs of Peru’s progress under Gareca were always visible and the two-time South American champions’ resurgence in international football has been rubber-stamped by their run into the ongoing Copa America final.
It didn’t come about easy; a 5-0 defeat to hosts Brazil—Peru’s opponents in Sunday’s final—in the group stages had ruthlessly exposed Gareca’s side’s frailties, a lack of defensive organisation. That result from earlier in the tournament explains why, despite their phenomenal campaign, Peru remain rank underdogs ahead of the title clash.
But this summer, Gareca and Peru have also shown a kind of tactical maturity that has helped them transform from a promising side to genuine title challengers. Unlike the gung-ho attacking approach at last year’s World Cup, Peru tweaked to a more reactive approach in the quarter-finals against Uruguay, scraping through on penalties.
Against two-time defending champions Chile in the semis, Peru preyed on the defensive vulnerabilities of their opponents, allowing their historically bitter rivals more time on the ball and pouncing on mistakes at the other end. It was a fitting response to his critics from Gareca, whose approach has often been termed as rigid.
For over a decade-and-a-half, former Bayern Munich forward Claudio Pizzaro was the biggest star in the team. When Pizzaro abruptly quit international duty in 2016, current captain Paolo Guerrero took over that mantle. But after Guerrero found himself suspended over a drug offence in late 2017, Peru coped just fine.
Guerrero returned to action at the World Cup but Gareca’s team has hardly relied on his individual brilliance. Far from it, while veterans Guerrero and Jefferson Farfan continue to be influential members of the team, the core of the side includes the likes of midfielders Christian Cueva, Edison Flores and Renato Tapia, defender Luis Abram and Carlos Zambrano and goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, among others.
Interestingly, only four of the Peru players in the current squad ply their trade in Europe (in contract, 20 of Brazil’s 23-member Copa squad play in Europe). Three times that number play in South American leagues, including six in Peru’s busy but low-key league. There are also three players each from Mexico’s Liga MX and USA’s Major League Soccer while one plays in Saudi Arabia.
‘Mentality’
So how exactly has Gareca transformed the Peru team? “What Gareca has done is change the mentality of the national team players,” says Peruvian football analyst and scout Victor Zaferson. “In public, Gareca makes it a point to say he believes in his players.
The players too enjoy training with him. In terms of skills or abilities, the Peruvian players are very good but what has changed this time is the support from the coach. Gareca is like a father figure to them. The reason he understands these players so well is because he has been studying them, their lives, since he coached Peru´s Universitario in 2008.”
On Sunday, Gareca could deliver Peru their first title since 1975, and, arguably, their greatest ever triumph. Regardless of the result in the final, ‘El Tigre’ has already completed his journey from a villain to a demi-god in Peru.
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Angola: Red Cross races against time to halt yellow fever outbreak before rainy season begins
Published: 26 July 2016 19:25 CET
More than 250 Red Cross volunteers are using mobilization techniques to inform people about yellow fever and convince the most skeptical, slowly reducing the resistance rate among the population. Photo: Marine Ronzi, Monaco Red Cross
By Marine Ronzi, Monaco Red Cross
It is another busy day at the ’Quilômetro trinta’ market in Viana, a municipality in Luanda Province, Angola. Considered one of the country’s biggest markets, ’kilometre 30’ is crowded and buzzing with activity. Colourfully dressed women are swiftly slipping between carts piled high with wooden boxes, while skillfully balancing heavy merchandise on their heads.
In front of a small shop, a large group of people is gathered tightly around a table - carrier boys, elderly people, women with babies on their backs - attentively listening to the information being provided by the people in white uniforms from the Angola Ministry of Health. Meanwhile, more people are being directed to the table by the volunteers of Angola Red Cross. They are listening to important information about yellow fever and getting vaccinated against the potentially deadly virus. Since last December, more than 360 people have died of yellow fever in Angola, most of them between the ages of 14 and 20, almost two-thirds of whom were reported in Luanda province. The virus spread quickly and widely over a short period, particularly in densely crowded and mosquito-ridden areas, where most people had little or no immunity because of the low vaccination rate. Since the beginning of the outbreak, the Angola Red Cross has been working with local authorities, UNICEF and other partners to respond to the critical situation by carrying out social mobilization and vector control activities in affected communities.
According to the Secretary General of the Angola Red Cross, Mr Valter Quifica, “The Red Cross is focused on engaging with the communities with essential, life-saving information through our trained volunteers in the affected areas.
“In Luanda, for eight consecutive days now, our volunteers, together with public health workers, have been setting up and running dozens of vaccination points in strategic locations such as markets, all around the province. This is our third time carrying out these type of activities since the beginning of the outbreak. Prevention is the key to end the spread of the virus.”
Yellow fever response in pictures
The vaccination rate for the yellow fever virus in the country is at 83 per cent. The Angola Red Cross aims to identify people who have not been vaccinated and encourages them to get the injection and receive the now famous yellow card as proof that they are immune.
The number of suspected and confirmed cases has started to decline, signaling that the outbreak could be on its way to being contained. However, the expected rainfall in September, as the rainy season begins, could hamper the progress made.
“Despite a decreasing trend in the last weeks, the outbreak in Angola remains of high concern to us. The vaccination coverage is still far from reaching 100 per cent and we have persistent local transmission in the capital, reports of infections in new districts, and the spread of the outbreak to neighbouring countries. It is a race against time,” said Quifica.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has allocated over 173,000 Swiss francs from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund to support the Angola Red Cross in providing assistance to affected communities. The IFRC has also launched an emergency appeal for 1.4 million Swiss francs so the Red Cross can provide assistance to 4 million people affected by the outbreak and is able to reach a further 5 million people with life-saving information through its social mobilization activities. The appeal is currently 6 per cent funded.
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The Other Side of Gary Card
By Lars Byrresen Petersen
Since 2006, set designer Gary Card’s comic-book world of vivid colors, cuddly sculptures, and large, whimsical installations have been increasingly in-demand. Not only has he created sets for Comme Des Garçons, Uniqlo, Topshop, House of Holland, Dover Street Market, Nike, Adidas, and Stella McCartney; he has also been published in the largest and most recognized arts and fashion magazines worldwide.
Despite international acclaim, the 32-year-old Central Saint Martins graduate has never had a show of his own, until now. This week, Card premieres his first solo exhibition “Abandoned Amusement Park Attraction,” at a small East London gallery called Eternal Youth—which fits the spirit of Card’s work perfectly. We caught Card on Skype for a quick chat about his new work right before the curtain dropped.
LARS BYRRESEN PETERSEN: Tell me about your exhibition; how did it come about?
GARY CARD: Yeah, it’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for ages—for years, actually. I was waiting for the right time to do it. It’s been a good period recently, because work’s calmed down, and I thought this would the right time. I guess my job now is so commercial—a lot of the commissions I get are [British supermarket] Marks and Spencer and stuff like that. It was important for me to remind myself why I do this and why I love making stuff. It was exciting for me to re-explore the kinds of things I started to make when I was starting out. The idea was, “How do I do this now that I’m older, and what does it look like now that I’ve grown up a bit?” And imagining what the old stuff would look like now that I’ve gotten more of a commercial head. The gallery owners are friends of mine.
PETERSEN: Is it just new pieces, or will you mix in a bit of archive?
CARD: Everything is brand-new. There’s a little bit of recycling from the studio. I’ve been going through the old archive and seeing what I can use and stuff. But 95% of it is all brand new. My hands are fucked.
PETERSEN: Why?
CARD: I’ve been using so much wire, and it rips my hands to ribbons. My boyfriend hates me at the moment, because they are kind of like feet. It feels like the bottom of your feet, it’s disgusting. And now it’s all peeling away and gross and they are kind of spiky.
PETERSEN: Tell me a little about the pieces?
CARD: It took me a very long time to figure out and to actually decide. But I settled on “Abandoned Amusement Park Attraction.” It’s a bit of a metaphor. When I’m doing some of the editorial stuff that I do, it’s a shorthand way of talking to my set-building team about the kind of look that I’ll be going for. So it gave them the idea of thinking about an amusement park that had just been left alone, left to rot. I’m really excited about cartoon forms: big, cuddly, round kind of shapes. But the idea is the juxtaposition—I hate that word—between something very friendly and then trying to realize that in a raw and almost aggressive way. You’ve all these kind of smiling faces, but they’re all fucked. They are all melting, and I’m smashing them with hammers. You can see work inside where bits have been torn away. That’s what I’m excited about. We all remember it from our childhood: something sweet and nice, and then pairing that with something really perverse and sinister to see where it meets in the middle.
PETERSEN: That feels like an aggressive turn for you. When I think of your work, it’s always cute and colorful.
CARD: I think a lot of people associate me with just the big, bright and colorful stuff that I do, because that’s what people commission. But when I can, I also like to explore the other side. I like doing things in black and white and doing sinister things, but also things that have got a different mood. This is kind of a dream project for me, because I get to exercise both sides of my personality.
PETERSEN: I know you’re obsessed with Prince, as well the color purple. As a fellow Prince fan, I have to ask: do the two go hand in hand?
CARD: [laughs] You know that I’m a fanatic, right?
PETERSEN: About Prince or about purple?
CARD: Both. I went to seven of the 21 concerts he did in London in 2007. It was around my birthday, so whenever people asked me what I wanted, I asked for Prince tickets. One time, I swear he looked directly at me. I was on the front row and knew the lyrics to all his songs. He must have noticed, so he looked at me—he looked directly into my soul.
PETERSEN: Then what about purple?
CARD: It’s not because of Prince. My grandparents had this beautiful royal purple carpet and I was obsessed with it. My parents saw how much I loved it, so they got me the same. I have loved it ever since. It’s happy, mysterious, and dark at the same time.
“ABANDONED AMUSEMENT PARK ATTRACTION” IS ON VIEW THROUGH AUGUST 21 AT ETERNAL YOUTH GALLERY, LONDON.
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Lauren Child: Why you should let your children stare into space
Ideas take shape when the mind is drifting, so give kids room ‘to let their minds wander’
Sara Keating
Lauren Child: Hubert Horatio, from How to Raise Your Grown-Ups
When Lauren Child was invited to be the UK Children’s Laureate in 2017, she spent a long time thinking about how she would define the position during her two-year tenure. As a writer and illustrator, she felt the need, of course, to champion the importance of books, of reading and drawing. However, she felt there should also be room to draw attention to one of the most vital, unsung seeds of creativity, “staring into space”, which she calls “the act of looking without purpose.”
It is when the mind is drifting, Child says, that ideas begin to take shape. In the overscheduled life of the modern child, “no one is giving them room to just let their minds wander.” You won’t discover the secrets of the universe in a text book or at piano lessons, but “in looking down at the things on the footpath or up at the clouds in the sky”.
It is easy to imagine the 53-year-old indulging in the luxurious space of a daydream when she was a girl. Growing up in Berkshire, she admits she lived “partly somewhere else, partly in my imagination. I was a very contemplative child”. As the middle girl of three, she was also “wary of everything, but I suppose that made me a good observer. There’s a usefulness to being in the background. You notice a lot. I didn’t always like it, but I think it has shaped the work I do. I am the type of person who might look at someone’s shopping basket and start to feel tearful as I decide what kind of life they are leading. I might be totally wrong, but it makes me feel sad anyway. That’s the kind of place where stories come from.”
Lauren Child photographed by David Levenson/Getty
Children just step into the world of imagination. It is beautiful. They can travel through time, transport themselves, find a story in any object
Child first burst on to the children’s literature scene in 1999 with Clarice Bean, That’s Me an anarchic middle-grade reader in picture-book format. It was heavy on illustration, and played with typography and text in a way that had not been seen before in children’s books, although it is commonplace today. Clarice Bean won the Smarties Prize, and Child became immediately prolific. She published I Want a Pet later that year, and Beware of the Storybook Wolves followed in 2000, as well as the first two books in the Charlie and Lola series, which would bring her recognition on TV as well as bookshelves. Within three years Child was one of the best-selling children’s authors in the UK.
The acclaim may have been immediate, but Child was not an overnight success. Indeed, after several false starts in various artistic disciplines, she had been hovering around the children’s books scene for almost a decade, trying to get work. “No one was interested in what I was doing. I would ask them what the problem was, and they would say ‘Everything’. I really felt it was a very hopeless situation,” she says with a giant smile as she recalls how “uncool people thought I was”.
In the meantime, Child was trying her hand at a variety of other pursuits. She “painted china tea-sets, did some window dressing, mural painting.” She started a bespoke lampshade business that never got up and running. She also worked as a spot painter in Damien Hirst’s studio.
Lauren Child: Lola and Charlie, from the writer’s bestselling series
“That was actually one of my favourite jobs. We were left alone in the studio all day with our instructions: how big the circles should be, where they should be placed, some on these huge canvases – you’d need a ladder – and some on these tiny ones. We would draw them and mix the colours and layer them up. There were many, many coats of paint, and I must have painted hundreds of spots. It sounds really boring, but it was actually a really useful experience because it was quite meditative. The process was mechanical and repetitive, but it allowed my brain to think about ideas I was working on.” It was staring into space, basically, with spots.
Those years spent scraping together a living infused Child’s work with a very particular kind of energy and a distinctive multimedia aesthetic. She started supplementing her drawings with snatches of fabrics from those pesky lampshades, photographs, newspaper clippings, and other found materials. She started playing with scale and textual layout to give visual emphasis to words and pacing. At this stage, she didn’t necessarily see herself as a children’s author in the making. She was just looking for a platform to showcase her illustration style.
However, when the character of Clarice appeared in her mind, she pursued it with “a renewed confidence”; certain, at last, that she was “doing something right for a change. Even if nobody wanted to publish it, I was really excited, for the first time in a long time, about what I was doing.” Eventually, Child managed to get an agent to take on the first Clarice Bean book, but even then it was five years before the agent could find her a publisher. By that time, Child had a whole series of books and ideas ready to roll out.
It is easy to understand why Child’s work appeals so strongly to young readers. It immerses us deep within the world of the child, with all its wonky logic and transformative magic. “The thing is,” Child says, “when you are writing in the first person as a child, you can just say what you want. If you listen to a conversation between children, you can immediately see how they just step into the world of imagination. It is beautiful. They can travel through time, transport themselves, find a story in any object. If you think of that from an adult perspective, well there’s something almost melancholy about it: you can’t just step back there, you are always aware that their rocket is really a chair.”
Indeed, one of the most common questions Child is asked - by adults - is where the characters’ parents are. (We meet the entire Tuesday family in Clarice Bean, but we never meet Charlie and Lola’s family.) Child’s answer: “They aren’t there.” The response sounds glib, but Child means it sincerely and laments the fact that children these days don’t enjoy the same freedom as her characters do, as she did when a child.
“When I was young,” she remembers wistfully, “my parents were around but they always had stuff to do. You could either muck in or get on with something else, and if you did, you were on your own with it, you had to be your own resource. If you were bored, you had to get out of it yourself, do something physical or find a place in your head.” You had to, basically, stare into space until your mind suggested something better to do.
Hubert Horatio: How to Raise Your Grown-Ups, by Lauren Child, and Mary Poppins by PL Travers, with illustrations by Lauren Child, are published by HarperCollins
Clarice Bean
Hubert Horatio
Booker winner Anna Burns thanked by food bank and housing charity
Anna Burns: ‘It’s nice to feel I’m solvent. That’s a huge gift’
Bram Stoker and the strange case of the ‘Dracula’ prequel
Frank McDonald: ‘It took me years to accept who I am. I’m still working on it’
A celebration of the rich tradition of Northern Irish women writers
Poems of the week: by Frank Ormsby and Gerard Fanning
Europe: A Natural History by Tim Flannery – bold and brilliant
Eoin McNamee: ‘The ghosts of airmen have always been with me’
The Ginger Man Letters review: beyond author’s vanity and snobbery
Poem of the week: Glencolmcille Soundtrack
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2015 in Burma: One for the History Books
Dr Pornthip: ‘Victims or Suspects Have the Right to Ask For a Second Opinion’
Burma’s Rights Body Calls on Thai Counterpart to Assist Koh Tao Accused
Thai Deputy PM Labels Koh Tao Protests ‘Instigated’
Activists Welcome China’s 1st Domestic Violence Law
South Korea, Japan Agree to Irreversibly End ‘Comfort Women’ Row
Attackers Kill 3 Policemen in Indonesia’s Papua Province
Where Are the Women in Burma’s Peace Process?
Lawmakers Debate Jade Trade in Wake of Latest Landslide in Hpakant
Kyaukphyu SEZ Discussion in Naypyidaw Misses Vote Deadline
Fighting Flares Between Arakan Army and Govt Troops
Graffiti Protesters Allowed to Rejoin Classes after University Backflip
Chaw Sandi Tun Sentenced to Six Months in Jail over Facebook Post
Nighttime Bomb Blast in Kokang Region Kills 3
Burma Army Chief Calls for Review of Koh Tao Verdict
Paranoid: North Korea's Computer System Mirrors Its Political One
China Passes Controversial Counterterrorism Law
China Expels French Reporter Who Questioned Terrorism
Suu Kyi Thanks Trishaw Drivers for Election Support in Rangoon
Dozens Feared Dead after Another Landslide in Hpakant
UN Rights Envoy: ‘When You Gain Power, You Can’t Just Change Things Overnight’
Student Activist Arrested in Mandalay for Mid-Year Graffiti Protest
The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Dec. 26, 2015)
Sexual Assault Victim’s Family Pressured to Drop Charges: Activist
Hundreds Protest Outside Thai Embassy over Koh Tao Verdict
Koh Tao Defense Lawyer: ‘It is a Saddening Verdict’
NLD Lawmaker: ‘They Are Now Operating the Jade Mines Around the Clock’
Activists Call For Witness Protection as Major Thai Human Trafficking Trial Begins
Japan Cabinet OKs Record Defense Budget Amid China Concern
New Chief Ministers Will Be NLD Candidates, Party Official Says
Govt Vows to Continue Support for Convicted Koh Tao Duo
Special Goods Tax Debate Flags Booze, Tobacco Price Hike
Released Graffiti Students Barred From University Reenrollment
Suu Kyi Tells Govt Peace Body: Reach Out to Non-Signatory Armed Groups
Burma Through the Lens in 2015
Kachin IDPs Resigned to Another Subdued Christmas Away From Home
Burma Air Force Orders Rangoon Villagers to Vacate Homes
Two Burmese Men Found Guilty, Receive Death Penalty in Koh Tao Case
Cambodia PM Stands by Hydropower, Dismisses Critics as ‘Extremists’
Thai Junta Says 99% of People Happy with Its Rule
Thai High Court Upholds Conviction for Webmaster
USDP Looks to Regroup after Bruising Election Defeat
Toxic Levels of Lead, Arsenic Found in Drinking Water, Industrial Waste
Jade Mine Protesters Freed After Alleged KIA Detention
$3bn Deficit Forecast for 2016-17 Budget
Finally? Kyaukphyu SEZ Tender Due Next Week, Official Claims
Government Invites Wa, Mongla Groups to Peace Dialogue
Memorial Held for Slain Letpadaung Protester in Sagaing
Analysis: Will Shwe Mann Make a Comeback?
Looking back at a year few could have predicted, in a country still coming to grips with new democratic realities while grappling with familiar challenges.
By Andrew D. Kaspar 29 December 2015
RANGOON — As 2015 dawned in Burma, there was little doubt that the year’s news cycle would be dominated by the general election held last month. And while that proved true in many ways, there was plenty else to keep reporters busy as the months unfolded, in what turned out to be an historic year for the country on several fronts.
Much like the year that preceded it, 2015 could be described as one of setbacks and successes as the country moved uncertainly toward a Nov. 8 vote that many viewed as a key bellwether on future prospects for the country, which only five years ago began its transformation from dictatorship to democracy. The National League for Democracy’s thumping victory was widely hailed as a triumph for the country’s long-persecuted pro-democracy movement, but the coming year sees the party take the reins of government amid no shortage of festering problems, ensuring that, if nothing else, an eventful 2016 is on the horizon.
Developments on the business front were as much about what comes next as what we see today in the fast-changing economy. Foreign banks opened branches in Burma for the first time in decades and for a time, downtown Rangoon was gripped by (Kentucky) fried chicken frenzy as the first US fast-food chain opened its doors in the country. With the year winding down, Burma’s first-ever stock exchange was christened, albeit with no shares yet to trade.
On the other side of the coin, the kyat continued its three-year slide against the US dollar and agricultural output was hit hard by widespread flooding across much of the country mid-year, an economic toll surpassed only by its counterpart in human lives: More than 100 people were killed across the country in Burma’s worst natural disaster since the unspeakable devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
Progress in bringing an end to six decades of ethnic conflict was also a mixed bag. The persistence of peace negotiators was rewarded with a fourth-quarter victory of sorts for the government, as eight non-state armed groups signed a “nationwide” ceasefire agreement—over a dozen more declined to participate. Several rounds of peace negotiations and the eventual realization of the ceasefire signing had little impact on the ground in many places, with fighting reported between the Burma Army and at least seven ethnic armed groups this year. That included skirmishes Kachin State, where the protracted conflict between the Burma Army and the Kachin Independence Army entered its fourth year, and in northeastern Shan State, where ethnic Kokang fighters put up some of the fiercest armed resistance the government has seen in decades.
The police were kept busy too. Scores of detentions on a variety of dubious charges—from irreverent social media posts deemed criminally defamatory to “illegal” prayers and protests—swelled the ranks of Burma’s political prisoners and left President Thein Sein ever further from achieving his stated intention to rid Burma’s jails of prisoners of conscience. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said this week that the number of political detainees sentenced or facing trial stands at 528, up from 233 at the end of 2014.
Despite a newsreel that, on the whole, would appear weighted toward negative developments, the remarkable conduct and outcome of the year-end general election was without doubt the defining moment of 2015. Despite obvious flaws, the largely successful poll won international plaudits—including winning Burma the Economist magazine’s “country of the year” honor—and inspired widespread optimism going into the new year.
As we look to 2016 and consider what might lie ahead, it helps perhaps to take a closer look at the momentous year that was.
The first of several high-profile detentions in 2015 took place in northern Kachin State, where more than 100 Chinese nationals were arrested on charges of logging illegally. Their arrest sparked the first of two diplomatic rows this year between Beijing and Naypyidaw, culminating in the accused being sentence to life in prison. They were later released in a presidential amnesty.
The firebrand monk U Wirathu ensured that he inserted himself into the headlines early in the year, when on Jan. 16 he called the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Yanghee Lee, a “bitch” and “whore” in a speech denouncing her opposition to the four so-called race and religion protection bills advocated by Ma Ba Tha, also known as the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion. The legislation eventually made its way to Parliament and ultimately the president’s desk in an indication that Buddhist nationalism would continue to be a potent force in 2015.
On Jan. 20, the badly beaten bodies of two Kachin schoolteachers in northern Shan State were discovered, prompting an investigation which determined that they had been raped and murdered. Suspicions fell on a deployment of Burma Army soldiers stationed nearby, leading the military at one point to threaten legal action against anyone implicating its personnel in the killings. To date, no suspects have stood trial.
Fighting flared on Feb. 9 in Shan State’s Kokang Special Region between the Burma Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), an ethnic Kokang rebel group. Though by no means the only conflict to punctuate 2015, it would go on to become the year’s most sustained and deadly, sending tens of thousands of refugees into neighboring China and leading the government to declare martial law in the region.
The President’s Office announced on Feb. 11 that it had revoked the right of so-called white card holders to vote in a constitutional referendum that was ultimately scrapped. The largest group of the cardholders was Rohingya Muslims, and the decision and minority’s subsequent disenfranchisement from voting in the November election were criticized by human rights groups, the United Nations and Washington.
As the calendar turned to March, tensions rose between student protesters, their supporters and police in the town of Letpadan, Pegu Division, where a standoff was playing out as authorities refused to let the protestors continue a march to Rangoon, about 80 miles southeast. Nearly 200 protestors had begun their march more than a month earlier in Mandalay, traveling hundreds of miles on foot to voice their opposition to the controversial National Education Law passed in September 2014.
As the stalemate dragged on, a smaller solidarity demonstration sprung up in Rangoon, and took an ugly turn when authorities moved in to break it up forcibly. Police were accompanied by plainclothes thugs wearing red armbands printed with the word “duty” in Burmese, a tactic that critics said hearkened to the junta era.
On March 10, the standoff at Letpadan came to a head, with more than 100 protestors jailed after police unsheathed their riot batons and brutally cracked down on the demonstration, injuring several and prompting condemnation both at home and abroad. Dozens of those detained in March remain on trial facing a variety of charges.
In the Kokang Special Region, fighting continued and Burma again provoked the ire of China when a stray bomb landed in Chinese territory, killing five villagers there.
The high-profile trial of two Burmese men and a New Zealand national who were business partners of the V Gastro Pub in Rangoon concluded, with the trio sentenced to two and a half years in prison with hard labor for “insulting religion,” after a promotional flyer circulated online in December 2014 depicting the Buddha wearing headphones.
A report from The Associated Press exposed slavery-like bondage in the Thai fishing industry, with hundreds of men, many Burmese, found laboring in the Indonesian archipelago under in appalling conditions. Many of these slave laborers were repatriated to Burma over the months that followed, in what was just the first of two grim regional human trafficking stories to make international headlines in 2015.
April brought two high-level dialogues in quick succession: the first featuring 48 parties and the second, six of Burma’s political heavyweights. Their common participants were NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi, Thein Sein and the two parliamentary speakers. The latter meeting marked what at the time was the closest forum approximating the four-party talks on political reform that Suu Kyi had long sought. Participants agreed to meet again, but little more was learned about what was discussed.
The president assigned a press corps and enlisted the Podesta Group, but lost a presidential adviser, who would resign shortly after helping to set up a new political party. Meanwhile, the declaration of commitment to a nationwide ceasefire agreement, which Thein Sein signed with 16 ethnic armed groups on March 31, looked unlikely to bring any immediate reduction in conflict, as three ethnic armed groups reported fighting with the Burma Army little more than a week after the accord was agreed.
The month of May was dominated by a regional story with roots in Burma and Bangladesh, as a crackdown on human trafficking in Thailand led traffickers to abandon their living cargo, mostly Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis, at sea. Thousands of refugees and economic migrants began washing ashore in Indonesia and elsewhere, with thousands more said to be stranded on the high seas, as Asean nations struggled to cope with the growing crisis. A regional summit at the end of the month aimed at addressing the situation yielded little in the way of solutions, with Burma deflecting blame and other Asean member states reluctant shoulder the burden of resettling the so-called boatpeople.
Back in Naypyidaw, Thein Sein signed a controversial population control bill into law, the first of the four pieces of “race and religion protection” legislation criticized by human rights advocates as targeted toward Muslims.
The results of Burma’s 2014 census were released, revealing that the country’s population stood at just shy of 51.5 million people. The number was well short of the 60 million figure that had commonly been cited prior to the census, and the government withheld data on religion and ethnicity, citing that information’s potential to cause instability.
The writer Htin Lin Oo became another case study in arbitrary enforcement of the criminal code when he was found guilty on June 2 of causing religious offense. The former NLD official was sentenced to two years in prison for a speech in which he said that bigotry and racism were incompatible with the central tenets of Buddhism. Yes, you read that correctly.
Also at the intersection of Buddhist nationalism and politics, there were growing signs that the NLD was beginning to fall out of favor with the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, the country’s foremost nationalist group. In a speech, one of Ma Ba Tha’s senior members told followers to vote for the incumbent Union Solidarity and Development Pary (USDP), in a further indication of Burma’s increasingly intertwined religious and political spheres.
The release of more than 30 townships’ eligible voter lists was met with alarm as the NLD complained that 30 to 80 percent of the rosters were inaccurate, raising the prospect of mass disenfranchisement in the election. The story was one of the major issues in the lead-up to the vote as the Union Election Commission (UEC) continued to insist that corrections could be made, while dishing blame for the shortcoming on a variety of other actors.
After three days of debate, parliamentarians voted on a series of proposed constitutional amendments, with all but one—a trivial change to wording—failing to clear the 75 percent threshold needed for passage. The amendments were approved by large but insufficient majorities, with appointed military parliamentarians and a faction of elected lawmakers blocking the proposals.
A controversial high-rise project near Rangoon’s revered Shwedagon Pagoda was scrapped after months in limbo, as city officials bowed to pressure from some groups, including the influential Buddhist clergy, to nix the developments. Concerns that the project could impact the sacred shrine’s structural integrity had suspended construction on the five developments, and the successful campaign to have the high-rises cancelled was viewed as a major political victory for Buddhist nationalists that heritage advocates also applauded.
Another victory for the Buddhist nationalist movement came the same day, with passage of a second “race and religion protection” bill in the Union Parliament, this one restricting interfaith marriage.
The election commission announced on July 8 that Burma’s general election would take place four months later, on Nov. 8, and a second raft of charter changes largely met the same fate of constitutional amendments the month prior.
Aung Thaung, a senior USDP lawmaker and notorious hardliner, died in Singapore on July 23, two weeks after he was hospitalized suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.
With July coming to close, the full extent of flooding began to become clear as pictures circulating on social media and in the press painted a picture of large swaths of the country underwater after weeks of heavy rains. All told more than 100 people died and 1 million people were affected across 12 of Burma’s 14 states and divisions.
The release of the NLD’s election candidate list earns the party weeks of negative press, with several prominent figures who were expected to be given candidacies shunned and local NLD chapters claiming their nominations were ignored by the central leadership. Additionally, the party fielded no Muslim candidates in an apparent attempt to blunt nationalist attacks.
The USDP, meanwhile, was grappling with turmoil of its own following the late-night ouster of chairman Shwe Mann, who was purged in a surprise shakeup of the party leadership. The drama played out in what a US official would later say recalled “the dark old days of dictatorship,” with armed security personnel surrounding the USDP headquarters in Naypyidaw as the party pecking order was rearranged.
Just one week later, Parliament returned for its last session ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Its most consequential vote was arguably the USDP-majority legislature’s move to pass the last two “race and religion” laws, on monogamy and religious conversion. In another telling metric of the USDP schism laid bare by the Shwe Mann sacking, lawmakers voted to postpone consideration of a bill on recalling sitting parliamentarians, which was brought to the floor after a recall petition was filed against the speaker. Some interpreted the outcome of that vote as indication of substantial support for the Shwe Mann faction within the party.
The election’s official campaign period kicked off on Sept. 8, a largely subdued affair in which only the country’s two largest parties, the NLD and USDP, rolled out notable launches of their electoral bids. Suu Kyi hit the road just days later, travelling to Karenni State for rallies that drew thousands of red-clad supporters, a scene that would repeat itself with every stop on the campaign trail made by the popular party leader.
As the campaign period entered its third week, Ma Ba Tha members escalated their divisive political rhetoric, calling the NLD the “party of Islamists” at a rally held to celebrate the race and religion legislation passed by Parliament, which NLD lawmakers opposed. The party said it had filed election complaints against Ma Ba Tha, contending that the Constitution forbids the use of religion for political purposes, but a UEC claimed the commission was not empowered to take action against religious figures or organizations.
More political muscle flexing from Ma Ba Tha as the group held a 10,000-strong rally in Rangoon to celebrate passage of the race and religion laws.
NLD complaints continued into the second month of campaigning as attacks turned from verbal to physical, in one case involving a ransacking in Kachin State and another a sword-wielding assailant in Rangoon.
Long-laid plans for the election were thrown into doubt as political parties revealed on Oct. 13 that the UEC had floated the idea of postponing the vote, citing the lingering aftermath of the flooding that had affected much of the country over the previous months. Less than 12 hours after word got out, the commission reversed course and said the election would go forward as planned.
Eight ethnic armed groups and the government inked a so-called “nationwide ceasefire agreement” on Oct. 15, though critics pointed out that several rebel armies, including some of the nation’s largest, opted not to sign, citing ongoing Burma Army offensives and the government’s exclusion of some groups from the accord.
More than 26 million people turnout out to cast ballots on Nov. 8, a day marked by long queues at some polling stations and a smattering of reported irregularities, but a vote otherwise widely praised. Polls closed at 4pm and counting of ballots began, with NLD party agents reporting widespread success as initial tallies came in from across the country.
Those reports proved accurate in the days to come, as the UEC released election results in batches beginning on Monday and lasting until the following Sunday, with the exception of a handful of races in remote Kachin State constituencies. It was on Nov. 13 that the party notched enough seats to ensure that it would choose the country’s next president.
Jitters over how the ruling party and military would handle the opposition’s decisive victory gradually subsided as senior members of the defeated USDP and Burma Army commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing gave every indication that they accepted and would honor the result.
The post-election euphoria was tempered by tragic news out of Kachin State, where at least 113 “hand-pickers” were killed when a pile of mining tailings collapsed. Not the first of its kind but the deadliest, the incident heaped additional scrutiny on the jade mining industry in Hpakant Township, epicenter of the prized gem’s extraction, which an environmental watchdog said earlier this year was valued at $31 billion in 2014 alone.
As the month came to a close, a reminder of the harsh realities that are likely to await the incoming government, as renewed fighting was reported in the Kokang Special Region, coming after a peaceful few months that had apparently prompted the lifting of martial law just two weeks prior. The same day, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) claimed that its troops exchanged hostilities with a combined Burma Army and Shan State Army-South force, underlining complex battlefield dynamics that will not always comport with the narrative of Burma’s November democratic triumph.
The victorious Suu Kyi met separately on Dec. 2 with Thein Sein and Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw, meetings she had requested shortly after the NLD’s overwhelming election victory became clear in November. The three parties offered only vague details about the content of their discussions, but statements by both the incumbent president and the military further bolstered their previously stated intention to do their parts to ensure a smooth transfer of power.
Three days later, the NLD chairwoman met with Than Shwe, the retired senior general and former leader of the military junta that ceded power in 2011. Following the meeting, Than Shwe’s grandson quoted the former junta chief as referring to Suu Kyi as Burma’s “future leader,” fueling speculation that she might still have a shot at the presidency, despite the constitutional ban currently in place.
A bipartisan transition committee began meeting to hash out details of the power transition and a new investment law was passed on Dec. 17, as entrepreneurs look to next year as a potential business bonanza, given the political developments of 2015.
The President’s Office announced on Dec. 18 that a long-awaited political dialogue aimed at ending decades of civil war would begin on Jan. 12, ensuring that the peace process will make a prominent early 2016 appearance on the agenda of the nation’s big political stakeholders.
Burmese migrant workers Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were sentenced to death in Thailand on Dec. 24 after their conviction for the September 2014 murders of two British backpackers on the island resort of Koh Tao. The case had been plagued by controversy from the outset, with claims by rights activists that the pair had been tortured into confessing and questions over the integrity of forensic evidence linking them to the crime. The decision prompted several days of protests outside the Thai embassy in Rangoon, while military chief Min Aung Hlaing issued a public call for a review of the evidence. Both men are expected to appeal the decision in the new year.
Additional research by Feliz Solomon and Yen Snaing.
Topics: A_Factiva, Conflict, Election, More, Parliament, Religion
Andrew D. Kaspar The Irrawaddy
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The Two Babylons
The Watchman
Grace vs License
What is Life? - Part 1
The New Germany - Friend... or FRANKENSTEIN Monster?
WHERE AND HOW THE WORLD WAR WILL START
What is PROPHESIED for 1935!
Alexander Hislop
"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."—Revelation 17:5
There is this great difference between the works of men and the works of God, that the same minute and searching investigation, which displays the defects and imperfections of the one, brings out also the beauties of the other. If the most finely polished needle on which the art of man has been expended be subjected to a microscope, many inequalities, much roughness and clumsiness, will be seen. But if the microscope be brought to bear on the flowers of the field, no such result appears. Instead of their beauty diminishing, new beauties and still more delicate, that have escaped the naked eye, are forthwith discovered; beauties that make us appreciate, in a way which otherwise we could have had little conception of, the full force of the Lord's saying, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." The same law appears also in comparing the Word of God and the most finished productions of men. There are spots and blemishes in the most admired productions of human genius. But the more the Scriptures are searched, the more minutely they are studied, the more their perfection appears; new beauties are brought into light every day; and the discoveries of science, the researches of the learned, and the labours of infidels, all alike conspire to illustrate the wonderful harmony of all the parts, and the Divine beauty that clothes the whole.
If this be the case with Scripture in general, it is especially the case with prophetic Scripture. As every spoke in the wheel of Providence revolves, the prophetic symbols start into still more bold and beautiful relief. This is very strikingly the case with the prophetic language that forms the groundwork and corner-stone of the present work. There never has been any difficulty in the mind of any enlightened Protestant in identifying the woman "sitting on seven mountains," and having on her forehead the name written, "Mystery, Babylon the Great," with the Roman apostacy. "No other city in the world has ever been celebrated, as the city of Rome has, for its situation on seven hills. Pagan poets and orators, who had not thought of elucidating prophecy, have alike characterised it as 'the seven hilled city.'" Thus Virgil refers to it: "Rome has both become the most beautiful (city) in the world, and alone has surrounded for herself seven heights with a wall." Propertius, in the same strain, speaks of it (only adding another trait, which completes the Apocalyptic picture) as "The lofty city on seven hills, which governs the whole world." Its "governing the whole world" is just the counterpart of the Divine statement—"which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (Rev 17:18). To call Rome the city "of the seven hills" was by its citizens held to be as descriptive as to call it by its own proper name. Hence Horace speaks of it by reference to its seven hills alone, when he addresses, "The gods who have set their affections on the seven hills." Martial, in like manner, speaks of "The seven dominating mountains." In times long subsequent, the same kind of language was in current use; for when Symmachus, the prefect of the city, and the last acting Pagan Pontifex Maximus, as the Imperial substitute, introduces by letter one friend of his to another, he calls him "De septem montibus virum"—"a man from the seven mountains," meaning thereby, as the commentators interpret it, "Civem Romanum, "A Roman Citizen." Now, while this characteristic of Rome has ever been well marked and defined, it has always been easy to show, that the Church which has its seat and headquarters on the seven hills of Rome might most appropriately be called "Babylon," inasmuch as it is the chief seat of idolatry under the New Testament, as the ancient Babylon was the chief seat of idolatry under the Old. But recent discoveries in Assyria, taken in connection with the previously well-known but illunderstood history and mythology of the ancient world, demonstrate that there is a vast deal more significance in the name Babylon the Great than this. It has been known all along that Popery was baptised Paganism; but God is now making it manifest, that the Paganism which Rome has baptised is, in all its essential elements, the very Paganism which prevailed in the ancient literal Babylon, when Jehovah opened before Cyrus the two-leaved gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.
That new and unexpected light, in some way or other, should be cast, about this very period, on the Church of the grand Apostacy, the very language and symbols of the Apocalypse might have prepared us to anticipate. In the Apocalyptic visions, it is just before the judgment upon her that, for the first time, John sees the Apostate Church with the name Babylon the Great "written upon her forehead" (Rev 17:5). What means the writing of that name "on the forehead"? Does it not naturally indicate that, just before judgment overtakes her, her real character was to be so thoroughly developed, that everyone who has eyes to see, who has the least spiritual discernment, would be compelled, as it were, on ocular demonstration, to recognise the wonderful fitness of the title which the Spirit of God had affixed to her. Her judgment is now evidently hastening on; and just as it approaches, the Providence of God, conspiring with the Word of God, by light pouring in from all quarters, makes it more and more evident that Rome is in very deed the Babylon of the Apocalypse; that the essential character of her system, the grand objects of her worship, her festivals, her doctrine and discipline, her rites and ceremonies, her priesthood and their orders, have all been derived from ancient Babylon; and, finally, that the Pope himself is truly and properly the lineal representative of Belshazzar. In the warfare that has been waged against the domineering pretensions of Rome, it has too often been counted enough merely to meet and set aside her presumptuous boast, that she is the mother and mistress of all churches—the one Catholic Church, out of whose pale there is no salvation. If ever there was excuse for such a mode of dealing with her, that excuse will hold no longer. If the position I have laid down can be maintained, she must be stripped of the name of a Christian Church altogether; for if it was a Church of Christ that was convened on that night, when the pontiff-king of Babylon, in the midst of his thousand lords, "praised the gods of gold, and of silver, and of wood, and of stone" (Dan 5:4), then the Church of Rome is entitled to the name of a Christian Church; but not otherwise. This to some, no doubt, will appear a very startling position; but it is one which it is the object of this work to establish; and let the reader judge for himself, whether I do not bring ample evidence to substantiate my position.
Introduction Next
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Klaw & Erlanger
Producer Theatre Owner/Operator General Manager House Manager
Primary Organization Members
A.L. Erlanger and Marc Klaw
Broadway Productions
The Half Moon (Nov 01, 1920 - Dec 11, 1920)
Theatre Owned / Operated by Klaw & Erlanger
MusicalComedyOriginal
The Velvet Lady (Feb 03, 1919 - Jun 1919)
Produced by Klaw & Erlanger
Tillie (Jan 06, 1919 - Feb 1919)
The Girl Behind the Gun (Sep 16, 1918 - Feb 01, 1919)
Penrod (Sep 02, 1918 - Nov 1918)
Lightnin' (Aug 26, 1918 - Aug 27, 1921)
Out There (May 17, 1918 - May 1918)
Produced by arrangement with Klaw & Erlanger
PlayRevival
The Rainbow Girl (Apr 01, 1918 - Aug 17, 1918)
Sick-a-Bed (Feb 25, 1918 - May 1918)
The Cohan Revue of 1918 (Dec 31, 1917 - Mar 23, 1918)
MusicalRevueOriginal
Happiness (Dec 31, 1917 - May 1918)
Madame Sand (Nov 19, 1917 - Jan 1918)
The Wooing of Eve (Nov 09, 1917 - Dec 1917)
The Love Drive (Oct 30, 1917 - Nov 1917)
Out There (Oct 08, 1917 - Closing date unknown)
Here Comes the Bride (Sep 25, 1917 - Nov 1917)
The Riviera Girl (Sep 24, 1917 - Dec 15, 1917)
Hamilton (Sep 17, 1917 - Nov 1917)
The Country Cousin (Sep 03, 1917 - Dec 1917)
Disraeli (Apr 09, 1917 - May 1917)
Out There (Mar 27, 1917 - Jun 1917)
The Professor's Love Story (Feb 26, 1917 - Apr 1917)
Shirley Kaye (Dec 25, 1916 - Mar 1917)
The Harp of Life (Nov 27, 1916 - Mar 1917)
Ben Hur (Nov 06, 1916 - Jan 1917)
PlayMelodramaRevival
Miss Springtime (Sep 25, 1916 - Apr 07, 1917)
Pollyanna (Sep 18, 1916 - Dec 1916)
Paganini (Sep 11, 1916 - Oct 1916)
Margaret Schiller (Jan 31, 1916 - Closing date unknown)
Around the Map (Nov 01, 1915 - Jan 29, 1916)
Moloch (Sep 20, 1915 - Oct 1915)
Fads and Fancies (Mar 08, 1915 - Apr 17, 1915)
Outcast (Nov 02, 1914 - Mar 1915)
Papa's Darling (Nov 02, 1914 - Jan 1915)
The Dragon's Claw (Sep 14, 1914 - Sep 1914)
Cordelia Blossom (Aug 26, 1914 - Sep 1914)
The New Henrietta (Dec 22, 1913 - Feb 1914)
The Strange Woman (Nov 17, 1913 - Closing date unknown)
The Little Cafe (Nov 10, 1913 - Mar 14, 1914)
Eva (Dec 30, 1912 - Jan 18, 1913)
MusicalOriginal
The Argyle Case (Dec 24, 1912 - Jun 1913)
Oh! Oh! Delphine (Sep 30, 1912 - May 02, 1913)
Milestones (Sep 17, 1912 - Mar 22, 1913)
The Count of Luxembourg (Sep 16, 1912 - Dec 28, 1912)
MusicalOperetta RomanceOriginal
The Pink Lady (Aug 26, 1912 - Sep 14, 1912)
MusicalComedyRevival
The Man from Cook's (Mar 25, 1912 - Apr 20, 1912)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (Jan 29, 1912 - Feb 1912)
Kismet (Dec 25, 1911 - Jun 1912)
Ben Hur (Dec 23, 1911 - Jan 1912)
The Sign of the Rose (Oct 11, 1911 - Oct 1911)
The Pink Lady (Mar 13, 1911 - Dec 09, 1911)
Henry of Navarre (Nov 28, 1910 - Dec 1910)
The Bachelor Belles (Nov 07, 1910 - Dec 03, 1910)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (Oct 24, 1910 - Nov 1910)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Oct 03, 1910 - Apr 1911)
Her Husband's Wife (May 10, 1910 - Jun 1910)
The Young Turk (Jan 31, 1910 - Feb 26, 1910)
The Barrier (Jan 10, 1910 - Jan 1910)
The Silver Star (Nov 01, 1909 - Feb 1910)
Springtime (Oct 19, 1909 - Dec 1909)
PlayPlay with musicOriginal
In Hayti (Aug 30, 1909 - Oct 16, 1909)
The Florist Shop (Aug 09, 1909 - Sep 1909)
House Manager: Klaw & Erlanger
PlayFarceOriginal
The Mascot (Apr 12, 1909 - May 08, 1909)
MusicalOperaRevival
Little Nemo (Oct 20, 1908 - Jan 23, 1909)
The Round Up (Aug 31, 1908 - Oct 03, 1908)
The Right of Way (Nov 04, 1907 - Dec 1907)
The Evangelist (Sep 30, 1907 - Oct 1907)
Lola from Berlin (Sep 16, 1907 - Nov 02, 1907)
The Round Up (Aug 26, 1907 - Dec 30, 1907)
A Marriage of Reason (Apr 01, 1907 - Apr 1907)
The Grand Mogul (Mar 25, 1907 - Apr 27, 1907)
Ben Hur (Feb 25, 1907 - Apr 1907)
PlayDramaRevival
The Aero Club (Jan 28, 1907 - Feb 1907)
Lew Dockstader's Minstrels (Dec 17, 1906 - Jan 1907)
MusicalMinstrelOriginal
Forty-five Minutes from Broadway (Nov 05, 1906 - Dec 01, 1906)
PlayPlay with musicRevival
Caesar and Cleopatra (Oct 30, 1906 - Dec 1906)
The Spring Chicken (Oct 08, 1906 - Apr 20, 1907)
in arrangement with Klaw & Erlanger
The Prince of India (Sep 24, 1906 - Nov 1906)
The Free Lance (Apr 16, 1906 - Jan 1907)
MusicalComedy OperaOriginal
Humpty Dumpty (Mar 12, 1906 - Mar 31, 1906)
MusicalExtravaganzaRevival
Forty-five Minutes from Broadway (Jan 01, 1906 - Mar 17, 1906)
The White Cat (Nov 02, 1905 - Dec 09, 1905)
MusicalExtravaganza SpectacleOriginal
Veronique (Oct 30, 1905 - Jan 06, 1906)
Fritz in Tammany Hall (Oct 16, 1905 - Nov 18, 1905)
The Rogers Brothers in Ireland (Sep 04, 1905 - Mar 10, 1906)
The Ham Tree (Aug 28, 1905 - Nov 11, 1905)
MusicalVaudevilleOriginal
The Pearl and the Pumpkin (Aug 21, 1905 - Nov 1905)
MusicalExtravaganzaOriginal
Lifting the Lid (Jun 05, 1905 - Aug 26, 1905)
Sergeant Brue (Apr 24, 1905 - Mar 1906)
MusicalFarceOriginal
Love and the Man (Feb 20, 1905 - Mar 1905)
PlayMelodramaOriginal
In Newport (Dec 26, 1904 - Jan 14, 1905)
MusicalBurlesqueOriginal
Humpty Dumpty (Nov 14, 1904 - Mar 04, 1905)
The Rogers Brothers in Paris (Sep 05, 1904 - Nov 12, 1904)
MusicalFarce VaudevilleOriginal
A Little Bit of Everything (Jun 06, 1904 - Sep 17, 1904)
Hamlet (Mar 08, 1904 - Apr 1904)
PlayTragedyRevival
Mother Goose (Dec 02, 1903 - Feb 27, 1904)
The Light That Failed (Nov 09, 1903 - Dec 1903)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oct 26, 1903 - Nov 1903)
Ben Hur (Sep 21, 1903 - Dec 1903)
The Rogers Brothers in London (Sep 07, 1903 - Jan 1904)
John Henry (May 25, 1903 - Jun 1903)
Mr. Bluebeard (Jan 21, 1903 - May 16, 1903)
The Billionaire (Dec 29, 1902 - Apr 1903)
A Cigarette Maker's Romance / Rouget De L'Isle (Nov 12, 1902 - Nov 1902)
A Cigarette Maker's Romance
Rouget De L'Isle
PlayOne ActOriginal
The Children of Kings (Nov 03, 1902 - Nov 1902)
The Only Way (Oct 20, 1902 - Nov 1902)
PlayDrama RomanceRevival
Robin Hood (Sep 08, 1902 - Oct 04, 1902)
MusicalOperettaRevival
The Rogers Brothers in Harvard (Sep 01, 1902 - Oct 25, 1902)
Maid Marian (Jan 27, 1902 - Mar 22, 1902)
General Manager: Klaw & Erlanger
MusicalOpera Romantic ComedyOriginal
The Sleeping Beauty and the Beast (Nov 04, 1901 - May 31, 1902)
The Liberty Belles (Sep 30, 1901 - Jan 1902)
The Rogers Brothers in Washington (Sep 02, 1901 - Oct 12, 1901)
The Rogers Brothers in Central Park (Sep 17, 1900 - Apr 1901)
Ben Hur (Sep 03, 1900 - Oct 1900)
The Viceroy (Apr 30, 1900 - May 05, 1900)
Chris and the Wonderful Lamp (Jan 01, 1900 - Feb 24, 1900)
Ben Hur (Nov 29, 1899 - May 1900)
A Reign of Error (Mar 02, 1899 - Jun 10, 1899)
Find out where Klaw & Erlanger and
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G20: Cameron on the Sidelines as Obama and Hollande Talk Syria [VIDEO]
Commons vote against military action in reprisal for Ghouta gas attack undermines prime minister at St Petersburg summit
By Nick Assinder, Political Editor
Updated October 2, 2013 11:16 BST
David Cameron sidelined at G20 St Petersburg summit (Reuters)
David Cameron flew into the St Petersburg G20 summit of world leaders eager to make his case for fresh diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives on Syria - but will need a giant megaphone to have his voice heard. As far as any meetings about Syria go during the G20, there is really only one show in town – military action against the Assad regime - and it is one that the British prime minister has no part in.
Cameron's frustration at having his hands tied by the Commons vote against UK involvement in any action has been palpable ever since that setback. It will come to a head over the next couple of days as he has to sit on the sidelines as other leaders, notably Presidents Obama and Hollande, meet to attempt to find some common ground over the crisis.
At the moment, there are no plans for Cameron and Obama to even meet on the fringes of the summit, although that may well change as a result of a desire on both sides not to give the impression the UK is being snubbed by the US.
But a few seconds in a corridor probably won't help dispel that impression. Cameron has made no bones of the fact that he wanted Britain to stand alongside the US in the event of military intervention and, ever since the vote in parliament, he has repeated his view that "robust action" needs to be taken in response to the use of chemical weapons.
He has now been forced to re-focus on his ongoing mission to see renewed diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to help ease the suffering of Syrians, particularly the flood of refugees into neighbouring states. And it is quite likely he will be able to salvage something on that from the meeting which will enable him to come back to the Commons next week and claim some sort of success.
But no one will be in any doubt that, as far as the British prime minister is concerned, this is one summit where his influence will be minimal.
Meanwhile, with the row over the Commons vote continuing to rumble around Westminster, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg attempted to lay the blame for the ruling out of military action at Labour leader Ed Miliband's door.
He told a radio phone-in: "We changed our [Commons] motion constantly to accept a succession of suggestions they made and then they came up with a rival motion to divide the House rather than unite it."
Labour continue to point out its motion, which was in any case defeated, did not rule out military action. It was the prime minister who interpreted the debate in the Commons to insist that MPs had ruled out such action and who has since insisted he will not press for a second vote on the issue.
This article was first published on September 5, 2013
Related topics : G20 David Cameron Syria
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Syria: YPG international brigade in recruit call for foreigners to attack Turkey
A Kurdish militant reads a statement to recruit foreigners in the fight against Turkey YouTube
Westerners fighting alongside Kurdish militants have urged other foreigners sympathetic to their struggle to carry out attacks against Turkey in an online video that threatens to complicate upcoming peace talks on Syria.
An English-speaking man with the face covered by a scarf is seen delivering the international call to arms in a six-minute clip titled Revolutionaries! Join the Resistance of Bakur! – a reference to Kurdish areas in south-eastern Turkey. "We call on all revolutionaries worldwide – join the resistance. This is not the time to sit at home and ponder what might be," he says, reading from a written statement, while standing with a Kalashnikov leaning on his leg.
The man is flanked by other gunmen, who, according to Kurdish news agency ANF, are all members of an international brigade within the Popular Protection Units (YPG), a large Kurdish militia in Syria. "Attack the institutions of the Turkish state all over the world. Come to Kurdistan and join the forces of YPJ, YPS and the guerrillas," he says.
The video, which superimposes stirring music with dramatic footage of fighting and rioting, was recorded near the Syrian-Turkish border between the cities of Qamishli and Nusaybin. The location has a symbolic relevance as the speaker implies the group fights for an independent Kurdistan comprising territories in both countries. He also urges volunteers to join either the YPJ or the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The clip marks the first explicit foreign recruiting effort by Kurdish militants and explicitly targets leftists and communism-nostalgists by using a language typical of left-wing revolutionaries. "When the Soviet Union collapsed it was said that we are at the end of history. But now, 25 years later, we see once more that capitalism isn't and never has been able to solve our problems," the masked fighter says.
Founded in 1978 the PKK originally had a mixed Kurdish nationalist and Marxist-Leninist ideology that has through the years moved closer to the former. In 2013, after years of armed combat it struck a ceasefire with Ankara, which collapsed last summer. More than 100 civilians have lost their lives and thousands have been displaced in the conflict that has ensued, according to human rights groups.
The Kurdish appeal for foreign recruits comes at an awkward time for international diplomacy as it makes clear the affiliation between the PKK and the YPG, with UN-backed peace talks on Syria due to begin on 29 January. Turkey has demanded that the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, the political wing of the YPG, is kept out of negotiations exactly because of its links to the PKK, which is considered a terrorist group also by the US.
At the same time the YPG is a key player in the Syrian conflict and a crucial US ally in the fight against the Islamic State (Isis/Daesh). Russia, which is at odds with Turkey over the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, insists the YPG should be sent an invitation to the Geneva talks, which Ankara has instead threatened to boycott were that to happen. "How can you talk about political reforms in Syria if you ignore a leading Kurdish party?" said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
More about Kurdish militants
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Kurdish families return to their bombed and shrapnel-damaged homes in Silopi
Outrage as police arrest dons for backing pro-Kurdish declaration critical of Erdogan
Related topics : Syria Isis Islamic State
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Turkey: 'Women Shall Not Laugh in Public' says Erdogan's Deputy
Updated July 30, 2014 14:51 BST
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his deputy Bulent Arinc. Reuters
A minister in Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conservative government has outraged Turkey's secular community by claiming that honest women should not laugh in public.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc also urged women and men to be chaste during a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) held during Turkey's celebration of Eid, the day marking the end of Islam's holy month of Ramadan.
"Chastity is so important. It is not only a name. It is an ornament for both women and men," Arınc said, according to Hurriyet daily newspaper.
Praising traditional values, the 66-year-old politician listed some rules women should abide to, saying: "She will not laugh in public. She will not make display of her attractiveness."
Arınc also lambasted racy TV shows and series, saying they are turning the young into a generation of "sex addicts" and claimed easy access to pornography online was causing moral decay in Turkish society.
#DirenKahkaha: Turkish Women in Social Media 'Laugh Protest' against Erdogan's Deputy
Opposition leader Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu tweeted: "What our country needs the most is to hear the merry laugher of our women and of everyone else."
In recent years, Erdogan's government has implemented a religious conservative agenda that included, for example, the adoption of stricter rules on alcohol consumption and abortion.
Ihsanoglu is running against the current prime minister in Turkey's Presidential elections that are to be held in August.
Related topics : Turkey
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Coverdale and his Bibles
By J.F. Mozley
A review of the life and work of Miles Coverdale, the reformer and translator who issued the first printed English translation of the complete Bible in 1535.
Series: Library of Ecclesiastical History
Available as: Paperback
Would you like to be able to buy this title as an eBook?
Specifications: 216x140mm (8.5x5.5in), 372pp
How the Bible came to be translated into English makes a fascinating chapter in our national history. Second only to William Tyndale in that story stands Miles Coverdale who, in 1535, issued the first printed English translation of the complete Bible.
J.F. Mozley thoroughly reviews the life and works of the translator, which were of enormous importance in the spread of the Reformation in Europe, and focuses in particular on his versions of the Bible. Dr. Mozley makes full use of the churchwardens' accounts to trace the spread of Coverdale's English Bible to churches throughout Britain.
Coverdale appears as a man worthy of honour, not only among Bible translators, but among the English Reformers as well.
Select List of Books
1. The Life of Coverdale
2. Between Tyndale and Coverdale
3. The Campensis Psalter
4. The Making of the Coverdale Bible
5. The Text of the Coverdale Bible
6. The Coverdale Bible in England
7. The Matthew Bible Appears
8. The Matthew Bible Described
9. The Matthew Bible in England
10. The Coverdale Diglots
11. The Making of the Great Bible
12. The Great Bible Described
13. The Great Bible in England Under Henry VIII
14. The Great Bible Under Edward VI and Mary
A. Three Letters of Coverdale
B. A Letter of Rogers
C. A Letter of Anne de Montmorency
D. Extracts from Nicolas Thomae's Letters
E. Coverdale's Works
F. The New Testament Concordance
G. Joye's Works
H. The List of Books in Foxe, V, 566
I. The Taverner Bible
Bible References
Extract from Chapter 2: Between Tyndale and Coverdale (PDF, 403 KB)
Extract from Chapter 6: The Coverdale Bible in England (PDF, 328 KB)
J.F. Mozley was a specialist in the history of the English Reformation, particularly on its biblical side. Both his previous books on Tyndale and John Foxe were well received. The University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Thecla's Devotion (PB)
By J.D. McLarty
Accommodation and Acceptance (PB)
By Ambrose Mong
Alcuin (Bk 1)
Dunstan
Naked Faith
The Web of Friendship
Accessing Alcuin
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Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture was heavily damaged during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. | GETTY IMAGES
Eight years after Great East Japan Earthquake, many disaster victims are struggling to repay relief loans
Online: Mar 08, 2019
Last Modified: Mar 08, 2019
Many residents in the hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima are struggling to repay emergency relief loans that they received in the wake of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, a Jiji Press survey of related municipalities showed.
In the three prefectures, a total of ¥49.6 billion in public funds was disbursed, based on damage that resulted from the disaster and covering about 28,000 cases, under a program to allow low-income families to borrow up to ¥3.5 million each.
In some 4,000 cases the first repayment deadlines had passed by March 2018, but in 1,703 cases, the deadlines were missed.
Miyagi accounted for as many as 1,598 of the 1,703 cases, with overdue balances totaling about ¥140 million as of March 2018.
As of December, loan delinquencies had soared to ¥650 million in 4,784 cases in Sendai alone, according to the city government.
Many families struggling to repay relief loans include elderly people and college students, while authorities are unable to reach some borrowers, according to the department in charge of the relief loan program.
“A borrower of loans from taxpayers shouldn’t say this, but my family is on a very tight budget,” said a 76-year-old woman in Sendai. She said her family borrowed ¥1.7 million under the public loan program because related subsidies and charity grants were not enough to repair their house, which was officially recognized as being severely damaged.
Her husband then became unable to work due to illness, and the family failed to meet its first repayment deadline last October, she said.
Yoshihiro Sato, a lawyer who belongs to a bar association in Sendai, called on borrowers who are having difficulties repaying relief loans to first seek advice from local authorities and others about possible debt moratoriums and cuts in repayments.
“No action could lead borrowers to incur delinquency charges, while also increasing debt collection burdens on authorities,” Sato said.
A Sendai official said that the central government should take measures, including extending repayment deadlines, to support disaster victims struggling to rebuild their incomes. An official of a different municipal government suggested there is a need to provide low-income earners with grant-type assistance, instead of loans.
Following the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, 13 municipalities in Hyogo Prefecture provided a total of ¥130.9 billion in relief loans to people under a similar program. A total of ¥5.3 billion remained outstanding as of September 2018.
In 2015, the central government adopted a policy to allow municipalities to decide whether to exempt borrowers from repaying remaining loans if their repayment capacities are projected to remain low.
Kobe opted to stop collecting loans and had forgiven ¥6.5 billion in outstanding loans by June 2017.
Total debt collection costs at the Kobe Municipal Government had reached ¥4.3 billion by fiscal 2014.
fukushima, Debt, Tohoku, disasters, Iwate, Miyagi, 3.11
12.5% of Japanese city-dwellers still hesitant about buying food from nuclear disaster-hit Fukushima
78% of older teenagers in Japan anxious about natural disasters, survey says
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Home NEWS ENGLISH Why at this moment journalists Complaint in Mogadishu?
Why at this moment journalists Complaint in Mogadishu?
hanad
Reporters in the capital Mogadishu protest procedure for complex issues and the Presidential Press Office and the Prime Minister had a looga blocked to independent information or to receive a complete report of government offices, but instead A cached cut-out image is sent in the same way.
Head of Media Vila Somalia has sent a message to the journalists last night, telling them to prepare for a project to build a roadmap for the construction of roads in Mogadishu connecting Afgoye and Jowhar.
At the end of the meeting, the meeting was held at the House of Elders near the presidential palace in Mogadishu, where the meeting was scheduled to take place on Friday.
Many hours after the reporters were told that their offices would not go back to work, and the videos were sent to the TV channels, which disappeared in the media.
C / Casiis Ok, a Universal TV correspondent, said the challenges facing the journalists should not be sufficient information for the needs of the people, since Villa Somalia and the Prime Minister do not allow Independent media reports.
“The Office of the Prime Minister and the President have made the production division, which sends out the media to the media, and they want to keep their news, we have today blocked the work of independent media,” he said. casey ok
The journalist was called today by women who were away from the area where they were being interviewed, who later returned to their posts as a jobless.
He is not new to the media today, but since he assumed office for President Farmaajo in 2017, it is far fewer to access the media from the Presidency, with limited correspondence with the media or the media.
The complaints of the journalists have long been widespread, and the government offices have been discriminated against by journalists, who are directly dependent on financial and financial resources, to pass on their messages and deny information and information
Media officials The Office of the President and the Prime Minister have restricted any media activity in their offices, instead, a Media Group produces recordings, and then sent to the media.
Somali leaders are wary to play video or audio can return to this place looga passenger was found in the media and government offices in the wall that restricts access to information or data from the office.
The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, HE Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, has condemned the killing of innocent civilians in the capital, Mogadishu. Villa Somalia.
“What happened today is not beautiful, but we will correct it and we will face it, and will sit down with the leaders and journalists,” BBC said.
He accused the journalists of being anonymous, saying the journalist was writing about reports of fake or fake news.
Somali Minister of Information, Dahir Mohamud Gelleh, told VOA that they want the reporters to always get the first information they bring to the community.
He said he was not ready for the release of journalists, he said that the media will meet, whatever their opponents will deal with as he said.
However, the government is seen as being particularly discriminated against by the media, with rare roles in controlling the media or providing press conferences and interviews.
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hanad - April 29, 2019
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Mayor of Mogadishu Says the Killers of Bajaj Drivers will be Held Accountable
Mahad - April 13, 2019
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James Hollis – The Psychospiritual Dilemma of Our Time
Topic: What are the sources of guidance for a thoughtful person in our country amid political fractionation, animosity, divisive ideologies, and numbing distractions - a time in which the individual has an enormous summons to social, psychological, and spiritual integrity? This presentation will challenge the audience to assume responsibility for a thoughtful, discerned, and experientially verified authority, one which bases itself on respect for others, but also embodies a willingness to show up, to be different, to stand
for something real. Please bring a notebook and pen for your own personal reflection.
Presenter: James Hollis, Ph.D., was born in Springfield, Illinois, and graduated from Manchester University in 1962 and Drew University in 1967. He taught Humanities 26 years in various colleges and universities before retraining as a Jungian analyst at the Jung Institute of Zurich, Switzerland (1977-82). He is presently a licensed Jungian analyst in private practice in Washington, D.C. He served as Executive Director of the Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas for many years and now is Executive Director of the Jung Society of Washington. He is a retired Senior Training Analyst for the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, was first Director of Training of the Philadelphia Jung Institute, and is Vice-President Emeritus of the Philemon Foundation. Additionally he is a Professor of Jungian Studies for Saybrook University of San Francisco/Houston.
He has written a total of fifteen books and over fifty articles. The books have been translated into Swedish, Russian, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian, Korean, Finnish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Farsi, Japanese, Greek, Chinese, and Czech.
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RX 100 TELUGU MOVIE REVIEW
Justenterin 09:12 latest telugu movies , Movie Reviews 0 Comments
Sometimes, the best way to tell a story is in the simplest of ways – crisp, fast and straightforward. Yes, there are often several layers to a story and multiple shades to each character, but when you keep the essence of the story simple, everything else falls into place. Ajay Bhupathi’s RX 100 at its core, is a straightforward story of love, deceit and heartbreak. But the film is stretched beyond its potential with over-the-top melodrama, blood and gore.
Set in a small village in Andhra Pradesh, the focus is on Shiva (Karthikeya) who’s an angry, young man who drives an RX 100, smokes ganja and beats up everyone he sees. He’s a poor man’s Arjun Reddy in a way – angry, volatile, unstable and heartbroken. More often than not, there’s a girl responsible for such behaviour, and in Shiva’s case, it’s his love for Indhu (Payal Rajput) that drives him crazy.
Daughter of a politician and village head, Vishwanath (Rao Ramesh), the city-bred Indhu lusts after Shiva's toned body and raw sex appeal. She knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to get it. It’s not long before she tells him how she feels. She teaches him how to kiss and soon, the two are inseparable. By now, Shiva is head over heels, but will their father accept their love? More importantly, does Indhu feel the same way or is he just a passionate summer fling?
The refreshing aspect about RX 100 is how the director is unafraid to show a woman who looks at a guy with pure lust, and doesn’t shy away from making the first move. Indhu’s character is bold and refreshing and is rare to find in mainstream Telugu cinema. There are no inhibitions and that’s what makes it work.
Unfortunately, the rest of the film is way too over-the-top, and at times, amateurish. Each scene is stretched out way beyond its potential to drive home a straightforward point. For instance, when Shiva finds out that Indhu is getting married to someone else and tries to disrupt it, Vishwanath sends his goons to stop him. He is beaten to pulp and thrown in a warehouse – he gets up, gets thrashed until he collapses. The same cycle repeats for the next five minutes, and you feel like screaming ‘Okay, we get the point’. It’s cringeworthy and cumbersome.
Unfortunately, this becomes a pattern with Karthikeya’s character and the heavy doses of melodrama regarding his prema gets tiring after a point. While the young actor puts in an earnest performance, he’s a tad inconsistent with the different shades of his character. Payal Rajput makes an impact with a solid performance, while Rao Ramesh is terrific as usual. Actor Ramki, who’s bizarrely called ‘Daddy’ by everybody, puts in a noteworthy performance as Shiva’s guardian.
Take away the blood and gore and there’s a story here. RX 100 touches a rather unexplored subject but falters in its execution. You can’t help but wonder why the director plays around with so many different camera angles and tries to create a dark setting. RX 100 has sex, tears and a lot of blood, but the essence of the film is somewhere lost in between. Just like that RX 100 bike which is in focus all the time, but in reality, is insignificant.
Labels: latest telugu movies, Movie Reviews, telugu movies
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Home News Brief El Salvador Refuses UN Anti-Corruption Body
El Salvador Refuses UN Anti-Corruption Body
David Gagne
Elites and Organized Crime
El Salvador President Salvador Sanchez Ceren
El Salvador has reportedly rejected the establishment of a proposed United Nations-backed anti-corruption body, perhaps indicating the government is fearful of a political crisis like that unleashed in Guatemala after investigations by a similar UN commission, which claimed the political lives of the president and vice-president.
Despite pressure from US authorities, El Salvador has decided against creating an international commission to investigate graft within the government, a Salvadoran official told Reuters. In its place, the government is expected to renew an anti-corruption initiative with weaker investigative powers run by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The United States has been trying to get El Salvador to agree to an anti-impunity body modeled after the UN-backed commission in Guatemala, known by its Spanish initials as the CICIG, since at least July, according to Reuters. Investigations by the CICIG uncovered a massive fraud ring within Guatemala’s customs agency, allegedly run by former President Otto Perez Molina and Vice President Roxana Baldetti. Both Perez Molina and Baldetti are currently in prison awaiting trial.
The USAID program is reportedly a five-year plan and will cost $25 million, significantly cheaper than the CICIG’s price tag. However, unlike the CICIG, which has conducted wire taps and raids to investigate criminal networks, the USAID initiative will only rely on “political will and implementation of transparency regulations,” according to official documents accessed by Reuters.
InSight Crime Analysis
El Salvador’s rejection of a CICIG-like model is likely motivated by the government’s fear of what a powerful international body equipped with broad, independent investigative powers could potentially uncover. In Guatemala, the CICIG has been instrumental in revealing corruption far beyond just the president’s office; the body also took down the head of the social security agency, a prominent congressman and several other important government and criminal operators. The CICIG has been so successful of late, its commissioner, Ivan Velasquez, is now more popular in Guatemala than the two candidates running in Sunday’s presidential election.
SEE ALSO: Coverage of Elites and Organized Crime
While it’s obvious why El Salvador’s government would be reluctant to have any corruption exposed, it is under pressure from the international community to take steps to combat impunity. The decision to renew the USAID plan is likely an attempt to appease foreign backers (the most notable being the United States) while also limiting the body’s ability to actually investigate graft. Similar concerns have been raised about the new anti-corruption body in Honduras being put in place by the Organization of American States.
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GameChangers 2018: Threatened by Inquiries, Central American Elites Strike Back
GameChangers 2018: The Year Crime Became an Ideology
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Blog> >#CatalanGP Post-race test: After marathon distance successfully completed
Home > Blog> >#CatalanGP Post-race test: After marathon distance successfully completed
#CatalanGP Post-race test: After marathon distance successfully completed
A one-day test on Tuesday after the Barcelona race was the first opportunity since long for Kiefer Racing and Lukas Tulovic to improve the feeling with the bike without time pressure.
After Sunday’s exhausting race in that hot conditions, the entire team of the German Moto2™ racing team had only one day to relax. On the occasion of an official test on Tuesday the engines were wrooming again at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Kiefer Racing has not yet completed any tests during the season with its Championship rookie Lukas Tulovic, as it was important to get to know each other better and to identify the need for action. For this reason, it was necessary to tackle an overly long task list. The conditions, however, were much more challenging as it is getting hotter day by day in Spain. Nevertheless, Tulovic completed no less than 105 laps in a heat that was sometimes scorching.
#3 Lukas TULOVIC (Kiefer Racing, KTM):
"All in all, we are very satisfied with this test. In view of many aspects, we’ve tried a lot of different things and found out some good solutions though, we’re mainly focused on the front. I'm happy with the results because the feeling is getting better and better. There were also new tyre specifications to test for which Dunlop asked for our feedback. It was a good day, although the lap times weren't really great. But they weren't necessarily in the foreground either. The main thing is that we’re consistently lapping at all. With rising temperatures, it became more and more difficult to improve the lap times anyway. It was important that we did a lot of laps and collected the information. Regarding my consistency and fitness there were no problems in view of the heat today."
"I'm really happy about how I kept up in these conditions. With the test following the Grand Prix weekend, it was also a completely new experience for me. It wasn’t the first time for me riding this bike for four days subsequently but in connection with the tension of a race weekend it was something new for me. I've never had a lack of concentration and I'm happy that I didn't crash. Except for two moments when the front folded almost dangerously during the test, the feeling was much better in this respect than on Sunday during the race. I'm completely satisfied, and I think that we're well prepared for Assen."
Anton GRUSCHKA (Kiefer Racing, Crew-Chief):
"I think it was right decision to wait a bit with the first test during the season. After almost countless laps of testing at Jerez, Lukas first had to learn how the bike reacts in different conditions at other tracks. On the other hand, we also had to get to know Lukas better and to get a better overview of the overall situation with our current package. So, we had to find out where the weak points are and where we have to start working on it. It took time to make all these experiences. In the first overseas races, Lukas had to get to know the tracks anyway. So, from a technician's point of view these races were nothing special."
"Since the Jerez race, however, we’re in the process of recognising our problems and gradually coming to terms with them. So, for the test here in Barcelona we could prepare a lot and starting to work in different directions. However, one day was not enough to try everything and certainly not to find solutions for everything. From this point of view, another test would be necessary soon, because there were even more points on our list with regard to geometry on that we couldn't do anymore unfortunately. But with the front end of the bike we’re able to make good progress. We also tried more this time than we usually do during a race weekend. Due to the current situation because of the bad grip conditions we had to deal a lot with the geometry."
"We are very satisfied with the result of the test. The lap times were about as fast as at the weekend. But what pleases us most is the fact that Lukas was able to do his pace from the race right from the beginning this morning. Of course, we would have hoped for an improvement in terms of the lap times compared to the weekend. But it was much hotter than during the past days. Therefore, an improvement was hardly possible. If we had had a second day, Lukas would certainly take this step, for which we would have hoped for it today. But overall it was a very positive test. 105 laps also confirm that he is conditionally in top condition. In this respect there is really nothing to criticize. Actually, Lukas deserves respect for this performance."
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Santa Teresa High student found with 7-inch dagger on campus
Santa Teresa High School staff reported that a 16-year-old male student was found carrying a seven-inch dagger in his backpack.
Santa Teresa High student found with 7-inch dagger on campus Santa Teresa High School staff reported that a 16-year-old male student was found carrying a seven-inch dagger in his backpack. Check out this story on lcsun-news.com: http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2018/02/01/santa-teresa-high-student-found-7-inch-dagger-campus/1088219001/
Sun-News Reports, . Published 2:15 p.m. MT Feb. 1, 2018
Police lights(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
LAS CRUCES - Doña Ana County sheriff's deputies were called to Santa Teresa High School on Tuesday after a student was found carrying a seven-inch dagger.
Deputies were dispatched to the school, 100 Airport Road in Santa Teresa, shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to incident call records. School staff reportedly called authorities after discovering a 16-year-old male student carrying a seven-inch dagger in his backpack.
Kelly Jameson, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, said Thursday that the student did not make any threats against other students or himself.
The student was given a Class III citation for carrying a deadly weapon and was released to his parents, Jameson said. Because he was not arrested, the student's name will not be released.
The District Attorney's Office also was contacted about the incident, according to the call records. No other information been released.
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Read or Share this story: http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2018/02/01/santa-teresa-high-student-found-7-inch-dagger-campus/1088219001/
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#IWD2019: Karen Jones, founder and CEO of Citywealth
8, March, 2019 10, April, 2019 Becky Slack business, Entrepreneurship, Gender
On International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate women who’ve set an inspiring example in breaking down frontiers in the male dominated world of business and especially that of finance.
Karen Jones is a prime example. She’s the founder and CEO of Citywealth, a publishing and events company that connects Ultra High Net Worth individuals and private wealth professionals.
Women setting up business in the finance sector, especially in the wealth management sector, have a particularly tough time when trying to secure funding. This was even more the case fourteen years ago, when Karen set up her company.
She had no alternative but use her credit cards initially to raise £60,000. Along her journey, she had to overcome many hurdles, objections and discouragement especially from male members of the industry before she eventually achieved success and recognition.
Karen never forgot her own struggles and is now a keen champion of helping women up the career ladder and helping them to gain recognition. She registered the trademark name #Powerwomen to highlight those women who are trailblazers in their own field and launched the Citywealth Powerwomen Awards.
These awards, now in their seventh year, started with a lunch presided over by a panel of speakers that included such diverse characters as Diana Abbots MP, a proud descendant of Jamaican slaves, and Lady Edwina Grosvenor, daughter of the late Duke of Westminster, a man of immense wealth. They were united in their aim to inspire and encourage women to achieve their goals whatever their backgrounds might be.
These awards have grown significantly since their launch. Karen can be particularly proud of achieving the involvement of men in leading positions who can make a real difference to women’s careers. Getting a Citywealth Powerwomen Award for a company has now become a coveted mark of distinction in the City and beyond.
Amongst the proud award winners are such multinational giants as Barclays and UBS, multinational accountancy firms such as Price Waterhouse Coopers and Ernst & Young, just to name but a few. By entering and accepting these awards, these large and highly respected corporations set a global trend in giving women equal chance and recognise their achievements in the work place.
In addition to the awards, Karen also set up the Citywealth Powerwomen Club, a networking club for women in the wealth management sector, to allow them to forge important connections and be motivated by mentor speakers.
Karen’s achievements in helping and mentoring women have been recognised by the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world’s prime business awards based in the USA. She has won multiple awards in the categories Women Helping Women, Female Entrepreneur of the Year and Innovator of the Year.
Karen has also been granted the prestigious Freedom of the City of London. As a freeman, Karen has the right to vote for the Lord Mayor of London, one of the world’s oldest elected offices, and whose main role is to support businesses in the City, and promote London’s financial services abroad.
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Meet the LEAD member: Beth Upton
21, February, 2018 Becky Slack 0
Helena Morrissey receives Outstanding Contribution Award
Meet the co-founder of LEAD: Becky Slack, editorial director
24, September, 2017 Becky Slack 0
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Sarah's Honour - Part One
Sarah's Honour - Part Two
Aaron's New Year Resolution
Duoli's Story
Many Pathways to a Degree
Sonia's Apprenticeship
Second Career at Access Business College: New Skills, New Life
Pete's Summer School: A Profile of an Adult Student
Saeed Transfers Electrician Skills From Iran to Canada
Behzad Returns to School
Dropping Back Into School
Mature Student Receives Murray G. Ross Award for Contribution and Academics
by Sandra McLean
originally published in the September, 2010 Issue
Edward Fenner remembers well what his mother told him as a boy growing up – always leave things better than you found them. Fenner took those words to heart. Not long after starting at York as a student in 2004 at the ripe age of 40, he decided to put that advice into practice.
Seeing that there was a real lack of services catering to the older student, Fenner decided to start the York University Mature Students Organization (YUMSO), a club where students could find a quiet place to study, counselling, social activities and a place to connect. But that’s not all. Fenner also revived Existere: Journal of Arts and Literature at York, now a thriving, student-run venture.
It is for these two things in particular, as well as his academic achievements – he’s on the Dean's Honour Roll – that Fenner was awarded the Murray G. Ross Award, named for York's founding president, during the Spring Convocation ceremony Monday. Fenner graduated with an Honours BA in professional writing with a minor in science & society studies. “I was thunderstruck, really. I was beside myself. It is an amazing feeling,” he says about receiving the medal.
His nominator for the award, Brian Poser, associate director of the Atkinson Centre for Mature & Part-time Students (ACMAPS), says when he brought together all of Fenner’s accomplishments, their number surprised even him. In addition to earning several scholarships, Fenner is publisher and former executive editor of Existere, and is a three-time winner of the Kent Haworth Playwriting Contest and two-time winner of the Vanier College Master’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Student Life. He still found time to volunteer at Vanier College’s annual book sale and have two plays produced with Vanier College Productions.
For his contributions, he was made a Fellow of Vanier College, an unusual honour for an undergraduate student. Last Thursday, he was also awarded a Vanier Master's Award for Academic Achievement & Outstanding Contribution to the college.
“He's shown himself to be a tireless worker and he's a nice emblem for lifelong learning,” says Poser. “He has a vision and he goes after it.”
When Fenner first started at York, he expected to be like any other mature student. He had found that without a degree he was being passed over for promotions at work and wanted to remedy that. “I came back to school with my eyes wide open to get a better position and pay,” he says.
The first meeting he held for YUMSO in 2004 attracted 28 students. “It took off from there. When I left in 2008 there were about 600 members. There are about 700 or so now,” says Fenner. “It really gives students a leg up with things.”
The mandate of supporting mature students was taken up by ACMAPS when it started in 2007, but YUMSO continues to thrive, often working in concert with ACMAPS. Fenner served with ACMAPS as its first student adviser and prior to that was hired by Student Community & Leadership Development on contract to help organize the first University-wide orientation for mature and part-time students. He is currently a member of ACMAPS's Advisory Board.
Fenner hopes to broaden the reach of mature students through his latest project – the Canadian Assembly of Mature Student Organizations, which he got off the ground last year and is now developing a Web site for. It will be a place where mature student organizations from universities and colleges across the nation can come together and share their expertise, experiences and challenges. “I’m a self starter,” he says. “So I saw a need to gather and share information.”
When it came to Existere, housed at Vanier College, Fenner realized the journal, which had gone by the wayside, had a lot of potential. It is an up-and-coming journal, publishing work from York students as well as from writers as far away as Asia, Africa and Europe. Montreal-based poet Rebecca Leah Pãpucaru, whose work appeared in the spring/summer 2009 edition of the journal, has had her poem selected to be published in the upcoming 2010 anthology of The Best Canadian Poetry in English, edited by poet Lorna Crozier and published by Tightrope Books. “It’s the first time we broke into that kind of thing. We’re really quite tickled by that,” says Fenner.
Existere is more than a journal; it is an opportunity for students to gain some experiential learning, says Fenner, who is also the publicist for the annual Words Alive Literary Festival. “It gives them an opportunity that they wouldn’t necessarily get through normal school activities. It’s not a product of their studies, but it is a collaborative effort. It’s important enough that it contributes to Canadian culture.”
He hopes Existere will one day become one of the leading literary journals in this country, but for now he is pulling back and letting other students take over as he concentrates on his new studies. He will begin a master’s degree in the new Graduate Program in Science & Technology Studies at York in the fall, while working at York International.
So what did Fenner get out of his involvement? (He stopped counting, he says, after 2,000 volunteer hours.) “I got the satisfaction of creating something that was useful to people. The mature students’ profile has been raised and is being given more attention, and with Existere – it is spreading York talent and skills beyond our borders.”
As Poser says, “Edward stands as an excellent model of what tremendous success can be accomplished when someone is fully engaged in curricular and extracurricular life.” A perfect fit for the Murray G. Ross Award.
Thanks to York University’s daily online newsletter Yfile for giving Learning Curves permission to reprint this article here. It originally appeared in Yfile on June 15, 2010.
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Ivy League Freshman Class Size
The Ivy League has always been hard to get into. But over time, it’s become astronomically more competitive. In fact, according to our estimates, the Ivy League has a combined average acceptance rate that hovers around 5 percent.
The Ivy League, a History
Back in the day, Ivies were a place for accomplished rich white men to form powerful networks. While they were still competitive, their acceptances were far higher than the single-digit numbers that make headlines today. In the 1960s, the Ivies began admitting women across the board. Around the same time, affirmative action was introduced. Down the line, more and more jobs began requiring college degrees and the population grew with nearly every generation.
While Ivies largely facilitate the same function for wealthy white men today (one third of Harvard’s most recent admitted class comes from homes with a combined income of $500,000 or more and 46 percent are white), more and more people are applying to college. In an increasingly globalized world, Ivies have also become a popular destination for international students.
But the real kicker was not the inclusion of students who should have been invited to attend these universities long ago, but rather, a shift in the way marketing is done. Colleges are businesses and over the years they have come to demand exorbitantly high tuitions that, in part, go toward increased marketing budgets. The marketing teams at these schools artificially stimulate competition by targeting more and more students who will never get in. If 10,000 more people apply each year, a school’s acceptance rate will go down, making them look more competitive in publications such as U.S. News & World Report. But in order for the formula to work, the number of applicants must grow at a greater rate than the number of acceptances each year. This phenomenon is not specific to the Ivy League. The trend is consistent with most major universities across the country, causing students to be exposed to more schools, and thus apply to more across the board. But, as we just mentioned, while marketing budgets and applicant pools have ballooned, class sizes have failed to keep pace.
The History of Class Sizes
At the turn of the 20th century, Harvard introduced the College Entrance Examination Boards. If you were academically-inclined, you probably passed. Because of this, around that time, according to a New Yorker article written by Malcolm Gladwell, Jewish admittance spiked at several Ivies. In an effort to limit their acceptance, information about personality and background came into the fray. They made students submit essays and resumes, and also and a mandatory disclosure for high schoolers whose parents changed their names, say to something Anglican from something Jewish-sounding.
So, for largely bigoted purposes, Ivies tamped down admissions instead of opening their doors to the increased number of students who were applying. Still today, class sizes fail to reflect the volume of applications. And it only helps a university’s bottom line.
Harvard, a Case Study
Often hailed as the nation’s top university, Harvard is a prime of example of the disproportionate growth between applicants and class sizes within the Ivy League.
In 2017, Harvard received 39,506 applications. That same year they accepted just 2,056 applicants.
Between 2008 and 2010, the applicant pool shot up from 19,750 to 30,000. All the while, the number of admitted students between those two years stayed relatively the same (1,948 in 2008 to 2,110 in 2010). In 2007, citing, in-part, disadvantages for low-income students, Harvard got rid of its early action option, only to bring it back in 2011. The next few years marked a steady trend in applications, hovering above 34,000. In 2013, Harvard saw a rare, small decrease in applicants. The next year, applications grew by over 3,000, but interestingly, the number of admitted students (1,990) dropped. While the applicant pool has grown and grown, the number of accepted students remains around 2,000 each year.
Actually, to make matters a little bit more disturbing, in 2018, 42,749 people applied and only 1,962 got in.
The thing to note is that the number of accepted students isn’t really representative of your chances as the standard applicant. Within those approximately 2,000 spots (1,962 in 2018) there are numerous seats that will already be filled before you even apply. There are some spots reserved for athletes, some for legacies, and of course, many for students who apply early action.
Schools like Harvard have no incentive to expand their class sizes. They please boards by remaining in the upper echelons of competition and they even generate some revenue with application fees. Acceptance rates are only going to continue to fall. While this is ultimately a discouraging story, it’s one we feel you should know about before considering the Ivy League. Basically, high schoolers applying to almost any university in the country must be uber-human to make it in, presenting the perfect package of scores, grades, extra-curriculars, and essays. It’s not impossible, but it is a challenge.
Need help deciding where to apply? Reach out to us. We are experts at helping students match with the right schools for them.
Tagged: ivy league, ivy league schools
Newer PostCommon App Essay Requirements 2019-2020
Older PostGetting Into an Ivy League School with C’s?
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Home Featured Home Jayhawks down K-State at Allen Fieldhouse for ninth-straight time
Jayhawks down K-State at Allen Fieldhouse for ninth-straight time
By Tate Steinlage
Junior guard Justin Edwards attempts a layup around Kansas forward Perry Ellis in the first half of the Sunflower Showdown January 31, 2015, in Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, KS. (Parker Robb | The Collegian)
Allen Fieldhouse has long been the house of horrors for K-State men’s basketball. Since 1990, K-State is just 2-23 in the historic venue, with the last win coming in 2006.
The Wildcats entered Saturday’s 280th edition of the Sunflower Showdown confident they could snap that eight-game losing streak. No. 9 Kansas, however, had other ideas.
The home team took advantage of a poor shooting performance by K-State (12-10, 5-4), cruising to a 68-57 win in the season’s first installment of the in-state rivalry.
The Wildcats are now 2-24 at Allen Fieldhouse since the turn of the century.
“We’ve been to Iowa State, we’ve been to Oklahoma, we’ve played so focused and guarded. Then we came here and we weren’t ready to guard them the way you need to guard them,” K-State head coach Bruce Weber said after the game. “Bill (Self) does a good job, they’ve got versatile parts. You’ve got to be ready.”
Led by sophomore Marcus Foster and senior Thomas Gipson, K-State cut as much as a 17-point deficit down to 11 points with nine minutes to play in the second half. In the final 31 minutes alone, K-State outscored the Jayhawks 51-48.
Kansas (18-3, 7-1) was able to answer each run, though, with dagger after dagger, including a 3-pointer from Brannen Greene in the corner to extend the lead back to 14 points. Greene’s trey was one of six makes from behind the arc in the ballgame.
“That’s your one chance,” Weber said. “I think we cut it back to 12, but they (Kansas) were just patient and smart. They had some spectacular plays, some blocks and dunks, but they just out-grinded us.”
Foster finished with 19 points after a dismal first half shooting the ball. Gipson added another 19 points on 7-13 shooting. K-State’s remaining 13 players who saw the court Saturday combined for just 19 points on 6-29 shooting (21 percent).
Defensively, the Wildcats were gashed under the basket, often caught out of position attempting to double-team Kansas’ post players.
“We knew they were going to score,” Foster said. “I think in the first half, when they scored, we let them keep scoring. The second half, when they scored, we stopped them the next couple times including in transition.”
Kansas finished with four players in double-figures, led by Perry Ellis’ 16 points and 12 rebounds. Greene finished with 11 points on 3-4 shooting from deep.
Overall, it was a dominant performance for the Jayhawks. Kansas shot 9-14 from the field to open the game, including a 14-1 run spanning five minutes to take a 20-5 lead with 12 minutes on the clock.
“The last two years here, when they make a little run, and they will make a run because they’re a good team — they’re always a good team — you have to keep your poise and guard,” Weber said.
Meanwhile, K-State struggled to finish shots. The Wildcats started 1-11 from the field and trailed by as much as 17 points before heading into the locker room at the intermission facing a 16-point deficit.
Foster, who Tuesday said K-State needed to jump out to a quick start, was just 2-11 from the field in the first half, including 0-6 from behind the arc. As a team, K-State finished 6-35 (17 percent) shooting in the opening half, the fourth-worst percentage in a half in program history.
“He (Foster) didn’t let the game come to him,” Weber said. “That’s what we talked about in preparation: let the game come to you, be ready to guard, worry about how you’re going to stop your opponent. He’s a scorer, he’s going to get shots, we go to him. He took too many quick ones and tough ones. We probably wish we were a little more patient in the first half.”
Up next for K-State is a road trip in Lubbock, Texas against the Red Raiders of Texas Tech Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.
K-State
K-State Men's Basketball
Kansas Basketball
Kansas Men's Basketball
Sunflower Showdown
Tate Steinlage
Wildcats prep for Oklahoma State with Kansas coming up Monday
Know Your Opponent: Kansas
K-State women’s basketball survives a scare from Fort Hays State University
Tennis takes advantage of Colorado collapse in comeback win
Chris Robinson - Feb 7, 2016
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10 Takeaways From The 2019 Grammy Awards
By Stephen Thompson • Feb 11, 2019
Kacey Musgraves holds the four Grammys she won Sunday night.
Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Originally published on February 11, 2019 1:05 pm
We made it, everyone! This year's Grammy Awards telecast rolled past the three-and-a-half-hour mark with its share of controversies, but also served up a string of satisfying winners, memorable performances and a GIF sure to endure until roughly the moment life on earth is extinguished. Here are 10 takeaways from 2019's overstuffed and idiosyncratic Grammy Awards.
1) They spread the awards around, thank goodness. This wasn't one of those years where, say, Adele or Bruno Mars took home award after award, leaving fans of everyone else disappointed. Sure, Kacey Musgraves won four Grammys, two of which were announced on the telecast — those would be Album of the Year and Best Country Album — and Childish Gambino's "This Is America" overcame the Grammys' past aversion to hip-hop in the major categories, winning both Song and Record of the Year. But otherwise, the televised categories jumped around a bit, with awards handed off to Cardi B, Drake, Dua Lipa, H.E.R. and A Star Is Born so-stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
2) Alicia Keys redefined the role of awards-show host. Keys, a 15-time Grammy winner, isn't a comedian and didn't try to be. But she is a gregarious and charming presence, as well as an outstanding singer and a beloved past collaborator of many people in the room. So she leaned into that, performing a medley of others' songs where last year's host, James Corden, would have filled time with a skit.
3) These Grammys worked hard to atone for past gaffes. Mainly the one where Recording Academy president and CEO Neil Portnow said, after last year produced a slate of mostly male winners, that women need to "step up" in order to compete in the music business. In addition to big awards for Musgraves, Gaga, H.E.R., Cardi B and Dua Lipa — who needled Portnow in her Best New Artist acceptance speech by saying, "I guess this year we really stepped up" — most of the night's memorable performances came from women.
4) The performances seemed especially strong this year. Musgraves performed the ballad "Rainbow" with muted grace to match her natural charisma, while Brandi Carlile (who won three awards early in the night but none during the telecast) positively crushed "The Joke." H.E.R. won loads of new fans with her performance of "Hard Place," Dua Lipa and St. Vincent were an unlikely but potent pair as they tackled each other's songs, Chloe x Halle served as a left-field knockout specializing in gorgeous vocal harmonies, Cardi B made "Money" an elaborately staged show-stopper, and Camila Cabello opened the night by presiding over an all-star cast of major players in Latinx music, including J Balvin and a mustachioed Ricky Martin.
5) An eternal GIF was born. Diana Ross wasn't up for any awards this evening — and has only one Grammy to her name, a Lifetime Achievement Award from 2012 — but she seized her spotlight with great relish. Introduced by her adorable 9-year-old grandson, Ross performed a medley of a few hits (opening with "Best Years of My Life") before standing atop a literal pedestal, red dress flowing, and exclaiming, "Happy birthday to meeeeeee!" Her 75th birthday isn't until March 26. Admit it: You're already planning to tweet that GIF the next time you're within 44 days of your own birthday.
6) An abridged guide to Grammy-related outrages, 2019 edition. Greta Van Fleet, a rock band renowned for its uncanny sonic similarities to Led Zeppelin, won Best Rock Album — a.k.a. One More Grammy Than Led Zeppelin Ever Received During Its Existence. Rapper 21 Savage, currently detained on immigration charges, was scheduled to perform until recently — and was never so much as mentioned until late in the telecast, when Childish Gambino collaborator Ludwig Göransson acknowledged him in an acceptance speech. A tribute to Motown was anchored by dance-pop star Jennifer Lopez, who was... a curious choice for such a responsibility. Ariana Grande was scheduled to perform until very recently, when a dispute with the Grammys' producers went public; she also tweeted (and then deleted) her displeasure when her former partner, the late Mac Miller, lost Best Rap Album to Cardi B. And finally, Drake — who'd also opted out of performing — accepted his Grammy for Best Rap Song (for "God's Plan") by minimizing the Grammys' importance; in a bit of not-good optics, his speech was unceremoniously cut short by producers.
7) Speaking of bad optics... Nearly three hours into a telecast that abruptly abridged speeches by several of its biggest winners, the Grammys still found time for a lengthy tribute to Portnow, who's stepping down this summer. Whatever his contributions to the Recording Academy and the music industry, no one has ever watched the Grammys for Neil Portnow, whose tribute at least felt as long as the one for Aretha Franklin.
8) Several performances felt like Super Bowl halftime shows from a superior alternate universe. Janelle Monáe put on a brief but potent mini-extravaganza, complete with a cameo by the pants from the video for "PYNK," while Dolly Parton presided over a show-stopping medley featuring fellow stars Kacey Musgraves, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Maren Morris and Little Big Town. Just in case the Super Bowl folks were taking notes after the tepid response to Maroon 5 earlier this month...
9) It was a good night to have played the Tiny Desk. If you'll pardon the indulgence, a flood of Tiny Desk veterans won Grammys Sunday, including Kacey Musgraves, H.E.R., Brandi Carlile, St. Vincent, Daniel Caesar, Leon Bridges and PJ Morton (who tied each other for Best Traditional R&B Performance), Anderson .Paak, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Punch Brothers, Dave Chappelle, Terence Blanchard, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Kronos Quartet and the cast of The Band's Visit on Broadway. Inaugural Tiny Desk Contest winner Fantastic Negrito won his second Grammy and even thoughtfully shouted out the Tiny Desk in his acceptance speech. As rabbit holes go, you could do far worse than where this paragraph will lead you.
10) A thought for next year. Of all the Grammy controversies to persist from year to year, one of the least-discussed is the way nominees for the awards' biggest categories are chosen. Essentially, a panel convenes to trim a list of top vote-getters down to just eight (or, in the years prior to this one, five) nominees. But they don't pick the eight top vote-getters; they actually choose which nominees they'd like to see. Or, more to the point, they spike nominations that might make the Grammys look bad, or dumb, or out of touch.
Last year, that meant that Ed Sheeran — a best-seller whose song "Shape of You" was one of the biggest hits in recent years — got shut out of all major categories, presumably to prevent him from repeatedly prevailing over Kendrick Lamar. (Instead, Bruno Mars did the honors.) This year, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift were shut out of all the major categories, suggesting that the Recording Academy viewed the possibility of them winning as a potential embarrassment. In fact, in the Best Pop Vocal Album category — in which Grande defeated Swift, Camila Cabello, Kelly Clarkson, Shawn Mendes and Pink — none of the nominees broke through to claim one of what are now eight Album of the Year nominations.
Which, finally, raises a question: What, exactly, are the Grammys afraid of here? Grande is an enormously acclaimed young star whose Sweetener was a hit with critics as well as fans; she's good enough, in fact, to have just won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album. Swift, for her part, has been nominated for 32 Grammys and won 10. Whatever you might think of her album reputation, its exclusion from major Grammys categories stood out — especially when you consider that the Grammy committee had no qualms about nominating, say, Post Malone for Album and Record of the Year. At some point soon, the folks who run the Grammys are going to have to answer a few questions about what, exactly, is so embarrassing about pop music.
Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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Home » Campus Life » Library Learning Commons » Teaching & Learning » Information Literacy
Information Literacy at LWTech
Information Literacy has many definitions and they are each dependent upon the context within which they are used. At LWTech, Information Literacy is one of the college’s Global Outcomes, indicating that it is a valued throughout every student’s educational journey. LWTech defines Information Literacy as “The ability to recognize when information is needed, to choose the appropriate tools to locate the required information, and to effectively gather and evaluate the information.” The skills learned and used to satisfy this definition are determined within each curriculum.
In addition to LWTech’s broad description of Information Literacy, the American College and Research Libraries (ACRL) provides the following definition in its 2015-2016 Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (utilized by academic institutions throughout the world):
“Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.”
The framework is built upon the following frames, which encompass a broad but applicable understanding of Information Literacy in and also beyond the academic context: Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as a Process, Information Has Value, Research as Inquiry, Scholarship as Conversation, and Searching as Strategic Exploration.
A combination of the Global Outcome lens and the ACRL Framework informs Information Literacy at the library, as well as the instructional methods of the LWTech Faculty Librarians.
Information Literacy and the Library Learning Commons
As members of the college’s Faculty supporting both the Global Outcomes and research in general, and being experienced in the ACRL Framework, LWTech librarians have a consistent goal to provide Information Literacy skills to all members of the academic community. The librarians are committed to providing Information Literacy in a variety of ways to support the diverse learning needs at the school. These include but are not limited to:
Providing in-class support via instructional sessions and assignments related to source evaluation, the process of search, conducting research in an academic and professional context, and the implications of creating and sharing information.
Creating resources that can be used for teaching and learning opportunities, including handouts, online videos, book displays, social media, and posters.
Hosting events, workshops, trainings, and other programming that may or may not explore collaborations with other educators within the campus (or external).
Being consistently present for distance learners via the college’s website and Canvas courses.
Providing research guides to directly serve the needs of specific academic areas and programs (forthcoming).
Maintaining availability to serve as intermediaries for individuals and their own information and research needs.
Serving as authorities on Information Literacy for the ever-changing, ever-evolving requirements of LWTech and the region.
Additional Information Literacy Implications
The work being conducted within the realm of Information Literacy, via the students and educators at LWTech, has implications beyond itself. In many ways, Information Literacy has historically been identified as a vast/broad concept but has also been defined in itself and for itself. These older approaches to Information Literacy ignore/avoid the powerful intersections with other initiatives and concepts on-campus. A few related initiatives are listed below.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)
Information Literacy work is aligned with much of the college’s EDI efforts, aiming to empower individuals to find and utilize information to find success, as well as build critical thinking skills for those oppressed, disadvantaged, and marginalized populations. Information Literacy skills can be applied to a critical lens to support a more just, equitable, and progressive society.
Open Pedagogy and Open Educational Resources (OER)
Information Literacy extends our way of thinking beyond information that exists within closed doors, behind the walls of copyright. Information Literacy encourages thinking about types of information that are freely available, versus those that are only accessible with cost. Such awareness of authority and hierarchy provides context to members of the college community when thinking about their professional future.
As defined by DigitalLiteracy.US, “digital literacy” is:
“The ability to use technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information; The Ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers; A person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment…”
Conversations on Digital Literacy and the Digital Divide have long-demonstrated the value of technology skills in the digital age. Many skills useful in navigating and optimally utilizing hardware and software, as well as the Internet, overlap with Information Literacy. In other words, the evaluative quality of Information Literacy shares commonality with Digital Literacy.
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Technology Center, T215
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Home News Apple Inc. Lion’s new Resume, Autosave, and Versions features combine to make your life...
Lion’s new Resume, Autosave, and Versions features combine to make your life much easier
Justin Lowery
Phil Schiller took the stage today at WWDC 2011 to talk Lion with the audience of developers from all over the world. He announced that Mac OS X Lion will have a Resume feature that allows users to quit an app on their Mac, and return to it much later, seamlessly resuming where they left off. The feature should work in much the same way as multitasking does on iOS devices, where you can leave a game of Scrabble or Words With Friends, and come back to it days later only to find everything exactly as you left it. The obvious benefit of this feature — and this is huge — is that you no longer need to keep your apps open to save their states. This means that you can quit an app in Lion to save resources, without fear of losing what you were working on previously.
The Resume feature works hand-in-hand with Lion’s other great save feature, Autosave. Autosave automatically creates saved versions of a file for you as you work, so you never need to manually save a file again, as long as you’re working in a Lion-compatible application. This makes the Mac work more like stateless apps such as Notational Velocity and Evernote, and less like the traditional file-save model that has been in use for the last 25+ years of computing history. This will be fantastic for novice Mac users, who often forget to save what they are working on, and will allow the rest of us to focus more on our work, and less on our computers — a trend that Apple seems to be wholeheartedly embracing.
These two features will combine with Lion’s new Versions feature. Versions will use Autosave to create automatic versions of a file as you work. These versions will be saved inside the file itself — not as separate files. It accomplishes this by only documenting the changes you make to the file, rather than creating a whole new copy of the file. This allows you to have many, many versions of a document inside of just one file. This will be a dream come true for writers and coders alike, as they will be able to simply revert back to a previous version in a split second when a mistake is detected. For example, if a website breaks when you use a current version of its code, you can just revert back to a version when it was working perfectly. Another use case is that of a college student writing a paper. Let’s say you accidentally delete an entire page of your paper, but don’t notice until much later. You could revert back to a version containing the missing text, copy the text, and revert back to the current version, pasting the missing text back in. It’s like time travel, but without all the massive storage requirements and time-consuming backups of Time Machine.
These three features combine to make Lion a truly next-gen operating system, a tool that actively works, even on the lowest levels, to make your life easier. It achieves this by leaving behind the old traditions and forming new ones designed for computing work in today’s high-speed world. We won’t need to worry about saving — or losing — a file ever again.
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http://justinlowery.com/
Justin Lowery has been reading and writing about Macs and technology for nearly a decade. By day he is a web and graphic designer who creates powerful and beautiful solutions for companies and individuals worldwide. By night he writes passionately about all things Apple, technology, and design. Over the years Justin has worn the hats of writer, staff designer, art director, and freelancer. You'll find him on Twitter, writing & sharing links on his blog, Infinite Loop, or posting work on his portfolio, justinlowery.com.
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The National Gallery of Iceland houses the principal collection of Icelandic visual art and its collection mainly includes 19th and 20th century art, Icelandic and international. The collection includes most key works of 20th century Icelandic art-history, works by the country's leading artists. The Museum collection is constantly growing and new works by young artists as well as works by earlier artists are steadily added to enhance and improve the collection.
The foundation of the National Gallery's collection is a gift by Björn Bjarnarson (1853–1918), lawyer and later district-commissioner, collected and presented to the Museum at its foundation in 1884. His gift includes works by many of Denmark's most renowned painters, for example by Joakim Skovgaard, Christian Blache and Peter Krøyer. It also includes works by Norwegian and Swedish painters. The founding donation also includes presents to the Museum in the first years after its establishment, such as paintings, two sculptures as well as graphic works, all by foreign artists.
Consequently, in the early 20th century, the Museum started acquiring its first Icelandic works. Not many Icelandic artists were active in those years, but their number was increasing. The first Icelandic work the museum acquired was the work Outlaws (Útlagar) by sculptor Einar Jónsson, obtained in 1902. The next work acquired was Repose (Áning) by painter Þórarinn B. Þorláksson, obtained in 1911.
The collection of the National Gallery of Iceland includes many generous donations by Icelandic artists, including a donation by Finnur Jónsson and Guðný Elísdóttir, the bequests of Gunnlaugur Scheving and Guðmundur Benediktsson and that of Guðmunda Andrésdóttir, which the museum received in 2003. The National Gallery has also received generous gifts from individuals and the National Gallery highly appreciates the goodwill it has received over the years.
Access to an electronic database with photographs and information on all works, by Icelandic and foreign artists in the National Gallery's collection, is at the research-library, Laufásvegur 12.
The collection now contains over 11,000 works.
Of these, more than 2,000 belong to the Ásgrímur Jónsson Collection and over 400 to the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum.
The collection includes 1,100 foreign works by 400 artists.
More than 370 Icelandic artists have artwork in the Museum collection.
The collection contains almost 5000 drawings, of which more than 4500 are by Icelandic artists.
It includes more than 3,800 works classified as paintings. Of these over 3,400 are by Icelandic artists, with more than 1850 oil paintings and 1,100 watercolours.
About 850 graphic works, nearly 300 by Icelandic artists.
Nearly 600 sculptures, more than 500 by Icelandic artists.
The collection contains about 200 artist books by national and international artists.
More than 100 photographic works, most by Icelandic artists.
Nearly 200 works classified as new media.
Nearly 50 montages, all except one by Icelanders.
More than 30 textile works, all by Icelandic artists.
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Hawksmoor, Ackroyd Peter
Автор: Ackroyd Peter (Экройд Петер)
Название: Hawksmoor (Хоксмур)
ISBN: 0-14-104201-X
Описание: Nicholas Dyer, assistant to Sir Christopher Wren plans to conceal a dark secret at the heart of each church - to create a forbidding architecture that will survive for eternity. Two hundred and fifty years later, London detective Nicholas Hawksmoor is investigating a series of gruesome murders on the sites of certain eighteenth-century churches.
Старое издание
Автор: Ackroyd Peter
Название: Hawksmoor
Описание: In the aftermath of the great fire, eighteenth-century London is a city of extremes. Squalor and superstition vie with elegance and reason as brilliant architect, Nicholas Dyer, is commissioned to build seven new churches. They are to stand as beacons of the Enlightenment - but Dyer plans to conceal a dark secret at the heart of each one.
Название: Limehouse golem
Издательство: Random House
Описание: Dan Leno, the great music hall comedian, was known in his lifetime as `the funniest man on earth`. So how could he have been involved in one of the most curious episodes in London`s history when, in a short period during the autumn of 1880, a series of murders was attributed to the mysterious `Limehouse Golem`.
Название: London: a traveller`s reader
Название: Dominion
Название: Dickens
Описание: First published in 1990, this shorter edition takes the reader into the life of one of the world`s greatest writers.
Название: Revolution: A History of England Volume IV (The History of England)
Издательство: Pan Macmillan
Описание: The fourth instalment in Peter Ackroyd`s History of England series.
Название: Shakespeare
Описание: Offers a biography of Shakespeare, this book reads like the work of a contemporary meeting Shakespeare. It is a depiction of the world Shakespeare inhabited.
Название: London
Описание: Describes London from the time of the Druids to the beginning of the twenty-first century, noting magnificence in both epochs. This title includes chapters on the history of silence and the history of light, the history of childhood and the history of suicide, the history of Cockney speech and the history of drink.
Название: The Canterbury Tales: A retelling by Peter Ackroyd
Описание: A retelling by Peter Ackroyd. `The Canterbury Tales` is a major part of England`s literary heritage. From the exuberant Wife of Bath`s Arthurian legend to the Miller`s worldly, ribald farce, these tales can be taken as a mirror of fourteenth-century London. Incorporating every style of medieval narrative - bawdy anecdote, allegorical fable and courtly romance - the tales encompass a blend of universal human themes. Ackroyd`s retelling is a highly readable, prose version in modern English, using expletive and avoiding euphemism, making the Tales much more accessible to a new generation of readers.
Название: Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, The
Описание: Victor Frankenstein begins his anatomy experiments in a barn in the secluded village of Headington, near Oxford. The coroner`s office in Clarendon Street provides corpses - but they have often died of violence and drowning: they are damaged and putrifying.
Название: The Death of King Arthur
Описание: The legend of King Arthur has retained its appeal and popularity through the ages: Mordred`s treason, the knightly exploits of Tristan, Lancelot`s fatally divided loyalties and his love for Guenevere, the quest for the Holy Grail. This title presents an account of the knights of the Round Table.
Название: J.M.W. Turner
Название: London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets
In this vividly descriptive short study, Peter Ackroyd tunnels down through the geological layers of London, meeting the creatures that dwell in darkness and excavating the lore and mythology beneath the surface.
There is a Bronze Age trackway below the Isle of Dogs, Anglo-Saxon graves rest under St. Pauls, and the monastery of Whitefriars lies beneath Fleet Street. To go under London is to penetrate history, and Ackroyd's book is filled with the stories unique to this underworld: the hydraulic device used to lower bodies into the catacombs in Kensal Green cemetery; the door in the plinth of the statue of Boadicea on Westminster Bridge that leads to a huge tunnel packed with cables for gas, water, and telephone; the sulphurous fumes on the Underground's Metropolitan Line. Highly imaginative and delightfully entertaining, London Under is Ackroyd at his best.
Название: Chaucer
Описание: In the first in a new series of brief biographies, bestselling author Peter Ackroyd brilliantly evokes the medieval world of England and provides an incomparable introduction to the great poet s works.
Geoffrey Chaucer, who died in 1400, lived a surprisingly eventful life. He served with the Duke of Clarence and with Edward III, and in 1359 was taken prisoner in France and ransomed. Through his wife, Philippa, he gained the patronage of John of Gaunt, which helped him carve out a career at Court. His posts included Controller of Customs at the Port of London, Knight of the Shire for Kent, and King's Forester. He went on numerous adventurous diplomatic missions to France and Italy. Yet he was also indicted for rape, sued for debt, and captured in battle.
He began to write in the 1360s, and is now known as the father of English poetry. His "Troilus and Criseyde" is the first example of modern English literature, and his masterpiece, "The Canterbury Tales," the forerunner of the English novel, dominated the last part of his life.
In his lively style, Peter Ackroyd, one of the most acclaimed biographers and novelists writing today, brings us an eye-opening portrait, rich in drama and colorful historical detail, of a prolific, multifaceted genius."
Название: Dan Leno And The Limehouse Golem
Описание: In this novel the light and the dark sides of 19th-century London flow into each other, attracting the attention of famous names such as Marx and Gissing, but also of less well-known characters, who play a significant role in a tale that is a mixture of fable, adventure and Gothic comedy.
Название: Life Of Thomas More
Описание: Pre-eminent as a courtier and a humanist, a friend to Henry VIII and the author of "Utopia", Thomas More is one of the great figures of England`s history. This is a portrait of the first English layman to be beatified as a martyr, and of the social and cultural world in which he lived.
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Press Release ● Voting Rights
Hoyer, Brady Statement on the Importance of the Election Assistance Commission
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) and Ranking Member on the Committee on House Administration Bob Brady released the following statement today on the importance of the Election Assistance Commission in response to reports that Russia may have successfully hacked election systems in 39 states:
“If Russian operatives were successful in hacking into servers in thirty-nine states connected to voting systems and elections personnel, we ought to be very concerned about the security of future elections. Actions must be taken to help states and local governments secure their voting systems and voter data against any breach. Thankfully, we already have in the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) a body capable of addressing this challenge; since it's creation, it has encouraged states to identify and adopt best practices when it comes to the safety and effectiveness of voting systems.
"In fact, when testifying before Congress on May 3, 2017, then-FBI Director James Comey highlighted the importance of the EAC in combating cyberattacks, noting: '[The FBI has] share[d] the tools, tactics, and techniques we see hackers, especially from the 2016 election season, using to attack voter registration databases and try and engage in other hacks. And we’ve pushed that out to all the states and the Election Assistance Commission so they can harden their networks. That’s one of the most important things we can do.'
"Efforts to undermine or eliminate the EAC ought to be put to rest. Congress must pass a reauthorization of the EAC that includes authority to administer grants to states to strengthen voter registration database security. With the new cyber threats we face and Russia’s continued interest in subverting our democratic institutions, it’s time to give the EAC the tools necessary to carry forward its mission and protect American voters."
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Mar 08, 2019 12:28:16 PM
BalanceforBetter careers International Womans Day IWD19
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2019, we have reached out to different departments in the business to learn more about some of the incredible women we have here at MarketMakers.
We are really proud to be recognised by Great Place to Work as a UK’s Best Workplaces for Women, and it’s been great getting to know a bit more about some of the women in the team – hope you enjoy!
Amy, SME Team Manager
Tell us about your MarketMakers story – MarketMakers often promotes and hires managers internally, so I had quite a unique induction where I was able to come straight into the business as a team manager, as I was the right fit for the role that had become available. Aaron (SME Operations Manager) has always been very supportive and if I ever have a problem, he is always very positive and diplomatic. We work really well together as I can sometimes be quite reactive where he is proactive, so we are able to tackle things together in the best possible way.
I was doing performance management in my last job for 3/4 years, but I moved from London to Portsmouth for a more client-facing role. I really enjoy that side of my position at MarketMakers, as well as people management and developing my team, but will always enjoy the buzz of the sales and renewals.
What do you look forward to accomplishing in the future? – Pay rises are a big motivator for me and I’ll always push to earn more money, whether that be through commission, bonuses or my salary. Moving into operations management and field sales are two areas of the business that I’d be really interested in.
What is it about MarketMakers and our culture that you think inspires women? – As a sales business, which is traditionally a more male dominated industry, MarketMakers has worked hard to create an all-inclusive work space where anyone can get the right training and support to excel in their careers. This shows in our senior management team, which is full of really strong women.
I think that where we are right now is a really crucial time for the business where hard work and hitting your KPIs will always be recognised, celebrated and will get you where you need to be. I was an example of where they were able to break the mould in terms of recruitment and changing processes. Change is scary but change is good and it just means that there is more opportunity for everyone in the business.
What women inspire you? – Ava (Head of SME Operations) and Clare (Commercial Operations Director) absolutely inspire me. I think that they can both hold their own, and gender doesn’t really come into that. If you’re able to be direct and assertive then you can reach the higher positions within the business.
Gemma, Marketing Director
Tell us about your MarketMakers story – I came to MarketMakers in 2007, two weeks before my son Harry started school. I’d been recruited as a telemarketer within the marketing department to generate partnership opportunities for the sales team. I didn’t have much experience on the phones and was lacking in confidence having been away from full time work for a while but my manager at the time Lisa recognised something in me. Lisa was a fantastic mentor for me along with our founders Paul and Henry.
After about a year I was dealing with all of our inbound enquiries and a year after that was managing the business development team. I had a keen interest in marketing and began to build on my experience running email and direct mail campaigns, and was given the opportunity by my manager Kirsty to step up to the Marketing Manager role whilst still managing the rest of the team.
As my experience and skill set grew I took on more responsibility until eventually reporting directly to our MD as Marketing Director and joining the senior leadership team. My son, who was 4 when I joined MarketMakers, turns 17 this year and is in his last year of school!
What do you look forward to accomplishing in the future? – Mentoring and developing individuals in my team is something I really enjoy, and I have benefited from brilliant mentors during my time here including my current boss, our MD Tom James who I worked closely with for years when he was our Sales Director. I would like to continue with my own personal development and mentoring of others and am hoping to mentor a young female in senior school soon via www.thegirlsnetwork.org.uk. I still find working here exciting and challenging, I’m still learning every day.
What is it about MarketMakers and our culture that you think inspires women? – I was fortunate to have two really strong female leaders in my first 8-9 years with the business who believed in my potential and challenged me to be better. They’re both incredibly inspiring and transformed the way I approach my career (Lisa McDonough is now Chief Revenue Officer at Lead Forensics over in the US and Kirsty Dawe is MD of Really B2B).
Our senior leadership team is 50/50 male and female and I have felt equally mentored and supported by bosses who are men. At MarketMakers it’s really about who is best for the job, I don’t feel I am pitted against, or overlooked for my male colleagues. I was incredibly proud when we were named one of the UK’s Best Workplaces to Work for Women by Great Place to Work®.
What women inspire you? – I am inspired every day by women I lead in my team who are achieving great personal and team successes and of course my mentors Lisa and Kirsty. I like to think I get my positive, ‘get it done’ attitude from my Nana who was in the Women’s Auxiliary Army driving trucks in WWII at the age of 21, she definitely was inspiring to me.
Penny, Learning & Development Manager
Tell us about your MarketMakers story – I started with MarketMakers in August 2018 as an L&D Manager, which involves supporting the sales team, as well as the internal team managers. I’m currently studying for my CIPD which is something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time. Ultimately I would like to progress to a more senior management role in L&D which hopefully I will be able to do by August this year.
What do you look forward to accomplishing in the future? – My Certificate in Professional Development comprises of 6 modules surrounding L&D, the roles, responsibilities, methodologies of training and how you measure training effectiveness in businesses. It’s something that I do mainly at home but at work sometimes too to make sure I submit all my modules on time.
What is it about MarketMakers and our culture that you think inspires women? – I don’t feel discriminated against at all and I think I have always had equal opportunities. If anybody wants to achieve more, then it is there for them to do it. I don’t feel at all intimidated by the fact that some areas of the business are quite male dominated. If you have something to say then you are able to contribute towards ideas and suggestions about the way the business is going and the charities that we support etc.
What women inspire you? – Someone that inspires me is Tina Turner. I went to see her in concert many years ago (I won’t give away my age) and from what she started off with, what she went through and what she has made of her life, she is very humble about everything. I think this makes her very inspirational.
Likewise, Michelle Obama is a huge role model for women. She is out there and is very clear about what she wants to achieve and is very passionate about what she believes in, but portrays all of that very elegantly.
Hollie, Senior Campaign Executive
Tell us about your MarketMakers story – I came here straight from university in 2014 where I worked on the phones as a filler role until I found a marketing role. I loved MarketMakers and ended up staying here for 3 years, then I went on maternity leave. It was a really hard thing for me deciding to come back to work or not after having Reggie, but I had the flexibility on offer to apply for a position in the marketing department, which is an area I have always wanted to work in.
A lot of people were trying to put me off going back to work due to how hard childcare can be, but I’ve been really lucky as I have had so much support from managers and the business. If Reggie is poorly I have the flexibility to be able to make up hours and so I’m not missing out on wages etc.
What do you look forward to accomplishing in the future? – Professionally, I really look forward to growing on the team and becoming more involved in the marketing side of things, as I’ve always wanted to do creative marketing and design. Personally, I want to have more children and I know I would always be supported here, which encourages me to continue to be a working mum and stay with the business through this.
Now that I have found my place in marketing I can see my career at MarketMakers. I think there is so much support no matter what you want to achieve. I’m saving for a mortgage at the moment and I know that management will do whatever they can to help me, whether it’s training or support on money management.
What is it about MarketMakers and our culture that you think inspires women? – The progression here is exactly the same for men and women and there’s not one role that is gender specific. No matter what you want to do, there is support and flexibility to move roles and progress in an equal way. It is quite a women led business in terms of management and I like that as I think it’s really inspiring.
What women inspire you? – My Mum and Aunt have played a huge part in my upbringing and we are all very close so they inspire me as they are everything that I want to be. This sounds cringey, but I think that women in general are so inspiring, especially working mums. I didn’t know how hard it was going to be. I think it takes a different kind of strength to be able to leave your child with someone else, work a full time job and then go home and continue working in a different type of environment.
The different paths that women are choosing to take in this age constantly amaze me. I think this is an inspiring time to be a woman, and personal and professional progression is going to continue to be celebrated by men and women which is great.
If you would like to know more about a career at MarketMakers, then email our recruitment team on recruitment@marketmakers.
Tags: BalanceforBetter, careers, International Womans Day, IWD19
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Support the work of Cope Well Foundation at athletic events October 20-22
Those who attend the Mayville State University volleyball and women’s basketball games this weekend will have the opportunity to support the Cope Well Foundation. The Mayville State volleyball team will play against Presentation College on Friday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. and Bellevue University at noon on Saturday, Oct. 21. The Comets women’s basketball team will host Providence University at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21 and again at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22. All games will be played in the Mayville State Lewy Lee Fieldhouse.
Activities will include a serving contest, a free throw contest for kids, and a half-court shot contest. Cost to participate will be $1 per attempt. Other games area also planned. T-shirts will also be available for sale for $12 each.
The Cope Well Foundation works with cancer survivors who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or any other emotional or spiritual stress
Students enrolled in a Mayville State University management course are organizing the fundraiser as a class project. They are Andi Gayner, Hayden Bring, Parker Stohr, Jonathon Pluth, Zach Foster, Makenzie Bring, Peter Bakkum, Riley Nelson, and Andrew Hill.
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Celebrating our 21st Year!
One Small Blow Against Encroaching Totalitarianism
The Wide World of Belonging
by Kao Kalia Yang
From now until at least the midterm elections in November, we’ll be featuring essays from powerful cultural voices alongside one simple thing, chosen by the author, that you can do to take action against the paralyzing apoplexy of the daily news. Maybe it’ll be an organization that deserves your donation; maybe it’ll be an issue that deserves greater awareness. Whatever it is, our aim is to remind you, and ourselves, of the big and small things we can do to work toward justice and change.
I was born in a refugee camp in Thailand in December of 1980. I was the runt of the babies born that year in that hungry place, in that uncertain time. Few thought I would survive.
The Hmong, my people, had just escaped from the genocide of the aftermath of America’s secret war in Laos. The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States had commissioned thirty-two thousand Hmong men and boys to fight and die on America’s behalf. Most of the soldiers were killed during the war. Many more civilians were slaughtered after the Americans left. I was born to a people who had fled from death and despair in the hopes of a chance at life.
I was born on four hundred borrowed acres, funded by the United Nations, surrounded by Thai men with guns, in a place where Hmong people got food three days a week and little girls like me often disappeared in the dark of night.
My playground was the stretch of my mother’s sarong, the reach of my father’s arm. My playmates were hungry cousins with dirty faces and stomachs round and hard. Together, we laughed and we cried in that place where we jostled for this thing that meant more to our parents than anything else: a chance at life.
The life that the adults were running toward was a life that began for many of us in America: a life where we could go to school, have food in our bellies, reach far beyond our meager heights. A life that has not been easy but has been possible.
In America, I grew up in the cold of Minnesota. My family and many other Hmong families lived in the housing projects, strong rectangles of concrete rising out of the earth, buildings meant to house soldiers returning from World War II. We went to school on the yellow buses beneath the moody, gray skies, stood in long lines waiting for our free and then reduced-price school lunches, walked in a fine line from the big classrooms to the little ones where we learned that a is the beginning of apple and b can build a word called boy.
In America, I became a young person who held promise, a shy girl who got good grades at school, took care of her younger brothers and sisters at night when their parents worked the night shift at the factories, and sensed something growing inside of her.
It began as a small lump in the back of my throat as I sat by the window carefully maneuvering sharp nail clippers around the thick edges of my grandmother’s toenails and she talked to me of a past on the other side of the world, a once-upon-a-time orphan girl who became a healer, a shaman, a medicine woman; of a girl not so different from myself, a girl who would become an old woman, become she who loved me. The lump grew bigger and sank deeper on the late nights when I sat on the carpet with my mother’s throbbing feet in my hands, massaging and massaging away the heated knots I felt beneath my fingers, and listened as she talked of her work in the factories, of the quotas, the supervisors in their white hats, and the cement underneath her feet that grew harder by the hour. It settled in my heart when my grandmother died, with no room of her own, all of her life gathered into thirteen tattered suitcases as she journeyed from the house of one child to the next.
We were the working poor in America. We lived in neighborhoods with old houses whose rotting steps led to hollowed doors, paint cracking on either side. We drove used cars that smelled like cigarettes. We wore clothes from the church basements, sizes all wrong. Christmas was Toys for Tots. Thanksgiving was Meals on Wheels. Our mothers and fathers struggled to balance budgets that never worked. Our grandmothers died illiterate, their stories told but not recorded. On paper, mine had nothing behind it but a lifetime of poverty and war, despair and death. Yet year by year, as we grew older, we grew stronger.
I graduated from college, an expensive private education made possible by scholarships and student loans with interest rates that didn’t kick in until after graduation. For us, Carleton College was only forty minutes away from St. Paul, but it was as far away as our grandmother’s stories about life on the other side of the world.
I graduated from graduate school, one of the fine Ivy Leagues that children like me did not know how to dream of but somehow a hard life in America had made possible thanks to fellowships and loans. My mother and father sat together at my graduation, in that sea of parents, their first time in New York City, hands twisting the graduation program, sweat dripping down their faces along with their tears. The ghost of my grandmother wandered close by on the fine brick-lined walks of the university, her hands behind her back.
I became a writer to write that lump inside my heart out into the world, to dress it up in sunshine, cover it in flowers, and send it far into the eastern skies, so that the sun that rises, day in and day out, will see us for who we are: the outcomes of hard lives, the beautiful ending they have been waiting for.
They — those who have died so we could be here, those who have brought us here and drenched us in their tears so we would not dry up and wither away, those who have worked here so we could imagine possibilities beyond ticking clocks, a world free from the ever-moving assembly lines. They, the people of our past, and they, the people of our futures. In us, our ancestors and our descendants meet. Each of us is more than just he, she, or me.
I became a writer to push the edges of what we mean to ourselves and to each other, to the wide world of belonging.
I will take action because when the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America came to the high mountains of Laos and commissioned the death of the Hmong men and boys, the women and children, those high-ranking men never envisioned a life like mine taking root on American soil. I will take action because despite the odds, I am here doing work I love and living a life I am committed to, and those odds and this life are made possible by the goodwill of a bigger world, a world that believes little girls deserve a chance to grow up and become women, and that women are far stronger than any intelligence agency, machine of state and death, on earth.
Take action today:
Read books about people you don’t know, whose worlds exist far away from your own, whose lives are lived in the same place and time, across spaces and times. Expand your understanding of yourself and the world you inhabit. Grow. Our communities and our countries will grow with us. Start by reading writers you don’t know. Here’s three: Mai Der Vang, Shannon Gibney, and Heid Erdrich. Discover them where you are by reading locally, starting at your local independent bookstore.
Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong-American author, activist, teacher, and public speaker. Her third book, A Map into the World, will be published in 2019.
One Small Blow Against Encroaching Totalitarianism: Celebrate the Ninth of July
The Organist: An Interview With Peter Coyote
Lest We Forget the Horrors: A Catalog of Trump’s Worst Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes: Atrocities 1 to 112
by Ben Parker and Stephanie Steinbrecher
One Small Blow Against Encroaching Totalitarianism: On Human Decency
by Vu Tran
One Small Blow Against Encroaching Totalitarianism: He Builds Walls
by Sarah Gerard
One Small Blow Against Encroaching Totalitarianism: Poison
by Jane Wong
Issue 56 delivers new work from Michelle Tea, Jose Antonio Vargas, T.C. Boyle, Genevieve Hudson, to name a few; fiction from emerging Nigerian writers; and a 10-page illustrated story by Rui Tenreiro.
This is the combo subscription for both Illustoria and McSweeney's Quarterly. For just Illustoria, click here. For just the Quarterly, click here. Subscribe now and begin with Issue 56 of...
In the wake of winning of the 2019 National Magazine Award for fiction, at the precipice of our 21st year, and in anticipation of wonderment to come, we are bundling together a full subscription's...
Out now, Issue 55 gathers work from Laura van den Berg, R. O Kwon, Alexander Chee, and T Kira Madden.
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Har Gobind Khorana
Har Gobind Khorana (Physiology or Medicine 1968)
Death Discovery
Education Master
Nobel Prize PhD | MD
Har Khorana is offered a job position at British Columbia University from Dr. Gordon M. Shrum. In these years he works with a group of researchers in the field of biologically interesting phosphate esters and nucleic acids.
Har Khorana receives one third of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Robert W. Holley and Marshall W. Nirenberg "for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis".
Har Khorana enters Punjab University, where he earns his bachelor.
Har Khorana attends D.A.V. High School. Here Ratan Lal, one of his teachers, influences him greatly.
Har Khorana dies in Concord, Massachusetts from natural causes at the age of 89.
Khorana enters Cambridge University after a brief period spent in India. He receives a fellowship to work with Dr. G. W. Kenner and Professor A. R. Todd. This stay develops Khorana’s interest in both proteins and nucleic acids.
Har Khorana leaves India to earn his Ph.D. under Roger J. S. Beer at the University of Liverpool.
Har Khorana enters the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin.
Har Khorana becomes the Alfred Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he works until retiring in 2007. In 1976, Khorana’s team creates a second gene, which is capable of functioning in a living cell. Such work helps scientists in understanding gene action and it can be useful to make valuable proteins and, perhaps, to cure human hereditary diseases.
Har Khorana enters Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich for a postdoctoral year with Professor Vladimir Prelog, a fundamental figure in Khorana's formation.
Har Khorana is born in Raipur, a village in Punjab, now part of eastern Pakistan. He is one of the six children of a British Indian tax clerk and his wife.
Har Khorana earns his M. Sc. Degree under Mahan Singh.
Har Khorana confirms Nirenberg's finding that the position of the four types of nucleotides on the DNA molecule determines the chemical composition and function of new cells; then he studies the nucleotide combinations that form specific amino acids and he succeeds in synthesizing each of the 64 nucleotide triplets that make up the genetic code. In 1970 then he announces the synthesis of the first artificial gene.
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Home MENA North Africa Libya Libya prepares to step in from the cold
Libya prepares to step in from the cold
Talks held in London between UK, US and Libyan officials on 11 March made important headway towards the ending of sanctions against Libya and the return of Tripoli to full participation in the international community.
The talks centred on the Libyan government’s willingness to admit responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, for which Abdelbaset ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi has been convicted. This is one of the four key conditions set by the US State Department for the full lifting of sanctions. The other conditions are the renunciation of terrorism, the payment of compensation to the families of the victims and the full sharing of information on the involvement of Libyan agents in terrorist activities.
If the expected statement admitting responsibility is made to the UN, the way will be paved for the payment of $2,700 million of compensation – $10 million to the families of each of the 270 people killed.
The State Department has signalled that the other two conditions for the dismantling of sanctions – both direct and through the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act – have already been met. In its most recent annual report it noted that ‘Libya appears to have curtailed its support for international terrorism’.
The lifting of sanctions will open the door to the development of Libya’s extensive hydrocarbon resources.
Security guards at Libya’s largest oil field repel attack
30 April 2019 10:25 AM By Indrajit Sen
State-owned NOC said attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a control station at the El-Sharara oil field
Bleak outlook for Libyan stability as Tripoli violence escalates
11 April 2019 1:27 PM By Wil Crisp
Leaders will struggle to forge a peace deal in the wake of the latest assault
General Haftar advances on Libya’s capital
Fighting starts on the outskirts of Tripoli
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Documents dating back to the Siege of Derry uncovered
Roisin Doherty, curator, Museum Services, DCSDC, handing over a copy of the 1688-1704 Common Council Minutes which will be going on display at the Siege Museum. Included are Billy Moore, Siege Museum, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council John Boyle and Lord Hay of Ballyore.
Council minutes dating back to the Siege of Derry are to go on display at the Siege Museum in Londonderry, it has been announced.
The minutes, dating from 1688-1704, were unearthed in Londonderry by Billy Moore during a recent visit to archives held by Derry City and Strabane District Council.
A museum curator at the council said the documents would “help support the story of the Apprentice Boys”.
Mr Mooore, who is Chairman of the Siege Museum Management Committee, said the documents give a “greater understanding of the reality of life” during the time of the Great Siege.
A copy of the historic Common Council minutes will go on display at the Siege Museum.
“I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to visit the Council’s museum collections store recently and to see if there were any artefacts relating to the Siege” Billy Moore said.
“Importantly, the Common Council Minutes will significantly enhance the quality of our displays.”
He continued: “Indeed, I’ve been really eager to read through the copy of the minutes – which are especially interesting in terms of gaining a greater understanding of the reality of life within the city during the time of the Siege.”
He added: “I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome individuals and groups from all communities to the Siege Museum, where they can view and better understand our rich and varied past.”
Curator with Derry City and Strabane District council’s museum and visitor Services, Roisin Doherty, said: “The 1688-1704 Common Council Minutes which are being loaned to the Siege Museum was chosen by Billy after he contacted Museum Services and visited our collections store.
“Council’s museum service advises the Siege Museum on curatorial and interpretation. It is therefore great that these important council minutes from 1688-1704 will help support the story of the Apprentice Boys.”
She added: “I am also delighted that as a result of Billy’s visit that we have been able to develop the relationship Council has in supporting the Siege Museum in promoting the story of the city.”
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Suspect in SWAT standoff charged with agg assault, prohibited weapons charge
By Adam D. YoungA-J Media
A 45-year-old man remained jailed Wednesday after he was arrested following an hours-long SWAT standoff the day before in northwest Lubbock County.
Sheriff's officials on Wednesday confirmed Chet Alvin Crawford was arrested after he was accused of barricading himself in a home in the 7300 block of County Road 6100.
At approximately 2:24 P.M, the Lubbock County Sheriff’s office received a call from a person in reference to a request to check welfare, then called back to cancel the request.
Deputies advised dispatch they would still be responding to check on the caller.
Deputies arrived to the 7300 block of County Road 6100 and met with the female who advised that her husband struck her with the stock end of a shotgun during a domestic disturbance, and that her 12-year-old son was inside the home with the suspect. The woman said her husband was armed with a firearm.
Due to the circumstances and barricaded subject, SWAT was notified, and activated.
Once SWAT arrived, they were able to remove the 12-year-old from the home unharmed.
After several attempts to make contact with the suspect, the SWAT team deployed a chemical agent, made entry and took the suspect into custody without further incident.
The woman was taken by EMS to a Lubbock hospital be checked for injuries. The suspect, later identified as Crawford, was also transported by EMS for clearance.
Crawford has been charged with a felony county of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon/serious bodily injury and a prohibited weapons charge for alleged possession of brass knuckles. His bail was set at a combined $31,000, according to jail records.
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May 2018 Events at the Firehouse
We know it can be tough to find activities that don’t come with a price tag in New York City, but lucky for you, MNN is offering three free events this month at our El Barrio Firehouse. Check it out!
MNN & GW's Media High School Partnership Focuses on Next Gen Storytellers
A new partnership between MNN and the High School for Media and Communications (HSMC) in Washington Heights gives high school students access to high tech media production tools and training.
May Events at the MNN El Barrio Firehouse
Make your way over to East Harlem this month to check out our free events at the MNN El Barrio Firehouse Community Media Center.
This Sunday on NBLCA’s Health Action TV: Couples and HIV
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, but 1 in 8 don’t even know it. Tune in to NBLCA's Health Action TV this Sunday to learn more about testing, treatment and talking with your partner about it.
Celebrate Women’s History Month at the MNN El Barrio Firehouse
It’s the first day of March, which means it’s officially Women’s History Month! To celebrate, MNN’s El Barrio Firehouse Community Media Center is hosting two special events. Learn more and RSVP.
The State of the World from a Feminist Perspective | How can feminism save the world?
The State of the World from a Feminist Perspective
MNN El Barrio Firehouse kicks-off Women's History Month with the special "The State of the World from a Feminist Perspective".
Learn to Create Media and Join a Community at MNN's El Barrio Firehouse
Manhattan Neighborhood Network is a public access channel that helps New Yorkers with a career in media production. Stop by for a free information session, held in English on the first Tuesday of the month, and Spanish on the first Wednesday.
Sep 3, 2019 6:30 PM
Learn how to produce a compelling and professional television show in a studio environment.
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I recently read an excellent novel called The Memory Keeper's Daughter. This novel describes a tragic incident that leads to a secret being kept and that has even more tragic consequences later in the lives of all the characters who are unable to communicate with each other because of the existence of the secret.
Did you grow up in a family where secrets were kept from family members? Were secrets kept from you? Were these secrets really hidden or did everyone know or suspect something was being hidden?
During my years of experience working with families, I have come across situations where the most unbelievable types of information were kept hidden from someone.
Some examples of family secrets:
1) A child is not told that he is not the biological son of his father who actually adopted him when he was born. However, he appears in a photograph with his parents on the day they were married.
2) A young woman is raped when she is in college. She keeps this a secret from her family, friends, and the police. This secret stays with her for ten years before she finally reveals it to her therapist.
3) A father of young children has a dark secret known by no one but his wife. He wears women's underwear under his clothes. He hides this when he is out of the house but the underwear shows when he is at home. He and his wife deny the fact that everyone in the family probably suspects what he is doing.
4) Two sons are raised by their mother after she divorces their father. A curtain of secrecy is kept by the mother about so that the two boys never learn much about their father or his family. Later in life, the older of the boys, now men, meets the father and his family, never telling his younger brother or his mother.
5) A woman knows she is adopted but her parents fail to tell her that her biological mother is alive and has made inquiries about her because she wanted to meet her.
6) A woman has alternated between two men who she dated for many years: the man she finally married and the former boyfriend who she couldn't give up. Although the two men know each other, the husband is unaware that his wife meets the other man at least twice per week. She cannot bear the thought of giving up either man.
7) A wife has good reason to believe that her family is financially secure because her husband is a very successful businessman. What she does not know is that he has a gambling addiction and they are on the verge of bankruptcy because of the enormous gambling debts he has accumulated.
One of the most toxic problems confronting many families is the existence of secrets that prevent open communication and ultimately lead to serious health and mental health problems for family members. In the end, some families are unable to maintain their cohesiveness because of family secrets. Yet, there is little written about family secrets and their impact on marriages, children, and kinship relationships. In this essay we will explore why people keep secrets, how they affect relationships and the types of problems that emerge as a result of secrecy.
It is important to stress that it is sometimes better to not reveal a secret - if it will cause undue and unnecessary damage with no benefit. However, it is the belief of this therapist that most secrets are better brought out into the open.
Motivations for Secrecy in Families:
Shame is a powerful motive for keeping secrets.
Some of the categories of things about which people feel shame:
A) Divorce: When I was a child divorce was rare compared with today. For most people it was embarrassing to admit to divorce. It was not unusual to attempt to hide a divorce from the community. My parents were divorced when I was 3 years old. When I became school age, I was instructed by my family to say that my father had died if asked by the teacher.
B) Mental Illness: Even today, when the public knows more than ever about mental illness, many families continue to maintain a shroud of secrecy around a relative who suffers from one of the psychoses, such as schizophrenia. Years ago these feelings of shame were so powerful that schizophrenic family members were permanently locked away in mental institutions where they were never seen or heard from. Other families locked their mentally ill relative in a room and maintained isolation and secrecy about this person.
C) Rape: I have a number of female patients who were raped either during their early adolescence, late adolescence or adulthood, and who kept the crime a complete secret. These survivors of violent rape attacks blamed themselves for the rape and continued to feel guilty well into late adulthood.
D) Women: Sexual issues and various types of sexually transmitted diseases are sources of extreme shame and embarrassment for women because they fear that they will be judged as promiscuous if they admit to a boyfriend that they have an STD. In this case, I am referring to the less deadly types of STD's such as Chlamydia and herpes, rather than the more serious diseases such as HIV, which has this as well as other issues surrounding it. I have seen many cases in which a woman is reluctant to begin a relationship because she fears rejection if she admits to having an STD.
E) Adoption: Even today, some families treat adoption as something to be ashamed of. Perhaps this has to do with the fear that they will be judged by others for not being able to have their own children. In addition, there are those parents who fear that if their children learn that they are adopted, they will want to find their biological parents and turn away from their adopted ones. As a result, there are those unfortunate families who keep the adoption a secret from their children.
F) Alcoholism or Drug Addiction: Some attempt to hide their drug addiction for fear of losing their jobs and others fear the loss of their loved ones if they admit to their addiction. The fear of judgment is a powerful motivator for secrecy because people find it difficult to admit, even to themselves, that they have an addiction. Yet, the possibility of recovery dictates that the addict recognize the addiction and find help.
G) Job Loss: In our highly competitive society in which success is measured by the amount of money that you make, being laid off, downsized or fired from a job is experienced as extremely painful and leads to feelings of depression for many people. Men feel most stigmatized by losing their jobs because so much of their self worth is measured by their ability to earn a living for their families. There are actually cases in which a father has lied to his children about his work status, pretending to the child that he still has his old job. In one case, the particular father went to work driving a taxi cab, changed his clothes at the garage to fit that of a driver and tried to make a living in this way so that his children and neighbors would not know the truth.
H) Extramarital Affairs: In example number 6 above, the woman lived a double life. The lover knew of the husband and wanted her to leave the marriage and be with him. She didn't want to leave her husband because she did not believe the lover could maintain a serious relationship leading to marriage. In addition, she feared condemnation from everyone and maintained strict secrecy around everything she was doing. She admitted that the entire secret could be discovered by her husband one day but, in fact, she was in denial about this possibility. She was constantly plagued by feelings of guilt, yet, could not stop the affair or leave the marriage.
I) Homosexuality: When I was a young man, studying for my PhD, the head of my dissertation committee admitted to all of us, students and faculty alike, that he had left his marriage of 25 years and his adult daughters, in order to live in a homosexual relationship with his lover. He had kept his real sexual identity hidden from his wife, children, colleagues, and friends, out of feelings of shame and the fear of rejection. It was the era of increased sexual tolerance and greater public awareness that allowed him to "come out of the closet." At first shocked, his daughters later came to accept him and his wife had always suspected something was not quite right.
J) Gambling: Tragically, in case number 7 above, the wife did not learn the full extent of the dire financial situation for herself and the children until after her husband suddenly died of a heart attack. Learning the reality of the situation was disastrous for her and led to a complete life style change due to the seriousness of the debt.
This is not a complete list of all the reasons why families keep secrets. Criminal behavior, violations of the incest taboo, and suicide are additional examples of the many other factors leading to lies and secrets.
Consequences:
Secrets lead to lies and secrets and lies can have serious consequences. That is really the theme of the novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, in which one character's secret and lies lead to more secrets and lies committed by others in the family and community.
In the real world, I heard of another case in which a son was not told that his Dad is not his biological father. The father who raised him died of a heart attack caused by congenital heart disease. The son, believing that this was his natural father, assumed that he inherited the same gene for heart disease. He spent twenty years carefully limiting his diet and working out in order to delay the onset of what he predicted would be his own demise due to the same heart disease suffered by his father. Then, on her death bed, his mother admitted to him that his Dad had adopted him when he was a small child and neither one had ever told him the truth. The reason for the secrecy was the fact that the biological father was a convicted criminal. The parents feared that the only hope of having this boy lead a normal life was if he knew nothing of this biological father. Needless to say, it came as a tremendous shock to this man to learn first, that his Dad was not his biological father and also that he harbored no genes for heart disease.
In case number 2 above, the young woman finally felt enough trust in the therapist to summon up her courage and reveal the fact that she had been raped when she was in her very early twenties. For ten years she harbored this secret, feeling like she was damaged, believing she was at fault for the rape, fearful of telling her boyfriend for fear she would be judged promiscuous and rejected, and living with an enormous amount of rejection. Once she started to discuss the rape in therapy, including all of her beliefs and fears about its occurrence, and once she felt fully accepted by the therapist, she started to feel enormous relief and her depression started to lift.
Intimacy Made Difficult:
Family secrets have consequences beyond what the secret keepers ever imagined. For example, in case number 2, the young woman who had been raped avoided forming a permanent relationship with a man for fear that when he learned about her rape she would be rejected. However, her trust in her therapist and the safety of the therapy office allowed her to take the risk of revealing the secret. The therapist's sympathetic, warm, and assuring response was such that she found the courage to tell her boyfriend. His compassion, warmth, and total acceptance of her were the source of even more relief. Then, she decided to tell her mother about it and learned information that was enormously helpful to her in her recovery from depression.
When this young woman told her mother about the rape she was once again met with warmth, acceptance, and deep feelings of regret that her daughter had kept this secret for so many years. The question was why had the young woman elected to maintain secrecy?
The answer to the above question was that the young woman was raised in a family culture of secrecy. After she and her mom talked about the rape (a very emotional discussion) her mother revealed all types of family secrets that had been kept from the children for years. The most important secret was that there was a long history of schizophrenia running through both sides of the family for many past generations. Keeping secrets became the norm of family functioning. Thus, it was natural for the young woman to hold a personal secret for so many years. Family members, extremely ashamed of mental illness running in the family, developed a culture of non communication and secrecy to protect themselves from the truth and to prevent any embarrassing information from becoming available to outsiders. The young woman's reaction to all of this was huge relief at no longer having to live with secrets, even though she did not know many of these pieces of information.
The relationship between this young woman and her boyfriend has grown deeper and closer as a result of her having divulged the awful truth of what happened to her many years ago.
Distrust and Anger:
Maintaining family secrets provides an opportunity for some family members to form a bond between one another. However, the involvement in maintaining a secret means that other family members are excluded. For example, two relatives may join together to keep a secret that may not involve a third member except to guard the secret from him/her. Therefore, this third individual is excluded. In order to continue to keep the secret, lies often have to be told and truth distorted. If the excluded member makes an observation that is perceived as coming too close to the secret, then the observation has to be refuted. In case number one, I was the younger child who, upon entering elementary school, was coached by the family to state that my father was dead. I was so young that the “untruth” became “true” in my mind. I simply came to assume he was dead. Decades later, when the truth emerged and I had the opportunity to meet my father, I felt alienated from my older brother who knew the truth and kept it from me.
Children and Learning Problems:
Learning and education are made possible by human curiosity. However, there is plentiful evidence that maintaining family secrets deeply affects children's ability to learn. The nature of secrets is that no one knows about their existence. However, children are intuitive and are quick to sense changes in tone of voice, facial expressions, and other non verbal communications indicating that there is a secret. If they have reason to fear asking for information because of parental anger, it has a dampening effect on their education. There are simply too many case studies in the literature that illustrate the fact that once a therapist helps a family to disclose and discuss a secret, the learning difficulties of the child vanish. Peggy Papp, family psychotherapist, writes about a case in which a ten-year-old girl has math problems until she is helped by her therapist to understand something in her parent's wedding picture that made no sense to her. Together, they added the months between her parents wedding and when she was born and she discovered that she was 15 months-old by the time they married. Her parents then admitted that she was adopted. Her math problems in school vanished.
Somatic Symptoms, the Body Speaks:
We human beings are metaphorical in nature. It has been my experience that after suffering a "broken heart" over a tragedy, a person has a heart attack. Some examples of the relationship between physical or somatic symptoms and secrecy are:
1) Bulimia Nervosa: The bulimic person keeps their binging and purging a strict secret out of feelings of shame and self disgust.
2) Anorexia Nervosa: The anorectic patient keeps self starvation a secret from herself. This is referred to as denial. I have seen families in which parents, as well as the anorectic individual, are in denial about the illness.
I have also known of many cases where children are raised in an atmosphere of dark secrecy about both the matriarchal and patriarchal parts of their families. They grow up with a sense that something must be wrong but fear discussing this with their parents. In this type of family, once secrecy becomes the norm, there is no end to the ways in which information is blocked from flowing. In these situations, children keep secrets from parents, and parents keep secrets from children and from one another. This carries over into generations as the children marry and keep secrets from their spouses. None of this is benign since the individuals from these families who become patients, experience depression and physical or somatic symptoms.
There are studies that show that secrecy results in feelings of powerlessness. One study demonstrated that in families where secrecy was a major issue, especially with regard to sexual offenses, vulnerable youth were at greater risk of becoming sexual offenders themselves. When they committed the act of rape, they ordered their victims to behave in certain ways. The research concluded that the rape was a way to overcome the helpless and victimized feelings they had experienced in the family. Of course, the rape itself had to be kept secret, perpetuating the cycle of maintaining secrets. The study concluded that for these young people, family secrecy and deception established and maintained a disregard for the truth and for the customs of society. However, this does not mean that family secrets of and by themselves create sex offenders. Rather, it is the situations in which youth may have conduct disorders and other anti social features to their personalities, combined with family secrecy, and deception that can lead to acts of sexual abuse and rape.
I have always maintained that there are few secrets that are so dangerous that they cannot stand being brought out into the open, where they suddenly lose the evil and dark air that once surrounded them. What was once said in reference to war is true about secrets and the decision to reveal them: "There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
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Docudrama: Company says stock is worthless
By Jack Davis | jadavis@bayareanewsgroup.com |
Under normal circumstances, publicly traded companies typically try to generate enthusiasm for their stock.
Circumstances are anything but normal for Asyst Technologies, the beleaguered maker of chip-making equipment that took the extraordinary step last week of telling investors its shares are essentially worthless.
Over the past year the Fremont company has struggled with an unwanted takeover attempt, a proxy fight threat by a major investor, and an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to remain in compliance with the terms of its debt. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in April after getting a default notice on $76.5 million it owes its lenders.
A year ago, shares of the company rose as high as $5.20 after its board received an unsolicited “expression of interest” from a company run by its ex-CEO to buy Asyst. That came on the heels of a threat from a fund run by Bryant Riley to nominate its own slate of six directors to try to auction off the company.
Its shares closed Monday at 2 cents each.
The buyout offer failed to materialize and was called off in early October, about the same time that Asyst announced a jump in orders, including about $30 million related to the first phase of a new chip fabrication plant in Asia. That good news was clouded, however, by a court ruling that reversed an earlier decision awarding Asyst $75 million in damages in a patent infringement case. At the same time, the company had to take an $89 million charge to write down the value of its good will.
Asyst, which had accumulated $518 million in losses as of the end of its fiscal 2009 third quarter on Dec. 31, reported slashing operating expenses by $25 million during the first three quarters of 2009, lowering its break-even point to $75 million, according to a statement in February from CEO Steve Schwartz. He said the company planned to take further actions to find up to $35 million more in annual savings, lowering its quarterly break-even point to $55 million for the fiscal year that began April 1.
When the company missed its March 31 debt payment, however, its creditor declared Asyst in default and demanded repayment, hastening the company’s bankruptcy filing.
Nevertheless, nearly 2 million shares of Asyst have traded hands every day, on average, since then. Last week the company was compelled in a filing to say it had noticed the “continuing high trading volume” in its stock, prompting the company to state for the record that “Asyst management confirms for investors its strong belief that there will be no value for the common stockholders in the bankruptcy liquidation process, even under the most optimistic of scenarios.
“Holders of common stock of a company in Chapter 11 generally receive value only after all claims of the company’s secured and unsecured creditors have first been fully satisfied. In this case, Asyst’s management strongly believes all such creditor claims will not be fully satisfied, leading to its conclusion that Asyst common stock will have no value.”
Kana Blinks: Kana Software won’t be holding its annual meeting this week as planned. The Menlo Park maker of customer service software evidently had second thoughts about a complaint filed against it last month in a Delaware court by its largest shareholder, who cried foul after Kana announced on June 17 that it would hold its annual meeting four weeks later, saying the move deprived the shareholder of enough time to nominate its own director to Kana’s board.
KVO Capital Management, a New Hampshire investment firm that holds 3.35 million, or 8.1 percent, of Kana’s stock wants to nominate a candidate to challenge the only incumbent member of Kana’s board, whose members serve staggered terms.
KVO has put Kana on notice that its board “would be well served to consider significant changes in business strategy and corporate governance,” including selling the company and cutting expenses “immediately.”
In a press release filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, Kana said it would move the meeting to Dec. 1. It also said the new deadline for submitting stockholder proposals for the meeting’s agenda is “on or before Aug. 3.”
Kana cautioned in the filing that the “submission of a stockholder proposal does not guarantee that it will be included” in the company’s statement, pointing out that “there are additional requirements regarding stockholder proposals,” referring stockholders contemplating submitting a proposal to SEC Rule 14a-8, the regulation governing shareholder proposals.
For those in search of loopholes, or how to avoid them, get out your NoDoz. The SEC’s summation of its final rule on the topic runs to more than 18,000 words, more than twice as long as the U.S. Constitution.
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Berkeley Freight & Salvage celebrates 50th…
Berkeley Freight & Salvage celebrates 50th anniversary with free music festival
Gerald Herber/Associated Press archives
Michael Doucet performs with the zydeco band BeauSoleil at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Friday, May 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
By Jim Harrington | jharrington@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: September 17, 2018 at 12:41 pm | UPDATED: September 18, 2018 at 3:29 pm
The Freight & Salvage, one of the Bay Area’s most beloved music venues, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a big music festival this weekend.
More than a dozen music acts will perform across multiple stages at the the Freight & Salvage Music Festival in Berkeley on Sept. 22. There will be a wide array of musical styles to be heard, nicely representing the diversity of genres that have heard at the Freight since it opened in 1968.
But the event features more than just music performances. There will also be workshops, family activities and food trucks on hand.
Oh, and did we mention that it’s free to attend? You got to love that.
Here’s a look a detailed look at the festival, which runs 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 22 on Addison Street between Shattuck and Milvia.
For more information, visit www.thefreight.org/fest.
Shattuck Stage
Asheba (11 a.m.): He’s a musical storyteller from Trinidad who specializes in calypso music.
BKO Quintet (1 p.m.): The five artists take listeners on “a journey into the heart of the contemporary Mali,” according to the festival’s website.
Bang Data w/appearance by Non-Stop Bhangra (3:15 p.m.): Oakland-based Bang Data draws from cumbia, hip-hop and rock in their songs. The act will be accompanied at times by dance troupe Non-Stop Bhangra.
Milvia Stage
Alphabet Rockers (12 p.m.): The 2018 Grammy nominees deliver uplifting hip-hop anthems about social justice and other topics for fans of all ages.
Beausoleil (2 p.m.): Legendary Cajun music troupe out of Lafayette, Louisiana, featuring Michael Doucet (violin, guitar, accordion, mandolin, vocals), David Doucet (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Breaux (accordion), Billy Ware (percussion), Tommy Alesi (drums), and Mitch Reed (fiddle, bass).
Zigaboo Modeliste and Linda Tillery (4:30 p.m.): The festival headliner is a Bay Area funk supergrup, featuring Zigaboo Modeliste (drummer from The Meters), Linda Tillery (soul, R&B, and folk vocalist and percussionist), Will Bernard (guitar) and Wil Blades (Hammond organ).
Review: Queen + Adam Lambert celebrates Freddie Mercury in San Jose
Hayward Russell City Blues Festival is ending after this weekend, organizers say
Jim the Critic’s Top Concert Picks of the Week
Vans Warped Tour 2019: Top 11 acts to catch at only West Coast stop
Singer-songwriter Stage
(Inside Freight & Salvage’s Littlefield Room)
Maurice Tani (2 p.m.): Americana artist from San Francisco.
Claudia Russell with Bruce Kaplan (2:30 p.m.): Americana wife-and-husband duo.
Miko Marks (3 p.m.): Acclaimed country music artist.
Mark Graham (3:30 p.m.): Folk artist
Amber Cross (4 p.m.): Folk singer-songwriter
Quinn DeVeaux (4:30 p.m.): Soul/blues singer
Terry Garthwaite (5 p.m.): Singer-songwriter, known for the band The Joy of Cooking.
Jim Harrington
Jim Harrington is the pop music critic for the Bay Area News Group. He began writing about the Bay Area music scene in 1992 and became the full-time pop music critic for the organization's Oakland Tribune in 2006. He is a South Bay native and graduate of San Francisco State University.
Follow Jim Harrington jim.bayareanews Follow Jim Harrington @jimthecritic
This reviewer referred to Queen + Adam Lambert as a tribute band and the band's legendary guitarist Brian May was not having it.
"I'm not Freddie Mercury," Adam Lambert tells the capacity crowd at the SAP Center in San Jose. See photos, videos, review of Queen + Adam Lambert.
Duchess Meghan meets Queen Bey at ‘The Lion King’ premiere
Two royal couples showed up at "The Lion King" premiere on Sunday.
Be a star at new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame exhibit
The Interactive Garage allows visitors to play actual instruments by themselves, alongside friends or strangers at the museum. Trained professionals are available on screen and in person to assist.
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13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CXCXVIII)
1. London Underground Posters from the 1920s
From Bonhams and Library of Congress, via IO9
2. England’s 35 acre, secret subterranean Cold War City
Deep beneath Wiltshire lies an abandoned fortress, strewn with old bedding, rusting machinery and stationery marked ‘top secret’. This is the Corsham bunker, where the nation’s elite would have retreated in the event of nuclear war. Built at the height of cold war paranoia, it has since been left to crumble. So is the government still preparing for the worst? And would the rest of us have anywhere to shelter?
The site was so top secret that many of the civil servants, who had been allocated a desk at Burlington, had no knowledge of it.
The city was also equipped with the second largest telephone exchange in Britain, a BBC studio from which the PM could address the nation and an internal Lamson Tube system that could relay messages, using compressed air, throughout the complex.
It even had an underground lake. Further reading found on the Guardian and BBC.
More photos by Charlie Charlcomb here.
3. Stalin’s Body Double
For decades, rumors circulated in Russia that Joseph Stalin (pictured right) had a “twin” who replaced him during certain situations. Decades after Stalin’s death, the decoy finally decided to talk. Felix Dadaev (pictured left), a former dancer and juggler, had been ordered to work to the Kremlin as Stalin’s body double. For more than half a century, Dadaev remained silent, fearing a death sentence should he dare to open his mouth. But in 2008, at the age of 88, and with the apparent approval of the Putin regime, he finally came forward to write his autobiography. It explains that he was one of four men employed to impersonate the supreme leader, taking his place in motorcades, at rallies, on newsreel footage etc.
Discover his full story found here.
4. King of West African tribe returns to gardening job in Canada
He insists it’s the best way to help his people back in Ghana.
Full article on the Independent.
5. Hemingway in Cuba, 1952
(Standing next to the table of men in the bar).
Photographed by Alfred Eisenstaedt for the Spanish edition of LIFE Magazine in 1952.
6. Unearthing a funerary mask in Luxor, Egypt
“I was assigned in 2004 by National Geographic Spain to join an archaeological team working in the Theban necropolis, near Luxor. My task was to document their daily activities and findings. During that period I worked as any other member of the Djehuty Project team, and I was able to experience what is like to be the first person to see an object that has been buried for more than 3.500 years.”
Go behind the scenes of the Djehuty Project with Carlos Spottorno.
7. The Winter Garden of Hotel Hannon, Brussels
Now an Art Nouveau museum you can visit. Found on Tumblr.
8. Floral Cross-Stitch Street Installations by Raquel Rodrigo
More stitching on his website found via This is Colossal.
9. This trippy Apple II ad from the 1980s
Via the 80s Design Subreddit.
10. Streaker Michael O’Brien being escorted off the field during the England-France rugby match, 1974
Found on Vintage Sports Pictures.
11. When Julia Borzucka draws on photos found on the Internet
Prints available here found via UFunk.
12. This road in France can only be used twice a day, for a few hours. Then It Disappears Under 13 Feet of Water
Article found on My Modern Met.
13. The Deepest Concert on Earth Under the Sea
Convinced to perform on the North Sea floor by a gas drilling company celebrating its 10th birthday, singer Katie Melua set a Guinness World record for the deepest underwater concert ever performed.
22 tonnes of equipment was transported by 16 helicopters and three supply ships to the rig and then the whole lot had to be moved to the bottom of the sea.
13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CXCXV)
13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CXCXVI)
13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CXCXVII)
13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCXI)
13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCX)
13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCIX)
Churches and their Hidden Basement Bowling Alleys
Conscience Letters from the Cursed Thieves of Triassic Park
Inside New York’s Greatest, Liveable Cabinet of Curiosities
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DNAinfo.com- Family Denied Justice in "dooring" crash due to the A.I.S.'s failure to timely investigate
| October 19, 2012
Family Still Searching For Answers Months After Man's Unsolved Bike Death
October 19, 2012 9:33am | By Patrick Wall
FORDHAM — Joseph Nelson, 54, a jack-of-all-trades known for his way with stalled cars and busted washing machines, worked as an auto mechanic until a transmission fell on his hand. Then he became a bike messenger.
Years after he left that job, he still pedaled around town most days on a bike he called his Cadillac.
On the afternoon of Saturday, April 14, 2012, he was running errands on that bike when he approached a busy intersection just a couple blocks from his apartment near Bronx Community College.
Several hours later, his brother John, 57, was standing on his front porch in Portsmouth, Va., when his phone rang.
“Do you have a brother by the name of Joseph Nelson?” John recalls an unfamiliar voice asking.He said yes. “We’re sorry to inform you that your brother has died in a bicycle collision.” John said nothing. In the past year, his daughter, his niece, his mother and one of his three brothers had died. Now he had lost another brother. He dropped the phone. Sunday marked six-months since Joseph Nelson’s death.
With each passing month, Nelson’s siblings — his only remaining family — have become more frustrated with the NYPD, which they feel has not properly investigated the crash or communicated with the family.
"I got one initial call," John Nelson said recently from Virginia. "Aside from that, I got no information, no assistance, nothing at all from the Police Department." In July, the family received an autopsy report that said Joseph died after he collided with the open door of a parked car. But the special police unit that investigates fatal traffic accidents was called onto the case more than a month after the collision and has since failed to identify a single witness to the crash on a busy avenue lined with shops and restaurants, according to an NYPD investigator.“I know the police are not miracle workers, but this happened in broad daylight,” Nelson said.The Nelson family believes this is an example of a problem frequently cited by critics — that the NYPD’s response to traffic accidents is inadequate and results in few arrests.
“They treated him as though he never existed," Nelson said. "But he was somebody. He was a person."
Paramedics found Joseph Nelson lying face-up and unconscious near the intersection of Fordham Road and Jerome Avenue sometime around 2 p.m. on April 14, according to the police report. After they performed CPR, an ambulance crew rushed Nelson to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police patrol officers respond to most traffic crashes, where they survey the scene and fill out an collision report. If a crash victim has died or appears likely to, then the officers call in the Accident Investigation Squad, or AIS, a citywide unit that conducts a comprehensive investigation to determine the cause of the crash and whether there's any criminality. But in Nelson’s case, even though he was pronounced dead the same afternoon as his crash, officers from the 52nd Precinct did not notify AIS of the crash until May 18, according to an AIS officer.
Why they did not is unclear. The 52nd Precinct detective in charge of the initial investigation referred questions to the NYPD’s press bureau, which did not respond to a request for comment.
But whatever the cause, the delay set back the special investigation unit, according to the AIS officer.
“We weren’t called the day of the collision,” the officer said. “That usually turns out to be a problem.”
In the days following the crash, Nelson’s family repeatedly called cops whose numbers they had been given, but each time received messages saying they were unavailable, the family said.
Dismayed by the police, the family hired an attorney, Daniel Flanzig, who sent a team of private investigators to the crash site. But by then, four days after the collision, the team uncovered no leads.
“The lack of communication with my office and the family made it very, very difficult to investigate the case,” Flanzig said, noting the NYPD’s policy not to share details about open cases with third parties, including victims’ families. Without witnesses, surveillance footage or other physical evidence of the crash, the family could not pursue criminal or civil charges against the person who opened the door Nelson struck and then left the scene, Flanzig said. “The lack of an early investigation absolutely destroyed their right to have justice,” he said.
Last year, the AIS investigated 304 crashes out of thousands of traffic accidents that caused serious injuries and 241 that resulted in deaths, according to testimony at a City Council hearing in February by Michael Kelly, the AIS commanding officer. From those investigations, the squad made 52 arrests, Kelly said.
Critics say the NYPD’s policy of alerting the specially trained AIS detectives only when a victim died, or is likely to, results in thousands of uninvestigated serious-injury crashes, which they say violates state law.
The policy also forces emergency medical workers to make split-second calls about a patient’s condition that, whether they realize it or not, may decide which officers take the case, critics say.
And, even if the AIS is summoned, the entire citywide squad consists of four supervisors and 19 detectives, according to the police testimony.
“AIS is horribly understaffed,” said City Councilman Stephen Levin. “The whole idea that there are so few of them to do this type of investigation is really shocking.”
In July, several City Council members proposed legislation to reform the way the NYPD handles traffic accidents. The new rules would require an investigation of every serious-injury crash and mandate collision-investigation training for at least five officers in every precinct, among other changes.
Levin, the sponsor of five proposals, said he expects the legislation to be taken up by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, John Nelson reached the AIS detective in charge of his brother’s case for the first time this week.
The detective said the squad had been unable to gather any video or other evidence of the crash, according to Nelson. Therefore, they will close the case this month.
“I don’t feel as if there was any resolution,” Nelson said. “A lot of questions are still up in the air.”
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Steve Bannon Will Lead Trump’s White House
By Ryan Lizza
The key to influence in any White House is to establish oneself as the President’s most important adviser, and this is seemingly the role that Bannon has created for himself.
Photograph by Drew Angerer / Getty
“I’m a Leninist,” Steve Bannon told a writer for The Daily Beast, in late 2013. “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal, too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”*
At the time, Bannon was the executive chairman of Breitbart News, the far-right news site. When he became the C.E.O. of Donald Trump’s campaign, in August, he told the writer that he had no recollection of the conversation. On Sunday, Trump, in his first personnel decisions as President-elect, named Bannon as his chief strategist and senior counselor and Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee Chairman, his chief of staff.
The press release from the Trump transition staff said that Bannon and Priebus would be “equal partners.” This is a signal to Washington that Bannon will be the most powerful person in Trump’s White House. On November 6, 2008, the day after his election, Barack Obama made just one personnel announcement: that Congressman Rahm Emanuel would be his chief of staff. Every staff member in the Obama White House reported to Emanuel, including political advisers such as David Axelrod. Even in the George W. Bush White House, which at first had a weak chief of staff, Andy Card, and a powerful political adviser, Karl Rove, everyone, including Rove, formally reported to Card.
Trump has indicated that, in his White House, Bannon will be first among equals.
Before the announcement, there was speculation that Bannon and Priebus were competing for the job of chief of staff, which, as Axelrod noted yesterday, “has inherent authorities that advisers do not.” But with those authorities come responsibilities that can limit the person in the role. Walter Mondale, the second Vice-President to have an office in the West Wing, advised his successors to avoid taking on managerial responsibilities (such as Al Gore’s National Partnership for Reinventing Government). The key to influence in any White House is simply to establish oneself as the President’s most important adviser. This seems to be the role that Bannon has created for himself.
Bannon, who is sixty-two, has spent his relatively short political career incubating the nationalist right that roared to life in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and gathered strength through the Obama years. He grew up in Virginia, served in the Navy, went to Harvard Business School, and spent years as a mergers-and-acquisitions dealmaker for Goldman Sachs. In 2008, he became fascinated by Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, and the crowds she attracted. He spent the next eight years making hagiographic films about Palin and other right-wing political figures, and transforming Breitbart, which he took over after the death of its founder, Andrew Breitbart, in 2012, into a center for the insurgent populist movement.
As Kurt Bardella, the former spokesman for Breitbart, told me earlier this year, when I was researching a piece on Bannon, “When Sarah Palin was on the rise, he had found a way to become a part of that circle. When the Tea Party was on the rise, he seemed to be right there in that circle. When it was going to be Ted Cruz, he was there. When it was going to be Ben Carson for a hot second, he was there. He’s been someone who’s been in pursuit of that pipeline to power for a long time now.”
The turning point for Bannon, Breitbart, and the movement that would eventually coalesce around Trump was the 2013 debate over immigration reform. After Mitt Romney lost to Barack Obama, in 2012, the Republican leadership, encouraged by the business wing of the G.O.P. and the Party’s consultant class, made comprehensive immigration reform a legislative priority. Fox News became sympathetic to the effort and Priebus, then the chairman of the R.N.C., issued a report declaring that passing immigration reform was necessary for the survival of the Party.
This was the opening that Bannon had been looking for. He despised Fox News and Rupert Murdoch, whom he believes is a “globalist,” and he saw Priebus and the Republican leaders in Congress, such as Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor, as “enemies.” Breitbart became the hub of resistance to the immigration-reform effort, developing strong ties to Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, who was leading the opposition in the Senate. More ominously, it started cultivating a little-noticed movement of disenchanted conservatives who argued that the right should promote a restoration of white culture.
Under Bannon, Breitbart, which was read by Republicans across the political spectrum, allowed this so-called alt-right movement to enter the mainstream conservative conversation. The site published a tag on “black crime.” Bannon sent reporters to the Mexican border to cover immigration from the perspective of American citizens who felt victimized by undocumented immigrants. Breitbart writers used traditional tropes of anti-Semitism, attacking international bankers and globalists. “We’re the platform for the alt-right,” Bannon told Sarah Posner, of Mother Jones, in July, weeks before he became the chairman of Trump’s campaign.
Breitbart boosted any political outsider who threatened Republican leaders. In 2013, it cheered Ted Cruz when he helped shut down the government. In 2014, it promoted David Brat, who defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a primary by attacking his Wall Street ties and alleged sympathy for amnesty. It helped instigate the rebellion against Speaker John Boehner, who resigned from Congress in 2015. Bannon tried to entice Sessions into a race for the White House, but he declined.
During the Republican primaries, Breitbart savaged Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. By the fall of 2015, the site had become a Trump propaganda machine: “Trumpbart News” to its critics. In March, when Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, grabbed Michelle Fields, a Breitbart reporter at the time, when she tried to ask Trump a question, Bannon sided with the Trump campaign, which denied that the incident even occurred. Bannon formally joined the Trump campaign as C.E.O. in August, when Paul Manafort, the former chairman, became mired in a scandal involving financial ties to a pro-Russian party in Ukraine.
During the campaign, Bannon kept an article from Politico over his desk that included some gloating by Clinton staffers about the landslide win that they expected. He believed that Clinton was weaker with Hispanics, African-Americans, and white millennials than Obama was in 2012. And he believed that, with a surge of white working-class support, Trump could win Wisconsin and Michigan, which had voted Democratic since the nineteen-eighties. He was right about all of this.
Bannon injected Trump’s speeches with language about global élites and bankers. Clinton “meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty,” Trump said in an October speech that was so disturbing in its coded anti-Semitism that the Anti-Defamation League spoke out against it. Trump’s final TV ad of the campaign combined excerpts from the speech, decrying “those who control the levers of power in Washington,” with images of George Soros, Janet Yellen, and Lloyd Blankfein, all of whom are Jewish. “This needs to stop,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the A.D.L., said in a statement.
When Bannon has been asked about these racist and anti-Semitic appeals, he has insisted, implausibly, that he favors nationalism, not white nationalism. “If you look at the identity movements over there in Europe, I think a lot of [them] are really ‘Polish identity’ or ‘German identity,’ not racial identity,” he told Posner. “It’s more identity toward a nation-state or their people as a nation.” Bannon sees those European movements as allies, and has cultivated ties with far-right parties in the U.K., France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy. The first foreign political leader who President-elect Trump met with was Nigel Farage, a friend of Bannon who attended the Republican National Convention and campaigned with Trump in Mississippi, in July. Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Front, who is running for President, has already cited Trump’s victory as a harbinger of her own. Her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, a member of the French parliament, tweeted, “I answer yes to the invitation of Stephen Bannon, CEO of @realDonaldTrump presidential campaign, to work together.”
The elevation of Bannon to a powerful position in the White House is an epochal event in American politics, one that has been condemned by the N.A.A.C.P., the A.D.L., and many Democratic leaders, including Harry Reid, whose spokesman said in a statement, “President-elect Trump’s choice of Steve Bannon as his top aide signals that White Supremacists will be represented at the highest levels in Trump’s White House.” The Republican consultant John Weaver, who advises Ohio Governor John Kasich, tweeted, “Just to be clear news media, the next president named a racist, anti-semite as the co-equal of the chief of staff.” Weaver also wrote, “The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant America.” William Kristol, the editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, asked on Twitter, “Is there precedent for such a disreputable & unstable extremist in [White House] senior ranks before Bannon?”
Many observers have rightly focussed on Bannon’s interest in smashing the establishment. How will Bannon continue his crusade to defeat Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and Priebus when he now needs them to pass Trump’s agenda? Despite Bannon’s hatred for Priebus, they worked closely together to elect Trump. Bannon believed it was an alliance of convenience, similar to Stalin and Churchill working together to defeat Hitler. I doubt Bannon will be as focussed on knocking off Republican leaders as he was when he was throwing rocks from the sidelines. You don’t actually have to destroy the establishment if you can force it to bend to your will.
*This post has been updated to clarify when Steve Bannon told a writer for The Daily Beast that he was “a Leninist.”
Ryan Lizza, an on-air contributor for CNN, was The New Yorker’s Washington correspondent from 2007-2017.
Losing the Popular Vote Won’t Rein in President Trump
Trump delivered a gracious victory speech and was notably courteous during his public appearance with Obama. But other early actions are worrying.
Steve Bannon’s Vision for the Trump Coalition After Election Day
Trump’s campaign C.E.O. seems more interested in creating a post-election platform for ethno-nationalist politics than in defeating Hillary Clinton.
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Council votes to spend extra $42,000 on lighted crossing on Concession
Hilary Thomson
North Grenville Municipal Council has decided to spend upwards of $42,000 to make a section of Concession Road safer for pedestrians.
Safety along Concession Road has been a hot topic for several years. In 2016, a petition signed by residents was presented to council outlining their concerns about the speed at which some people were traveling along the road, and some suggestions on how it could be addressed. Mayor Nancy Peckford says pedestrian safety was also an issue when she was knocking on doors in the neighbourhoods surrounding the road. Kemptville District Hospital, two schools and one of the entrances to the Kemptville College, which includes three more schools and several other organizations, are on Concession Road.
Because of the concern expressed by residents, a traffic study was done of Concession Road and Prescott Street to assess the area and figure out what the municipality could do to make it safer. The report prepared by the consulting firm WSP came back with a number of recommendations which were presented to council on March 12. The recommendations included several speed mitigating tactics, as well as a suggested pedestrian crossing at Concession Road and Campus Drive, right by the Service Ontario. It was suggested that it be a basic crossing, including signage on the road sufficiently set back from sidewalks, lines painted on the road and illumination from a streetlight.
After the WSP presentation, council directed staff to do a further investigation into whether a higher-class system with a crossing light would be warranted at that intersection. At the committee of the whole meeting on June 11, Director of Public Works Karen Dunlop told council that staff agreed with the WSP report that a system with a crossing light was not warranted. The staff report also stated that the area should continue to be monitored yearly to see if the situation changes over time.
All members of council except for Mayor Nancy Peckford were in favour of staff’s recommendation. “I am not confident that our residents will believe this is a strong enough mitigation measure,” she said at the meeting. The rest of council seemed comfortable with the report because its conclusions were evidence-based and prepared by knowledgeable traffic control experts, as well as their own staff. “To me, we have to go by evidence and data, otherwise we would be putting these things on every street,” Deputy Mayor Jim McManaman said. “I want to make sure we are answering this question with the data.”
When it was called to question, the motion to accept staff’s recommendations was carried. However, at the council meeting of June 18, Councillor John Barclay brought the question back to council. “I had a change of heart after some sober second thought and I have on the table a motion to amend the resolution that we recommended last week,” he said. His motion recommended that they go ahead with spending the extra $42,000 that staff had outlined to put in place a higher-class crosswalk, with a crossing light at the intersection. “I think there is a great concern amongst the community about the security of that crossing and that an extra step is warranted,” he explained. “We have the hospital, elementary schools and high schools. It’s the perfect storm of concern and danger crossing that road.” The motion also suggested that they use the funds from the federal gas tax to pay for the crossing system.
Councillor Kristin Strackerjan also seemed to have a change of heart. “As a parent of three kids who will hopefully be on the campus for the duration of their elementary and secondary schooling, I think that it’s a wise move and it will hopefully open more families and children to be able to walk to school,” she said.
Deputy Mayor McManaman was the only member of council who opposed the motion, stating that he was still more comfortable with the evidence-based approach taken by WSP and municipal staff. “I believe the study was a good spend,” he said. “I travel that road every day and I don’t see that this would make a big difference.”
When it came to a vote, the motion to accept the recommendations of WSP but go ahead with the extra $42,000 to install the higher-class crossing system was carried. Deputy Mayor McManaman was the only one to reject the motion.
“[There is] no doubt that we are in a very classic chicken and egg situation, where parents aren’t utilizing the existing infrastructure and are in fact hesitant to encourage kids to walk to school,” Mayor Peckford said. “It’s about that neighbourhood and we heard loud and clear from a variety of residents, young and old, that they have a variety of concerns – which lead to the original study.”
Concession Road
Municipality Matters
Previous articleLetter to the editor – climate change
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Council welcomes delegation on crossing guards in Kemptville
Agriculture and Rural Affairs Advisory Committee
Health and Safety are among Council’s top priorities
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Pray, Fast, Act to Alleviate Hunger
July 11, 2017 / Laura Simoes
Get ready to pray, fast, and act #ForSuchATime on July 21st for foreign assistance and humanitarian aid.
This July, we highlight programs that work around the world that aim to alleviate hunger, create economic opportunities, promote health, and respond to disasters.
The U.S. has a longstanding bipartisan tradition of working to alleviate poverty and responding to humanitarian crises all around the world. At less than one percent of the federal budget, foreign assistance has saved millions of lives and continues to do so today.
In fact, we have made remarkable progress in reducing global poverty rates-during the past 30 years, rates of extreme poverty have been cut in half, and we expect more progress in the years to come. To do so, we need to commit to sustained support for foreign and development assistance.
Join us in preparing for prayer, fasting and advocacy in support of our country's critical foreign assistance and humanitarian aid programs.
PRAY for an end to extreme poverty and for an end to humanitarian crises, including ongoing famines, around the world.
Dear God, You understand the needs of our broken world. Please guide us to share our time, talent, and wealth to help end extreme poverty, that we may deeply engage in our church's mission of global reconciliation. Amen. -From Lifting Women's Voices: Prayers to Change the World
FAST to raise awareness of the need to respond to human suffering and hunger no matter where it takes place.
Share on social media using #PrayFastAct and @TheEPPN. On the 21st, post a picture of a dinner place setting with the reason you are fasting this month.
Educate yourself by reading Appropriations for Foreign Assistance from the Office of Government Relations.
ACT to maintain funding support for these vital international assistance programs.
Get ready to contact your members of Congress on the 21st to urge them to support these critical, live-saving programs.
July 11, 2017 / Laura Simoes/ Comment
Bishop Hirschfeld's Invocation and ...
GUEST BLOG: Interfaith Power & ...
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Laine played most of season for Jets with back injury
Forward also had groin issue against Blues during playoffs, pending RFA not worried about contract
by Scott Billeck / NHL.com Correspondent
WINNIPEG -- Patrik Laine played with a back injury for most of the season, and a groin injury hindered him during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Winnipeg Jets forward said Monday.
Laine had four points (three goals, one assist) in six playoff games for the Jets, who were eliminated in the Western Conference First Round with a 3-2 loss in Game 6 at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
"Nothing I couldn't handle," Laine said as the Jets held their exit meetings at Bell MTS Place.
Laine said he has had back issues since last season. He said they prevented him from skating prior to games during the playoffs last season and that the same thing happened during the series with the Blues.
He said neither injury will require surgery.
"I think I've worked on it (his back) a lot over the past couple of years but it just seems like it always comes back," Laine said. "Just don't know why. Just trying to still take good care of it and there's a long summer, so hopefully get a good recovery on that too. Hopefully it's not going to be painful next season."
Video: WPG@STL, Gm3: Trouba, Laine connect to put Jets ahead
Laine had 21 goals on Dec. 1, including 18 in 12 games in November. But he scored nine more in the final 57 regular-season games and finished with 30 goals, 14 fewer than the 44 he scored last season.
"It's not an excuse for me," he said. "I was still able to play and I was able to play good."
The 21-year-old can become a restricted free agent July 1, but Laine said he isn't worried about his contract status.
"Right now I want to forget everything that is involved with hockey," he said. "After this kind of season, I don't want to think about it. It ended way too early."
Laine was one of several Jets players playing through injuries during the playoffs.
Forward Nikolaj Ehlers played Game 6 after fracturing his leg in the third period of Game 5 when he blocked a shot by Blues defenseman Colton Parayko.
"It did not feel great," Ehlers said of playing on the injured leg. "We tried a lot of things to make it feel a lot better, and it definitely did get a little better. For me, it's part of it. Everyone's playing with some injuries. I didn't want to sit out. I wanted to play. I wanted to help this team."
Ehlers said the injury won't require surgery.
Video: Blues oust Jets in six games, advance to Second Round
Forward Brandon Tanev had surgery to repair a broken finger a couple of days before the playoffs began. The injury occurred when he was slashed during a game against the Minnesota Wild on April 2. He missed the final two regular-season games and Game 1 against the Blues.
"At the end of the day, it's the playoffs," Tanev said. "You've got to go out there and try to do your best for your team.
"I wanted to get back into the lineup … that was the necessary actions for me to get back in that situation."
Tanev, who had 29 points (14 goals, 15 assists) in 80 regular-season games, then two points (one goal, one assist) in five playoff games, can become an unrestricted free agent July 1.
"That's not [my] thought right now," he said. "The season didn't end the way I wanted it to. You're looking to have another long playoff run. It's a little frustrating … an unfortunate stop to the season."
In addition to Laine, forwards Kyle Connor and Andrew Copp, defensemen Jacob Trouba, Joe Morrow and Nathan Beaulieu, and goalie Laurent Brossoit each can become a restricted free agent July 1.
Besides Tanev, forwards Kevin Hayes, Par Lindholm and Matt Hendricks, and defensemen Tyler Myers and Ben Chiarot each can become n unrestricted free agent.
"Is the team going to be the same?" Jets general manager Kevin Chevaldayoff said. "I could stand here last year with greater certainty that there was going to be a lot of pieces that we're going to do our darnedest to keep and [have] come back, and even then we couldn't do it all then. This year there's certainly going to be some changes."
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McDavid puts on show in home debut with Oilers
by Derek Van Diest
EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid put on a show Wednesday for the 14,434 fans who turned out to see his first game at Rexall Place.
McDavid assisted on three goals to lead the Edmonton Oilers rookies to a 6-3 victory against the two-time Canadian national champion University of Alberta Golden Bears in their annual exhibition game.
The first 24 games in the series were played at the 2,700-seat Clare Drake Arena on the Golden Bears' campus. But with McDavid, the first player taken in the 2015 NHL Draft, as the main attraction, the game was moved to the longtime home of the Oilers.
McDavid, who sat out the final two of Edmonton's three games at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, British Columbia, last weekend, said he got a lift from the home crowd. It was McDavid's first game at Rexall Place, though he participated in a rookie scrimmage during the summer that also drew a large crowd.
"Anytime there is that many fans and they're that into the game, and they're that loud, it's pretty special to play in front of," McDavid said. "I thought I was a little bit better, I felt better in terms of legs and all that."
McDavid also displayed his speed, racing in alone on a pair of breakaways in the first period, though he was unable to convert.
"I thought he was good," Oilers rookie coach Gerry Fleming said. "He's so explosive and such a dynamic player, he's fun to watch. I thought he played well tonight."
McDavid had the first good scoring chance of the game, winning a race to a loose puck in the Golden Bears zone and going in alone on goaltender Luke Siemens. He tried to beat Siemens with a highlight-reel, one-handed drag move but was stopped by the goaltender.
Later in the period, McDavid raced in alone again but was unable to get a proper handle on the puck in front of Siemens.
The Golden Bears opened the scoring with an unassisted goal from Rhett Rachinski five minutes into the game, but McDavid helped the Oilers tie the game on the power play. He spotted Braden Christoffer behind the net, and Christoffer centered the puck to Leon Draisaitl in the slot. The Oilers' top pick in the 2014 draft fired it past Siemens.
Draisaitl had a goal and three assists.
"Anytime you get a chance to work with [Darnell] Nurse, [Leon] Draisaitl, [Braden] Christoffer and [Anton] Slepyshev, it makes for a pretty good power play," McDavid said. "It seemed to work pretty well early."
A little more than two minutes later, McDavid again showed his passing skills when he set up the Oilers' second goal. He was behind the net and slid the puck through a defenseman's legs to Alexis Loiseau in front. Loiseau was able to control it and slide a shot past Siemens.
"That was more in terms of seeing their guys," McDavid said. "One guy was on Draisaitl, who cycled it, and another came to me, and just by those numbers alone there should be a guy open. I just tried to throw it out there, and obviously, Loiseau made a pretty spectacular play to bury that."
In the third period, McDavid set up Sanford on a 2-on-1 rush to put the Oilers up 5-3. McDavid raced down the left side and feathered a pass across the slot to Sanford for the tap-in.
"It was a pretty nice setup. Anytime you get a pass like that, you just have to bear down," Sanford said. "He did most of the work there. I just had to bear down and make sure it went in.
"It was exciting to play with him. It was a great opportunity for myself. Him as a player, he's pretty good, and the way he skates out there and handles the puck at full speed, it was an honor to play with him. It was a lot of fun."
Sanford, 20, was told at the morning skate he would be playing on McDavid's line. The native of Vernon, British Columbia, spent last season with Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League, scoring 50 goals with 45 assists in 72 games. He was invited to Oilers rookie camp on a free agent tryout and is expected to return to Medicine Hat. He'll leave with a goal to remember.
"When you're playing with a player like [McDavid], you're always trying to look for him," Sanford said. "Anytime he has the puck on his stick, he makes plays. So anytime you have the puck on your stick, you're looking for him. I think his skating and the way he makes plays at high speeds is impressive. In and out of traffic, he makes plays at high speeds and he doesn't slow down. He glides out there pretty fast, faster than most guys can skate. I'd say his skating and his ability to make plays is impressive."
The game against the Golden Bears marked the conclusion of the Oilers' rookie camp. McDavid will attend the main camp starting Friday and is expected to be in the lineup against the Calgary Flames in one of two split-squad games taking place simultaneously at Rexall Place and Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday in Calgary.
He's eager to test himself.
"I'm excited, all the guys are talking about it and it's going to be cool out there," McDavid said. "It's my first training camp and I'm certainly looking forward to get it going."
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