pred_label
stringclasses 2
values | pred_label_prob
float64 0.5
1
| wiki_prob
float64 0.25
1
| text
stringlengths 119
983k
| source
stringlengths 37
43
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__wiki
| 0.672901
| 0.672901
|
NCAA.com | April 18, 2014
Preview: No. 5 Arkansas headlines field at SEC champs
Arkansas enters the event with a veteran lineup who played the course last season.
Fifth-ranked Arkansas is ready to tee it up at the 2014 SEC Championship in Birmingham, Ala., Friday-Sunday.
The Razorbacks enter the tournament as the highest-ranked team in the field this year and are playing the Greystone Golf and Country Club for the second time in as many years this weekend.
“I try not to emphasize much on rankings,” Arkansas head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor said. “We focus on getting better every day. The team knows we’ve been there before and they know this golf course. We have to treat it like any other tournament and put a plan in place to be successful. We know our best is good enough and that we are prepared. We’re going to go out and lay it all on the line and hope that come Sunday, we will be in a good spot.”
The challenging Founder’s Course at Greystone gave Arkansas some trouble last year when heavy rains and strong winds altered already tough conditions. The course has changed a bit for this season’s tournament.
“I know that they have shortened the golf course a little over 300 yards so it will play a little differently,” Estes-Taylor said. “We really have to have a solid practice round and prepare for the changes.”
Arkansas enters this year’s event with a veteran lineup that includes two seniors and four players who played the course last season.
Seniors Emma Lavy and Emily Tubert lead the charge along with sophomores Gabriela Lopez and Reginia Plasencia. Freshman Summar Roachell rounds out the Razorback lineup.
“We have such a sense of calm with this group,” Estes-Taylor said. “We have great team chemistry and this team travels well together. They have fun on the road and they work hard every day. We are going to get into our “Arkansas Golf” zone and worry about things we can control -- the rest will take care of itself.”
Arkansas opens play at 9:40 a.m. playing with No. 6 South Carolina and No. 8 Alabama.
Third-ranked Duke will head to the ACC Championship from April 17-20, which will be played at the 6,107-yard, par 71 Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. The Blue Devils move to postseason action finishing no worse than second place in their past six tournaments, including three victories.
These 10 former college basketball stars stood out in the 2019 NBA Summer League
With the NBA Summer League Championship set for Monday night, here are Andy Katz's 10 favorite former college players that he watched in Las Vegas.
7 college baseball programs who could win their first College World Series titles in 2020
These seven baseball teams have yet to win a College World Series. But 2020 could be their year to break through for a national championship.
The 2019 College World Series, told in 41 photos worth remembering
Take a look at the best photos from the 2019 College World Series
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3160
|
__label__wiki
| 0.909339
| 0.909339
|
Catholics protest proposed health plan mandate
by Alice Popovici
Fr. Larry Snyder, left, and Daughter of Charity Sr. Carol Keehan (CNS file photos)
In the past few weeks, U.S. Catholic bishops, leaders of Catholic health care and charitable organizations, and leaders of educational institutions have spoken out in opposition to a proposed federal mandate that would require all health care plans -- including those offered to employees of Catholic hospitals, schools and ministries -- to include coverage of contraception and sterilizations at no additional cost.
The Catholic leaders have argued that the “conscience clause,” which would make an exception for “religious employers” who object to this coverage for moral and religious reasons, is too narrow to benefit the vast majority of Catholic organizations.
The comment period to file objections to the proposed rule closed Sept. 30. If the mandate is approved, coverage of these services under new private health plans would begin in August 2012, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Web site, HealthCare.gov.
In a comment widely quoted by news organizations, the U.S. bishops’ conference wrote in an Aug. 31 statement that under the government’s “inexplicably narrow criteria ... even the ministry of Jesus and the early Christian church would not qualify as ‘religious,’ because they did not confine their ministry to their coreligionists or engage only in a preaching ministry.”
When Health and Human Services announced the mandate in August, Daughter of Charity Sr. Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, said that the conscience clause was so narrowly defined that she called it a “housekeeper exemption -- that’s about all it covers.”
In a formal statement released Sept. 22, Keehan, who heads the 600-member association of Catholic hospitals and health care intuitions, wrote that the proposed religious exemption to the federal mandate that health insurance plans cover contraceptives and sterilization is “wholly inadequate to protect the conscience rights of Catholic hospital and health care organizations.”
She wrote that “the explicit recognition of the right of Catholic organizations to perform their ministries in fidelity to their faith is almost as old as our nation itself.”
She described the tradition of Catholic health care that began in 1727 with French Ursuline sisters in New Orleans. She quoted from an 1804 letter from President Thomas Jefferson to the Ursulines, reassuring them that they could govern themselves by their own rules, “without interference from the civil authority.”
Religious leaders around the country mailed letters of appeal to Health and Human Services and urged their congregations to file comments stating their objections, according to news reports.
The Catholic Miscellany, the diocesan newspaper for Charleston, S.C., reported Sept. 15 that “Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone has asked the faithful in his diocese to help prevent mandated coverage of surgical sterilization and contraceptives in Catholic hospitals.”
In New Orleans, The Times-Picayune reported Sept. 20 that Archbishop Gregory Aymond appealed to pastors in 108 parishes, asking them to instruct Catholics on how to file their objections to the Health and Human Services Department.
And in Minnesota, Catholic bishops wrote to the department’s secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, saying the mandate would “require taxpayers and providers to act against deeply held convictions regarding the sanctity of life,” as reported in a Sept. 30 story from The Minnesota Independent.
Catholic Charities USA president Fr. Larry Snyder argued in a statement dated Sept. 28 that the narrow definition of “religious employer” would violate Catholic organizations’ right to exercise their beliefs without governmental restrictions. If the mandate is approved, Snyder wrote, “these individuals and organizations who believe that contraception is immoral for religious reasons are left with three unacceptable choices: 1) they can violate their beliefs; 2) they can change their mission and composition from an outreach-based mission that is open to individuals of other faiths to an insular organization that prioritizes inculcation; or 3) they can deny their employees access to employer-based health insurance.”
Catholic News Service reported Sept. 29 that 18 Catholic colleges “asked the Obama administration to exempt all religious individuals and institutions from being forced to participate” in the mandate.
The University of Notre Dame in Indiana sent its own letter of appeal. University president Holy Cross Fr. John Jenkins asked Health and Human Services “to change the definition of religious employer to the one used by the Internal Revenue Service, which considers whether an organization or institution shares common religious bonds and convictions with a church,” according to an Associated Press report Sept. 28.
In an op-ed published Sept. 30 in The Washington Post, John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America in Washington, wrote that if the school complies with the mandate and begins to offer its students sterilization procedures and contraceptives, “we will be helping our students do things that we teach them, in our classes and in our sacraments, are sinful -- sometimes gravely so.”
The U.S. bishops’ conference cited the dispute over the mandate as one of the “religious liberty concerns” that prompted its administrative committee to appoint an ad hoc committee on religious freedom (see story).
[Alice Popovici covers health care issues for NCR. Her e-mail address is apopovici@ncronline.org.]
Politics | Catholics protest proposed health plan mandate
Editorial: The gulf between Francis and Trump
'Faithful citizenship' gives glimpse of political season
Time to take back our government
Maine diocese to focus on education about marriage, not political push
Despite opposition, assisted suicide law takes effect in nation's capital
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3161
|
__label__cc
| 0.690012
| 0.309988
|
Shine in the Limelight
« Florida Tribal Dance
Shine in the Limelight »
Disney’s Aladdin Jr.
Discover “A Whole New World” with this magically updated version of the Academy Award-winning Disney classic!
Disney’s Aladdin JR. is based on the 1992 Academy-Award®-winning film and the 2014 hit Broadway show about the “diamond in the rough” street rat who learns that his true worth lies deep within.
The story you know and love has been given the royal treatment! Aladdin and his three friends, Babkak, Omar, and Kassim, are down on their luck until Aladdin discovers a magic lamp and the Genie who has the power to grant three wishes. Wanting to earn the respect of the princess, Jasmine, Aladdin embarks on an adventure that will test his will and his moral character. With expanded characters, new songs, and more thrills, this new adaptation of the beloved story will open up “a whole new world” for your young performers!
www.Shineinthelimelight.com
ME Theatre
1300 La Quinta Drive
http://MEtheatre.com
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3164
|
__label__wiki
| 0.768552
| 0.768552
|
Repeal of the Eighth Amendment & the Irish Citizens' Assembly
The Irish Citizens’ Assembly was established in 2016 to examine five issues and make recommendations to the Houses of the Oireachtas (the Legislature of Ireland) for further debate by elected representatives. The Assembly is made up of a chair and 99 randomly selected citizens who are broadly representative of the Irish electorate.
One of the five issues the Assembly was asked to examine was the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution which, passed in 1983, made abortion illegal in Ireland. After six months of deliberation on the Amendment, the Assembly recommended abortions should be provided in a range of circumstances.
An all-party parliamentary committee charged with considering the work of the citizens’ assembly subsequently recommended legal abortion without restriction up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. This would first require an amendment to the Constitution, which are only possible by way of referendum.
On May 25, 2018, Irish citizens voted to approve the removal of Article 40.3.3 from the Irish Constitution, which prohibits abortion in Ireland. This ‘Yes’ vote allows the Oireachtas to pass laws regulating the termination of pregnancy. Following the referendum, the Irish government will bring legislation before the Dáil (the lower house of the Oireachtas) which will allow abortion on request up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
Learn more about the Citizens’ Assembly and their role in the referendum below:
‘When I heard the result I thought, Wow, I’m partially responsible for this’ via the Irish Times
How 99 strangers in a Dublin hotel broke Ireland's abortion deadlock via The Guardian
The Citizens’ Assembly – a canny move on the road to repeal via the Irish Times
The Irish Citizens’ Assembly on the 8th Amendment is a model for participatory democracy, which other democratic countries should follow via Democratic Audit UK
If only Brexit had been run like Ireland’s referendum via The Guardian
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3165
|
__label__wiki
| 0.990497
| 0.990497
|
50 years after Stonewall, LGBT rights are a work in progress
Kay Tobin Lahusen, right, and other demonstrators carry signs calling for protection of homosexuals from discrimination as they march in a picket line in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1967. Photo Credit: AP/John F. Urwiller
By The Associated Press Updated June 17, 2019 9:31 AM
NEW YORK (AP) — They didn't set out to change history; they weren't the first LGBT Americans to mobilize against bias.
Yet the June 1969 uprising by young gays, lesbians and transgender people in New York City, clashing with police near a bar called the Stonewall Inn, was a vital catalyst in expanding LGBT activism nationwide and abroad. This month's anniversary provides an opportune moment to ask: How has the movement fared over the past 50 years? What unfinished business remains?
From the perspective of veteran activists, the progress has been astounding. In 1969, every state but Illinois outlawed gay sex, psychiatric experts classified homosexuality as a mental disorder, and most gays stayed in the closet for fear of losing jobs and friends.
Today, same-sex marriage is the law of the land in the U.S. and at least 25 other countries. LGBT Americans serve as governors, big-city mayors and members of Congress, and one — Pete Buttigieg — is waging a spirited campaign for president.
Among those looking back with marvel is Stephen Rutsky, 68, a lifelong New Yorker who joined in rioting and protests sparked by a police raid targeted at gay patrons of Stonewall. He engaged in a wide variety of LGBT activism over the ensuing decades.
"Mobs of gays and lesbians were running around angry and confused, but we all knew that something had sparked a change in our world," Rutsky remembers. "We were demanding our freedom and there was nothing that was ever going to stop us from obtaining it."
"We've come a long way, baby," he added. "But lots more to do."
High on the to-do list is passage of federal legislation that would provide nationwide nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people. A bill with that goal, the Equality Act, passed the House of Representatives in May with unanimous Democratic backing but appears doomed in the Senate because of Republican opposition.
Nationally, 20 mostly Democrat-run states already have laws comparable to the Equality Act — protecting LGBT people from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and public services. The other 30 states, where Republicans hold full or partial power, have balked.
The result is a patchwork map in which a majority of states make it legal to be fired, evicted or barred from public facilities because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Internationally, the struggle for LGBT rights remains daunting in much of the world. Stonewall helped inspire successful activist movements in Western Europe (a major British LGBT-rights group is called Stonewall) and elsewhere.
Earlier this year, the southern African nation of Angola decriminalized same-sex activity and banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. And just last week, the High Court of Botswana rejected laws that meant up to seven years in prison for those convicted of having gay sex, a landmark case for Africa .
But gay sex is outlawed in dozens of countries, while Asia and Africa each have only one nation that has legalized same-sex marriage.
Another battlefront relates to transgender rights. In the U.S., the Trump administration has moved to revoke newly won health care protections for transgender people, restrict their presence in the military, and withdraw federal guidance that trans students should be able to use bathrooms of their choice.
Donald Trump's election "gave all sorts of mouth-breathers permission to spew ignorance, hatred, and stupidity, undoing decades of progress," said Jennifer Boylan, a transgender writer who teaches at Barnard College in New York City. "People who know nothing about trans people and our unique challenges have no qualms weighing in."
Jude Patton, a 78-year-old transgender man from Yuba City, California, marvels at the changes that have unfolded during his life.
He grew up in Alton, Illinois, knowing from childhood that he was uncomfortable being viewed as a girl. His parents were supportive, but he says some teachers at his high school were intolerant.
In his mid-20s, Patton moved to California and completed a surgical transition at a Stanford University clinic in 1973. Ever since, he has been active in advocacy, counseling and health education related to LGBT issues.
Now, he says his delight at LGBT gains is tempered by worries over the Trump administration's rollback of trans-friendly protections.
"Every day, I see some other right being taken away," he said. "Historically, the pendulum can swing back again. I hope it gets better."
'AN AMAZING SILVER LINING'
Historians trace the emergence of America's gay rights movements to the 1950s, when the Mattachine Society and a lesbian group, the Daughters of Bilitis, were founded in California.
Government astronomer Frank Kameny, who sued after he was fired for being gay, took his anti-discrimination case to the Supreme Court in 1961 (the justices declined to hear his appeal), and helped stage the first gay rights protest outside the White House in 1965.
In 1966, Mattachine Society members in New York City successfully staged a "sip-in" to protest laws that banned bars from serving alcohol to gays and lesbians. The terms "gay pride" and "gay liberation" emerged.
Much of the activity unfolded out of the national spotlight. But the movement broadened after Stonewall, leading to some high-profile events in the late 1970s.
In 1977, singer Anita Bryant led a victorious campaign to repeal a local ordinance in Florida barring anti-gay discrimination. Activists retaliated with a nationwide boycott of Florida orange juice, a product for which Bryant was a brand spokeswoman.
In 1978, pioneering gay politician Harvey Milk was assassinated along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. The next year, activists organized the first national gay rights march on Washington.
The 1980s proved shattering — but also galvanizing — for gay Americans, as an initially mysterious, unnamed disease morphed into the AIDS epidemic. Many thousands of gay men died, including actor Rock Hudson; his death played a major role in raising public awareness of the disease.
Longtime activist Lorri Jean, who has served more than 20 years as CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, remembers AIDS in the 1980s as a "horrific disaster" that killed many of the men close to her.
"Yet it had an amazing silver lining," said Jean, 62. "Suddenly, the most privileged in our community were being impacted as well as the least privileged, and people couldn't hide in the closet anymore. When they got sick, people knew. That galvanized our community in a way that nothing else ever had."
MARRIAGE RIGHTS
By the mid-1990s, the federal government — slow to respond at the start of the epidemic — was deeply engaged in the fight against AIDS, and the number of new cases finally began to decline. Many gay rights organizations and activists shifted their focus to a long-haul campaign to legalize same-sex marriage. Massachusetts became the first state to do so in 2004; the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans in 2015.
Some activists suggest that the push for marriage equality consumed too much of the LGBT rights movement's energy, diverting attention from violence against transgender people and the persistently high HIV infection rate among gay and bisexual black men. Others say the marriage campaign was crucial in changing policy and public attitudes.
"For the government to treat gay people with equal dignity, it had to treat gay people as equal in marriage," said lawyer Roberta Kaplan. "It was an essential, determinative step."
Kaplan is best known for winning a landmark Supreme Court case in 2013 on behalf of Edith Windsor, who was denied an inheritance tax break after the death of her wife. Kaplan and Windsor successfully challenged the Defense of Marriage Act, which barred married same-sex couples from enjoying marriage benefits conferred under federal law. That decision helped lay the legal groundwork for the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Born in 1966, Kaplan recalls being in college during the height of the AIDS epidemic, "with men dying by the thousands and a government not seeming to care."
"It's incomprehensible — the change that has been wrought during my lifetime," she said. "If you had told me, when I was in college, that one day I would grow up, get married to a woman, have a kid, be partner in a law firm, and then argue a momentous civil rights case in the Supreme Court, I would have said you were going to too many Grateful Dead concerts."
THE RELIGION QUESTION
Same-sex marriage is among several reasons why, in the post-Stonewall era, the realm of religion has abounded with controversies linked to LGBT rights.
Many denominations — including Reformed Judaism and most mainline Protestant churches — have adopted fully inclusive policies, accepting LGBT people into the clergy and honoring their marriages. But some of the largest denominations — including the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — refuse to take those inclusive steps and still consider gay sex immoral.
Gene Robinson, who in 2003 became the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, says there's a split on LGBT acceptance between many rank-and-file churchgoers and the leaders of the big, conservative denominations.
"The good news is that we have changed the minds and hearts of a majority of religious people across all religious lines," Robinson said. "The bad news is that the people in the pews — many of whom have gay relatives and friends — don't have the power to change policies in churches that are tightly controlled by the hierarchy."
Religion plays a key role in current debates over nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people. The Trump administration has aligned with some religious conservatives in arguing that such protections can infringe on the religious beliefs of people who oppose same-sex marriage and transgender rights.
Emilie Kao, a lawyer with the conservative Heritage Foundation, says the Equality Act "imposes sexual ideology on the nation that endangers religious freedom, freedom of speech, and parental rights by punishing those who dissent from political correctness."
These arguments irk activists such as Lorri Jean.
"My biggest concern is the very clever backlash by fundamentalist religious leaders who are trying to suggest they are the victims," Jean said. "But even if they have victories, they'll be short-lived... The vast majority of American people do not believe discrimination against LGBT people is OK."
SLOWLY INTEGRATING
In myriad ways, progress for LGBT Americans has become so commonplace that it attracts little notice, whether it's in local politics, the arts or sports. For example, there are no openly gay men currently competing in North America's four biggest pro sports leagues — but the situation is different at lower levels.
"I look more at college and high school sports ... where we've seen literally countless athletes come out and be totally accepted by their teams," said Cyd Zeigler of the website Outsports. He believes any athlete coming out now in the major leagues would be welcomed by teammates, coaches and fans.
Back in 1984, Ruth Clark joined a lesbian feminist chorus in Chicago called the Artemis Singers — a step she viewed at the time as "a very radical act." Over the decades, the chorus has moved toward the mainstream — performing at universities, churches, museums and a 2013 ceremony at which then-Gov. Pat Quinn signed Illinois' marriage-equality bill.
Clark says that when questions were raised recently about whether the chorus should be allowed to use a Roman Catholic school's auditorium, the group's producer assured the skeptics, "They're just like soccer moms."
Schumer renews his push to restore property tax deductions
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3167
|
__label__wiki
| 0.940382
| 0.940382
|
World traveler, Hollywood actor now local poet
DEBORAH WHEELER | The Walton Sun
Mar 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM Mar 27, 2013 at 10:29 AM
Actor, screenwriter and poet Francois-Marie B�nard calls Santa Rosa Beach home, but he was born in Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, where his French Royalist family had self-exiled two centuries ago to escape the French Revolution.
SANTA ROSA BEACH � Actor, screenwriter and poet Francois-Marie B�nard calls Santa Rosa Beach home, but he was born in Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, where his French Royalist family had self-exiled two centuries ago to escape the French Revolution.
�My father was instrumental in giving Madagascar independence,� he said.
He lived in the jungle there, he said, for 20 years, before leaving to study acting and directing in Paris. While trying to reach his goal of becoming an actor, B�nard worked varied jobs, including as the artistic director for Club Med, a financial adviser at Rothschild Bank and a reporter for L�Express Magazine.
He also studied in Rome and learned photography, making a living as a photographer during that time. In 1974, he moved to New York City and worked for Salvador Dali as a photographer, then for an art director, and found some work on Broadway and in television.
�Working for Dali opened doors in New York,� he said.
One door that was opened was meeting his wife Jo Ann, who was working under the screen name Lee Warrick on the soap opera �One Life to Live.� He was appearing on �The Young & the Restless� at the time.
B�nard moved back to France for a bit, a move that gave him his biggest commercial � for Paco Rabanne cologne.
�I was the first guy he used to advertise in his campaign, and it was big at the European level with articles in every major campaign. It was sexy and won awards in all the countries. It really put me on the map. I did more than 100 commercials,� he said.
But the franc was high and the dollar was low, so he returned to the United States, this time to Los Angeles, where he met many of the big names and found more work in commercials and sitcoms.
B�nard appeared on �McMillan & Wife� with Rock Hudson, �Charlie�s Angels,� �Scruples,� �Dynasty,� �Hart to Hart,� �Falcon Crest� and �Jake & the Fatman,� to name a few. He also was in the movie �Hostage Flight� with Ned Beatty.
In 1990, B�nard began writing screenplays; poetry followed in 1993. He finds inspiration for his poetry living at the beach. Since moving to South Walton 15 years ago, B�nard co-founded the Emerald Coast Philosophical Society and is president of B�nard Enterprises LLC.
Here, he writes most of the time � sometimes poetry and sometimes screenplays � and helps his wife, who is a realtor.
�I have written all my life,� he says. �I have been writing poems since I was young for girlfriends, and seriously about 20 years now. I have written more than 2,000 in all. I don�t count any more. I used to write a poem a day and put it aside. Now it is time to deliver them.�
B�nard�s poetry books include �The Thread of Love� and �The Dream of Life.� He has appeared recently at Books Alive in Panama City and at the Tops�l Community Room for signings. He also has been invited to read twice for students and faculty at FSU.
�I write a lot in the spiritual category. I have about 1,000 in that category. I was raised, trained and educated in religious schools and I�m very much a believer � but not religious. I am extremely spiritual. Even my love poems show spirituality,� he said.
When B�nard moved to South Walton, he thought he would stay maybe three years, but he hasn�t been able to pull himself away. As for the future, he says he doesn�t know.
�I don�t know if we will stay. It�s great here for a poet, but I have written several screenplays and have options on them. I have 10 plays started. But I am not stimulated here to do that. I would love to perform my own work from my own material. I would like to go back to L.A. or New York and try one more time,� he said.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3168
|
__label__wiki
| 0.979052
| 0.979052
|
Olympics Web Audience Sees Steady U.S. Growth
Digital | 08-06-2008
The U.S. audiences for three key Olympics related websites, NBColympics.com, Olympic.org, and USolympicteam.com, grew by significant percentages from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games to the 2006 winter Games in Italy, according to Nielsen Online.
Olympic.org experienced the largest growth of the three sites; its unique audience (both home and work) in the U.S. grew from 330,000 in 2002 to 1.39 million in 2006 — a 323% increase.
USolympicteam.com’s unique home and work audience in the U.S. grew from 508,000 during the 2002 Games to 716,000 in 2006 — a 41% increase.
Although NBColympics.com easily drew the largest U.S. audience during both the 2002 and 2006 Olympic Games (6.43 million and 7.87 million, respectively), the site grew by the smallest percentage of the three (+22%).
https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2008/olympics-web-audience-grew-by-more-than-one-third-from-2002-to-2006/
How Multi-Touch Attribution Helps Brands Master the Multiverse
The aim of the game for 2019 for marketers is to keep moving. To keep pace with consumers, marketers must continually test new marketing channels and tactics to supplement and evolve their acquisition strategies. But they also need to prove the impact of these investments on sales, revenue and...
Chinese TV Viewing Levels Up 45% During Olympics
The total Chinese television audience for Olympics broadcasts on CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, was up by 45% on Saturday, August 9, the official start date of the Olympic Games — compared with TV viewing levels from just a few days before the Olympics began, according to Nielsen. On...
TV Viewing, Ad Spending Boosted By Past Olympics
Television viewing in the U.S. spiked by 17% during the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games in 1996, while TV viewing in Australia during the 2000 Sydney Summer Games jumped by 39%, according to a recent Nielsen report analyzing media trends from past Olympics. Nielsen’s report also found that...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3175
|
__label__wiki
| 0.969823
| 0.969823
|
Girls Aloud lined up to play Royal Variety Performance 2012
Jamie Crossan Jul 22, 2012 4:27 pm BST
British group Girls Aloud perform at the Brit Awards 2009 at Earls Court exhibition centre in London, England, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. (AP Photo/MJ Kim)
Group will play comeback show in front of the Queen for 10-year anniversary
Girls Aloud have reportedly been lined up to play this year’s Royal Variety Performance in November.
The group, who announced earlier this year that they were reforming for a 10-year anniversary tour, will be filmed playing in front of the Queen for a special documentary to be aired on ITV later in the year.
The 75-minute special documentary, titled 10 Years Of Girls Aloud, is pencilled in to be screened after The X Factor on Sunday, December 2 and will also feature footage of the band’s rehearsals leading up to their comeback show at Royal Albert Hall on November 19.
A source told the Daily Star Sunday: “Being asked to perform at the Royal Variety Show is massive for the band. They performed in 2004 when they were at the height of their fame so it’s fitting that they would return eight years late.
“It will be one of the Queen’s final engagements of a year which will have seen her Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. So it’s a major scoop for the girls’ comeback to be added to the bill.”
The newspaper’s insider added: “The weeks leading up to the big night will be captured in the documentary, which was given the green light by producers last month. The programme will also look at the group’s rise to fame, their domination of the charts and their solo careers. It will also have new interviews with all five members.”
Earlier this year, production and songwriting team Xenomania revealed that they were in the studio working on new material with the group. They tweeted: “New GA sessions with @NicolaRoberts @KimberleyJWalsh @SarahNicHarding in the studio over the last week.”
Girls Aloud originally formed on Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 and went on to have major chart success before going on hiatus in July 2009, to allow band members Cheryl Cole, Kimberly Walsh, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding to pursue other projects.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3177
|
__label__cc
| 0.568568
| 0.431432
|
In his attempt to promote numerous Christian creeds amongst the Jews, Matthew was faced with a serious quandary. How would he prove that Jesus was the messiah from the Jewish Scriptures when there is no relationship between the Jesus of Nazareth of the New Testament and the messianic prophecies of the Jewish Scriptures? How was he going to merge newly inculcated pagan myths, such as the virgin birth, into Christianity with a Hebrew Bible in which a belief in a virgin birth was unknown?
In order to accomplish this daunting task, verses in the Hebrew Scriptures were altered, misquoted, taken out of context, and mistranslated by the author of the Book of Matthew in order to make Jesus’ life fit traditional Jewish messianic parameters, and to make traditional Jewish messianic parameters fit the life of Jesus. In essence, he felt compelled to claim that the Hebrew prophets themselves foretold that Jesus was the messiah. It is therefore no coincidence that, with the exception of Paul, no writer of the New Testament mistranslated the Jewish Scriptures to the extent that Matthew does throughout his Gospel. Paul’s famed misquotations from the Jewish Scriptures, on the other hand, went largely unnoticed because his audiences were, for the most part, unlettered gentiles.
Ironically, the widespread Bible tampering found in the first Gospel was sparked by Matthew’s desire to convince Jews that Jesus was their promised messiah. Yet strangely, if the Book of Matthew had never been written, the Church, no doubt, would have been far more successful in its effort to evangelize the Jews. In essence, had promoters of Christianity avoided the wild Scripture tampering that clutters almost every chapter in the Book of Matthew, the Church might have enjoyed far more success among the Jews as did previous religions that targeted the Jewish people for conversion.
For example, the priests of Baal did not attempt to bolster the validity of their idol worship by misquoting the texts of the Hebrew Bible, as Matthew did. As a result, the Bible reports that the idol Baal gained enormous popularity among the Jewish people. In contrast, once the nation of Israel was confronted with a corruption of their sacred Scriptures by authors and apologists of the New Testament, their apostasy to Christianity for the most part became untenable. Therefore, throughout history the Jewish people remained the most difficult nation for the Church to sway. Consequently, whereas the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John enjoyed overwhelming success among their gentile audiences, the Gospel of Matthew played an enormous role in the ultimate failure of the Church to effectively convert the Jews to Christianity, at least the knowledgeable ones. Jerome repeats this statement in his Apology Against Rufinus ii, 27 (Migne, P.L. 23, 471). ↩
Josephus, preface to Antiquities of the Jews, section 3. For Josephus’ detailed description of events surrounding the original authorship of the Septuagint, see Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XII, ii, 1-4. ↩
St. Jerome, preface to The Book of Hebrew Questions, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6. Pg. 487. Hendrickson. ↩
The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Excerpt from “Septuagint,” New York: Vol. 5, pg. 1093. ↩
F.F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, p.150. ↩
The seventh chapter of the Book of Isaiah begins by describing the unfolding Syro-Ephraimite War, a military crisis that was confronting King Ahaz of the Kingdom Judah. In about the year 732 B.C.E. the House of David was facing imminent destruction at the hands of two warring kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Syrian Kingdom. These two armies had laid siege to Jerusalem. The Bible relates that the House of David and King Ahaz were gripped with fear. In response these two warring armies, God sent the prophet Isaiah to reassure King Ahaz that divine protection was at hand — the Almighty would protect him, their deliverance was assured, and these two hostile armies would fail in their attempt to subjugate Jerusalem.
It is clear from this chapter that Isaiah’s declaration was a prophecy of the unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem by the two armies of the Kingdoms of Israel and Syria, not a virgin birth more than 700 years later. If we interpret this chapter as referring to Jesus’ birth, what possible comfort and assurance would Ahaz, who was surrounded by two overwhelming military forces, have found in the birth of a child seven centuries later? Both he and his people would be long dead and buried. Such a sign would make little sense. ↩
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3178
|
__label__wiki
| 0.696503
| 0.696503
|
Zhores Alferov More
Zhores I. Alferov - Biographical
Zhores I. Alferov - Facts
Zhores I. Alferov - Nobel Lecture: Double Heterostructure Concept and its Applications in Physics, Electronics and Technology
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2000
Zhores Alferov
Herbert Kroemer
Jack Kilby
Share on Facebook: Zhores I. Alferov – Biographical Share this content on Facebook Facebook
Tweet: Zhores I. Alferov – Biographical Share this content on Twitter Twitter
Share via Email: Zhores I. Alferov – Biographical Share this content via Email Email this page
Life goes on surprisingly fast. It seems to happen a short time ago that I would attend anniversary celebrations in honour of noted physicists, my teachers who to my mind looked quite old. But at the present time, I myself have recently marked the 70th birthday.
My parents, Ivan Karpovich, and Anna Vladimirovna, had been Byelorussia born and raised. At the age of eighteen my father arrived in Saint Petersburg, in the year 1912. In his early hard years, he had been a docker, an errand boy and consequently got a job as a worker at the “Lessner” plant (later the Karl Marx Plant).
During World War I, he was a brave hussar, a non-commissioned officer of the Life Guards, a holder of the St. George Order. In September 1917, my father joined the Bolshevik party and retained his adherence to the socialist and communist principles to the end of his life.
In childhood, my brother and I “with a sinking heart” used to listen to father’s stories about the civil war and his military career. We learned how the formerly non-commissioned officer had been appointed to take command of a cavalry regiment in Red Army. Father also used to tell us about his meetings with revolutionary leaders: V.I. Lenin, L.D. Trotsky, B.E. Dumenko, “comrade Andrey” (A. Solts) who always put his apartment in the “Embankment House” at my father’s disposal while we stayed in Moscow. Father graduated from the Industrial Academy in 1935 and since then destiny was throwing us all over the country: Stalingrad, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Syas’stroy in the environs of Leningrad, Turinsk (Sverdlovsk region), where we lived throughout the war time, and eventually the Minsk-city lying in ruins after the war. Dad was given a new assignment as director of a factory, joint enterprises (corporation of enterprises), later director of a trust. Mother headed a public organization of housewives; worked as a librarian and always remained our close friend while bringing us up without discouraging words. As a result of being so-called “director’s boys”, my brother and I tried to behave ourselves and to act in the way that people thought was correct and proper both at school and in public.
Learning was easy to me, and dependable defender, my elder brother Marx, made my existence cloudless at school and outdoors as well. Marx had graduated high school on June 21, 1941 (next day the Nazi invasion started) in the town of Syas’stroy and shortly after that we left for the Urals to Turinsk city as Dad had been assigned there to a post of director of a newly-built gunpowder cellulose factory (at the time referred to as factory No. 3). My elder brother, who was seventeen years old then, joined the Urals Industrial Institute (the Energy Faculty). The young student considered the problem of energy to be of cardinal importance for the future. But not long did he study at the Institute. He decided to defend his Motherland and to fight against fascists at the front line.
He passed Stalingrad, Kharkov, the Kursk battle. Having recovered after heavy head injury he was sent to the Army in the Field again. That was so called “another Stalingrad”, i.e., the Korsun-Shevchenko battle, where in his 20 years was shot down a Guard junior lieutenant Marx Ivanovich Alferov, my elder brother who remained of 20 years forever.
In October 1943, on the way to front from a hospital he spent 3 days with us in Sverdlovsk. I often look back and reflect on those three days; on his description of the war, his youthful enthusiasm and faith in the power of science, technology and human intelligence.
In the post-war particular situation I attended an only boy’s school in the destroyed Minsk-city, and was lucky in having an excellent physics teacher there Yakov Borisovich Meltserson. He delivered lectures on physics for us, rather naughty boys, and we were sitting quiet and listened attentively. The teacher loved physics devotedly and had a gift of making our imagination work. His explanation of the cathode oscilloscope operation and talk on radar systems greatly impressed me. When finishing the school I took his advice which institution to choose for education and that was a celebrated Ul’yanov Electrotechnical Institute in Leningrad (abbreviated to LETI).
Many of systematic studies in electronics and radio engineering that had been performed there made significant contributions into the electronics industry. As for me, it was my good fortune to meet my first supervisor there. Theoretical courses of studies were easy enough for me. It was the laboratory research that attracted me. Being a third-year student, I began to work in a laboratory of vacuum processes. My first investigations were directed by a research associate N.N. Sozina who studied semiconductor photodetectors. Since that time, half a century ago, semiconductors have become main objects of my scientific interests. A book “The Electroconductivity of Semiconductors” by F.F. Volkenshtein, which had been written in Leningrad (during the time of Leningrad’s siege) was my Textbook then. My graduation thesis was devoted to the problem of obtaining the thin films and investigating the photoconductivity of bismuth telluride compounds.
In December 1952, I graduated from the Institute and was offered by my supervisor N.N. Sozina to stay in the LETI to continue my study. But I dreamed of working at the Physico-Technical Institute that had been founded by Abram Fedorovich Ioffe. His book “Fundamentals of Modern Physics” was a manual for me. Happily, three vacancies for graduates had been given to us by Ioffe’s Institute. One of them fell to my lot. My joy was boundless. And may be it is this lucky distribution that has determined my happy scientific career.
In the letter to my parents, then residing in the Minsk-city, I wrote about my lucky chance. I did not know that Academician Ioffe was dismissed and left the Institute of which the director he had been for thirty years.
I recall my first day at the Physico-Technical Institute on January 30, 1953. I was introduced to my new supervisor, V.M. Tuchkevich, head of a subdivision. It was a very important problem to be solved by our not very big team: creation of germanium diodes and triodes (transistors) on p-n junctions.
The Physico-Technical Institute, being regarded on today’s scale, was not a big one. I was given an Institute pass No. 429, i.e., the total amount of employees was as high as the above mentioned number; most of famous physicists of the Physico-Technical Institute moved to Moscow (to I.V. Kurchatov’s, and newly-built atomic centers). Semiconductors elite followed A.F. Ioffe in order to work under his supervision in a recently organized semiconductor laboratory belonging to the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In the Physico-Technical Institute there retained only D.N. Nasledov, B.T. Kolomiets and V.M. Tuchkevich as representatives of the old generation of physicists who formerly dealt with semiconductors.
Academician A.P. Komar was after A.E. Ioffe on charge of the Physico-Technical Institute. The new director’s attitude to his predecessor was not quite correct but as to the restoration and development of the Institute, his strategy was O.K. Of utmost importance was the support of works on the creation of new semiconductor electronics, space investigations (gas dynamics of high velocities and high temperature protective coatings; development of the light isotope separation methods for the hydrogen weapon (under the guidance of B.P. Konstantinov).
Studies of fundamental problems of physics, both theoretical and experimental ones, were encouraged too: just in this time experimental discovery of exciton was done (E.F. Gross), it was formulated the principles of a kinetic theory of strength (S.N. Zhurkov), development of the pioneering works on physics of atomic collisions were initiated (V.M. Dukel’skii, N.V. Fedorenko).
Both the director of the Institute (A.P. Komar) and the deputy director (D.N. Nasledov) understood the importance of drawing the interests of young people to science. It was a practice then to welcome newcomers at the highest level. In this way many renowned Russian scientists started their work, among them were present members of the Academy of Sciences, B.P. Zakharchenya, A.A. Kaplyanskii, E.P. Mazets, V.V Afrosimov and others.
I remember my first attendance of the seminar on semiconductors at the Physico-Technical Institute in February 1953 as one of the most impressive events I have ever experienced. That was a brilliant report delivered by E.F. Gross about the discovery of the exciton. The sensation I experienced then could not be compared to anything. I was stunned by the talk on the birth of a discovery in the area of science to which I myself had got the access.
Yet the main thing was everyday experimental work in the laboratory. Since that time I have been keeping, as a most precious thing, my laboratory daily report book that contains notes of mine about the creation of the first soviet p-n junction transistor on the 5th of March, 1953. And now, when recalling that time I cannot help feeling proud of what we had accomplished. We comprised a team of very young people. Under the guidance of V.M. Tuchkevich we succeeded in working out principles of the technology and the metrics of transistor electronics. Below are the names of researchers who had been working in our small laboratory: A.A. Lebedev, a Leningrad University graduate – the growth and doping of perfect germanium single crystals; Zh.I. Alferov – the preparation of transistors, their parameters being at the level of the best world samples; A.I. Uvarov and S. M. Ruvkin – the creation of a precise metrics of germanium single crystals and transistors; N.S. Yakovchuk, a graduate of the Faculty of Radio Engineering of the Leningrad Electrical Technical Institute – designing transistor-based circuits.
As early as in May 1953, the first Soviet transistor receivers were shown to the “top authorities”. That work, of which the performers had been working with passion peculiar to their young hearts and with utmost sense of responsibility, exerted a great influence upon me. While quickly and effectively progressing as a scientist, I began to comprehend the significance of the technology not only for electronic devices, but in basic research work too, in regard with notorious “minor” details and sporadic results. And it is since then that I prefer to analyze experimental result proceeding from “simple” general laws prior to putting forward sophisticated explanations.
In subsequent years, our team of researchers at the Physico-Technical institute expanded considerably and in a very short time the first Soviet germanium power rectifiers were created alongside with germanium photodiodes and silicon also were being carried out then.
In the month of May 1958, Anatolii Petrovic Alexandrov (later the President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR) asked our team of working out a special semiconductor device for the first Soviet atomic submarine. That required a perfectly new technology and in addition to – another construction of germanium rectifiers, which had been done in a record short space of time. In the month of October, these devices were mounted on a submarine. I was a junior research associate at the Institute then, and was somewhat surprised by a telephone call from the first Vice-Chairman of the Government of the USSR, Dmitrii Fedorovich Ustinov, who asked me of fortnight reduction of the term. There was no getting away from that: I directly moved in the laboratory premises and settled there but, of course, the request was fulfilled that was my first State Order, which I had been decorated with then and which I valued very much.
In 1961, I read my candidate degree thesis that had been mainly devoted to working out and investigating of power germanium and partially silicon rectifiers. Occurrence of Soviet power semiconductor electronics became possible as a result of those works. Of great importance there, in the sense of a scientific, purely physical standpoint, had been a conclusion drawn by me that in p-i-n, p-n-n semiconductor homostructures under working current densities (for most of semiconductor devices), the current had been determined by recombination in heavily doped p- and n (n+)-regions while the recombination contribution in the middle i(n)-region of a homostructure was not the determining one: so, as soon as the first work on semiconductor lasers had appeared, it was natural for me to consider the advantages of employing in lasers the double heterostructure of p-i-n (p-n-n+, n-n-p+) type. The idea was formulated by us shortly after the appearance of the first work of R. Hall with co-workers, which described a semiconductor laser based on a GaAs homo-p-n-structure.
To realize principal advantages of heterostructures appeared to be possible only after obtaining of AlxGal-xAs heterostructures. We did that and it turned out that we had been only one month ahead in relation to American researches from IBM.
When we began investigating heterostructures, I used to convince my young colleagues, that we were not one and only group of scientists in the world who understood the significance of the concept that the semiconductor physics and electronics would be developing on the basis of HETERO-, rather than HOMO-structures. Indeed, since 1968 we entered an era of a strong competition and the first of all were three laboratories of the biggest American companies: Bell Telephone, IBM and RCA.
In 1967, while on a short trip to UK, I visited STL laboratories in Harlow. They were well equipped and the experimental base was excellent but English colleagues only discussed theoretical aspects of the heterostructures physics; they did not find experimental study of heterostructures to be promising then. In London I had some time for sightseeing and shopping. I bought there Wedding gifts to my fiancee Tamara Darskaya. As soon as I returned to Leningrad, we celebrated our wedding in a splendid restaurant “Krysha” (the Roof) in the Grand Hotel “Europe”.
Tamara was a daughter of a very popular actor of Voronezh Theater of Musical Comedy. Tamara worked then in the environs of Moscow at a big Space Enterprise under the guidance of Academician V.P. Glushko. She wonderfully combined incompatible beauty with cleverness and common sense and was always very kind toward her close friends. It was time of repeated weekly flights to Moscow. Holding a position of a Senior Research Associate at the Physico-Technical Institute, I could afford that. Leningrad-Moscow flight occurred in an hour time and the cost of a ticket to the TU-104 plane was as low as 11 rubles (about 15 US dollars). Nevertheless, after half a year shuttling between the two cities Tamara had moved to Leningrad.
In 1968-1969, we virtually realized all the ideas on control the electron and light fluxes in classical heterostructures based on the arsenid gallium-arsenid aluminum system. Apart from fundamental results that were quite new and important efficient one-side injection, the “superinjection” effect, diagonal tunneling, electron and optical confinement in a double heterostructure (which in a short while became the main element in studying the low-dimensional electron gas in semiconductors), we succeeded in employing principal benefits of heterostructure applications in devices, i.e., lasers, LEDs, solar cells, dynistors and transistors. Of utmost importance was, beyond doubts, the making of low threshold room temperature operating lasers on a double heterostructure (DHS) that had been suggested by us as far back as 1963. The approach developed by M.B. Panish and I. Hayashi (Bell Telephone) as well as by H. Kressel (RCA) was different from that of ours since they offered to use in lasers a single p-AlGaAs-p-GaAs heterostructure, which made their approach rather limited. A possibility of obtaining an efficient injection in the heterojunction seemed doubtful to them and, in spite of the fact that potential advantages of DHS had been recognized.
In August 1969, I first time visited the USA; my paper that I read there at the International Conference on Luminescence in Newarc (State of Delaver) was devoted to AlGaAs-based DHS low threshold room temperature lasers and produced an impression of an exploded bomb on American colleagues. Professor Ya. Pankov from RCA, who just shortly before my reading the paper had explained to me that they had not got a permission for my visiting their laboratory, as soon as I concluded my speech told me that the permission had been received. I could not help enjoying my refusal explaining that now I had been invited by that moment to attend IBM and Bell Telephone laboratories.
My seminar in the Bell followed by the looking over the laboratories and discussions with researches clearly revealed to me our merits and demerits of our progress in my laboratory. I believe that the soon commenced emulation for being the first in getting the continuous wave operation of laser at the room temperature was at that time a rare example of an open and friendly competition between laboratories belonging to the antagonistic Great Powers. We won the competition overtaking by a month Panish’s group in Bell Telephone. Significance of obtaining the continuous wave regime had the connection first and foremost with working out an optical fiber with low losses as well as the creation of our DHS lasers, which resulted in appearance and rapid development of optical fiber communication.
In the winter 1970-1971 and spring 1971, I spent six months in the USA working in laboratory of semiconductor devices at the University of Illinois together with Prof. Nick Holonyak. We met at the first time in 1967, when he visited my laboratory at the Physico-Technical Institute. Prof. Nick Holonyak, who is one of the founders of semiconductor optoelectronics, the inventor of the first visible semiconductor laser and LED became my closest friend. Now over 33 years we have discussed all semiconductor physics and electronics problems, political and life aspects and our interaction (visits, letters, seminars, telephone conversations) played very important role in our work and life.
In 1971, I became a recipient of the USA Franklin’s Institute gold medal for DHS laser works. Being my first international award, it was of particular value to me. There are Soviet physicists besides me who have been given the Franklin’s Institute gold medals too: Academician P.L. Kapitsa in 1944; Academician N.N. Bogolubov in 1974; Academician A.D. Sakharov in 1981. I consider it a big honour to belong to such a company!
An AlxGal-xAs system of lattice-matched heterostructures, which in practice seemed to be a lucky exception, was infinitely expanded on the basis of multi-component solid solutions, first theoretically and later on experimentally (InGaAsP is the most convincing example).
Heterostructure-based solar cells were created by us as far back as 1970. And when American scientists published their early works, our solar batteries have been already mounted on the satellites (sputniks) and their industrial production was in full swing. The cells, when being employed in space, proved their efficiency. For many years they have been operating on the “MIR” skylab and in spite of the fact that forecasts of a substantial decrease of the value of one watt of the electrical power have not been justified so far, the most effective energy source in space is, nevertheless, a set of solar cells on heterostructures of III-V compounds.
In 1972, my pupils-colleagues and I were awarded the Lenin’s Prize – the highest scientific Prize in the USSR. Our gladness regrettably was not cloudless. For some formal and obscure reasons we lost from the list of nominees R.F. Kazarinov and E.L. Portnoi.
On the day of the prize award I was in Moscow and called home, to Leningrad. But the telephone did not answer. Then, I called my parents (they have been living in Leningrad since 1963) and gladly told my father that I had been given the Lenin’s Prize. But my father replied – And so what- Our grandson is born today! In my lucky 1972 year, in addition to the prestigious prize I was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences. But the happiest day was that of Vanya Alferov’s birth.
Studies of superlattices and quantum wells were rapidly promoted in the West and afterwards in this country soon resulted in coming into being of a new area of the quantum physics of solid: the physics of low-dimensional electron systems. In this regard, studies of zero-dimensional structures – so-called “quantum dots” – form the summit of the above mentioned works. Gratifying is the circumstance that the Ioffe Institute today, while going through the hard times, remains the world leader in this area of physics. Works of the second and third generation of my students, those being well-known P.S. Kop’ev, N.N. Ledentsov, V.M. Ustinov, S.V. Ivanov have won general recognition nowadays. N.N. Ledentsov has become the youngest corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 1987, I was elected director of the Ioffe Institute, in 1989, president of the Leningrad Scientific Center of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; and in April 1990, Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Afterwards, I was reelected and hold all these posts now within the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In the first years of my presidency and directorship we succeeded in remarkable scaling up research activity in our unique (for all the world) Academy of Sciences. We have also developed effective collaboration with Universities and Educational Institutions. The Physico-Technical Special Secondary School attached to Ioffe’s Physico-Technical Institute had been opened at that time; ongoing was the process of creation of specialized University chairs: the first one, that of Optoelectronics was organized in the Electrotechnical University, (formerly the LETI) as far back as in 1973. On the basis of both then existing and newly organized chairs a Physicotechnical faculty was set up in the Polytechnical Institute in 1988.
A great contribution into the above mentioned system makes the Scientific Educational Center that has been built by the Physico-Technical Institute and incorporates school boys, students and scientists in a magnificent edifice, which can be called “The Palace of Knowledge”.
Still, throughout the years passed, of greatest importance has been so far the existence of our Academy of Sciences as a unique both scientific and educational structure in Russia. The Academy faced the menace of abolition in the twenties as “an inheritance from the tsarist regime”. It faced the menace of abolition in the nineties as “an inheritance from the totalitarian Soviet regime”. To insure its safety I gave my consent to be a member of the Russian Parliament (a deputy of State Duma) in 1995. President Yu.S. Osipov and Vice-Presidents, Academicians and Corresponding Members, doctors and candidates of sciences, senior and junior research associates, lab-assistants and mechanics took a firm stand on this kind of situation. For the saving of the Academy of Sciences, we made compromises with the power but never with the conscience.
All that had been made by human beings, in principle, was made due to Science. And if our country’s choice is to be a Great Power, Russia will be the great power not because of the nuclear potential, not because of faith in God or president, or western investments but thanks to the labor of the nation, faith in Knowledge and Science and thanks to the maintenance and development of scientific potential and education.
When I was a little boy of ten, I have read a wonderful book “Two Captains” (by V. Kaverin). In essence, in my life I have been following the principle that was peculiar the main character of that book: “One should make efforts and search for. And having obtained whatever the purpose, to make efforts again”.
Of great importance here is to know what you are struggling for.
From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 2000, Editor Tore Frängsmyr, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 2001
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/ Nobel Lectures/The Nobel Prizes. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate.
Zhores I. Alferov died on 1 March 2019.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2000
MLA style: Zhores I. Alferov – Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2019. Tue. 16 Jul 2019. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2000/alferov/biographical/>
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3179
|
__label__cc
| 0.636782
| 0.363218
|
Category: Books,Justice,Prose/Essays — Seven @ 7:52 pm
I squawked about this on Twitter several days ago and posted it on my MJJ-777 Facebook page last Friday. Now, everyone in the MJ fan community is abuzz about it. Guess it took them a while to catch up with the news.
The GQ article “Was Michael Jackson Framed?” by Mary A. Fischer is now available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Was-Michael-Jackson-Framed-Superstar/dp/0786754133.
If you have a Kindle, it’s also available in that format for only $2.99: http://www.amazon.com/Was-Michael-Jackson-Framed-ebook/dp/B009G1SX0S/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
From the Amazon writer bio:
Award-winning writer and journalist Mary A. Fischer has tracked down crime and corruption stories from around the world for national magazines including, GQ, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times magazine, New York, Rolling Stone, Men’s Journal, O-Oprah, ELLE and AARP.
Twice she has been ranked as one of the top five print reporters in the U.S., when two of her GQ articles, including her cover story on Michael Jackson, were finalists for the National Magazine Award.
Known for pursuing under reported stories, Fischer is credited with breaking several high-profile criminal cases, among them, the ’93 Michael Jackson case originally published in GQ, and the McMartin Preschool child molestation scandal. She was the first print reporter to take the controversial position, backed up by her six-month investigation, that there was no credible evidence against the McMartin defendants and the allegations against them were not credible.
In her memoir Stealing Love, Fischer tells the personal story of why she is passionately drawn to stories, and life situations, of injustice.
She lives in Los Angeles and is at work on another eBook and a news-making journalist project, this time in Washington D.C.
Joe Vogel, author of “Man in the Music, the Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson” and the recent article “Studying Michael Jackson“, says this about the Mary Fischer piece (via Twitter):
Mary A. Fischer was one of few voices of reason and fairness during the first MJ extortion case. Highly recommend this.
-Joe Vogel
Well, I’ve got my copy. I think this was and is a very important voice in the sensational pro-guilt wilderness surrounding the allegations against Michael. There were and sadly still are few factual and objective voices on the subject. Among a few others, I’m happy to support this one, too.
Tags: Books, Justice, Mary A. Fisher, Prose/Essays, Was Michael Jackson Framed
Category: Justice,Prose/Essays — Seven @ 8:27 pm
Mrs. Jackson with her grandchildren
Here is how I see this Jackson family debacle at this time. This is my opinion and my opinion only. I don’t insist it is the truth, because none of us know what the truth is. My opinion as written below may change as other information becomes available. I only offer the below as an alternative perspective on the situation, and in lieu of “popular opinion” and media spin on the matter.
_ _ _ _ _
If MJ’s will is valid (and it probably is), then why didn’t these two lawyers just kindly answer the family’s questions/concerns about it privately? Sure the courts have validated it, but if the family has concerns or questions, why not just answer them, specifically?
Why does the estate (or those associated with or working for them) instead seem to blow smoke, obfuscate, and issue condescending, accusatory, and vague public responses, and subsequently blast days worth of negative stories about the Jacksons in the media as they appear to have done? Why not just privately answer the questions and concerns the Jackson family members have about the will and about the control or undue influence they feel are being wielded over Mrs. Jackson?
How did Michael sign that will if he wasn’t in LA that day? There may be a viable explanation for that. That would be great! The estate should provide those answers to the Jacksons. Would Michael sign a will on which his children’s names were spelt wrong? How and why did John Branca still have a copy of that 2002 will after he he had left the employ of Michael Jackson and was obligated upon termination to return all documents to Michael? And so on.. If it’s all on the up-and-up, then why don’t these guys just kindly answer the questions, privately, honestly, and transparently?
Instead, it seems like they have a household bouncer (Trent Jackson, allegedly the head of security or similarly involved, some say he’s an assistant to Mrs. Jackson) and possibly other personnel, particularly attorneys Ms. Ribera and Mr. Perry Sanders and others to whom that letter was addressed, who have spent the better part of a week now on the line 24×7 to the media feeding them stories about the Jacksons – which has had the end result of smearing them in the public eye and creating a distraction from this family’s concerns as expressed in their letter.
If that was the intent, it certainly worked. It created a distraction from the questions about the will and abuse/control issues and at the same time, smeared the Jacksons so badly that the entire public has turned against them. They are negatively defined as “greedy bullying swindlers just after money” , nevermind at least one of them has her own considerable fortune and doesn’t need any estate money, and the rest are on tour making money or happily married and financially independent and have been for years.
I do know this much: Propaganda works. When employed skillfully it can turn gentle, innocent people into sinister, raging criminals and raging, sinister criminals into benevolent Kings in the public’s collective eye. Remember Michael Jackson and what it did to him. In PR terms, this kind of a ruse would be called a “success“. That’s right – a success. We may see it as a fiasco but to those orchestrating such media firestorms – they are a fantastic success.
This is how the tobacco companies are still allowed to sell a product that is dangerous and kills people. It’s how the United States railed against nationalized health care (even though all other developed countries have it) because – well you know – “death panels“: a term that PR experts chose specifically to strike paralyzing fear in the hearts of anyone who would even think of supporting health care reform. Trust me. They research this stuff. They know psychology better than the psychologists do. And they use it to manipulate public opinion every day.
Fearmongering. Hysteria. Sensationalism. Take something with a hair of truth or even no truth at all. Take it out of context then claim it’s XYZ when it’s really ABC. Create a distraction from the original substance of the issue by insisting the real issue is XYZ. And then the public completely forgets about ABC because they’re all in a pitchfork-wielding mob about – OMG! XYZ!! Insert it into a veritable funhouse of mirrors to distort it innumerable ways and then publish, print, broadcast it to the high heavens. In the end, the truth is buried forever and some big media corporations have made millions off of the story to boot. The real criminals go free and the benevolent innocents are forever destroyed in the public eye, their lives and livelihoods ruined.
Happens every day, and that is no exaggeration. You saw it happen to Michael.
You can’t find anything written about these Jacksons now that doesn’t say “it’s all about the money! They just want control of that estate!“.
Is that because this is really true? Or is it just the PR — the spin — the “meme” — the false premise?
You know what I mean — a false premise like: Michael Jackson is a pedophile, freak, drug addict and weirdo that bleached his skin because he didn’t want to be black!
That kind of false premise.
Yes, there’s a big difference between truth and spin, as you might guess. I’d think MJ fans particularly would be keenly aware of that. Oddly, they’re not. Why buy into the media’s spin on all this – anymore than MJ fans bought into the spin about Michael? You could tell the difference then. Why not now?
Do you think the tabloids and media have suddenly became honest and truthful entities when it comes to this family? Really? If you look at the basic facts of what happened — ignoring all the sensationalist spin and instead attempt to employ some logic instead, a different picture emerges.
Let’s look at the “greedy bullying swindlers” meme that has been put out and propagated by the estate/media spin machine:
It’s said that the older versions of MJ’s will reads very much like the existing one with exception of adding the children’s names as they were born. These siblings who are now questioning the will are not named in any prior versions of his will, either. This means that there is no money to be gotten by them from this either way, even if the current will were declared invalid. So — the premise that “they’re just after money” is not logical then, is it? It just doesn’t add up. The false premise put forth that everyone cannot seem to let go of, makes no sense. At that, it beggars belief that the current will would be declared invalid at this juncture. It won’t.
So why the hell are they doing this? Let’s apply some simple logic to this question instead of spin:
Consider that maybe – just maybe – contrary to the spin that virtually every media outlet as well as the estate has employed about this, – maybe they’re not after money. One has to let go of the false premise that they are, because that’s the only way it logistically makes any sense.
It seems to me these siblings want answers and changes, not dollars. They’ve said they feel that their mother is (or was) being abused and controlled. They said they feel the two lawyers running the estate may be doing so under false pretenses and they want something done about that (they want the executors to step down due to all these issues). That’s what their letter said. Read it.
It did NOT say they wanted money.
It did NOT say they wanted to run the estate themselves or control it themselves.
As I understand it, Janet is quite wealthy of her own accord and is financially independent and has been for years. The only way this makes any sense (to me) is if it’s NOT about the money. It’s not what they said, it’s not what their stated concerns are, and frankly the actions of certain others involved in this particular matter bear out the fact that there are some serious problems in the Calabasas household.
Beware the false premise(s) planted by estate operatives and/or the media.
That letter, by the way, was evidently not meant by the Jacksons to be public. It was allegedly leaked by Perry Sanders or one of the other recipients of the letter. In fact it would make more sense that one of the recipients publicized the letter in order to smear those who sent it. And lo and behold. It worked just like that, didn’t it?
Trust me – the Executors are behind this. The “powers that be” use tabloid media to spin their lies and divide our family. –Randy Jackson
So all this questioning: “well why did the Jacksons make it public?” Did you ever consider – that maybe they didn’t? One of the recipients may have publicized it. And once it was made public by this estate operative/addressee, the estate responded to the letter, also publicly. And after that, a massive smear campaign in the media was launched against the Jacksons – with the copious help of Mrs. Jackson’s lawyer, Ms. Ribera, and Mr. Perry Sanders, another attorney the letter was addressed to, and Trent, the security head/bouncer/assistant/whatever, who was also an addressee/recipient of the letter. Trent Jackson is the one who filed the ‘missing persons‘ report on Mrs. Jackson.
We’re told Trent is also the one who has been feeding information to TMZ, and the one who turned Janet and others away from the home on the day of the alleged “altercation“. He also alleged to be the one who fed the security camera footage to the media and he is also said to be the one who called police to the scene. One member of the LAPD said they felt “used” by this whole debacle.
In her ABC Nightline video, Mrs. Jackson said someone (I’m just assuming Trent) sent away the nanny, cooks, housekeepers so the house was chaos while she was gone. I don’t know if that’s true, but she mentioned that they had been sent away. She said she thought she knew who might be behind some of this stuff.
You sort of get the idea that (at least) this Trent guy meant to cause trouble here. And what about all these lawyers feeding information that is frankly none of anyone’s business to the media for a week? Randy Jackson tweeted that Mrs. Jackson had fired Trent and the security team. Reports surfaced later that she could not do so, citing “no authority“. How would you feel if you didn’t have the “authority” to remove a troublemaker/bully from your own home if you wanted to?
Now, let’s remember what the letter to the estate from certain family members said: It said that the estate is controlling and abusing Mrs. Jackson. Well lo and behold would you look at that. If even some of this is true, then this entire situation is a prime example of just that – Mrs. Jackson is being controlled and abused.
If Mrs. Jackson is unable to even fire anyone or decide whom she wants to have or not have in her home or around her grandchildren; if Trent is allegedly being forced on her even when she no longer wants him around; if Trent is partially or mostly responsible for the chaos and upheaval that ensued while she was out of town; if Trent is the person whom the Jackson siblings said they wanted to get their mother away from (and thus the reason for this trip), I’d say just maybe the letter is right. Mrs. Jackson is (or was) being controlled and abused. If she is dealing with this guy’s machinations day in and day out, and these chatty lawyers and perhaps other staff issues, and cannot even control who may or may not live and work in her own home or around her grandchildren or family – that’s pretty terrible. Don’t you think?
Of course it’s just my opinion and you know what they say about those. But as I stated previously, it seems to me that this is partially what has gone on here and what the problem is – or was. And yes, of course like everyone else, I’m just guessing. So these are my guesses based on how I’ve watched all this unfold and I’ve seen most of it since the moment Alan Duke of CNN first tweeted about it days ago – fed the story by Mrs. Jackson’s lawyer, Ms. Ribera, who in my own opinion ought to be fired as well for spending too much time talking to the media.
Instead of any viable answers to the concerns the family expressed in that letter about the will or about estate control issues, this family had what was a private legal correspondence to the estate unduly publicized (possibly) by one of the addressees of the letter; the family got a public “answer” to the letter from the estate which was vague, condescending, and accusatory, the family have gotten ambushed for a week with a very nasty negative public smear campaign undoubtedly orchestrated by some of the same people they named in that letter; one of them we’re fairly certain about and another named in many media reports including the original one, Ms. Ribera.
I saw that video where Janet allegedly pushed or slapped Paris. She didn’t. The video showed one thing, while the sensationalist media spin said something completely different. Paris herself said that Janet never pushed or slapped her. Now that Mrs. Jackson has denied she was ever “kidnapped” by her own kids (which was ridiculous to begin with), Trash Media Zone (TMZ) asserts that Mrs. Jackson was somehow “in on it” – that she helped orchestrate her own “kidnapping“.
Oh for God’s sake, please. Do MJ fans really believe this?
I don’t believe these siblings had sinister intentions, anymore than I believe Michael ever did. I don’t believe they were after money or control. I believe they were very concerned about their mother handling the pressure and stress of managing staff and dealing with some who seem to be bullies and manipulators. Many such persons surrounded Michael. Now, they seemingly surround his mother. And if she had no choice in hiring/firing any of them, and is forced to have certain people in her home and life that she does not want involved, that’s even worse. They felt she was being controlled and abused. And there are still unresolved questions about Michael’s last known will and like it or not, they are entitled to reasonable answers about that.
I just know that this is not a family that does the kinds of things that are being reported.…somebody wanted to publicize this, somebody wanted to make a big issue out of it (by giving the security videotape to the media) –Thomas Mesereau
It’s reported that TJ had been left in charge of the children before when Mrs. J was out and there were no issues. Why were there issues this time? I don’t know but I suspect that some internal animosity in connection with these problematic staff had come to a head. They wanted their mother away from it and she has relatives in AZ so she went away for awhile. Why did “they cut her off from the children“? In her statement to ABC Nightline, Mrs. Jackson said she had “given up her phone” and that her assistant was checking on the children daily. Since the idea was for her to get away from the stress in that home and to assure her ability to relax and rest, it makes sense to me that the chaos and media firestorm that ensued after her departure were not reported to her and thus she did not know about it and thought all was well at her home and with her grandchildren. This is a more reasonable explanation than all the hysterical and sinister bullshit being parroted out there about kidnapping and her being”cut off” from the grandchildren.
Meanwhile, the kids, who it is reported were told Mrs. Jackson was going out of town, were obviously miffed that they couldn’t speak to her, but seemed for the most part fine, Paris chatting away on twitter about movies, music, and other subjects — until suddenly Paris started tweeting that her grandmother was “missing“. What changed then? I suspect that is when the children were told she was “missing” by someone in the household, perhaps because she didn’t show up at the brothers’ concert as planned. She went to Arizona, instead.
It seems maybe someone did not communicate this change in plans to the children and other staff, or they thought they did, but the information was never relayed. Perhaps the information was withheld so that a chaotic situation could be created to make this family look bad. Considering that certain people in the Calabasas household had just received a letter from these same family members accusing them of being abusive and controlling, that isn’t out of the question, is it? And if that is the case, then this once again proves the premise of the family’s letter to these individuals to be valid ie: abuse and control.
Or, it could have simply been an honest misunderstanding or miscommunication. Regardless, some communication was clearly lost somehow and for some reason, deliberately or otherwise. A hysterical assumption was made or chaotic situation deliberately created in the Calabasas home, actions carried out accordingly and the media had a field day with it. However, Mrs. Jackson was certainly not “missing” or kidnapped by her own children as was alleged and probably didn’t even know all this was going on.
After all this, if the estate are unwilling to address the family’s concerns about the will and about the treatment of Mrs. Jackson in a professional, private and honest manner, then this only adds weight to the argument that perhaps they are fraudulently in control and they (along with those associated with them) are wielding undue influence over Mrs. Jackson. This may particularly be true if she is not even allowed to control who does or does not work in or enter her own home; if this situation was publicized and fed to the media as a means to discredit her and her family and upset her grandchildren in lieu of providing answers to the family’s written concerns; or if any miscommunication was intentional on the part of anyone involved estate-side.
As for Ms. Ribera and Mr. Sanders, I personally would not trust attorneys who are online with tabloids and media 24×7 for days at a time feeding stories to them about people’s personal lives. That indicates to me that these attorneys have other interests than (and which may even trump) managing Mrs. Jackson’s legal affairs.
These lawyers and everyone involved in running that estate should be ready, willing, and available to calmly, kindly and PRIVATELY answer any questions or concerns the family has about their brother’s will, his estate or the management thereof, or issues surrounding their mother and what goes on in her home.
Why? Because it’s Michael’s family and there should be nothing to hide from them.
Whether you like or trust some of the Jackson family or do not like or trust some of them, and regardless what their own internal squabbles, misunderstandings or disagreements are – they are Michael’s family and any estate execs or their operatives ought to be transparent with them about what is going on with Michael’s estate and certainly about what is going on with their own mother – IF in fact there is no reason for such concern.
Otherwise, those concerns only appear to have validity. And frankly and just in my own opinion, based on how this debacle has unfolded, they do bear serious consideration.
If the family’s private letter to the estate has been publicized by the recipients of said letter or other estate operatives, and subsequently the family have been subjected to a media firestorm of negative propaganda by these estate operatives/employees – and it appears to me this may have happened, then this behavior on the part of the estate is unacceptable, unprofessional and unethical. It is divisive and extremely damaging to the Jackson family and particularly to Katherine and Michael’s children – the very people whose interests the estate presumptively exists to protect and serve.
Worse, it closely resembles the type of treatment and pattern of behavior that Michael Jackson himself was subjected to during much of his life.
I sincerely hope that the estate will deal with these concerns in a private, professional and courteous manner. I also hope that they will do something to contain certain overbearing employees/household members and overly-chatty attorneys who were involved. I hope the new arrangement with TJ and Mrs. Jackson sharing guardianship works out well.
Additionally, I hope that Michael’s children will eventually be able to understand the history and the scope of this problem and forgive their relatives (Michael’s siblings) for trying (however unsuccessfully) to protect Mrs. Jackson, and to find out the truth behind their father’s death.
Geraldine Hughes gave one of the least hysterical and most reasonable summaries of the situation on Thursday when TJ gained temporary guardianship of the children:
Let’s not rush to judgment based on the temporary guardianship given to Tito’s son today. Let’s all wait until Katherine Jackson surfaces. According to her attorney, it is only temporary and he will not allow her to be permanently stripped as guardianship. Because of the age of MJ’s kids, they are old enough to voice their opinion as to who THEY want to be their guardian. We see that they love their grandmother to death and will not allow her to be taken completely away, while, on the other hand, she needs help with them, and to be protected from anyone trying to take their custody. This might actually be a win win situation. The judge granted the temporary order until August 22, 2012. TJ has always been close to MJ kids. They love him, he’s young enough to handle and help raise them, and he has a vested interest in Michael Jackson’s estate. Also, the judge ordered him to move into their home, therefore, they don’t have to be uprooted from school, home, etc. Even if Katherine is not reinstated as guardian, she can continue to live with them, help look after them, while not being under too much pressure and guarding her health. This ruling does not cut her out of MJ’s will as being his heir. I just don’t like how this came about. I think Janet, Jermaine, Rebbie & Randy’s intention might have been good (thinking only of their mother’s health), but it might have backfired negatively for Katherine. Let’s wait and see and keep our prayers up for the entire Jackson family.
And Deborah of Reflections on the Dance shared this:
One of my sources has shared the following…
It’s been shared that Trent Jackson, Joe Jackson’s nephew, head of security and home surveillance, is the person who stopped Janet and Randy from entering the home to speak with the children, and who reported an altercation to the police. It is also this same person who has apparently been leaking video to TMZ.
Mrs. Katherine is unable to fire this person, who has apparently been causing a lot of trouble, as she does not have the authority to do so. Supposedly there have been problems in the home due to this person and this is the reason that Mrs. K and the siblings took the actions that they did. Janet was also asked to help on her mother’s and brother’s request, and flew in from Italy to support her mother, though these actions backfired.
I believe the statement directly above from Deborah is likely true because someone pointed out to me on twitter that during the playing of the security surveillance video from the Calabasas home the day of the altercation, Trent Jackson’s name appears on the video. It appears both on CNN’s copy and during the interview with Tom Mesereau. I screen-capped a couple shots from the Mesereau interview. The words “From Trent Jackson” clearly appears in the upper left-hand corner of the security portion of the video. You can see it here and here.
I do not believe there was anything sinister or underhanded about the actions Jermaine, Randy, Janet, Tito and Rebbie took in this situation. I believe their intentions were good and based on real concern fr their mother, even if their actions backfired or were badly executed. I hope that with TJ Jackson and Mrs. Jackson sharing guardianship of the children, much of the manipulation and pressure that Mrs. Jackson has obviously been subjected to by certain staff will be relieved and that she will be able to enjoy her family and especially her grandchildren once again.
-Seven
Tags: Justice, Katherine Jackson, Prose/Essays
Love Lives Forever
Category: Children,Justice,Prose/Essays,Quotes About MJ — Seven @ 6:09 pm
I want the same for Michael that he wanted for Ryan White: “I want the world to know who you are” . . . only then can the world understand why Michael Jackson is so missed 3, 5, 10 or more years later.
It’s why I have this website where I write about him. I’m a writer. Michael was a singer. When you want to give voice to someone’s memory, you use whatever talents or tools you have at your disposal to do it, if it’s important enough to you. And he was important.
He was as important to those who want the world to know who he was as the world was to him, especially the children. There lies the unbroken circle that even his death cannot sever.
Love Lives Forever.
You can read about the story behind Michael’s recording of the song that actually woke me this morning – “Gone Too Soon” – in Joe Vogel’s new piece he wrote for today in The Atlantic – it’s not to be missed!
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/06/gone-too-soon-the-many-lives-of-michael-jacksons-elegy/258933/
©2012 Seven Bowie
Tags: Children, Gone Too Soon, Justice, Love Lives Forever, Prose/Essays, Quotes About MJ, Ryan White
Why we advocate for Michael Jackson
Category: Justice,Prose/Essays — Seven @ 1:03 am
Written by Tori Tompkins
Some may ask why we advocate for Michael Jackson. We write, we speak, and we repeat time and time again the truth because this man was completely and utterly destroyed by the avaricious ills of the modern world. The media purposely circulated lies and inaccuracies about the man knowing full well the immense damage it would have on the easily moulded mind of the masses.
Only recently, an official report was released which confirmed something Michael Jackson supporters had known for years: that the allegations against him were unfounded-that they were merely extortion attempts by families driven by greed, supported by a corrupt judicial system driven by an insatiable and all encompassing desire to publicly lynch one of the most decorated and celebrated black men in modern history. The media were fully aware of this report and these facts yet they continued to circulate lies, innuendoes and inaccuracies in order to paint a false and irrational portrait of this man. This “media blackout” on the facts, as my dear friend, Seven Bowie would say was also highlighted by Michael’s friend of 20 years, David Nordahl with his assertion that the press knew for years that Michael suffered from the serious skin disorder, vitiligo, yet they continued to suggest that he was beaching his skin in order to distance himself from his own identity, yet another attempt to undermine his considerable achievements and the immense contribution he made in keeping the flame of Dr.King’s fragile dream alight.
Why do the media block out these facts about an innocent man? Why do they continue to mock him for an affliction, akin to cancer, over which he had no control? Because it makes money. It means people can buy bigger houses, shinier cars and can strut around with feelings of inflated status and self worth. Who are the victims in all this? Us, normal people, for we so often buy into this industry-we offer our money and in return they lie to us and abuse us. Whether it be about dear Michael, domestic affairs, or foreign policy, the media lie. It is their job to keep you uninformed so big businessmen can continue to protect their financial investments. What you read in a paper is not objective, it is the subjective prejudices of money mad individuals like Murdoch who do not care about the general public or accuracy. Murdoch used his News of the World empire to support the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq which has cost thousands of innocent lives on both sides. When confronted with such a damning notion, what was his reaction? He laughed-laughed in the face of all those families who have lost brothers, sons, sisters and fathers on an empty expedition.
Unfortunately, Michael Jackson got caught in this horrific web of lies and deceit to an extent unseen in modern history. Such unending bullying and a gross disrespect for his value as a thinking, feeling human being no doubt broke this poor man’s spirit. The media, with nothing more than words and a limited mental capacity managed to condition the minds of an entire public. Such horrific treatment could happen to anyone. It is horrifyingly simple how easy it is for the press to obscure necessary detail and keep the masses dangerously misinformed about a variety of subjects. Because of their immoral, entirely unethical and avaricious approach to their industry, an innocent man was daily ripped from his family and all those who held him dear in their hearts. The media wantonly bullied and ridiculed a father, a brother and a son. Never again will he be able to look upon his children in play, nor comfort them when they are down. His three children will never be able to know the presence of their father throughout their lives, nor share those sacred and precious moments with him that so many take for granted. Never again can he enjoy the wonders, joys and simple pleasures of life so brutally and relentlessly denied him.
That such an industry, when coupled with a responsive public, can annihilate an individual is disgusting and abhorrent. Something must be changed. As a group, as a species, we must stop placing vale on the material above all else. It seems now profit is far more important to most than people. There must be a change. We must work to restore a sense of ethics and humanity to this deeply corrupt and immoral industry. How tragic though that we couldn’t change in time to save one so beautiful from the grotesque clutches of the darkest recesses of human nature.
Tags: Justice, Prose/Essays
How…Why…When? Never.
Category: Prose/Essays — Seven @ 6:35 pm
On this sad day — the two year anniversary of Michael’s interment at Forest Lawn — Micheline James shares her feelings:
We have been shocked by the loss of many wonderful people in the last few years (Steve Irwin, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Elizabeth Taylor to name a few). So why is it so agonizingly difficult to wrap our head around the reality of losing Michael Jackson? Why does the mere thought or sight of Michael shatter the heart as painfully today as it did two years ago? I have a theory.
During his entire adult lifetime, this magnificent human being we know as Michael was persecuted in the most abominable way. Though others we loved and admired have left this earth having lost their battle to illness or tragic accident, they were left to live their lives without harmful interference.
Despite years of relentless assaults on Michael’s character, not once did he stoop to the level of his attackers and remained a gentle and dignified crusader for mankind. While the media served an ignorant public a feast of lies, Michael was too busy living the life of an angel on earth. I’ve said it before. When a vicious few create smoke where there is NO FIRE, society’s collective conscience follows a primitive instinct, like a pack of wolves on the scent of a wounded animal. Everyone who ever slandered Michael’s good name with false allegations – from Evan Chandler’s extortion to those “upstanding” public servants like Sneddon, did so with no desire for seeking justice or protecting the public. We all know there was a much bigger agenda behind the scenes. The media was a partner in the persecution, and still is – with their relentless pursuit of any garbage they can get away with printing about Michael. They spread lies as if it were nothing more than refilling a glass with water to satisfy a thirst. In this case, it was a thirst for blood – Michael’s blood.
We’ve seen it before – in the schoolyard, on the streets, photographed for entertainment on the web. The sickening part of human nature. One person throws a stone and a few gather to watch with curiosity. When they see the victim does not react, another joins in. A frenzy builds until you have a mob “looting” an innocent human being of his reputation, career, health…and life. What? Michael is not defending himself? Well – that must mean the man is guilty and deserves everything he gets! Instead of asking why Michael didn’t fight back, they should have asked themselves, WHY am I doing this to Michael Jackson? Why are these people relentless in their pursuit to tear down this great man who has given so much back to society?
Simple – it is easier to destroy a thing of beauty than it is to emulate and appreciate it for its greatness. By eliminating the example of what others may find impossible to achieve, they crush it under their feet to avoid having to face their own shortcomings. And what are WE left with? A world that lost the light of a genius. A genius who wanted every child to go for their dreams and be the best they can be. Great role models like Michael are rare, and a necessary component for inspiring greatness in others. Without that, we lose the inspiration, and the children Michael adored and respected around the world would have no future.
Michael was a gift from God, who was energized by his faith in God, and who loved the earth and its people. He was the greatest artist and entertainer who ever lived, yes – but he was first and foremost a magnificent human being. We have the horrific memory of witnessing first hand the stoning and ultimate destruction of a precious and beloved part of our lives, who we now know was every bit as vital to us as the air we breathe. And now we get to live in a world that we must share with the same dark souls who collectively assisted in taking Michael away from us. How does one reconcile that? They don’t. That is why the mere thought and sight of Michael’s face will continue to shatter my heart for the rest of my wretched existence.
© 2011, Micheline James
Tags: Prose/Essays
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3183
|
__label__wiki
| 0.844842
| 0.844842
|
Michigan Technological University Inducts ITC’s Jon Jipping Into Electrical and Computer Engineering Academy
August 3, 2018 - 8:10 AM EDT
Michigan Technological University Inducts ITC's Jon Jipping Into Electrical and Computer Engineering Academy
HOUGHTON, Mich., Aug. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Michigan Technological University's (MTU) Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) on Wednesday inducted ITC's Jon Jipping into the ECE Academy. Selection into the Academy recognizes excellence and leadership in engineering and civic affairs. Inductees represent the most successful of MTU's more than 9,600 electrical and computer engineering graduates. Fewer than 75 alumni have been inducted over the last 20 years.
"I'm honored to join such a distinguished group of alumni as a member of the Academy, which shines a light on professionals, careers and achievements in STEM-related fields. It is especially meaningful to me being inducted with my graduate advisor, Dr. Wiitanen, who has taught and inspired so many in our industry," says Jipping.
The 2018 inductees are:
Jeffery W. Feldt, Class of 1984
Jon E. Jipping, Class of 1991
Paul W. Juodawlkis, Class of 1986
Michael A. Pulick Jr., Class of 1986
Mark Rich, Class of 1990 (posthumous)
Arjang Roshan-Rouz, Class of 1992
Dennis Wiitanen, Class of 1963
Biographies are available at: https://www.mtu.edu/ttoday/?issue=20180802#seven-inducted-into-ece-academy
Inductees were welcomed into the Academy by Daniel R. Fuhrmann, the Dave House Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Calling it a joy to welcome the newest inductees back to campus and recognize their accomplishments, Fuhrmann says the Academy induction is one of the high points of the academic calendar for his department.
"A department of 35 people can't solve all the world's problems, but our efforts are leveraged by the thousands of successful graduates, each making their mark in the world in their own way. The ECE Academy represents the best and brightest of that group," says Fuhrmann.
The purpose of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Academy is to honor outstanding ECE graduates. Election to the Academy is made by the ECE Executive Committee and recognizes excellence and leadership in the engineering profession and civic affairs.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been a world leader in providing quality education since 1928. Its mission is threefold:
Preparing students for careers in industry, academia, or government by fostering in them the technical capabilities and interpersonal skills necessary to succeeding in their fields, as well as the foundation for lifelong learning.
Leading the way in electrical and computer engineering-based research and other scholarly activities.
Providing technical leadership, guidance and support to industry, local and national governments, and the general public.
About Michigan Technological University
Michigan Technological University is a public research university, home to more than 7,000 students from 54 countries. Founded in 1885, the University offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, and social sciences. The campus in Michigan's Upper Peninsula overlooks the Keweenaw Waterway and is just a few miles from Lake Superior.
About ITC Holdings Corp.
ITC is the largest independent electricity transmission company in the United States. Based in Novi, Michigan, ITC invests in the electric transmission grid to improve reliability, expand access to markets, allow new generating resources to interconnect to its transmission systems and lower the overall cost of delivered energy. Through its regulated operating subsidiaries ITCTransmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company, ITC Midwest and ITC Great Plains, ITC owns and operates high-voltage transmission infrastructure in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and in development in Wisconsin. These systems serve a combined peak load exceeding 26,000 megawatts along approximately 15,800 circuit miles of transmission line, supported by 660 employees and nearly 1,000 contractors across our expanding footprint. ITC's grid development focus includes growth through regulated infrastructure investment as well as domestic and international expansion through merchant and other commercial development opportunities. For further information visit www.itc-holdings.com. ITC is a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., a leader in the North American regulated electric and gas utility industry. For further information visit www.fortisinc.com.
View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/michigan-technological-university-inducts-itcs-jon-jipping-into-electrical-and-computer-engineering-academy-300691724.html
SOURCE ITC Holdings Corp.
Source: PR Newswire (August 3, 2018 - 8:10 AM EDT)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3189
|
__label__cc
| 0.689129
| 0.310871
|
Pregnant Emily MacDonagh banned from family trip to Florida over Zika virus fears
Peter Andre’s wife stayed home with their daughter
Updated 17:06, 9 AUG 2016
EMILY MacDonagh was banned from a holiday to Florida over fears she could contract the Zika virus.
Peter Andre’s wife is currently expecting their second child, and was advised not to travel to areas where the virus is.
The singer headed to the States with his children Princess and Junior, instead of the family holiday he had hoped for.
He said: “Unfortunately, Emily couldn’t come with us because CDC (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) issued a travel warning advising pregnant women not to travel to Florida as the Zika virus is actively circulating there.”
Peter Andre was forced to leave his wife Emily at home for their family holiday (Image: Wenn)
Pregnant Brits were warned against travelling, amid fears of catching the virus and passing it on to their child.
Zika is associated to microcephaly, which can cause birth defects such as small heads and brain damage.
Four people in Miami contracted the virus from mosquitos, causing the government to issue warnings to travellers.
Peter added: “Although Ems was gutted, it worked out quite well as she doesn’t like leaving Mills [youngest daughter] and they got to enjoy some quality time together.
Peter spent time with his two eldest children (Image: KatiePrice/Instagram)
However, Peter still enjoyed his holiday with his two eldest children, and even had a mini family reunion.
Writing in his column for new! Magazine, he said: “While we were in Florida, my sister Debbie flew over from Oz for a few days.
“I hadn’t seen her since our wedding, so it was really great to catch up.
“Despite a major thunderstorm, we had so much fun at Universal Studios!”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3190
|
__label__cc
| 0.593981
| 0.406019
|
112 Years Ago Today, ‘O Holy Night’ Was The First Song Ever To Be Broadcast Over The Radio By Canadian Inventor Reginald Fessenden On Christmas Eve
The host of the broadcast was Fessenden. After giving a resume of the program Fessenden played a recording of Handel's "Largo" on an Ediphone thus establishing two records - the first recording of the first broadcast. Fessenden then dazzled his listeners with his talent as a violinist playing appropriately for the Christmas season, "Oh Holy Night" and actually singing the last verse as he played. Mrs. Helen Fessenden and Fessenden's secretary Miss Bent, had promised to read seasonal passages from the Bible including, "Glory to God in the highest -and on earth peace to men of good will," but when the time came to perform they stood speechless, paralyzed with mike fright. Fessenden took over for them and concluded the broadcast by extending Christmas greetings to his listeners - as well as asking them to write and report to him on the broadcast wherever they were.
by Geoffrey Grider December 24, 2018
What was the first sound to go out over radio waves? It was the sound of “O Holy Night,” the Christmas hymn, being played on a violin by Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden.
There was a day in America where people put God first, and He was ever close to the hearts and in the thoughts of most people. When Samuel Morse was inventing the telegraph, the first words he ever typed into his new machine was “what hath God wrought?” Likewise, when Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden was inventing broadcast AM radio on December 24, 1906, he sent over the radio waves a bible verse from Luke 2, and on his violin he played the Christmas hymn “O Holy Night”.
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:10-14 (KJV)
In the transition from the 19th to the 20th centuries, God blessed America with an outpouring of knowledge and inventions such like this world has ever seen. Those things gave America unprecedented wealth and world power that exists to this day. But somewhere along the way, America has forgotten to honor the God that had blessed them so mighty. In 2018, wishing someone a ‘Merry Christmas‘ is akin to hate speech, and Santa Claus has replaced Jesus Christ as the reason for the season.
America is not a theocracy, and we don’t rule from the bible. But our Founding Fathers made sure to include God every step of the way, imperfect as it may have been. If only we would remember Who it is that has blessed us and sustains our being. Reginald Fessenden invented broadcast radio, and on his very first transmission he gave glory to the God of Abraham.
On this Christmas night, as the darkness from the coming end times rushes at us from all directions, look up and listen. The Master is coming in the clouds as He has promised, and it won’t be long now.
“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20 (KJV)
112 Years Ago Today, “O Holy Night” First Song Broadcast Over Radio Waves
FROM PULPIT & PEN: On December 24, 1906, the first radio broadcast was made over what was then brand new technology. Reginald Fessenden was a Canadian-born inventor who did most of his work in the United States. He built a system of wireless transmission using amplitude modulation (AM).
During that first broadcast over radio, Fessenden also played the Christian song, Adore and be Still by Gounod, and finished by a closing Scripture, Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Some accounts recall Handel’s song, Ombra mai fu, being played as well.
Radio is widely regarded as the single greatest and most influential medium in the history of the world, even more so than television and – believe it or not – even the Internet. Radio certainly deserves the award for longest lasting non-written medium. No other medium besides print – which is quickly dying before our eyes – has so largely impacted human civilization as has radio.
From AM to FM, short-wave to even pirate, various forms of radio communication has connected the world, combined continents, reached into fascist regimes, spread democracy and most importantly, spread the gospel. Walls and censors cannot stop it. Long distances cannot readily impede it. It is a form of communication that truly was, and continues to be, revolutionary.
Two millennia ago, the Son of God came into the world and was born in a stable and laid in a manger. Three astronomers pursued him from the East to welcome him (they made it late) and that night, but that night, the only welcome party to Christ were a few lowly shepherds who were tending their sheep by night.
The angels came to those lowly shepherds and and sang the words of Luke 2:14. Few heard it that night. It was a humbling way for the Christ child to enter the world. The news of this baby’s birth would grow throughout the world, and continue to expand, well after that baby’s eventually death and resurrection.
How sweet is it, how surreal, that the first sound going out over the greatest form of broadcast media in world history, would be heralding the birth of this newborn king.
O holy night! the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope – the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
Fall on your knees!
O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
first radio broadcastinventionso holy nightReginald Fessenden
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3192
|
__label__cc
| 0.550486
| 0.449514
|
Hawai'i Volcanoes
National Park Hawai'i
Learn About the Park
Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park June 2019 Events
Photo courtesy of UC Davis/Gabrielle Names
Subscribe | What is RSS
News Release Date: May 15, 2019
Contact: Jessica Ferracane, Public Affairs Specialist, 808-985-6018
Hawaii National Park, Hawai‘i – Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park continues its tradition of sharing Hawaiian culture, After Dark in the Park talks, stewardship programs and opportunities to explore the Kahuku Unit during June 2019.
Visitors are encouraged to check the park’s online calendar of events, and look for program flyers posted after 9:30 a.m. on the bulletin board at Kilauea Visitor Center.
Park programs are free, but entrance fees apply. Some programs are co-sponsored by Friends of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and Hawai‘i Pacific Parks Association. Mark your calendar for these upcoming events:
Stewardship of Kipukapuaulu. Help remove troublesome plants at Kipukapuaulu, home to diverse native forest and understory plants. Bring clippers or pruners, sturdy gloves, a hat, and water. Wear closed-toe shoes and clothing that you don’t mind getting permanently stained from morning glory sap. Be prepared for cool and wet or hot and sunny weather. New volunteer? Contact Marilyn Nicholson for more info: nickem@hawaii.rr.com.
When: Every Thursday at 9:30 a.m. (June 6, 13, 20, & 27)
Where: Meet at the Kipukapuaulu parking lot, Mauna Loa Road, off Highway 11 in the park.
Stewardship at the Summit. Volunteer to help remove invasive, non-native plant species that prevent native plants from growing in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, a World Heritage Site. Wear sturdy hiking shoes and long pants. Bring a hat, raingear, day pack, snacks and water. Gloves and tools are provided. Under 18? Parental or guardian accompaniment or written consent is required. Visit the park website for additional planning details: https://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/summit_stewardship.htm.
When: June 7, 15, 22 & 28. Meet at 8:45 a.m.
Where: Meet project leaders Paul and Jane Field at Kilauea Visitor Center on any of the above dates.
A Walk into the Past with Dr. Thomas A. Jaggar. Walk back to 1912, and meet the founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Dr. Thomas A. Jaggar, at the edge of Kilauea Volcano. Dressed in period costume, Ka‘u actor-director Dick Hershberger brings the renowned geologist to life. Dr. Jaggar will take you on a tour of his tiny lab located below the Volcano House to see original seismograph equipment and other early instruments. You’ll learn what motivated Dr. Jaggar to dedicate his life to the study of Hawaiian volcanoes, and how his work helps save lives today. Space is limited; pick up your free ticket at the Kilauea Visitor Center’s front desk the day of the program. Program includes climbing stairs and entering a confined space. Supported by the Kilauea Drama Entertainment Network (KDEN). Free (park entrance fees apply).
When: June 4, 11, 18 & 25 at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Each performance is about an hour.
Where: Meet at Kilauea Visitor Center
Explore Kahuku. The Kahuku Unit is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free! Take a self-guided hike, or join rangers on Sundays for a two-hour guided trek at 9:30 a.m. (The trail will vary depending on visitor interest). Enter the Kahuku Unit of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on the mauka (inland) side of Highway 11 near mile marker 70.5. Kahuku is located in Ka‘u, and is about a 50-minute drive south of the park’s main entrance. Sturdy footwear, water, raingear, sun protection and a snack are recommended for all hikes.
Kapa Kuiki Demonstration. Hawaiians learned the basic method of kuiki (quilting) with the arrival of the missionaries in the early 1800s. As the art evolved, so did the patterns which are inspired by nature. Cyndy Martinez shares her knowledge about the beautiful art known as kappa kuiki. Part of Hawai‘i Volcanoes’ ‘Ike Hana No‘eau “Experience the Skillful Work” workshops. Free (park entrance fees apply).
When: Wed., June 12 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Where: Kilauea Visitor Center lanai
The Story of the Hawaiian ‘Amakihi. The introduction of avian malaria to the Hawaiian Islands in the early 1900s led to devastating declines in many native Hawaiian birds, but not the ‘amakihi. Join Gabrielle Names, Ph.D. student from U.C. Davis, who has spent four years studying the mystery of how this endemic little bird appears to be beating this deadly disease on Hawai‘i Island. Part of Hawai‘i Volcanoes’ ongoing After Dark in the Park series. Free (park entrance fees apply).
When: Tues., June 18 at 7 p.m.
Where: Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium
Comic Journalism with Andy Warner – June’s Artist in Residence. New York Times’ bestselling comics journalist, author and artist Andy Warner was selected as the park’s artist in residence for June. During his residency, Warner plans to explore the human accommodation to life around volcanoes, and parlay personal stories of culture, science and tradition into a long-form nonfiction comic that explores the aftermath and recovery from the 2018 Kilauea eruption. Part of Hawai‘i Volcanoes’ ongoing After Dark in the Park series, and co-sponsored by the National Park Arts Foundation. Free (park entrance fees apply).
When: Tues., June 25, at 7 p.m.
Lei Ti Demonstration. Learn how to twist your own ti leaf lei. Join rangers and Hawai‘i Pacific Parks Association staff who will share their knowledge and love of one of the most popular lei in Hawai‘i. Part of Hawai‘i Volcanoes’ ‘Ike Hana No‘eau “Experience the Skillful Work” workshops. Free (park entrance fees apply).
Hawaii National Park, HI 96718
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3193
|
__label__wiki
| 0.964466
| 0.964466
|
Jonathan Rhys Meyers detained at LAX after argument with wife
By Rachel DeSantis
Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers was briefly detained by police at Los Angeles International Airport Sunday night after both an argument with his wife and a quick smoke break on board an American Airlines flight.
The “Bend It Like Beckham” star, 40, was flying from Miami to Los Angeles with wife Mara Lane when a “disturbance” broke out and police were told of a possible smoker, Airport Police spokesman Rob Pedregon told the Daily News.
Pedregon said officers responded to the plane’s gate and detained both Meyers and Lane. After an investigation, officers determined no crime had been committed, and the couple, who were traveling with their 1-year-old son, Wolf, were released.
Witnesses said the Irish actor was arguing with Lane, and afterward headed to the bathroom to smoke a vape pen.
“(Meyers) was advised by the flight crew that (he) couldn’t do that. He complied and that was the end of that,” Pedregon said.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers was briefly detained by police at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday night. (Noel Vasquez / Getty Images)
TMZ reported that Meyers’ argument with Lane was profanity-laced and verbally abusive, and that he appeared to be visibly intoxicated.
The actor has long battled substance abuse problems, and has been in and out of rehab six times since 2002.
Lane, whom he married in 2016, revealed in September she had recently suffered a miscarriage, and that the loss had sent Meyers spiraling.
“He took the news particularly not so well… Depression is a real concern from past abuse as well as alcoholism which he was born with,” she wrote on Instagram. “He has been able to turn any ugliness and hurt in his life into art and is the strongest person I know… He is safe and with his sober living companion and bodyguard to get into a detox closer to home since he was denied hospital help twice in Ireland because of an already two-month wait period.”
A rep for Meyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Matt Lauer’s wife files for divorce almost two years after sexual misconduct allegations
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3196
|
__label__cc
| 0.572599
| 0.427401
|
Trump / Russia: A Definitive History
Seth Hettena
Melville House
Walter Clemens
“There are three ways of influencing a person: blackmail, vodka, or the threat of murder.” This view, attributed here to Vladimir Putin, casts a penumbra over the entire book. Still another way to achieve influence is to become someone’s creditor—shifting funds into their bank or real estate projects. If the transfer is done skillfully, it can help each side—launder the creditor’s ill-begotten income and save the debtor from bankruptcy. Putin and his entourage have become masters in all these tools of influence; Donald J. Trump, a beneficiary or victim, depending on one’s orientation.
Investigative reporter Seth Hettena lines this big picture with case studies, for example, funding for Donald Trump’s golf courses in Ireland and Scotland, run by his son Eric. The Scottish course was losing some $2 million per year but hundreds of millions flowed into the UK courses. Eric explained: “We have all the funding we need out of Russia. . . . We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programs. We just go there all the time.”
Since the 1990s Trump became deeply tied to Russian money and Russia mafia. One investigator of these links was Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and founder of private investigative agency Fusion GPS, who testified to several Congressional committees in 2017. He said that “most of the people around Trump had a connection to Russian organized crime or Russia in one way or another.” It seemed “as if all criminal roads led o Trump Tower.” As the Spanish anti-corruption prosecutor José Grinda put it, Putin’s Russia was a virtual “Mafia state.” In Russia one could not tell the difference between the activities of the government and those of its organized-crime groups.
The book does not prove any deliberate collusion between Trump and the Kremlin. It concedes there is no proof that Russian meddling carried Trump to the White House. Still, the president’s dismissal of his own intelligence agencies’ warnings and reliance on a November 2017 conversation with Putin in Vietnam has been, as Hettena puts it, “outrageous.” He quotes the testimony of a jailed Russian hacker to a Russian court that he had hacked into Democratic Party files in 2016 and into “very substantial military entities of the USA.”
Hettena’s book is remarkably up to date. It includes Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian hackers in February 2018 and Trump’s assertion that the FBI missed the many signals put out by the Stoneman Douglas Florida high school shooter, because it was spending too much time trying to prove non-existent Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.
This quite readable spy thriller is deeply researched—12 to 53 citations for the introduction and each of 12 chapters. Hettena has tapped most if not all the relevant books, magazine and newspaper articles plus CNN and National Public Radio reports; court documents such as the February 2018 indictment U.S. vs Internet Research Agency LLC; UK archives on the Litvinenko affair; Facebook stories; the 2011 Deposition of Donald J. Trump in Trilogy Partners v. SBC Associates in a Florida District Court; not to mention tweets from the Trump White House. There is just one Russian language source (perhaps translated), but those statements generated by the Kremlin on these topics could hardly be very enlightening.
Pending completion of the Mueller investigations and those by New York prosecutors, Trump/Russia will be nearly the last word on the subject. To see the larger context, one should consult Timothy Snyder’s Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America, reviewed here at NYJB.
Walter Clemens is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Boston University. He is the author of more than 20 books, most recently North Korea and the World: Human Rights, Arms Control, and Strategies for Negotiation. His many articles on both domestic and international affairs have appeared in scholarly journals as well as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other leading newspapers in various countries.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3197
|
__label__wiki
| 0.912163
| 0.912163
|
One-and-done rule on borrowed time, NBA commissioner says; 2022 draft likely will allow prep players to go pro
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
WASHINGTON - Next month, many of the world's top 19-year-old basketball players will gather in New York for an NBA draft that will change their lives, and their credit limits. The top 18-year-olds, meantime, are preparing for high school graduation and will soon report to college for, in most cases, a single season of basketball. And the many of the top 16-year-olds will find some comfort in knowing the landscape is shifting quickly.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has made clear he thinks the controversial one-and-done rule is no longer good policy, and he said Thursday at an event in Washington that the 2022 draft likely will allow the best high school players to jump straight into the NBA rather than playing a single season of college before turning pro.
"There are a bunch of issues that need to be worked through between us and the players association, so it's something we're in active discussions about," Silver said. "It's a few years away, I think."
The matter has to be collectively bargained, and Silver said implementing the rule sooner than 2022 wouldn't be fair to teams that have made trades involving draft picks nor would it give the league enough time to work with players who would be entering the league at a young age.
Speaking to the Economic Club in a downtown hotel ballroom about a wide range of issues, Silver said setting a date three years down the road would allow the NBA to work with the teenagers, starting with the current group of high school freshmen, and better prepare them for professional basketball. But he also noted that current NCAA rules limit the contact NBA front office officials can have with amateur players.
"So if the rule were to change, we and our players association, USA Basketball, other groups would be working much more directly with those young players to prepare them for the NBA," he said.
The NBA has reached an agreement with USA Basketball that allows front-office personnel to scout the under-16 national camps, ESPN reported last month.
Silver said support for ending the one-and-done rule is not universal among NBA owners, and he said perhaps just half the teams are eager to open the doors to high school players.
"You could argue that in the pure self-interest of the NBA, we're better being at 19 or 20," he said. "If you ask an NBA GM who has to scout those players and make a really difficult decision on who they should draft, in many cases, they would much rather see that player having competed against top-notch competition in college for two years or even three years than just in high school, where it's more difficult to tell."
Silver noted that when he first took on the NBA's top job in 2014, he was actually in favor of raising the league's minimum age to 20. Nine years earlier, the league and the players' union agreed to raise the minimum age from 18 to 19, which barred high school prospects from skipping college entirely. But the commissioner's feelings have evolved.
He said he has learned more about how recruiting works, has followed the federal criminal proceedings involving corruption that extends from college to the youth levels and was swayed especially by an NCAA panel, headed by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, that last year recommended abolishing the one-and-done rule.
"That had a huge impact on me," he said. "That, together with a better understanding of what is happening to these top players . . . I've changed my position."
Thursday's luncheon was attended by about 400 business leaders, including Nationals owner Ted Lerner and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The moderator, David Rubenstein, president of the Economic Club, asked Silver if he's concerned about college players who stop attending classes once their freshmen seasons come to a close.
The commissioner noted that a top-10 pick in next month's draft, if he stays healthy and effective, stands to make $200 million in salary alone over the course of a professional career.
"It's hard, I think, if you're that parent or guardian to say to that player, it's more important that you go to three more classes as opposed to prepare for a really important decision," he said. "I think that's where the hypocrisy lies."
Led by Duke phenom Zion Williamson, about 175 underclassmen announced their intentions to test the draft waters, all hoping for one of 60 spots in the NBA’s two-round draft. Most mock drafts suggest the majority of the top-10 picks will be players who left college following just one season of college ball, and freshmen will comprise around half of the total first-round picks.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3205
|
__label__cc
| 0.586477
| 0.413523
|
& ALLIES
Coordinated Approach To Child Health
CATCH collaborated with researchers at Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health to create CATCH My Breath™, a prevention program specific to middle and high schoolers’ use of E-cigarettes.
Truth Initiative
Tobacco-control research and policy studies, community activism and engagement, and innovation in tobacco dependence treatment.
Flavors Hook Kids NYC
The New York City Council has proposed to protect our kids by limiting the sale of menthol cigarettes to adult-only tobacco retailers and prohibiting the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes, two of the most effective ways to prevent the industry from addicting our kids.
In an effort to combat the tobacco industry's latest marketing strategies aimed at getting youth hooked on nicotine, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today launched a new "Flavors Hook Kids" campaign.
Stanford University Medical School: Tobacco Prevention Toolkit
This module provides an understanding of the inner workings of e-cigarettes, the content of the aerosols they produce, and thirdhand smoke. It's broken down into 5 units, each of which explore e-cigarettes in-depth.
There’s a lot the e-cig industry isn’t telling us about vaping.
Truth.com
Big Tobacco is constantly evolving their game plan. We need to constantly evolve ours. We are a generation with new beliefs and new ideas. Let's get creative.
Mass.gov
Preventing E-Cigarette and Tobacco Use by Young People. The Attorney General’s Office is committed to the enforcement of tobacco and nicotine control laws, including e-cigarette laws, and preventing youth access to these product
Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law
This snapshot of U.S. e-cigarette regulation was prepared by the Public Health Law Center. The information is based on a survey of current state statutes (plus Washington, D.C.) pertaining to e-cigarettes.
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
For more than 20 years, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has fought to protect children and save lives from the #1 cause of preventable death: tobacco use.
Don’t Trust JUUL
Juul enticed kids with sweet flavors like mango, crème and mint, then hooked them with a strong nicotine hit. Last year, teen e-cigarette use spiked 78%. It’s an epidemic.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3206
|
__label__cc
| 0.542012
| 0.457988
|
In Europe, Fingers Pointing Over Origin of Deadly, Costly New E. Coli Strain
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/in-europe-fingers-pointing-over-origin-of-deadly-costly-new-e-coli-strain
A deadly new strain of E. coli is sickening hundreds throughout Europe and so far baffling researchers and health officials. Ray Suarez reports on the outbreak that has many Europeans concerned about the contents of their salads and soups.
JEFFREY BROWN:
Next tonight, a new food scare in Europe, in an age when the fruit and vegetables on your table can come from just about anywhere.
Ray Suarez has the story.
RAY SUAREZ:
Scientists in this German laboratory worked today to find out more about the deadly form of E. coli that's afflicting Europe.
HOLGER ROHDE, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (through translator):
We were able to determine that this is a new strain, a version of the pathogen not seen before.
Preliminary testing indicates it may be a mutated form of two E. coli bacteria, which may explain why this outbreak is so widespread and dangerous. At least 18 people are dead so far, 1,600 people are sick.
Cucumbers, raw lettuce and tomatoes are the prime suspects, but the source of the outbreak has yet to be identified. The illness has spread to at least 10 European countries, and Russia today banned the importation of all vegetables from the European Union.
The move was praised by Russians.
MAN (through translator):
About the ban on importing vegetables from Europe, it's absolutely the right decision, as if we didn't have our own. We need to support our own producers.
But E.U. leaders said the Russian action was disproportionate.
Overall, Germany has been hardest-hit, with nearly all the victims either living there or having recently traveled to the country. Initially, the Germans said the E. coli came from Spanish cucumbers, but that turned out not to be true.
ILSE AIGNER, German agriculture minister (through translator): The source simply cannot be clarified yet. It is clear that these bacteria have appeared in humans and we are working nonstop to find out where they have come from.
Spain says lost sales are costing its farmers $287 million a week. And despite an agriculture minister enjoying one on television, many are still afraid to buy Spanish cucumbers.
ALVARO TORRES, food seller (through translator): Shoppers don't say anything, but they are not buying cucumbers. Now, we are in season for high sales of cucumbers. When it gets hot, it is used in gazpacho and salads, but we are hardly selling any at all.
AMELIA MONTERO, shopper (through translator):
My husband likes them a lot, and so do I. But, at the moment, I am going to wait.
ANTONIO ARAUJO, shopper (through translator):
I am not frightened. I eat cucumbers every day. This thing about the cucumbers is a piece of nonsense invented by the Germans.
Previous E. coli outbreaks have mainly hit children and the elderly, but this one is disproportionately hitting adults in a way that hasn't before been seen.
ERIK OLSON, Pew Charitable Trusts:
This form of E. coli seems to be attacking people's kidneys and making people sick in a way that seems to be unusual, and is much more dangerous than some of the other strains that we have seen before.
More than 450 victims have developed a rare complication, kidney failure. For now, officials are struggling to halt the outbreak and pinpoint the cause. And some scientists think the answer is in sight.
HUGH PENNINGTON, University of Aberdeen: Clearly, this is a German problem. It is German food that has caused the outbreak. It may be entirely a German problem, not food produced anywhere else and imported into Germany. And there's no evidence that food anywhere else, eaten anywhere else has caused any cases at all.
But nailing down the final answers won't be easy, in an age when countries no longer rely exclusively on their own farmers and import much of what they eat.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3209
|
__label__cc
| 0.580779
| 0.419221
|
In This Article Energy Resources and Use
Petroleum (Crude Oil and Refined Products)
Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Barry D. Solomon
LAST REVIEWED: 02 February 2017
Human societies have depended on access to readily available supplies of fuel and other energy resources since the earliest civilizations, because people need energy to conduct work and to survive. This dependence has been an important factor in the location of communities. The earliest sources of energy were animal and human muscle power, including slaves, and various forms of biomass, solar, and wind power. As technology advanced, especially since the Industrial Revolution, an increasing variety of energy resources and use patterns emerged that have allowed human societies to consume energy on a much larger scale. Given the central role of energy and fuel use and efficiency in society, geographers have long recognized the importance of this subject, though they have not studied it in a unified way and also have relied on insights and methods from many other disciplines. The perspectives and methods of economic, transportation, political, and cultural geography; technological hazards; and geographic information systems have been common among geographers’ study of energy, though several other approaches can be found in the literature. Studies in developed countries focus on the growth and leading role of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas), nuclear power, and other sources of electricity, while in developing countries biomass energy sources still dominate as these societies struggle to develop and modernize. The most recent works address energy and the challenges of climate change, renewable energy, and sustainable development.
Several comprehensive summaries have been written about energy geography, mostly as books and book chapters. Many overview books on the topic have been compiled, though usually these are broader volumes that, although enriched by geography, do not restrict themselves to a single perspective as would a textbook on energy geography alone. This approach is logical because, like geography, energy is a broad subject that requires at least a minimal background in many other fields to appreciate its richness, including physics, geology, engineering, economics, ecology, history, sociology, and more. Smil 2006 and Cook 1976 are good places to start, but a review of recent energy statistics will also be valuable (see Reference Works). Also, because the energy field encompasses a large number of competing energy units, conversion factors, terminology, and a plethora of fascinating topics, readers also should consult Cleveland 2009, Cleveland and Morris 2009, or Cleveland and Morris 2013. For readers interested in quick reviews of the major contributions by geographers to the recent energy literature, the decades since 1990 are well covered in Solomon, et al. 2004; Pasqualetti and Brown 2014; and Calvert 2016. A broad overview volume of the field, targeted to graduate students, is that of Solomon and Calvert 2017. The current challenges raised by large-scale energy use, and related issues such as climate change, portend a conflict-laden future. One view of these challenges is provided in Smil 2003, though there are many others, given the contested nature of energy options (see Energy Policy).
Calvert, Kirby E. “From ‘Energy Geography’ to ‘Energy Geographies’: Perspectives on a Fertile Academic Borderland.” Progress in Human Geography 40.1 (2016): 105–125.
DOI: 10.1177/0309132514566343E-mail Citation »
In addition to reviewing geographical approaches to energy studies, this paper argues convincingly that a plurality of approaches to the study of energy geography is the norm. Problems, opportunities, and uncertainties that energy geographers address in their various research foci also are reviewed.
Cleveland, Cutler J., ed. Concise Encyclopedia of the History of Energy. San Diego, CA: Elsevier, 2009.
An update of the 2004 six-volume Encyclopedia of Energy of almost 5,400 pages, also edited by Cleveland, which covered every conceivable energy topic. Though available in many libraries, the much longer 2004 version has gone out of print. (It is still available for purchase as an e-book; see Cleveland 2004, cited under Reference Works.) Articles are mid-length, and this 2009 encyclopedia covers the main areas of energy history in just 368 pages.
Cleveland, Cutler J., and Christopher G. Morris, eds. Dictionary of Energy: Expanded Edition. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 2009.
A dictionary covering all major energy terms, including theoretical, environmental, and economic aspects of energy resources, production, and use.
Cleveland, Cutler J., and Christopher G. Morris. Handbook of Energy. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2013.
Volume 1 provides diagrams, charts, and tables, while Volume 2 includes top ten lists, word clouds, and important chronologies in the history of energy development. Both volumes are organized by energy sources, foundations, applications, effects, and correlations.
Cook, Earl F. Man, Energy, Society. San Francisco: Freeman, 1976.
Classic text that considers the broader challenges raised by growing energy use, resource depletion, and environmental degradation. Cook recommends an adjustment in values and lifestyles as a prudent response to energy and resource realities.
Pasqualetti, Martin J., and Marilyn A. Brown. “Ancient Discipline, Modern Concern: Geographers in the Field of Energy and Society.” Energy Research & Social Science 1 (2014): 122–133.
DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2014.03.016E-mail Citation »
Less of a temporal perspective on the contributions of geographers to energy research, this review focuses on important geographic topics such as renewable energy and energy security, and geographical analysis tools to advance the study of energy resources and energy systems.
Smil, Vaclav. Energy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2003.
Written by a prolific Canadian geographer and author of numerous energy books. In this volume, Smil argues for a reduction in societal dependence on fossil fuels because of economic, social, and security problems, and he highlights the pitfalls of energy forecasting, including peak oil.
Smil, Vaclav. Energy: A Beginner’s Guide. Oxford: Oneworld, 2006.
Short monograph that addresses energy in the biosphere, in human history (both pre- and post-industrialization), and in everyday life. Relies heavily on previous writings by the author.
Solomon, Barry D., and Kirby E. Calvert, eds. Handbook on the Geographies of Energy. Northhampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2017.
A broad handbook of thirty-eight chapters, if not fully comprehensive, that provides an overview of the field. Chapters are organized into six parts: fuels, energies, energy consumption: sectors and end use, changing energy landscapes (including eight world regional case studies and two chapters on energy transitions), energy at the nexus, and conceptual approaches to energy geographies looking forward.
Solomon, Barry D., Martin J. Pasqualetti, and Deborah A. Luchsinger. “Energy Geography.” In Geography in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century. Edited by Gary L. Gaile and Cort J. Willmott, 302–313. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Reviews the major trends in the energy geography literature for the period 1989–2002. The evolution of core topics and themes among geographers studying energy are discussed.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3210
|
__label__wiki
| 0.80802
| 0.80802
|
Who Was The Critic And Philosophy Professor Who Helped Begin The Harlem Renaissance?
But despite his rough start at Nebraska, Douglas was supported by the director of. upon Douglas in a letter to Professor H. M. Kurtzworth at the Kansas City Art. the philosophies of the leading African American intellectuals, such as the editor. The "primative" style Douglas utilized during the Harlem Renaissance period.
May 4, 2012. Professor, critic, author of cultural history of the Depression. In 1926 Carl Van Vechten, a white music and dance critic turned popular. Alain Locke, a philosopher who didn't even live in Harlem but intimately knew the scene. building up the collection, beginning with interminable negotiations with Yale.
We started working on AfroComic Con and our mission is to help keep alive the beautiful things. So I’m thinking about this term “renaissance”—what specific qualities made the Harlem Renaissance.
restauro della monarchia d’italia a riprendere i punti della Constitutzione del 1948; Italian Monarchical restauration re-set to the Constitutional guarantees of 1948
Feb 5, 2019. At the time some critics attacked the book, not believing that a black man could. as the Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey Or, Africa for the Africans. While the Harlem Renaissance, based in the African American. and outside American literature and as helping to revitalize the country's writing.
teleSUR English is an alternative representation for world news. We focus on the people, the common citizen, stories untold by traditonal media. You will only find them at teleSUR.
Apr 27, 2019 · Stuart Carothers 1923-2019. Former Executive Director of Recording for the Blind and Founder of the Princeton Area Community Foundation. Stuart Carothers passed away peacefully February 2, 2019 in Lawrenceville, NJ, at Morris Hall Meadows, where he and his wife, Dodie, were together after 60 years in Princeton Borough and Princeton Windrows in Plainsboro.
A reboot is a delicate thing. When a once-profitable franchise of characters becomes stale, outdated, or overly complex, there will always be voices calling for the slate to be wiped clean: to take.
The Harlem Renaissance inspired Negritude. There is no clear end date to the movement, and some literary critics say that it still continues today, in any.
His courses include Harlem Renaissance, Black Crime Fiction, and Postmodern Blackness. Visiting Faculty Postings and Faculty Fellowships. Holcomb was conferred a Faculty Fellowship Leave for Spring 2017. As well as the introduction to the book, Holcomb contributed “A Classroom. Chester Himes, New Criticism.
Postmedia Solutions gives you the power to grow your business. We blend media expertise with smart marketing. It’s the perfect balance of creativity and science to propel brand awareness, engagement, conversion and loyalty.
In 1956, Yvor Winters, a poet, critic, and professor at Stanford. about "theory," meaning approaches to prose and poetry rooted in esoteric European philosophy. In the ’90s, the battle was over the.
Ethiopian Business and Lifestyle. On Ethiopian New Year’s day on September 11, 2018 Ethiopia and Eritrea re-opened their borders for the first time in two decades “cementing a stunning reconciliation and giving Addis Ababa a direct route to its former foe’s Red Sea ports,” Reuters pointed out.
Our Faith St. Michael’s Hungarian Byzantine Catholic Church. Perth Amboy, NJ. Holy Spirit Byzantine Catholic Church. Pittsburgh, PA. Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia – Archeparchy of Presov
SAAVEDRA, Neil: KKLA, 1990-92; KFI, 1996-2019.Neil is the marketing director at KFI and is "Jesus" on KFI’s Sunday morning. He also hosts "The Fork Report." Born into a large family of seven kids and raised in Southern California, Neil started his career in radio in January of 1990.
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. of gentrification to make themselves felt in areas such as Harlem and the.
Ann Petry, whose 1948 novel "The Street" was one of the best-selling works by a Harlem Renaissance writer. Mr. Shepard, a Trinity College professor, also wrote a Pulitzer-winning biography of.
Apr 3, 2019. best chemistry help website Harlem renaissance research paper topics. Additionally students were encouraged to utilise teacher feedback and. It is preferable to teach folk songs as a political philosopher and peace – index. through four phases, beginning with the important role in planning education.
PRIMO, the largest independent national magazine for and about Italian Americans, provides quality journalism on Italian American history, heritage, and achievements. PRIMO discusses topics of importance to Italian Americans with articles on Italian art, language, travel, food and wine.
executive director of the Jazz Museum in Harlem, "turned around jazz’s absence from American cultural life". Yet Marsalis was once described by the veteran US critic Nat Hentoff as the dogmatic "pope.
Sims 4 Free Will Romance Sims 4 Skill Cheat. Sims 4 cheats on PC, MAC, and Console are all the same. You can use any cheat code in a different gaming platform.The Sims 4 skill cheat is used to increase and decrease your skill set for a sim character. There are various skills available for a sim. But while a
Here are some great new books that we highly recommend, each for their own reason. Naturally, we have lots of other new books — just send us an inquiry by clicking on the INQUIRY button at the bottom to ask if you want to know if we have whatever your looking for.
help inform audiences about the exhibition Aaron Douglas: African American. of the harlem Renaissance and had a lasting impact on the history of art. a big city that was entirely black, from beginning to end you were impressed by the. philosophers, and musicians, flocked to a roughly two-square mile section of upper.
The charter applications will be the first considered by the new school board, after the city took back control of its schools from the state this summer.
National Platform Socialist Labor Party of America Adopted by the Eleventh National Convention, Chicago, May 1904 And approved by a general vote of the party’s membership.
It’s said that Hurston—with her brazen wit, affable humor, and charm—waltzed into the Harlem scene, easily befriending actress Ethel Waters, and poets Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. Professor.
With such details, Thomas Brothers locates the racially charged backdrop to. Women made a fortune singing the blues, the Harlem Renaissance was in full bloom and the puritanism of prohibition was.
Margaret Donaldson Is In A Constructivist Margaret Sanger (1879 – 1966), Birth control Margaret Sanger was born as Margaret Louisa Higgins on the 14th of September 1879 in New York She was one of the 11 children born to Catholic working-class Irish American family. Her mother went through the 18 pregnancies (11 live birth and 7 miscarriages) in 22 years so that means that every 1.2 year.
The Harlem Renaissance, for Locke, was another expression of the. The New Negro—Locke was positioning himself as the philosopher and strategist of a movement. His essays and lectures helped shape cultural debates, but he never. The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke, by Jeffrey C. Stewart, a professor of.
Windows 8.1 National Academic Edition 1997. Energy Conservation Landscaping, An Essential Component of Sustainable Neighbourhoods, Proceedings of 8 th National American Urban Forestry Conference, Atlanta. Parks Department 1994. D’moos. IT is just a metal door with three windows. Edition, or NNAT2, for the Bracken exam. This is what children competing for placements next year started facing this month, in tests
Extreme Value Theory Investopedia In cases of mean reversion, the thought is that any price that strays far from the long-term norm will again return, reverting to its understood state. The theory is focused on the reversion of only. Extreme Value Theory: Fuhgetaboudit. A SHORT PEDAGOGICAL NOTE Nassim N. Taleb. Extreme Value Theory has been considered a panacea for
For years, he and his parents traveled from their home in Harlem to his grandfather’s farm in the North. Schleussner, a former art and architecture critic for The Baltimore Sun who championed.
If you are a teacher searching for educational material, please visit PBS LearningMedia for a wide range of free digital resources spanning preschool through 12th grade.
Marcel Danesi, a professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto. Trying to solve them “is similar to finding the great answers in philosophy or science,” Danesi says. “It’s a process that.
Post Script: This is the first of two articles that, in part, are based on the philosophy of Karl Popper. These articles were motivated by an exchange of ideas with Doug Campbell, one of the proprietors of ClimateDebateDaily and a climate change proponent. Correspondence with Doug has renewed my faith that good people can not only have honest differences of opinion but that they can discuss.
Eric B: Disc Jockey: Eric B for President: 08-Nov-1965-Melanie B: Singer: Scary Spice: 29-May-1975-Notorious B.I.G. Rapper: I love it when you call me big poppa
Nov 19, 2018. Professor Stewart holds an appointment in UCSB's Department of Black. the first African-American Rhodes Scholar and studied philosophy at Oxford. as the “Father of the Harlem Renaissance,” a theorist and critic of art and literature, " Reducing the status divide between humans and animals helps to.
September. Fiction. Being Lily by Qarnita Loxton – The eagerly-awaited second novel from the author of the brilliant Being Kari. Heads of the Colored People: Stories by Nafissa Thompson-Spires – Calling to mind the best works of Paul Beatty and Junot Díaz, this collection of moving, timely, and darkly funny stories examines the concept of black identity in this so-called post-racial era.
Franz Boas was born in Minden, Westphalia, the son of Sophie Meyer and Meier Boas.Although his grandparents were observant Jews, his parents embraced Enlightenment values, including their assimilation into modern German society. Boas’s.
Alain Locke facts: Philosophy professor Alain Locke put forth the theory of. else, he familiarized white Americans with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, while. in the War of 1812 and helped to establish an educational tradition in his family. Because of his efforts, white critics began to take African American writing.
Someone else quickly identified a young woman dancing next to Pai as a right-wing conspiracy theorist who had helped. influence of a professor, Martin Feldstein, who had advised Ronald Reagan, he.
Cultivating empathy: the subversive potential of populist comic books / Marc DiPaolo — Past lives: memory and the meaning of work in The walking dead.
Jan 1, 2009. The Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Renaissance, though the many of his philosophical ideas which. identities contributed to the ideas expressed in their novels. Critics have praised Cane and minimized Toomer; similarly, Van Vechten's. into the Harlem Renaissance community as a patron and then.
Mar 25, 2019. The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance by George Hutchinson ( Editor). Cambridge Companions Literature and Classics series, Philosophy, Also, general criticism of Hughes as a writer, and some information on. with 30,000 signed and peer-reviewed articles contributed by nearly.
Zoology Lecturer Jobs In Tamilnadu Greatest achievement: Managing to cling onto my job. Most women I know were forced to leave. Getting into it: She spent a long eight years getting a zoology degree as she had to work intermittently. So, what is the best way to get a job working with animals. David Aldridge is a senior lecturer in
As life there The Harlem Renaissance marked the first became increasingly unbearable, University Professor of matrix of that section of America which has Philosophy Alain. It contributed to a whites could African Americans gain growing race. and a cultural critic who It was one of Locke's “dreams” that encouraged,
Mundell, a Columbia economics professor. home to the critic Lionel Trilling, the poet Allen Ginsberg and the physicist I. I. Rabi, among others — Columbia, by the 1970’s, had slid. Its students.
She helped form the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and was involved with nearly every charity associated with horse racing. Chenery was also a strong advocate in the fight against.
The pre-viewing questions and activities are designed to help students gain background knowledge. Discuss or write a report on the Harlem Renaissance. What philosophical and political beliefs are embedded in each of these terms?. influence between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II?
Was Toomer—a central figure in two faces of American modernism, the New Negro (or Harlem Renaissance) Movement and the Lost. me"—in his December 1922 letter to the novelist and social critic Waldo.
Feb 18, 2011. I will first attempt to define the Harlem Renaissance, its temporal. white patrons and publishers, that contributed to the flowering of the New Negro movement. was in vogue" in America; when critics, editors, publishers were becoming. Hughes had been introduced to Locke, a professor of philosophy at.
Jan 31, 2019 · W. R. Rodgers at the BBC “In Ireland why a man becomes a poet is a question not to be asked,” writes Darcy O’Brien in W. R. Rodgers (1970), his fine memoir of the poet from the Bucknell University Press Irish Writers Series. Yet unlike the typical Irish poet, Rodgers did not really discover the poetry in himself until he was nearing the age of thirty and busy with his life as a.
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. He is Tony Garcia, a 43-year-old former City University philosophy.
Set in Harlem instead of Kansas, the all-black adaptation stars the. With a songbook that introduced standards like "Ol’ Man River" and "Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man," this one is hard to top for any.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published in 1965, the result of a collaboration between human rights activist Malcolm X and journalist Alex Haley.Haley coauthored the autobiography based on a series of in-depth interviews he conducted between 1963 and Malcolm X’s 1965 assassination. The Autobiography is a spiritual conversion narrative that outlines Malcolm X’s philosophy of black pride.
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." Matthew 5:9. This web page lists famous peacemakers in birth order, thus enabling the visualization of contemporary groups & ever changing patterns of "peace work" over the years. Names in black are linked to biographies outside this website, usually Wikipedia.
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start. a visiting professor of African-American studies at Harvard, said: ”In some ways, we’ve smoothed Dr.
The contrasts between the two men begin with experience. It was there, he says, that his aesthetic sensibility and his architectural philosophy were born. Help Not Wanted You can see Tunisia in the.
Previous Post: Who Is The Potions Professor At Hogwarts
Next Post: Journal Article Based On Dissertation
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3211
|
__label__wiki
| 0.635332
| 0.635332
|
Microsoft Cuts Xbox One Price to $249
The limited-time deal comes just one week before the launch of Redmond's next-gen S console.
By Stephanie Mlot
July 25, 2016 9:25AM EST
Out with the old and in with the new: Microsoft is selling its 500GB Xbox One console for a discounted $249.
The limited-time deal comes comes just one week before the "sleeker, slimmer, sharper" 2TB Xbox One S is set to hit shelves.
Xbox Live's Larry Hryb tweeted the news on Sunday, directing customers to Amazon for the "Name Your Game Bundle."
Alongside a 500GB Xbox One, gamers can choose the digital download code for one of four titles—Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider (pictured), Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, or Rare Replay. The bundle also includes a black wireless controller, AC power cable, HDMI cable, and 14-day free trial of Xbox Live Gold.
Lara Croft fans, meanwhile, might want to check out GameStop's offer, which includes the digital game code for Rise of the Tomb Raider, as well as a $30 GameStop digital gift card.
Xbox One Serves Up 'Excessive Game Playing' Warnings
Holding out for something more? The wait is almost over for Redmond's next-gen S console, unveiled earlier this year at E3. Forty percent smaller than its predecessor, the Xbox One S boasts an IR blaster, integrated power supply, and support for HDR gaming, 4K Ultra HD video, and Blu-ray. Plus, all Xbox One games, accessories, and Live services will work with the S.
Anyone who pre-ordered the $399 2TB version should have it on their doorstep on Aug. 2. At the same time, the machine hits store shelves "in limited quantities" in the US, UK, and Canada, as well as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey.
Microsoft promised to share more details on the specific availability and dates of the cheaper 1TB ($349) and 500GB ($299) models "soon."
These Games Are Trying to Help Keep Juveniles Out of Prison
Verizon's $4.8B Yahoo Acquisition Is Official
Stephanie Mlot
Stephanie joined PCMag in May 2012, moving to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in ... See Full Bio
More From Stephanie
10 Halloween Costumes to Help You Geek Out
8 High-Tech Wedding Ideas
18 Games to Help You Survive the Commute
Muzzle Chatty Colleagues With Hushme Headset
8 Tech Execs Who Should NOT Run for Office
Like It or Not, You're Getting Twitter's Redesigned Website Soon
The Best Amazon Prime Day Deals
Instagram Flaw Could've Let Hackers Break Into Your Account
The Best Prime Day Laptop Deals
Apple iPad vs. iPad Air vs. iPad mini vs. iPad Pro: Which Tablet Should You Buy?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3212
|
__label__wiki
| 0.974402
| 0.974402
|
Google to set up Wi-Fi in 400 Indian railway stations
The service will be initially free but has a long-term aim of being self-sustainable
Bangalore Correspondent, IDG News Service | PT
India Press Information Bureau
Google is to provide high-speed public Wi-Fi in 400 Indian railway stations that carry millions of passengers every day, giving the company an important headway in the country.
The Internet giant is working with the Indian Railways and RailTel, a government-owned provider of telecommunications infrastructure to the railways, to initially cover 100 of the busiest stations in India before the end of 2016. The first stations are expected to come online in the coming months.
"Even with just the first 100 stations online, this project will make Wi-Fi available for the more than 10 million people who pass through every day," wrote Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a blog post. The service will be offered free initially, but the aim is to make the project eventually self-sustainable, so as to provide Wi-Fi to more stations and other places, he added.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi watches a demonstration of a Google intelligent contact lens at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA, on Sept. 27, 2015.
India's railways has the capacity to carry 21 million people daily and it plans to create capacity for 30 million passengers in the next five years, with track length also going up by 20 percent to about 138,000 kilometers.
India currently has about 300 million people already online.
The commercial terms of the deal between Google and Indian Railways, including whether the company will be allowed to serve advertisements to users at the railway stations, were not disclosed. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pichai expects railway passengers to use the Wi-Fi to "stream a high definition video while they’re waiting, research their destination, or download some videos, a book or a new game for the journey ahead."
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Google's headquarters on Sunday as part of his effort to drum up support from Silicon Valley companies for his Digital India project, which aims to connect more Indians through the Internet.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with Google executives including CEO Sundar Pichai and Founder Larry Page at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA, on Sept. 27, 2015.
"We want our 1.25 billion citizens to be digitally connected. We already have broadband usage across India go up by 63 percent last year. We need to accelerate this further," Modi told Silicon Valley executives at a dinner in San Jose on Saturday.
The country has launched an aggressive expansion of the national optical fibre network that will take broadband to 600,000 villages, he told the executives, according to India's Press Information Bureau.
India does not censor the Internet systematically as does neighboring China, but it has in the past had conflicts with Internet companies and local users over access to data by law enforcement, and the removal of pornographic content and material considered religiously offensive.
Ahead of Modi's visit to the U.S., the country's ministry of information technology released draft rules for encryption that would have required users to store the plain texts of encrypted information for 90 days from the date of a transaction and provide the text to law enforcement agencies when required under the laws of the country. The draft rules were hastily withdrawn after protests from Indian users, and the government clarified that it did not represent its policy.
On Sunday, Modi also visited Facebook's headquarters and had a Town Hall Q&A for which the company said it had received more than 40,000 questions from the Facebook community.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speak at Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, CA, on Sept. 27, 2015.
Both Facebook and Google have launched development-focused programs in India. Both companies, however, also have problems in India.
Facebook's Internet.org app and mobile website, renamed Free Basics by Facebook last week, has been criticized for creating a "walled garden" of free Internet services including its own for low-income users. The company has said it has opened up the project to any interested developer, under certain conditions. Google is meanwhile being investigated by the Competition Commission of India for anti-competitive practices in its advertising programs.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3213
|
__label__wiki
| 0.707028
| 0.707028
|
Reporting World War II Vol. 2 (LOA #78)
American Journalism 1944-1946
Compiled by Samuel Hynes, Anne Matthews, Nancy Caldwell Sorel and Roger J. Spiller
Part of Library of America Classic Journalism Collection
Category: World War II Military History | Reference
Sep 01, 1995 | 950 Pages
About Reporting World War II Vol. 2 (LOA #78)
This Library of America volume (along with its companion) evokes an extraordinary period in American history—and in American journalism. Martha Gellhorn, Ernie Pyle, John Hersey, A.J. Liebling, Edward R. Murrow, Janet Flanner: in a time when public perceptions were shaped mainly by the written word, correspondents like these were often as influential as politicians and as celebrated as movie stars.
This second volume traces the final eighteen months of the war: the campaign in Italy and the Southwest Pacific, the Normandy invasion, the island battles from Saipan to Iwo Jima, the liberation of Paris, the Battle of the Bulge, the fall of Berlin, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Here are Ernie Pyle bearing witness to war in the infantrymen’s foxholes; A.J. Liebling on D-Day; Robert Sherrod and Tom Lea landing with Marines and registering the horrors of Pacific Island warfare; Martha Gellhorn and Edward R. Murrow indelibly reporting on the liberation of Dachau and Buchenwald. Here too are two great book-length works, included in full: Bill Mauldin’s Up Front, the classic evocation of war from the GI’s point of view, complete with his famous cartoons, and Hiroshima, John Hersey’s compassionate account of the first atomic bombing and its aftermath.
Writers who covered the home front are included as well: S.J. Perelman on the absurdities of wartime advertising, James Agee on the impact of wartime newsreels, E.B. White on the United Nations conference in San Francisco. Here too are writers on aspects of the war still often neglected: Vincent Tubbs and Bill Davidson on the combat role of African-American soldiers; Susan B. Anthony II on working in the Navy Yard; I.F. Stone protesting U.S. government inaction in the face of Nazi genocide.
This volume contains a detailed chronology of the war, historical maps, biographical profiles of the journalists, explanatory notes, a glossary of military terms, and an index. Also included are thirty-two pages of photographs of the correspondents, many from private collections and never seen before.
LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
Also in Library of America Classic Journalism Collection
Published by Library of America
Sep 01, 1995 | 950 Pages | ISBN 9781883011055
People Who Read Reporting World War II Vol. 2 (LOA #78) Also Read
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3216
|
__label__cc
| 0.588835
| 0.411165
|
Penske Truck Leasing Opens New Location in Lancaster, Pa
New facility provides more working space and state-of-the-art equipment.
READING, PA (May 13, 2005) - Penske Truck Leasing announced today that it opened a new facility at 1930 Lasalle Avenue, Lancaster, Pa. that will offer full service leasing, contract maintenance and commercial and consumer truck rental services.
The 17,800 square foot facility was built on nine acres of land and will employ approximately 45 associates from in and around the Lancaster area. It can effectively handle maintenance on over 1,000 vehicles and has a two-lane fuel service island that provides diesel and gasoline. The facility replaces two smaller lease facilities that were located in East Hemfield township.
"Our new Lancaster facility gives us more working space and state-of-the-art equipment that will enable us to serve our customers more effectively," said Jack Gallagher, Area Vice President. "Additionally, by consolidating two facilities into one, the company will benefit from reduced facility costs."
Location hours for rental services at Penske's new location are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday. Maintenance services are available from 5 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
For additional information about the facility and the services available, contact Don Metcalf, Corporate Communications Manager, at (610) 775-6001 or don.metcalf@penske.com.
Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P., headquartered in Reading, Pa., is a joint venture of Penske Corporation and General Electric. A leading global transportation services provider, the company operates more than 200,000 vehicles and serves customers from nearly 1,000 locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Europe. Product lines include full-service leasing, contract maintenance, commercial and consumer truck rentals, transportation and warehousing management, and supply chain management solutions. Penske Truck Leasing's annual revenue is approximately US $3.7 billion. The company can be reached at www.pensketruckleasing.com.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3217
|
__label__cc
| 0.541564
| 0.458436
|
Major John F. Gallup
December 14, 1931 ~ February 15, 2019 (age 87)
AUBURN | Major John F. Gallup, 87, of Auburn, passed away early Friday morning, Feb. 15, 2019, at Auburn Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
He was born on Dec. 14, 1931 in Hartford, Conn., the son of the late John and Elizabeth Montgomery Gallup. John proudly served his country for more than 20 years in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He encompassed more than 5,000 flying hours in which more than 1,200 of them were combat hours while flying over Vietnam. He would receive numerous medals for his honorable and courageous service, including the prestigious Bronze Star and Sixteenth Leaf Oak Cluster Air Medal for his outstanding heroism during the war. John would retire out of Fort Devens, Mass. as a commissioned officer, with the title of Major.
He is survived by his wife, Shiela (Kellogg) Gallup, of Auburn; his sons, Chris (Caroline) Gallup, of Lyons, Scott (Lucy) Gallup, of Texas, and Bruce Gallup, of Norwood, N.Y.; four grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; as well as several nieces, nephews, and cousins.
In addition to his parents, John was predeceased by two brothers, Douglas and William Gallup.
There are no calling hours . A memorial service will be held Friday, May 10,2019 at 1:00 pm in Pettigrass Funeral Home, 196 Genesee St. Burial will follow in Sampson Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery, where full military honors will be accorded.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3222
|
__label__cc
| 0.580665
| 0.419335
|
Partnered content
This article was produced in partnership with RB.
The Pharmaceutical Journal retains sole editorial responsibility.
The Pharmaceutical Journal5 JUL 2019By Jennifer Ong
Jennifer Ong
Lecturer, The University of Sydney School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
, Jonathan Penm
Jonathan Penm
This resource, part of the acute pain learning series, has been developed to help pharmacists understand the quality of evidence from clinical data to inform the advice they give to patients.
Finding the best evidence requires knowledge of the best quality, most appropriate sources and how to use them
A broad range of clinical evidence exists, but understanding the quality and the relevance of those data can be complicated.
Understanding study design, as well as the statistics and common terms used in the literature will make this vital source of information more accessible.
Pharmacy professionals must be able to extropolate this information from the evidence base and correctly apply it to patients.
Clinical data inform guidelines and practice, and are the foundation upon which evidence-based medicine rests. However, not all data are equivalent or of equal quality. Consequently, pharmacists and pharmacy teams must develop strategies to assess the quality of evidence for health claims, effectiveness and applicability.
This article will examine the sources of evidence; the variety of evidence types and study designs; and how results are typically reported. It also looks at the precautions pharmacists and pharmacy teams should take when interpreting results as part of the clinical decision-making process, and the questions you should ask yourself when applying evidence-based practice to your patient (see Box), as these decisions can ultimately impact patients. For information on clinical guidelines and the evidence-base to support the management of acute pain, see ‘Clinical guidelines and evidence base for acute pain management’.
Types of analytic study design
The objective of clinical studies is to establish the effect of an intervention (e.g. drugs, devices and/or health education). This is achieved by controlling for bias and minimising variation. For the evaluation of proposed interventions (e.g. a new drug treatment), randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are considered to be the ‘gold standard’. Studies of this type minimise selection bias through randomising the allocation of the intervention and a control (e.g. placebo or standard drug treatment) to participants[1]. In randomised crossover studies, interpatient variability — which may affect outcomes of the study — may be precluded from influencing the findings by allowing participants to serve as their own control. This involves exposing the control participants allocated to the treatment and vice versa at different, predetermined stages of the study, then comparing outcome measures accordingly[2]. Unlike open-label trials, blinding both participants and researchers (‘double blind’) to the intervention type further reduces bias during outcome reporting and interpretation.
Observational analytic
Where allocation of a suitable control may not be possible in some situations (owing to practical or ethical reasons), observational studies — which generally do not involve direct intervention by the researchers — may be carried out. More specifically, a cohort study involves the observation of a group of subjects from the population and tracking outcomes at specified intervals over a given period of time (longitudinal). Alternatively, a cross-sectional study includes subgroups that are representative of the subpopulations that exist in a population of interest and provides a snapshot of outcomes. In the absence of a control group, subjects who are exposed to a treatment may still be compared to other subjects who are matched for one or more relevant variable (e.g. age, health status, socioeconomic background) but are not exposed to the treatment. These are considered to be case-controlled studies.
When a sufficient number of studies have been carried out, the findings can be synthesised in a systematic review, which may involve statistical analysis (also known as meta-analysis). In some instances, different interventions that have not been directly studied in the same trial but share a common comparator in other studies, may still be compared indirectly in a network meta-analysis (see Figure 1)[3].
Show Fullscreen
Figure 1: Overview of the main types of analytic study design, including some of their advantages and disadvantages
*Relative to the other options
Sources of evidence
When looking to answer a clinical question, there are many places to find evidence. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews[4] is an excellent starting point because, among other things, each systematic review is independently compiled by at least two people[5]. Included studies are also assessed for quality as well as bias. Evidence summaries available from the Joanna Briggs Institute, an international not-for-profit, research and development centre within the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Adelaide, are also a useful resource as these provide overviews of synthesised evidence presented in systematic reviews[6]. Additionally, evidence from individual studies can be obtained from medical databases including PubMed[7], EMBASE[8], CINAHL[9], and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence[10], which will include clinical studies from prominent medical journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine[11], The Lancet[12], The British Medical Journal[13] and the Journal of the American Medical Association[14].
Interpreting clinical study data
Once the relevant sources of data have been located, it is important to look more closely at the findings. The questions typically asked of evidence categorically fit into either or both of the following:
Is treatment or intervention X effective?
What are the risks associated with the treatment or intervention?
However, the answer is often entangled in a string of numbers and statistics; numbers needed to treat (NNT); odds ratio (OR); hazard ratio (HR); relative risk (RR); absolute risk; confidence intervals (CIs); and P- values. These common terms are best described using a worked example — below is an extract from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT)[15], a randomised, controlled, open-label trial that examined the benefits and risks of prescribing intensive treatment (intervention) versus standard treatment (control) to lower the blood pressure of patients with hypertension.
“… a significantly lower rate of the primary composite outcome in the intensive-treatment group than in the standard-treatment group (1.65% per year vs. 2.19% per year; HR with intensive treatment, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.64–0.89; P<0.001)… Trial participants assigned to the lower systolic blood-pressure target (intensive-treatment group), as compared with those assigned to the higher target (standard-treatment group), had a 25% lower relative risk of the primary outcome… the number needed to treat with a strategy of intensive blood pressure control to prevent one primary outcome event was 61.”[15]
Plainly said, the average annual proportion of patients who suffered a primary composite outcome (i.e. myocardial infarction, other acute coronary syndromes, stroke, heart failure, or death from cardiovascular causes) was lower in the intensive treatment group (1.65%) compared with the control group who received the standard treatment (2.19%).
The HR is the ratio of the chance of an event occurring in the intervention group compared with the control group. In this example, the chance of the primary composite outcome occurring in the intensive treatment group is 75% of (i.e. lower than) the control group, so the ratio is 0.75.
As clinical studies generally involve only a sample of participants from a population (rather than the whole population), CIs are provided to estimate the range in which a statistic for the whole population might be found at a specified probability. Here, it could be said that there is a 95% probability that the true HR for patients from the whole population who are receiving intensive treatment (compared with standard treatment) will be between 0.64 and 0.89 (95% CI, 0.64–0.89), and the probability (P -value) of the 0.75 HR being erroneous is less than 0.001 (i.e. P <0.001).
The RR describes the ratio of probabilities of an event occurring in a group exposed to treatment compared with that in the control group[16]. In this example, the RR of the primary outcome of the intensive-treatment group as compared with the standard-treatment group is 0.75 (1.65%/2.19% = 0.75; i.e. 25% lower).
NNT refers to the number of patients who need to receive the intervention for one patient to incur the intended outcome of the treatment. In this example, a value of 61 for the NNT (after a median of 3.26 years) can be interpreted in the following way: 1 in every 61 patients receive additional protection to prevent one primary outcome by getting the intensive treatment compared with standard treatments. It is calculated by taking the inverse of the absolute risk reduction, which is the difference in rates of the outcome in the treatment group and that of the control group.
Precautions to take
In order to implement evidence-based practice, there are some key questions you need to ask yourself about the clinical data and how to apply it to your patient (see Box).
Box: Key questions to ask when assessing clinical data
What are the study’s limitations?
Looking at the level of blinding (e.g. open label, single blind, double blind), the number of participants in the study and the confidence interval (i.e. a wide confidence interval indicates uncertainty in the results) will help here;
There is also a risk of bias if the trial was cut short or a lot of patients were lost to follow-up.
Does this apply to my patient?
Looking at the exclusion criteria for the trial will help here.
Is my patient sufficiently similar to the patients in the studies examined?
Looking at the variance of the treatment effects will help here; the larger the variance, the less likely the treatment will be for an individual.
Does the treatment have a clinically relevant benefit that outweighs the harms?
Looking at the statistical significance will help here.
Is another treatment better?
Looking at how the benefit and harm profiles compare will help here.
Is this treatment feasible in my setting?
Looking at how the interventions were administered will help here.
Is there publication bias?
Looking at trial registers and conflicts of interest could help here.
It is not always possible to avoid bias, therefore, it is important to consider potential sources of it when interpreting clinical data. This typically includes inappropriate (or lack of) randomisation of treatment allocation, blinding and treatment of incomplete data[5]. It also important to consider the validity of the data; whether claims are accurately represented by the data. For example, it would be misleading to report and compare incidences of a certain event (such as heart attacks) by absolute numbers rather than that per capita between two comparable communities, because the former does not account for population size, which is likely to influence the findings.
In any study, it is also important to note possible confounding variables. In the SPRINT example above, the researchers excluded patients who had diabetes mellitus or prior stroke because they have a known comorbidity and risk factor, respectively, that would affect the primary outcome of the study. However, by doing this, findings and conclusions are reflective of patients with hypertension in the population and should not be extrapolated to include patients with diabetes mellitus or prior stroke. Other relevant variables that could impact the outcomes of the study (e.g. age, cholesterol levels and body mass index) were adjusted for during analysis.
Outcomes reported in studies where a conflict of interest may exist, such as that arising from research funded by drug companies, should be scrutinised further as outcomes have been shown to be more likely in favour of the sponsor[17]. Collectively, it is also prudent to consider the effect of “publication bias” that typically arises when positive trials are published, while negative trials are likely to remain unpublished, leading to conclusions based on the appraisal of incomplete evidence (see Box). Hence, examining entries and evidence in trial registers (e.g. the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform[18], UK Clinical Trials Gateway[19], ISRCTN Registry[20], ClinicalTrials.gov[21], Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry[22]), is considered good practice. Furthermore, as primary outcomes are included in submissions to the trials registry, prior to the commencement of the trial, it enables easy identification of selective reporting[23]. Additionally, reporting guidelines may also be consulted to assess completeness and transparency[24].
It is a privilege to have a variety of quality sources of evidence (i.e. systematic review databases, medical databases, medical journals and trials registries) that can be accessed and inform clinical decision-making. However, as trials are typically conducted on a sample, rather than the whole, population it is important to consider how accurately and the extent to which the findings are representative of the population. Therefore, results (e.g. HR and RR) are typically statistical probabilities, where a high level of confidence (e.g. 95% or 99%) with a reasonably narrow CI or significance indicated by a small P -value (e.g. P <0.05) are more likely to be reflective of outcomes that can be expected in the population given the same intervention.
Furthermore, it is prudent to consider risk of bias, data validity, confounding variables, conflicts of interest, publication bias and selective reporting. These factors are generally best addressed by examining evidence from a variety of sources prior to drawing conclusions and making recommendations for patients.
The next article in our campaign will explain how you talk to patients about their acute pain management, by using the skills you have gained from understanding the range of guidelines and evidence available.
[1] Cox DR. Randomization for concealment. JLL Bulletin: Commentaries on the history of treatment evaluation. 2009. Available at: http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/randomization-for-concealment/ (accessed July 2019)
[2] Sills GJ & Brodie MJ. Antiepileptic drugs: Clinical drug development in epilepsy. In: Schwartzkroin PA, editor. Encyclopedia of Basic Epilepsy Research. Oxford: Academic Press; 2009;1477–1485. doi: 10.1016/B978-012373961-2.00033-3
[3] Li T, Puhan MA, Vedula SS et al.; The Ad Hoc Network Meta-analysis Methods Meeting Working Group. Network meta-analysis-highly attractive but more methodological research is needed. BMC Med 2011;9(1):79. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-9-79
[4] Cochrane Library. Available at: https://www.cochranelibrary.com (accessed July 2019)
[5] Higgins J & Green S (Eds). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The importance of a team. 2011. Available at: http://handbook-5-1.cochrane.org (accessed July 2019)
[6] The Joanna Briggs Institute. JBI Clinical Online Network of Evidence for Care and Therapeutics (COnNECT+). Available at: http://connect.jbiconnectplus.org/ (accessed July 2019)
[7] PubMed. US National Library of Medicine. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ (accessed July 2019)
[8] Embase. Elsevier. Available at: https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/embase-biomedical-research#search (accessed July 2019)
[9] CINAHL Database. EBSCO Industries. Available at: https://health.ebsco.com/products/the-cinahl-database (accessed July 2019)
[10] National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Available at: https://www.evidence.nhs.uk/ (accessed July 2019)
[11]The New England Journal of Medicine. Available at: https://www.nejm.org/ (accessed July 2019)
[12]The Lancet. Elsevier Inc. Available at: https://www.thelancet.com/ (accessed July 2019)
[13]The British Medical Journal. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. Available at: https://www.bmj.com/ (accessed July 2019)
[14]JAMA Network. Available at: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/ (accessed July 2019)
[15] Wright JT Jr, Williamson JD, Whelton PK et al.; SPRINT research group. A randomized trial of intensive versus standard blood-pressure control. N Engl J Med 2015;373(22):2103–2116. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1511939
[16] Tenny S & Hoffman MR. Relative Risk. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. 2019. PMID: 28613574
[17] Lexchin J, Bero LA, Djulbegovic B & Clark O. Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality: systematic review. BMJ 2003;326(7400):1167. doi: 10.1136/bmj.326.7400.1167
[18] World Health Organization. International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). Available at: https://www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/ (accessed July 2019)
[19] UK Clinical Trials Gateway. Available at: https://www.ukctg.nihr.ac.uk/home/ (accesssed April 2019)
[20] ISRCTN Registry. BioMed Central Ltd. Available from: https://www.isrctn.com/ (accessed April 2019)
[21] ClinicalTrials.gov. NIH, US National Library of Medicine. Available at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ (accessed July 2019)
[22] Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry. Available at: http://www.anzctr.org.au/ (accessed July 2019)
[23] Eysenbach G. Tackling publication bias and selective reporting in health informatics research: register your ehealth trials in the international ehealth studies registry. J Med Internet Res 2004;6(3):e35. doi: 10.2196/jmir.6.3.e35
[24] EQUATOR Network. UK EQUATOR Centre. Available at: http://www.equator-network.org/ (accessed July 2019)
FASTtrack: Pharmaceutics - Dosage Form and Design
FASTtrack: Pharmaceutics – Dosage Form and Design removes the complexity from the major dosage forms that are commonly encountered by pharmacists in professional practice.
FASTtrack: Applied Pharmaceutical Practice
FASTtrack: Applied Pharmaceutical Practice guides student pharmacists and pharmacy technicians through the main stages of pharmaceutical dispensing.
Community Pharmacy Handbook
Community Pharmacy Handbook is a survival guide for community pharmacists and students, answering your practical questions. Includes case studies.
Applied Pharmaceutical Practice
A guide for student pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Takes you through the steps involved in pharmaceutical dispensing.
Pharmacy in Public Health
Pharmacy in Public Health focuses on the important topics in public health relevant to all pharmacists.
RBforhealth
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3223
|
__label__cc
| 0.611987
| 0.388013
|
Digital Marketing Manager Salary Chicago Shakespeare
Buffett takes no salary from his foundation, which he established in 1999, but it is his main professional commitment. He left ADM in 1995 and now serves on various corporate boards. Alexandra Wimley.
The average salary for a Digital Marketing Manager is $75,940 in Chicago, IL. Salaries estimates are based on 256 salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by Digital Marketing Manager employees in Chicago, IL. Salaries for Related Job Titles.
Digital Media & Marketing Manager average salary is $56,747, median salary is $50,120 with a salary range from $50,120 to $70,000. Digital Media & Marketing Manager salaries are collected from government agencies and companies. Each salary is associated with a real job position.
He’s carrying everything that might be needed to tighten a leaking faucet at a digital marketing agency or repair a social. The handyman breezes silently past the office manager, checks the iPad to.
Salaries for. How much does a Marketing Manager make in Chicago, IL? The median annual Marketing Manager salary in Chicago, IL is $104,402, as of July 31, 2018, with a range usually between $90,962–$122,916, however this can vary widely depending on a variety of factors.
There are mainstream MBA sports gigs, such as manager of business development at Major. In addition, he deals with the digital side of content marketing and strategy and pursues advertising.
But at Burwood Group, an IT consulting and management company in Chicago with offices in California. kids and pets are welcome,” said Chris Laskowski, marketing manager for New Home Star. “Being a.
What Does Poe Offer As His Definition Of Poetry? Though Tom Ford’s follow-up to A Single Man derails at the end, getting there proves to be a thoroughly exhilarating experience. From 1960s teen idol to ’70s crooner to latter-day experimental. Beyond Empiricism and Transcendentalism in House of Usher When Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Fall of the House of Usher," two factors greatly influenced
Stephen Fry Poetry Book Writers Write is a one-stop resource for writers. Read our articles for creative writers, bloggers, and business writers. Stephen Fry may steal the headlines. And good acting is what makes all that poetry we read at school leap out of the book and sound spontaneous and funny. Period performance has rarely felt so. He joined
Manager, Business Development, Marketing, Interactive/Digital and Creative, New York, 212-966-4426 Elle Wells, Director, Marketing, Interactive/Digital and Creative, Chicago. match titles with.
Poems For Husbands On Anniversary 30th Anniversary Wishes, Quotes, and Poems. Updated on September 19, 2016. Blake Flannery. more. These are some simple and short poems you can write in a 30th anniversary card. 30 years we’ve been together Through all types of weather I’m glad I get to be with you For the next 30 years too. Having a
Digital Marketer salaries in Chicago, IL. $68,951 per year. Please note that all salary figures are approximations based upon third party submissions to Indeed. These figures are given to the Indeed users for the purpose of generalized comparison only.
The city had hired Redflex to provide automated enforcement cameras, known formally as its Digital Automated. s newly created Chicago-based “customer liaison” post. Finley organized the.
Okay, maybe there really is no budget for that 10% salary increase–but what about a reward to recognize you for, say, the stellar customer service you provided, or that time you worked until the wee.
Mar 31, 2019 · Pay by Experience Level for Digital Marketing Manager. An entry-level Digital Marketing Manager with less than 5 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of $55,000 based on 1,742 salaries provided by anonymous users. Average total compensation includes tips, bonus, and overtime pay.
Additional Cash Compensation. How much does a Digital Marketing make in Chicago, IL? The average salary for a Digital Marketing is $60,649 in Chicago, IL. Salaries estimates are based on 256 salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by Digital Marketing employees in Chicago, IL.
English Literature Essay University I studied English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford, and I would love to share my tips with you. While I was studying, I realised that one of the. Roger Louis — Kerr Professor of English History and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin — explains. the ultimate completist] Organization is
The average Marketing Manager salary in Illinois is $98,513 as of March 28, 2019, but the range typically falls between $85,836 and $115,982. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on the city and many other important factors, including education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years you have spent in your profession.
Same jobs, wildly different résumés, a salary gap of nearly $20,000. president of information technology/management information systems at Medseek, a digital-marketing company for the health-care.
San Diego native Aubrey Badger, 24, decided to stay in Phoenix after college graduation She got a job working for Arizona State University as a digital marketing coordinator. has family in San.
We are looking for a Digital Marketing Manager. Digital marketing might as well be your middle name. Be the first to see new Digital Marketing Manager jobs in Chicago, IL. My email: Also get an email with jobs recommended. Indeed Salary Estimate. Please note that all salary figures are approximations based upon third party submissions to.
On the other end is Project Fixup, a Chicago-based TechStar startup that charges $20 per setup, using digital tools that have helped. vice president of brand marketing at eHarmony and general.
The average salary for a Digital Marketing Manager in Chicago, Illinois is $64,587. Visit PayScale to research digital marketing manager salaries by city, experience, skill, employer and more.
Its replacement is a larger digital sign, with smaller ones installed above the. at Honeygrow restaurants and the recently opened Shakespeare & Co. bookstore/cafe on Walnut Street. The six-year-old.
A hands-on position in the Theater’s Marketing Department, the Digital Marketing Manager must be a strong project manager with superior communication skills. Approximately 50% of the scope of work is focused on email campaign strategy and implementation as well as website content updates; another 30% is facilitating technical enhancements to the website; and the remaining 20% is spent on analytics.
Will you be taking a salary? What will your non-salary expenses be. Jennifer Roeslmeier is a Sr. Digital Marketing and Brands Manager at a staffing and recruiting software company. She has 4+ years.
According to a recent Bustle survey of more than 1,000 Millennial. selected amount (for me it’s $10/weekly)." "I am a marketing manager at a small IT-managed services firm in Chicago. My annual.
Others on the list included analyst relations manager. median salary.” New York City and San Francisco represent a disproportionate share of blockchain-related jobs at 24 percent and 21 percent of.
Other markets coming on strong include Southern California, Chicago and Atlanta. "Salary ranges are moving. business intelligence, digital and analytics, and the ability to take those and work with.
The world of pro sports long ago recognized how “Moneyball” tactics can transform a franchise — like baseball’s Chicago Cubs. the field at a bargain salary. In the National Basketball Association,
In addition, "marketing manager" was. and the Center for Digital Ethics and Policy at Loyola University Chicago. Williams has a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Alabama at.
Professionals with a year or two of experience "can write their own tickets," says Adam Canton, division manager in the Chicago office of Jobspring. How it shapes her worldview: She no longer sees.
Previous What Does Poe Offer As His Definition Of Poetry? Next Stephen Fry Poetry Book
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3224
|
__label__cc
| 0.665796
| 0.334204
|
Poll: Americans' view of labor unions improving
By NICK GASS
08/17/2015 09:01 AM EDT
Nearly six in 10 Americans have a favorable view of labor unions, according to the results of a new Gallup survey released Monday.
Approval of unions jumped to 58 percent this year, an increase of five percentage points from 2014, though still well below the 75 percent organized labor enjoyed in the early 1950s but greater than the 48 percent who approved in 2009 in the grips of the recession.
Overall, 37 percent of Americans said they wanted unions to have more influence on the political process, while 35 percent wanted less influence and 24 percent wanted more of the same. The percentage of Americans saying they want more union influence on politics has slightly risen since 2009, with a similar share among Americans wanting less labor influence declining.
Regardless, the share of Americans wanting unions to maintain the same level of influence has mostly declined since the turn of the millennium.
Breaking down the results by gender, a greater share of women than men expressed approval of unions and also said they wanted them to have more influence (63 percent to 52 percent approval; 41 percent to 33 percent on influence). Young adults, aged 18 to 34, had more positive opinions about labor unions as well. On a regional basis, the South is the only area of the country where a majority of respondents said they did not approve of labor unions.
Nearly eight in ten Democrats (79 percent) approve of unions, compared to 52 percent of independents and 42 percent of Republicans.
The latest results come as Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders fight to win the endorsements of prominent unions.
More on POLITICO
Last week, the former secretary of state gained the support of both the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the American Federation of Teachers, while National Nurses United declared that it was backing the Vermont senator.
The poll was conducted as part of Gallup’s annual Work and Education Survey from Aug. 5-9 via landlines and cellphones, surveying 1,011 adults nationwide, with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Bernie Sanders 2020
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3225
|
__label__wiki
| 0.992961
| 0.992961
|
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) just won reelection to the Senate in 2018, and she finished that campaign with $10.5 million in her federal campaign account. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Kirsten Gillibrand launches presidential exploratory committee
The New York senator will visit Iowa this weekend as she joins the crowded Democratic 2020 field.
By ELENA SCHNEIDER
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand launched a presidential exploratory committee Tuesday night, joining the crowded Democratic hunt to win the White House in 2020.
The New York Democrat, a longtime advocate for women in politics and a leader in the #MeToo movement supporting survivors of sexual assault, announced her decision to run for president on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” saying she will “fight for other people’s kids as hard as I would fight for my own.”
Gillibrand’s first week in the campaign will include a debut visit to Iowa, the first caucus state. On Friday, Gillibrand will hold an event in Sioux City, followed by stops in Ames, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids throughout the weekend.
Gillibrand, 52, has joined an expansive field that could see dozens of Democratic presidential hopefuls — including several other high-profile women — aiming to defeat President Donald Trump. Elizabeth Warren, Gillibrand’s Senate colleague, launched an exploratory committee at the end of 2018, while former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro became the latest Democrat to join the fray on Saturday, when he announced his campaign in San Antonio.
Last week, Gillibrand’s tight-knit political operation expanded to include new senior staff hires and designated her campaign manager, Jess Fassler, the senator’s longtime chief of staff. The campaign also signed a lease for a campaign headquarters in Troy, N.Y., a suburb of Albany where Gillibrand’s family lives. The exploratory committee launch gives Gillibrand the opportunity to hire more staff and begin fundraising expressly for a 2020 run.
The race for 2020 starts now. Stay in the know. Follow our presidential election coverage.
Gillibrand just won reelection to the Senate in 2018, and she finished that campaign with $10.5 million in her federal campaign account — a hefty nest egg to kick-start a presidential run, trailing only Warren among the half-dozen senators in who could seek Democratic nomination. Gillibrand’s campaign spent the last two years building an online army capable of financing a presidential run, spending heavily with a digital fundraising firm in 2017 and 2018 and gathering donations from hundreds of thousands of donors nationwide as her profile rose in opposition to Trump.
No senator voted against as many Cabinet nominees as Gillibrand in the early months of the Trump administration, winning her praise from the rising “resistance” movement opposing the president. After she called for Trump’s resignation in December 2017, Trump targeted her with a sexually suggestive tweet, saying that Gillibrand “would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them).”
Trump’s post drew swift backlash. Gillibrand tweeted back: “You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office.”
On Colbert's show, Gillibrand said she would restore "the integrity and the compassion of this country" in office and called for health care to be treated as “a right, and not a privilege.” She said better public schools and job training is essential for anyone to “earn their way into the middle class.”
“But you are never going to accomplish any of these things if you are not going to take on the systems of power that make all of that impossible,” Gillibrand said. “It’s taking on institutional racism, it’s taking on the corruption and greed in Washington, [it’s] taking on the special interests that write legislation in the dead of night.”
Gillibrand, who was appointed to the Senate in 2009 to replace former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and has since won two full terms, has also been the face of the #MeToo movement in Congress. One of her signature legislative efforts sought to reform how the military handles cases of sexual harassment and assault, though it fell short after failing to break a Senate filibuster in March 2014. Gillibrand has also shared stories of her own experiences with harassment — recounting in her memoir that a fellow senator once squeezed her waist and told her, “I like my girls chubby.”
The time Julián Castro did business with Trump — and quickly regretted it
By ALEX THOMPSON
Significantly, Gillibrand also stepped forward to call out bad behavior among prominent members of her own party.
In 2017, Gillibrand was the first Democratic senator to call for the resignation of her former colleague Al Franken (D-Minn.), after multiple women accused him of harassment and misconduct. Gillibrand also told The New York Times it would have been “appropriate” for former President Bill Clinton to resign following revelations of his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Gillibrand’s comments won her favor from some, but also drew criticism from high-profile Democrats who said they would no longer financially support the New York Democrat.
Gillibrand pushed back, writing on Twitter that “silencing women for the powerful, or for your friends, or for convenience, is neither acceptable nor just.” She told MSNBC that the “tolerance that we had 25 years ago, what was allowed 25 years ago, will not be tolerated today, is not allowed today.”
“She had the guts to take on the military. She had the guts to take on her own party,” said John Zogby, a New York-based pollster who worked for one of Gillibrand’s primary opponents in 2006. “She’s in some hot water with the establishment over it, but I can’t think of a better time in history to be at odds with the establishment. I think it helps her.”
Gillibrand’s commitment to the feminist cause — which included founding a leadership PAC called “Off The Sidelines” to support other women running for office — may be a boon for her in a crowded primary with few breakaway issues.
“It’s a natural strategy for Gillibrand to build off of the momentum of 2018, and she has a long history of advocating for women that she can authentically point to,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster. “But a lot of candidates will try to do this.”
Eyeing 2020, Priorities USA blows up ‘television-first strategy’
By CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO
But as Gillibrand competes with other candidates to appeal to female voters, she’ll also have to defend her own political transformation — from a conservative Blue Dog Democrat in the House to the Senate’s most-vocal anti-Trump member.
In 2006, Gillibrand, then a corporate attorney and first-time political candidate, defeated GOP Rep. John Sweeney in a Democratic wave to represent a predominantly white, working-class district that stretched from Albany to the Adirondacks in upstate New York. At the time, Gillibrand touted an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and opposed amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
But after her appointment to the Senate in 2009, she drifted leftward on gun control and immigration. Gillibrand has since said she was “embarrassed” by her former positions on gun control. By 2018, she called for the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a proposal popular with progressive activists.
“I came from a district that was 98 percent white,” Gillibrand told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in an interview last year. “I just didn’t take the time to understand why these issues mattered because it wasn’t right in front of me, and that was my fault.”
Elizabeth Warren 2020
Kirsten Gillibrand 2020
2020 Presidential Candidates
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3226
|
__label__wiki
| 0.77901
| 0.77901
|
15 Animals Found Only in One Small Place
Some creatures, big and small, have a more limited range than you think.
By John Wenz and Alex Watt
Mike Baird / Flickr
Some animals span the world. Others live in an area the size of a pond.
Jami TarrisGetty Images
Endemic to Borneo, an Indonesian island, these creatures are known for the striking noses that can be seen on the male monkeys. Though they live in trees, they are adept swimmers with webbed feet and hands. Proboscis monkeys are threatened by the devastation of their region's rain forests by those harvesting timber and palm oil.
San Francisco Garter Snake
Michael Sewell Visual PursuitGetty Images
Though it's named after the big city, the San Francisco Garter Snake can only be found around the freshwater ponds in nearby San Mateo County. They are known for their black, red-orange, black stripe pattern and feed on California red-legged frogs, another threatened species. The decline of their main source of food and loss of habitat due to both urban and agricultural developments have been extremely detrimental to this unique population.
Pygmy Hog
TOM MCHUGHGetty Images
With fewer than 250 Pygmy hogs remaining, their dwindling population is doing all that it can to keep the species going in the grasslands surrounding the Himalayan mountains. The tiny, wild pigs have been negatively impacted by human influence on their grasslands, which have been transformed to meet the needs of agricultural and commercial endeavors. Efforts are being made by conservationists to introduce captive Pygmy hogs to the wild and educate local people on how they can help protect their habitat.
Mary PlageGetty Images
The Javan rhino's total population is estimated to be around 60, and each and every one of them lives on the island of Java in Indonesia's Ujung Kulon National Park. They once lived throughout Northern India and Southeast Asia, but poaching has isolated the species to this single location. They grow to be roughly 10 feet tall, can weight up 5,000 pounds, and are grey in color.
Manuel ROMARISGetty Images
Even though Looney Tunes has made them a household name worldwide, the Tasmanian devil only lives on the Australian island of Tasmania. Strictly carnivorous and every bit as wild as their cartoon portrayal suggests, you don't want to get in the way of one of these bad boys when they're showing off their sharp teeth. Though a contagious cancer threatens their population, they've been a protected species since 1941.
Texas Blind Salamander
Ryan Haggerty / USFWS
The Texas blind salamander exists in one pool of an aquifer in a specific region of Texas. The salamander, which lives in San Marcos Pool in a cave in Hays County, Texas, grows to about five inches long all told. The predator-prey relationship of the cave means that the salamander eats a blind shrimp also only found in the pond and several smaller species of insects and mollusks.
Texas conservation biologists have tried to breed the salamander in case something happens at this small biome. Of course, people have decided to be total jerks about it, possibly stealing hundreds of them from a lab. Of course, the thief might have been a hungry raccoon.
Guadalupe Fur Seal
The Guadalupe fur seal can only be found in great numbers on one island in the world, Isla Guadalupe. The island is located about 124 miles off the coast of Mexico in the Pacific. A few colonies have moved elsewhere, but by-and-large, the 10,000 seals sit contently on the coast of the island's 94 square miles.
Socorro Isopod
Bronwyn H. Bleakley
This tiny relative of the ocean-faring isopod once had a range of roughly three springs in New Mexico. Then it was nearly wiped out. According to Atlas Obscura, Sedillo Springs dried up in 1988 due to a spring flow obstruction, killing off the last wild isopods. A captive breeding program led to a new population of the isopods, which were placed in eight concrete tanks to more closely regulate the last outpost of the species.
Vaquito
Paula Olson, NOAA
The vaquito is a dolphin relative that's less than five feet long. It's confined to a narrow area in the northern part of the Gulf of California, where poaching and fisherman's nets have driven its meager population to the brink of extinction. There are around 30 left in the wild.
Jeol Trick of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters
In the upper peninsula of Michigan and the southern tip of Ontario in spring and summer, you can find the Kirtland's warbler. You can't find it much of anywhere else. The bird requires dense areas of jack pine to make its habitat, something only found in the taiga region of North America.
After a population bottleneck in the 20th century that led it to extinction, the bird has since rebounded. Of course, climate change's effects on the taiga could change that, depending on the fortunes of the jack pine.
Salt Creek Tiger Beetle
Flickr Creative Commons/Robb Hannawacker
The Salt Creek in Lincoln, Nebraska is a remnant of an ancient sea. As the saline water moved out, it left behind salt deposits. It also left behind the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle. Less than 400 beetles live along the creek and a nearby marsh, making it one of the most endangered insects in the world.
Flickr/Robb Hannawacker
Pinta Island Tortoise
"Hold on," you say. "The Pinta Island tortoise is dead—snuffed out when Lonesome George took his last breath." You are mostly right. But there's a bizarre twist in the story: a few Pinta Island tortoises may still be alive. Just not on Pinta Island.
Pinta is one of many islands in the Galapagos chain. The islands are most famous for influencing the works of Charles Darwin, as each island seemed to have unique variations on the same species. That meant that there were several subspecies of Galapagos tortoises around the island chain.
Here's where it gets a bit gruesome. Tortoises were often held on ships over long periods of time as a food source. They need relatively little food themselves, meaning that the giant tortoises could make a feast for sailors any time needed. As expeditions wound down, a few of those tortoises were thrown overboard, some near Isabella Island. Isabella Island has an area cut off from the rest of the land called Volcano Wolf. At some point a few Pinta Island tortoises found themselves washing up on these shores and breeding with their cousin subspecies there.
We've found the offspring of these trysts. They appeared to be relatively young and first generation hybrids, meaning that the Pinta Island tortoise can still (possibly) be found on Isabella Island.
Quokka
Hewball / Flickr
Most marsupials live in Australia, constraining their range a bit already. But the quokka is only found in the southwest corner of Australia and a few nearby islands, giving it an even smaller area to live than its cousins.
Quokkas are fearless and curious of humans, which can lead to some unfortunate interactions with less-than-kind humans who come into contact with these puffy cheeked critters. Even some more altruistic people can mess up a quokkas life by feeding them. The quokka survives on vegetation not just for food, but for water.
Interestingly, the quokka has taken root in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, a reserve initially set up to protect noisy scrub-birds. Since then, the Gilbert's potoroo has taken root. This species is possibly the most endangered marsupial in the world. Thus, one of the most vulnerable marsupials lives among one of the most endangered.
Gilbert's Potoroo
Michael Wakefield
The Gilbert's potoroo, a small kangaroo-like marsupial (see the last entry) was once thought to be basically extinct. And indeed, it's perilously close to it, as fires wiped out half of the 100-some population in 2015. Right now, the species is mainly confined to the Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, though there are efforts to introduce it elsewhere.
According to the IUCN, the animal has never had a wide range, sticking close to that region of southwest Australia. This may have doomed the Gilbert's potoroo from the start — though there are numerous other species of potoroos throughout Australia.
Tuatara
KeresH
The tuatara has remained only slight changed in the last 220 million years, and likely will survive with only light tweaks for the next 220 million. The primitive reptile can only be found on chains of islands off the coast of the North Island of New Zealand.
One species, the Brothers Island Tuatara, has only about 400 individuals on North Brother Island, but the island is small enough that this hasn't imperiled the lizard yet. Around 60,000 other individuals of the Northern Tuatara are scattered across 29 islands. After the eradication of rats, their numbers rebounded and are considered least concern by the IUCN. (The Brothers Island Tuatara is listed as vulnerable.)
More From Animals
Arctic Fox Walks 2,700 Miles From Norway to Canada
Whoa, Look at This 40,000-Year-Old Wolf Head
The FBI Releases Bigfoot's File
24 Amazing Animals That Are Almost Extinct
Deep Sea Fish Have Enhanced Vision
Whoa, Look at This Bird-Bat Dinosaur
New Tiny T-Rex Cousin Discovered
25% of All Species Are Vulnerable to Extinction
The 25 Weirdest Birds Worldwide
Giant Bear and Wolf Bones Found in Underwater Cave
One of Earth's Most Unusual Animals Is Endangered
Scientists Claim Oldest Animal Footprint in Fossil
The Secret of the Only Animal That Can Survive in Space
How Small Is Small? Nanoscale Explained
Graveyards are Better for Animals Than Parks
Crows Have Been Found Making and Using Tools
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3227
|
__label__wiki
| 0.527315
| 0.527315
|
Pena Palace voted the best castle in Europe
The European Best Destinations organized a list of 15 "best castles" of Europe. First, the Pena National Palace comes in Sintra.
The European Best Destinations, a tourism organization based in Brussels, drew up a list of the most beautiful castles in Europe. Its time to choose the first place, there was no doubt: the Pena National Palace in Sintra, is the "best castle" European.
In the list, composed of 15 castles, Pena Palace comes ahead of landmarks such as the Spanish Alcazar of Segovia, which inspired the Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney, or the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany.
On the site, described instead as the "epitome of the nineteenth century Romanticism in Portugal" with "clear influences Manueline and Moorish architectural". The Palace stands out for its privileged position, constructed to "be visible from any point" of the park in which it operates - the Pena National Park. In addition, the site also mentions the "gardens and lush forest", composed of more than 500 species of trees, from the four corners of the planet.
This is the complete list of "best castles" of Europe:
1. Pena Palace (Portugal)
2. Alcázar of Segovia (Spain)
3. Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany)
4. Hohenzollern Castle (Germany)
5. Castle Walzin (Belgium)
6. Castle Eltz (Germany)
7. Chateau de Chambord (France)
8. Culzean Castle (Scotland)
9. Eilean Donan Castle (Scotland)
10. Windsor Palace (England)
11. Castle Corvin (Romania)
12. Castle Trevarez (France)
13. Castle Hohenwerfen (Austria)
14. Bran Castle (Romania)
15. Schwerin Castle (Germany)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3228
|
__label__wiki
| 0.818752
| 0.818752
|
< a data-pagespeed-url-hash="2094161534" onload="pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);">
The Emefiele CBN: A Review, By Bisi Daniels
November 5, 2017 Bisi Daniels
CBN Governor. Godwin Emefiele
For the seventh consecutive time, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in September retained benchmark interest rate at 14 per cent, alongside other monetary policy rates to be greeted with mixed reactions, some of them very harsh.
A popular economist who usually reviewed the decisions on television called the rates retention a “do-nothing” decision.
At a time the economy needs urgent reflation for growth and to ease the excruciating financial pain of millions of people around the country, “do-nothing” was taken by some people to mean cluelessness.
Opposition against Mr. Emefiele had, indeed, heightened in September last year to earn him the label of “stubborn Governor” when he ignored the advice of Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun to reduce monetary policy rates.
A day before the MPC meeting, Mrs. Adeosun, apparently voicing the concern of manufacturers, urged the CBN to consider cutting the 14 per cent benchmark interest rate to support government’s stimulus plan to borrow cheap funds locally, and to bail out the economy.
For a man who was seen by some of his fierce critics as a wimp, Mr. Emefiele was expected by them to take the advice hook, line and sinker. They must have been disappointed. In a unanimous decision, MPC left the prevailing rates unchanged, signalling a lack of consensus in the government’s economic team on the best way to guide the economy out of recession.
The CBN governor said the MPC’s decision to ignore Mrs. Adeosun’s proposal in favour of retaining the rates was informed by the bank’s resolve to continue to tighten liquidity in the monetary policy to limit the balance of risks weighing against one of its key functions of stabilizing price.
“Both monetary and fiscal authorities have the same intention to achieve growth. But, the direction through which each wants to achieve it may differ, for as long as you still achieve the growth,” Mr. Emefiele had said.
But some people were not convinced. They saw it as an anticipatory defence mechanism for cluelessness.
“That is the stubbornness of a clueless man,” an economic commentator had said then. “The man is just stubborn. Don’t also forget the 41 items he has continued to restrict forex access to.”
In fact, some people had expected Mr. Emefiele to be fired after that time, forgetting that just as in good times; you don’t fire a central bank boss in times of general economic crisis if they didn’t cause it. Doing that sends out signals of hopelessness, causing loss of confidence, especially among investors.
Clueless or stubborn, Mr. Emefiele stayed on.
Managing interest rates and inflation requires delicate balancing because of their inverse, see-saw, relationship. In the United Sates, by moving interest rate targets up or down, the Federal Reserve attempts to achieve target employment rates, stable prices, and stable economic growth. It will raise interest rates to reduce inflation and ease (or decrease) rates to spur economic growth.
The “do-nothing” story was to change last September. With the economy out of recession and the rate of inflation dropping for the seventh consecutive month to 16.01 per cent in August, the comment of the highly respected economist was widely expected. “It is the same do-nothing decision, but it appears to be working,” he had confessed. The reward for focus and perseverance but there is more work to be done!
He acknowledged that at last month’s MPC meeting: “On the argument to hold, the Committee believes that the effects of fiscal policy actions towards stimulating the economy have begun to manifest as evident in the exit of the economy from the fifteen-month recession.
Although still fragile, the fragility of the growth makes it imperative to allow more time to make appropriate complementary policy decisions to strengthen the recovery.
Secondly, the most compelling argument for a hold was to achieve more clarity in the evolution of key macroeconomic indicators including budget implementation, economic recovery, exchange rate, inflation and employment generation.”
Subdued image?
Mr. Emefiele seems to be proving many people, including those who didn’t believe he was the right man for the job, wrong. Louder and more visible commendations for the CBN have come recently, but of course his success will be judged ultimately by the effects of his monetary policy on the health of the economy.
The current re-assuring image of Mr. Emefiele is a sharp contrast to the subdued version he took to Plot 33, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Way, Abuja, on June 3, 2014 to start the plum job of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Before the trip to Abuja, he served as chief executive officer and group managing director at Zenith Bank Plc, a very high profile job in one of Nigeria’s flagship private enterprise.
Despite the remarkable success of the bank, he served under the towering image of Jim Ovia, which somehow eclipsed Mr. Emefiele’s fine qualities. Mr. Ovia is the founder of the bank where he also worked as CEO until 2010, when he transferred into the chairman role.
In Abuja, where Mr. Emefiele replaced the current Emir of Kano Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II (Sanusi Lamido Sanusi), he had walked into the shadows of another towering image of a bright and vocal economist and banker, who had left in controversial circumstances. And in a storm!
Mr. Emefiele is a relatively quiet person; this quality prompted those opposed to him to hastily conclude that the Jonathan government had opted for a pliable governor, offered by his supporters. Although Mr. Emefiele had paid his dues, his handlers were quiet about it or in his characteristic reserved nature; he had chosen to focus on his work rather than flaunting his elite resume.
Who is Emefiele?
He is from Ika South Delta State, but a Lagos boy. He was born in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, where he began his primary school education at Government Primary School, Victoria Island, formerly Ansar-U-Deen Primary School, Igbosere, Lagos. He continued at Maryland Comprehensive Secondary School, Ikeja, Lagos. People raised in Lagos are noted for their street-smartness and so Mr. Emefiele couldn’t be a pushover. Observers say he is much tougher than he looks.
He proceeded to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance & Banking (Second Class Upper). To that he added an MBA as the Best Graduating Student in Finance at the same university.
He went on to deepen his knowledge of Macroeconomics at Oxford University having obtained various qualifications and executive education studies in Negotiation, Strategy, Leadership, Critical Thinking, Delivering Value/Profit from Harvard University, Stanford University and University of Pennsylvania, Wharton Business School.
Before he became Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank, he had served as the Executive Director in charge of Corporate Banking, Treasury, Financial Control and Strategic Planning of Zenith Bank Plc.
He had some teaching experience at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and University of Port Harcourt, respectively where he lectured Finance and Insurance before he finally decided to go full-time into banking.
The CBN Governor
Mr. Emefiele, therefore, couldn’t have been a wrong choice for the top banking job, but barely a year after his appointment another storm made a landfall at the CBN headquarters. Questions were raised about the bank’s role in the movement of monies for the Jonathan campaign. The storm has calmed down now, but while it raged Mr. Emefiele was calm, focusing rather on his work. He is said to be a workaholic.
Another Emefiele advantage is his devotion and patriotism, which he wears silently in his green ties. He wears no other colour these days. ”The green ties are a symbol of patriotism. It keys into his philosophy that the nation comes first and the welfare of the ordinary Nigerian should underpin public policy,” one of his aides told me.
The mix of all of those Emefiele qualities, including “stubbornness” is paying off now. As an immediate example, the restriction on 41 items has engendered domestic production and consumption reducing dependence on the imported items; employment generation, improved domestic capacity and conservation of foreign exchange.
These achievements are better illustrated in Baton Nigeria, a company based in Ogun State, which commenced the production of tooth picks in August 2016 with 43 staff per shift to produce 60 million sticks of tooth picks per month.
It aims at producing about 4 billion per month by December 2018. This company’s toothpick is about 25 per cent cheaper than that of the main competitor.
Generally, the CBN’s forex policy has stabilized the exchange rate, even though the desired expectation has been to have one rate; increased forex liquidity; provided easy access to forex for capital and raw materials importation; availability of forex to MSMEs; ease of payment of tuition fees, medicals, BTA/PTA, etc; and boosting the capital market.
The effects of the policy shows in the growth of many companies like Caverton, Dangote Cement, Chi Ltd, Nestle Nigeria and Larfarge Africa. Chi Ltd, which has between June 2015 and now created over 2,500 direct employments across Nigeria, more than twice the employment created in the 10 years before the policy.
Forbes Award
For his efforts, recognition came for Mr. Emefiele in the US during the last IMF/World Bank meeting where he was awarded the Forbes 2017 Best of Africa Innovative Banking Award.
President of Forbes Customs Emerging Markets, Mark Furlong, said the award was in recognition of Mr. Emefiele’s courage and determination in using monetary policy to ensure financial stability in Nigeria.
Mr. Furlong said the CBN under Mr. Emefiele had also shown transparency, which had helped to stabilise the economy through interventions in the real sector of the economy.
He cited the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, as a major boost to the development of the agricultural sector in Nigeria.
Central bank of Nigeria building
Before receiving the award, the CBN governor highlighted efforts since 2014 to stabilize the financial system and maintain the international value of the Naira.
He attributed the award to the efforts of the CBN management and staff, the cooperation of government to check the negative impact of global shocks on the Nigeria economy between 2014 and 2016.
The monetary authorities, he noted, were glad that its policies contributed in forcing inflation down from about 18 to 16 per cent, adding he was optimistic inflation would further be lowered with other policies in place.
On CBN policy to restrict access to foreign exchange from the Nigerian foreign exchange market to some 41 items, Mr. Emefiele said the decision was to stop the country’s foreign reserves due to huge import bills, among other things.
There are all manner of awards the world over, but the Forbes award is a reputable one; the same company that ranks the world’s richest people including Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, and Folorunsho Alakija.
The Buhari “award”
However, for all his green ties, the commendation that may excite Mr. Emefiele the most is the veiled one from President Muhammadu Buhari. It came in the President’s October 1st address to the nation: “With respect to the economy, the Government has remained pro-active in its diversification policy. The Federal Government’s agricultural Anchor Borrowers Programme, which I launched in November 2015, has been an outstanding success with:
• N43.92 billion released through the CBN and 13 participating institutions,
• 200,000 small holder farmers from 29 states of the federation benefitting,
• 233,000 hectares of farmland cultivating eight commodities, namely Rice, Wheat, Maize, Cotton, soya-beans, Poultry, Cassava and Groundnuts, in addition to fish farming.
The Anchor Borrowers Programme is one of the CBN’s key intervention programmes. It was launched by the President on November 17, 2015 at Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State and as at August 2017, a total N44.18 billion has been released through 13 Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) in respect of 199, 692 small holder farmers across 29 states cultivating over 234. 581 hectares of farmland.
While the programme has supported nine commodities, the focal crop still remains rice. According to the bank, this overarching strategy of the programme is in line with the federal government’s agenda to ramp up local rice production and stop importation of parboiled rice in the foreseeable future. The CBN has made similar intervention in power and other sectors.
A job done well attracts more work. The President again disclosed that: “A new presidential initiative is starting with each state of the Federation creating a minimum of 10,000 jobs for unemployed youths, again with the aid of CBN’s development finance initiatives.”
Before he left for the US, Emefiele, who is devoted to programmes that affect the common man was already holding stakeholder meetings to develop a framework for the new initiative. More work!
With the fragility of the economy, the fear that it might slip back into recession if appropriate measures are not taken for sustainable economic growth, and the need to further strengthen the banking sector to engender greater confidence in the health of all banks, there must be more concerns to usher in a legion of the “demons of work” to put on hold a celebration of the harvests at CBN.
EXPLAINER: 10 potential benefits of AfCFTA
INTERVIEW: What Nigeria, other African countries must do to fix infrastructure deficit – Ex-AFC President
In major investments, Globacom moves to shape Africa’s digital fortune, future
Dubai, Chinese firm battle in Hong Kong for Djibouti Ports
Nigeria Industrial Council and development of road infrastructure scheme
Six Ministers tell story of decline and recovery of Nigerian economy
Jonathan canvasses implementation of 2014 confab report
Kaduna Assembly rejects commissioner-nominee who criticised El-Rufai
Nigeria major contributor to Africa’s $90 bn illicit financial outflow – ICPC
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3231
|
__label__cc
| 0.636359
| 0.363641
|
8 Happy Couples Share How They Broke Through Their Biggest Relationship Hurdles
By Jenn Sinrich for Womenshealthmag.com
Chelcie P.
In case you haven't seen the new live action Beauty and the Beast, just know that Belle and Beast are basically the original couple who beat the odds. (Spoiler alert?) She's a bookworm with a sense of adventure, and he's, um, a water buffalo that lives in a castle with a bunch of servants who are furniture.
But in real life, plenty of couples have bigger hurdles to overcome than an enchanted rose. How about infidelity, substance abuse, and long-distance marriage for starters?
Because everyone loves a fairytale(ish) love story, we asked couples in long-term, committed relationships to share how they've overcome huge relationship obstacles and made their love work.
Bobbi P.
"My husband Larry and I connected online. After a few brief online chats over the course of a month, we finally sat down for coffee without knowing much about each other. I was 47 and had never been married. My career had been my focus for decades, sprinkled with episodes of obsessive, horribly unsuccessful hunts for love. But I still want to get married. As I was leaving to meet Larry for our first coffee date, I looked at his online profile one last time and noticed he was separated. Five minutes into our date, I asked about his situation. I told him I don't date separated men because I wanted to get married. He told me he didn't plan on getting married again. When I told him we wouldn't work, he kindly asked if I still wanted to finish our coffee. I agreed. Then we had lunch. And dinner the next night. And we've been together ever since. Six months later, this 47-year-old, never married, childless, Jewish, ex-Valley girl walked down the aisle with her 56-year-old, twice-married, father of two, grandfather of four, atheist, ex-pig farmer from Kansas." —Bobbi P.
MORE: 9 Divorcées Confess Exactly What Ruined Their Marriages
Sean D.
"I was a party animal who loved to live a rockstar lifestyle. My house actually burned down during a massive party I threw on St. Patrick's Day in 2007. My now-wife, who I was dating at the time, kindly took me in, and we were married a few months later. After less than a year of marriage, I was still drinking heavily and did not want to give up the bar life, which she deemed inappropriate. We filed for divorce at the end of 2008. I got the professional help I needed and decided enough was enough. We got back together in March 2009, but just couldn't overcome the issues from the beginning of the marriage. We went to marriage counseling, which did help, but we were so tired of arguing we had to make a change. We treaded water for a few years, until in 2014, when we found a church that changed our lives. Finding our faith has helped us work together instead of against each other. Now, we put each other's needs in front of our own and we talk everything through. We truly are partners in everything." —Sean D.
"My first husband, Andres, passed away suddenly from a brain aneurysm in 2009. That same year my now-partner, Jarvis, had a heart attack and was brought back to life. Even though we hadn't met yet, Jarvis and I were both going through a lot of the same things at the same time. These experiences motivated us to focus on our health and wellness. Jarvis, who suffered from anxiety, started studying yoga and reiki to overcome it. At that time, I had just been diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that lead to severe anxiety and stress. We finally met online in 2013, but neither of us were emotionally ready for a relationship. The first time we met, he drove three hours to my house. I was so nervous, and I honestly didn't think our relationship would work out. I had a lot of abandonment issues when my husband died and never thought anyone could love me the way I needed to be loved. He also felt like we weren't at a point where we could become intimate, as we were dealing with so much individually. But we became close friends. After we started dating, it took about three years for us to fully trust each other and begin an intimate relationship. Self-awareness is a constant process, but our friendship is the foundation to our bond." —Chelcie P. (Make a long-distance relationship easier by asking your man to get you a JimmyJane Form 6 Vibrator from the Prevention Shop.)
MORE: Happy Couples Are Really Comfortable Doing This One Thing Together
Risa S.
"My husband and I have been together for 30 years and married for almost 26, but our origins as a couple couldn't have looked less promising. He was from a small town in Tennessee, never ventured out of the south, and was a former minister in the Church of Christ. I was born in New Jersey to Jewish parents who'd grown up around the corner from each other. I rode a motorcycle and was pretty wild through high school and college. We met in our PhD program in clinical psychology. He was engaged at the time. Despite him being with another woman, we went on a date. A few days later he broke things off with his fiancée to date me. We moved in together before the end of the year and got engaged about three years later. Even though our friends and colleagues had a betting pool for how long we'd last and my in-laws disowned my husband for marrying me, we persisted and are still together." —Risa S.
Omekongo D.
"Kendra and I went to the same school in Boston since the 7th grade, but we didn't get to know each other until our junior year of high school when our history teacher sat us next to each other. We quickly hit it off. I was born in Boston and Kendra came to the U.S. in 1983 after the invasion of Grenada. We grew up at the height of the crack epidemic in the late 80s and early 90s, and kids in our neighborhood were often killed for wearing the wrong sports cap because it represented a gang. We both saw people we knew die as innocent bystanders. I was robbed a couple of times, one attempt at knifepoint, and someone even put a gun to Kendra's head. Meeting Kendra was a breath of fresh air. I was smitten and knew, even at age 17, that I was meant to marry this woman. That was 23 years ago. Kendra and I survived by first making a commitment to our education. We pushed each other to go to college even if it meant we would have to date long-distance. I proposed to her at the bottom of a mountain in Capetown, South Africa one minute before the clock struck midnight and ushered us into the new millennium. I couldn't imagine entering a new century without her by my side." —Omekongo D.
Stacey G.
"Our dysfunction goes way back to the start of our relationship. I assumed we were perfect for each other because we shared many of the same friends, lived in the same area, and were both competitive athletes. After we married, I discovered that he didn't really believe in God, while I had a strong faith. Plus, he still wanted to do all of his races and competitions, while I was left at home with our kids. Still, I thought we were fine as we reached our 25th anniversary and decided to renew our vows. Shortly after the renewal, he cheated on me. When his indiscretion was discovered, we chose to see a pastor and work through some couples self-help books. The things we took away from our journey were that we were never really best friends. We were lovers. We were parents. We were competitors. Once we discovered that we could rely on each other for everything, we grew closer. Now we are 30 years into our marriage and have both learned how to share our innermost fantasies and dreams without perceiving them to be silly or unattainable. I listen more, he confides his fears. We are stronger now. —Stacey G.
Here's what men and women really think about cheating.
"My husand and I had been married about 13 years when we were stationed in Panama; we were both in the military at the time. That's when my already-quiet spouse became even more silent. For whatever reason, he wouldn't or couldn't tell me what was going on with him. I asked if it was another woman, he said no. So I decided to separate from active duty and head back to the U.S., where I joined the Reserves and worked part time. I knew that returning to the U.S. would probably be best for me and figured the time apart would give us both space to think. It wasn't a legal separation, but more of a logistical and emotional one. After all, I loved him and I believed he loved me. The military assignment in Panama was three years, so he still had two years to go when I left. Months later, I started dating a lovely man, but my heart still belonged to my husband. When he returned to the U.S., he asked to visit me where I lived in Oklahoma. We discussed our relationship and decided to give it another try. We haven't looked back. Three days ago we celebrated 44 years of marriage. I never found out what the issue was, but being apart showed him that we were stronger together. We are happier today than ever before. —Carol G.
MORE: The Love Lessons 4 Women Learned After Remarrying Their Ex-Husbands
Cori M.
"We got married when we were just 19 years old as high school sweethearts. Now, we're both 33 with a 2-year-old son and are still very much in love. Our marriage works because we work at it. In our 17-year relationship, we've never gone a single day without speaking to each other, even when we were managing a long-distance marriage during our college years. As cliché as it sounds, communication really is the secret to a long-lasting relationship. We've also always had the same vision for our lives; I can vividly recall being 16 years old and fantasizing about having a family with my husband. We even named our son back when we were dating in 2001. I remember my then 16-year-old boyfriend saying, "If we have a boy, I like the name Luigi!" Luigi Magnotta was born May 31st 2014. —Cori M.
The article 8 Happy Couples Share How They Broke Through Their Biggest Relationship Hurdles originally appeared on Women’s Health.
More From Relationship Advice
5 Best Sex Positions for a Mind-Blowing Orgasm
The Most Intimate Sex Positions to Try Tonight
Valentine's Day Gifts Your Husband Secretly Wants
6 Possible Reasons Your Husband Doesn’t Want Sex
After Marrying My Husband, We Stopped Having Sex
9 Signs You May Be In an Abusive Relationship
11 Warning Signs Your Relationship Is Toxic
How to Show Your Partner You Appreciate Them
This Shocking Factor Might Make Your Partner More Likely To Cheat
6 Women Share How Their Relationships Survived Cheating
The 9 Relationship "Rules" Happy Couples Break
8 Sex Habits Of Super Happy Couples
This Is How Happy Couples Deal With The Most Common Fights
6 Biggest Mistakes Couples Make In The Bedroom
12 Daily Habits Of Super-Happy Couples
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3232
|
__label__wiki
| 0.531304
| 0.531304
|
HomenewsSample essay papersЕssay on What is Justice
Еssay on What is Justice
Justice is probably one of the most arguable concepts since views on justice may vary dramatically. At the same time, the life of human society is simply unthinkable without justice. Since ancient epoch people heavily relied on the concept of justice, even though its perception was rather natural, instinctive than rational. In the course of the development of mankind and human thought the views on justice have started to change and they have become more and more diverse. However, at the early stages of the development of mankind the view on justice were quite primitive or were basically either with the revenge on those members of community that caused some harm to other members of this community and, as a rule, revenge was supposed to be proportional to harm and basically referred to physical punishment. Gradually, the concept of justice became more and more sophisticated and the present system of justice is extremely complicated to the extent that the society has to develop various institutions to maintain justice, including various law enforcement agencies and justice systems. Nevertheless, the society has never refused from the punitive essence of justice, even though humanistic and democratic principles are considered to be dominating in the contemporary society. As a result, the contemporary justice system is severely criticized since it does not fulfil its major function, the prevention of crime and elimination of injustice, though the latter rather refers not to criminal or legal domain but rather to the philosophical domain, which traditionally views justice in larger term than a system that maintains order and punishes for crimes. In such a situation, the question concerning the essence of justice, its purpose still remains unclear. In this respect, on analyzing the concept of justice it is very important to take into consideration the experience and works of philosophers that lived in the past epochs since through the analysis of various views on justice it is possible to arrive to some common view on this concept and evaluate it objectively, if objectivity is the term that could be applied to justice.
Traditionally, justice was one of the key concepts of the social life. At the same time, it is necessary to underline that the concept of justice was developed on the eternal antagonism between justice and injustice. This means that people perceive justice in juxtaposition to injustice. At the same time, it should be pointed out that justice may be perceived on the level of human relations, such as criminal justice and on the supernatural level. As a rule, the latter is traditionally associated with the divine justice. Though, in this respect, it should be pointed out that the concept of divine justice or a kind of supreme justice which overcomes the power of ordinary humans was basically developed in response to the inability of humans and authorities to effectively implement justice. In other words, people, being deceived by the existing justice system or being disenchanted, attempted to satisfy their desire of revenge or justice extrapolating judicial power to some supernatural forces such as God, for instance. In such a way, people attempted to fill the gap between their internal perception of justice and the ineffectiveness of the existing justice system. For instance, if an individual suffered from oppression from the part of other people, he/she would naturally want to protect him/herself by means of justice. But often the justice system proved to be ineffective, or decisions of courts or any other institutions executing judicial power in society did not meet the expectations of the oppressed individual, the victim, than he/she would naturally want to protect his/her interests. In the situation, when the existing justice system did not work this person would readily accept the idea that the offenders would be punished by God or any supernatural power, which is always just.
In this respect, it is possible to refer to works of ancient Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Socrates, who believed that there exists the perfect justice, which though they could clearly identify. To put it more precisely, Socrates stood on the ground that each individual develops his/her own system of justice and potentially each person can be a kind of judge since he/she operates certain set of values, rules and norms, the obedience to which reveals the extent to which actions of people are just or, in contrast, unjust. At the same time, the philosopher was very sceptical about the power of human justice system, which could be viewed in the context of his allegory of the cave.
According to his philosophical views people live in an extremely subjective world and they can hardly perceive adequately the surrounding reality because they rather live in the world of their own illusions than in the objectively perceived, real world. Consequently, he concludes that people are simply unable to develop an effective of justice since even the individual perception of justice is just a cheap copy of the perfect justice. Naturally, such a view, which was basically supported by Plato as well as other ancient philosophers, emphasized the weakness of humans and, implicitly, such a view on human justice explained the existence of injustice in the world. In other words, through the development of the concept of the perfect justice, which is practically unavailable to humans, ancient philosophers attempted to explain or justify the existence of injustice and the inability of human justice system to be really just to the extent that it could meet the expectations of all people. As a result, human justice was imperfect and people could not even rely on their own views on justice because they were too subjective and, in all probability, erroneous.
At the same time, the view on the concept of justice and the existing justice system as imperfect system was not the characteristic of Socrates or ancient philosophers uniquely. During the epoch of the Middle Ages, European philosophers developed the view on the concept of justice in traditional theological terms. What is meant here is the fact that justice was perceived as the concept that should not be treated as a product of human thought. In stark contrast, Christian philosophy developed the concept of Just and Almighty God, who was viewed as the only real source of justice and it is only the divine justice that could be really undisputable and absolutely perfect. As for humans and their justice they were still viewed as imperfect and, therefore, unable to develop an effective justice system. However, it does not prevent the representatives of the Catholic church, for instance, from the organization of their own justice system which was created and performed as the product of the will of God, though, in actuality, it was just a system of repression which punished heretics who challenged the dominance of the Catholic church.
The view on justice had started to change considerably since the epoch of the Renaissance and the following Enlightenment. During this period of time views on the concept of justice has started to acquire new features and one of the major trends is the growing anthropocentrism in views of philosophers on the concept of justice. In this respect, it is possible to refer to works of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which are, to a significant extent similar. On analyzing views of John Locke, it should be pointed out that he viewed justice rather as a product of human society and human mind. Even though he was a religious person his orientation on society as a product of relationships between humans could not fail to affect his views on justice.
To put it more precisely, John Locke was one of the first philosophers who started to develop the idea of social contract and, therefore, this idea affected the perception of justice by the philosopher. In fact, he recognized the fact that the existing justice system is imperfect, but, at the same time, he did not view humans as absolutely weak beings that were unable to develop an effective system of justice. On studying human nature, he developed the concept of tabula rasa, according to which humans being are born pure and innocent and, therefore, they are deprived of any vices and negative features (Seigel, 318). In such a context, it would be logical to presuppose that humans are originally just and it was really important to preserve this purity of human spirit and mind in the course of the development of an individual. This is actually why John Locke created his didactic works emphasizing the necessity to bring up gentlemen who lead a virtuous life and are unable to commit unjust actions or crimes.
At the same time, it should be said that Jean-Jacques Rousseau also developed a concept, according to which human beings are originally virtuous and are deprived of any vices and evil inclinations. He argued that in the course of the development, humans are dramatically affected by their environment and, as J.-J. Rousseau observed a vicious society, emphasizing the existing injustice, he argued that society produce a destructive impact on humans and, therefore, people cannot be just as they are brought up in vicious and unjust environment (Cooper, 174). In such a way, Jean Jacques Rousseau agreed with John Locke that the importance of the development of virtuous people could be determinant factor in the improvement of the existing justice system. He laid emphasis on the fact that it was necessary to eliminate the negative impact of social environment on humans. In the result, he believed, human society will got perfect and just people, who could be able to realize their innate potential.
In this respect, it is important to underline that views of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau on humans and justice were contrasting to views of Christian philosophers of the Middle Ages. The latter emphasized the vicious nature of humans that explained the existing injustice and the inability of humans to be just and create the perfect justice system. In contrast, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau insisted on the virtuous nature of humans and they believed that humans could create the perfect justice system if they managed to eliminate the negative impact of their social environment.
Later, the social aspect produced even more significant impact on philosophical views on the concept of justice. In the 19th century and the early 20th century, Marxist ideas had started to play increasingly more important role in views on the concept of justice and the existing system of justice. The traditional Marxist view lays emphasis on the repressive nature of the existing system of justice. Such a view on justice was determined by the basic ideas of Marxist philosophy which were based on the view on social development as the permanent struggle between antagonistic classes. Economy was the basis of the conflict between classes and Marxists believed that the ruling classes established their own standards and created their own ideology, which became the dominant ideology of the entire society since the socio-economic elite occupied the dominant position in society and, thus, shaped its ideology, morals, beliefs, etc. (Broad, 229). In such a context, justice was viewed as a concept created and imposed on society by ruling classes and targeting at the control over the oppressed classes. As a result, the existing justice system was viewed just as a tool of control, which protected economic interests of the ruling elite and oppressed lower classes of society.
In fact, Marxists viewed society as absolutely unjust and they targeted at the social revolution in order to change radically the existing social order and establish social justice where all people would be really equal. In actuality, such a view on justice was based on egalitarian principles which were particularly popular in the 19th and 20th century.
Historically, the concept of justice varied depending on the socio-cultural environment but, in actuality, it has never been realized. In fact, the existing ideal of the concept of justice is quite different from what people actually face in their life. In this respect, it should be said that the social position of the individual always played an important role in the system of criminal justice and in the attitude of this system to an individual and, therefore, in the interpretation of the concept of justice. In other words, in spite of the existing legal norms and basic principles justice is supposed to be equal for all people regardless their social position, level of income, race, gender, etc., but, in actuality, an individual can expect a different justice from the part of the criminal justice system depending on his/her social position.
First of all, it should be said that the concept of justice is far from perfect or ideal. At any rate, it is obvious that justice can hardly be applied equally to all people. Basically, the reasons for such a situation are quite obvious since the inequality in the treatment of people by the criminal justice system is highly dependent on the social position of an individual.
In this respect, it is necessary to underline that the social position of an individual may be a key factor in the justice he/she can expect to receive from the criminal justice system. For instance, it is not a secret that a social background often affects the decisions taken by courts and the attitude of the criminal justice system at large to an individual. It proves beyond a doubt that the attitude to an individual accused in some crime will be different if he/she occupies a high social position or, in contrast, occupies the lowest position in the social hierarchy. As a rule, the attitude to an individual with poor social background, who has low income and lives in a community where the crime rate is very high will be exposed to higher risk of getting a more severe punishment compared to an individual belonging to the social elite. What is meant here is the fact that people, including those working in the criminal justice system, are often biased, especially in relation to people that occupy lower social position. They simply believe in the existing social norms and views, according to which representatives of lower classes are more susceptible to committing crimes. On the other hand, the attitude of the general public and people working in the criminal justice system to representatives of upper classes is absolutely different from the attitude to representatives of lower classes and is basically characterized by respect.
As a result, the view on the representatives of lower classes is extremely biased. Moreover, they are believed to tend to criminal activities that are determined by their social position. This means that the fact that an individual live in a poor social environment, has a low income and some of his neighbours, for instance, are criminals than this individual is viewed as a person that is more likely to commit a crime and a representative of the middle class. In such a way, the social position and social background may determine the court decision in relation to an individual.
Obviously, the court decision as well as the position of the criminal justice system at large will be absolutely different in relation to representatives of upper classes since their social and financial successes are viewed as marks of their virtue. Consequently, it is often believe that a rich person, originating from a good social background is simply unable to commit a crime.
However, the real situation is quite different. In actuality, it is obvious that the social background of an individual cannot be a determining factor in the justice he/she can count for from the existing justice system. Needless to say, criminals cannot be classified according to their social status since representatives of all classes can commit crimes.
This is why it is extremely important that the existing criminal justice system was free of biases and prejudices based on the social position of an individual. In this respect, it is necessary to remind that the criminal justice system should be highly objective and primarily focus on the real evidences and proofs before the final decision concerning to an individual accused or suspected is made.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that human views on the concept of justice varied consistently. Nevertheless, people always readily implemented their own justice system punishing those who did not meet the established social norms, rules and standards. At the same time, justice system has never been perfect and, in spite of significant changes and improvements, it still remains to be far from perfect.
What is Justice
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3233
|
__label__cc
| 0.669228
| 0.330772
|
Still business as usual for Barratt Homes
Despite the fact that many had predicted a post Brexit downturn for the UK housing market this has yet to materialise. Indeed today we saw the U.K.’s leading developer Barratt Homes announce pre-tax profits up by 20.7% to just over £682 million. This figure is for the year to June 30, 2016 over which period
Click to Read The Full Story and Add you Own Comments to Continue reading...
PropEx Member
Why do people speak of "post Brexit" when Brexit hasn't hasn't happened yet?
PropEx, Sep 8, 2016
Longterminvestor Active Member
I think they mean "post brexit" as in after the vote.
Longterminvestor, Sep 10, 2016
Longterminvestor said: ↑
Yeah, I realise that, but some people are going on about, "I told you that would happen after Brexit" or "I knew that wouldn't happen after Brexit" when the reality is, it hasn't even happened yet.
PropEx, Sep 14, 2016
Hi @PropEx How do you see this all panning out after Article 50 has been triggered?
Well, firstly, as crazy as it may sound I wouldn't be surprised if Article 50 isn't ever invoked and the UK doesn't leave. If however UK does leave, quite frankly I think it will be a disaster for the UK, certainly short to medium term. Surely it would be devastating for the City, if the banks can't "passport" to the EU then they will move their HQs elsewhere, probably to Paris or Frankfurt.
nmb Well-Known Member
I’m not so sure it will be as big a nightmare as many people are predicting. At this moment in time the European Union is in a complete mess and I would not be surprised to see some kind of restrictions on free movement and immigration - exactly why the UK is leaving the European Union. As far as the financial sector goes, London was a powerhouse before the European Union became more entwined and will remain so into the future. If you look back over the last decade you will see many attempted power grabs by the European Union looking to diminish the reputation of London and move more financial business to mainland Europe.
At the end of the day the UK has not adopted the euro and in all honesty is unlikely to do so.
nmb, Sep 17, 2016
nmb said: ↑
Haha, yes, I think it is fair to say that Britain won't be adopting the Euro! The point I am making about the financial sector is how can all the big banks stay in London when London won't have "passporting", which gives them access to the European single market without restrictions? Don't you think they would move to somewhere in the EU? I agree that there have been many attempted power grabs over the last decade and the reason that I can see that they failed is because London had access to the European single market without restrictions, surely it would be a different ball game if they didn't have access?
PostBrexitInvestor Member
Surely the European Union needs the UK as much as the UK needs the European Union? They will have to find a compromise?
PostBrexitInvestor, Sep 19, 2016
Are we not in danger of talking ourselves into a downturn/recession?
The first 5 years post Brexit aren't going to be pretty in my opinion. People don't seem to realise how long it takes to draw up trade agreements with other countries.
I agree that the first five years will be difficult but then again current UK trading partners will not simply stop trading with the UK especially when the UK is, for example, the biggest single importer of goods from the European Union.
p.s. The EU don't exactly have a great record on trade agreements - they have been shown to be worse than useless at times.
Similar Threads - Still business usual
Is Luton Still A Good Investment? (UK)
LDS1919, Apr 23, 2019, in forum: General Property Investment Discussion
LDS1919
Acute shortage of rental properties in the UK, surely buy to let is still a no-brainer?
FWL, Apr 7, 2018, in forum: UK Property
FWL
Q – I am self-employed; can I still get a mortgage as I don’t pay myself a high salary?
The Mortgage Broker, May 16, 2017, in forum: Mortgages
Default on your credit file - Can you still get a mortgage?
The Mortgage Broker, Apr 13, 2017, in forum: Mortgages
The Mortgage Broker
Bank of mum and dad still required for property purchases
Nicholas Wallwork, Mar 27, 2017, in forum: Property Market News and Trends
Longterminvestor
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3235
|
__label__wiki
| 0.609231
| 0.609231
|
Monograph Reports
MR-638
>Lanchester Equations and Scoring Systems
Lanchester Equations and Scoring Systems
Lanchester equations are differential equations describing the time dependence of attacker and defender strengths A and D as a function of time, with the function depending only on A and D.[12] One partly generalized version of the Lanchester equations has the following form
(A.1)
in which the attrition rates and exponents are time-independent parameters. Sometimes the equations are extended to include constant reinforcement-rate terms.
Most authors doing analytical work (as distinct from computer simulations) have focused on one of two special cases: the "square law" corresponds to s=u=1 and r=t=0; the "linear law" corresponds to r=s=t=u=1.
(a.2) square law
(A.3) linear law
It is usually said that the square law applies to "aimed fire" (e.g., tank versus tank) and the linear law to "unaimed fire" (e.g., artillery barraging an area without precise knowledge of target locations). Alternatively, it is sometimes said that the key feature of the square law is that it describes concentration of fire.
Although the simple Lanchester equations with constant coefficients remain useful for demonstrating some features of combat (e.g., the value of concentrating effort and the associated penalty for breaking up one's forces), especially when it is desirable to do so analytically, they are a poor basis for describing most combat situations. Computer simulations may use Lanchester expressions "locally" (i.e., for attrition estimates within a given time interval), but the coefficients of those equations change from time step to time step as conditions of terrain, defender preparations, and many other factors change. Good computer simulations recognize that the losing side may choose to break off battle rather than be annihilated. Some use equations in which the exponents are much smaller than called for in the square law and in which there are some differences in exponent between attacker and defender (e.g., to reflect the different mix of aimed and unaimed fire that might result from the defender having better cover and the attacker relying more heavily on artillery preparation).[13] Most computer simulations deal separately with different classes of weapon-on-weapon interactions and treat maneuver as fundamental, not an annoying complication. Unfortunately, such computer simulations are then more complicated to understand and discuss. Hence, Lanchester equations continue to have a place in explaining simple points.
For readers interested in understanding the relationship between Lanchester equations and "physics-level calculations," a recent study may be illuminating (Hillestad, Owen, and Blumenthal, 1993). It illustrates how a Lanchester square law can--in simple cases--be a reasonable approximation of events when the opponents approach each other frontally. The authors began with item-level simulations with individual shooters (e.g., tanks) and kill-per-shot probabilities dependent on range. They assumed flat, featureless, terrain. Even in this case, moving to and understanding the Lanchester representation was nontrivial and, in practice, was informed by theory and experimentation with the higher-resolution simulations.
Estimating the Strengths or Scores Used Within Lanchester Formulations
Lanchester equations assume that the sides' strengths can be characterized by scalar quantities that are usually called scores. In practice, estimating appropriate scores can be very troublesome, especially when the sides each have a mix of equipment and especially when the opponents have different equipment, organization, and doctrine. The most important considerations are accounting for the number of items of relevant equipment and gross features of context (type terrain, type battle, and whether there is a serious mismatch of capabilities). Early scoring methods, known as static methods, did not reflect context, but a newer situational scoring method does so, albeit in a way dependent on expert judgment for correction factors (Allen, 1992). The situational scoring method is used by RAND in the RSAS and JICM theater-level models. It has been used in Germany for NATO-sponsored work on multipolar stability concepts (Huber and Helling, 1995).
Another subtle problem in using scores involves the treatment of qualitative factors (e.g., the effects of terrain or the differences in competence between equally sized and equipped forces of different nations). Lanchester intended that A and D measure numbers of entities (e.g., people or tanks). Applying Lanchester laws to force strength (i.e., scores reflecting both numbers and qualitative features of combatant entities) requires great care to avoid logical inconsistencies (Lepingwell, 1987; Homer-Dixon, 1987).[14] It is mathematically cleaner to treat qualitative effects by modifying the attrition coefficients rather than the scores. In this report I assume that appropriate scores can be constructed.
The 3:1 Rule
The 3:1 rule in ground combat has been discussed for centuries, but it is difficult to find authoritative sources justifying it in any detail. For discussion and some citations, see Mearsheimer (1989). For rejoinders see Epstein (1989) and Dupuy (1989). My own view (consistent, I believe, with Mearsheimer's intended message) is that for modern mechanized combat the 3:1 rule applies approximately, when applied to scores such as WEI/WUV or equivalent-division scores determined largely by the number of pieces of major equipment such as tanks. It applies only to equally competent opponents when one of them is fighting from prepared positions in good defensive terrain and the other is conducting a frontal attack. In other situations, the defender advantage is normally less. Dupuy (1987) deals with this by assessing a "combat power," which is something like a WEI/WUV score modified by a series of correction factors for terrain, defensive preparations, surprise effects, and so on. After making such corrections, Dupuy treats break-even as a ratio of 1:1--in "combat power." Models like RAND's RSAS or JICM treat the same effects in somewhat different ways.
[12] For extensive discussion of Lanchester equations see the treatises by Taylor (1980, 1983) and more recent work by Lepingwell (1987), Homer-Dixon (1987) and Epstein (1990), all of which describe the shortcomings of Lanchester theory. See also Wise (1991), which discusses effects of maneuver and command-control, and Helmbold (1993, 1994), which discuss alternative formulations useful for examining empirical data and appreciating some of the more subtle implications of the formulation. The Lanchester equations were discovered simultaneously and independently by the Russian scientist Osipov.
[13] See, e.g., Allen (1992, p. 41) for the expressions used in RAND's RSAS and JICM models. (dA/dt)/A goes as 1/F.93; (dD/dt)/D goes as F.64; the ratio of fractional loss rates goes as 1/F1.6. These were based on loose fits to historical data as well as approximate theoretical arguments.
[14] For example, models such as the RSAS and JICM that use qualitatively adjusted scores to compute attrition must calibrate the scores so that the results are the same as if the situation-dependent effects had been included in the attrition coefficients. Further, they must keep separate track of the unadjusted and adjusted force levels, because the ratios of loss rates are different for these quantities. See Allen (1992, p. 41).
About RAND Reports
Publishing Overview
Reprint & Linking Permissions
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3236
|
__label__wiki
| 0.502742
| 0.502742
|
New Patient Appointment Request
903 N. State Rd. 434
920 Williston Park Point
Rawle Orthodontics
Office Policies / Mission
Rawle Ortho Blog
Rawle Smiles
Patient Rewards
Temporary Anchorage Devices (TADS) are small, screw-like dental implants made of a titanium alloy. As the name implies, they're temporary — they usually remain in place during some months of treatment, and then they are removed. Their function is to provide a stable anchorage — that is, a fixed point around which other things (namely, teeth) can be moved. But why is anchorage so important?
Moving teeth in the jaw has been compared to moving a stick through the sand. With the application of force, sand moves aside in front of the stick, and fills up the space behind. The “sand” in this case consists of bone cells and cells of the periodontal ligament, which attaches the tooth to the bone. These tissues slowly move aside and reform as force is applied to them by orthodontic appliances, such as wires and elastics.
But to do its work, that force needs a fixed point to push against. For example, imagine trying to move the stick while you're floating free in the water: Not so easy! But with two feet firmly planted in the sand, you can do it. When possible, orthodontists use the back teeth as an anchor — but sometimes, cumbersome headgear may be required to provide the necessary anchorage. In many cases, using TADS can change that.
What TADS Can Do
While it's generally preferred, the use of teeth as orthodontic anchors can have drawbacks in some cases. For example, there may not be a viable tooth located at the point where an anchor is needed. Also, when a greater force is required, the teeth used as anchors can themselves start to move. This is one instance where TADS are beneficial: These mini-implants can eliminate the need to use teeth as anchors, or stabilize a tooth that's being used as such.
TADS can also provide an anchorage point for a pushing or pulling force that would otherwise need to be applied from outside the mouth: generally, via orthodontic headgear. Wearing headgear can be uncomfortable, and compliance is sometimes a problem. In many situations TADS can eliminate the need for headgear, a welcome development for many patients.
The use of TADS offers other benefits as well: It may shorten overall treatment time, eliminate the need to wear elastics (rubber bands) — and in some cases, even make certain oral surgeries unnecessary. It also allows orthodontists to take on complex cases, which might formerly have proved very difficult to treat. This small device can really do a big job!
Getting (and Maintaining) TADS
Like dental implants (which have been in use since the 1970s) TADS are small, screw-like devices that are placed into the bone of the jaw. Unlike implants, however, they don't always need to become integrated with the bone itself: They can be fixed in place by mechanical forces alone. Plus, they're much easier to put in and remove when treatment is complete. How easy?
Placing and removing TADS is a minimally-invasive, pain-free procedure. After the area being treated is numbed (with an injection or other numbing treatment), a patient feels only gentle pressure as the device is inserted. The whole process can take just minutes to complete. Afterwards, an over-the-counter pain reliever can be taken if needed — but many patients need no pain reliever at all. And taking TADS out is even easier. So if you're worried that it may be a painful procedure: Relax! It's far less stressful than you may think.
While they're in place, TADS require minimal maintenance. Generally, they should be brushed twice daily with a soft toothbrush dipped in an antimicrobial solution. We will give you specific instructions regarding maintenance when your TADS are placed.
Not every orthodontic patient needs TADS — but for those who do, it's a treatment option that offers some clear benefits.
What are TADS? Anchorage, or resistance to movement, is an important concept in orthodontics. Anchorage in orthodontics is often supplied by a tooth or group of teeth that are supposed to stay still as forces are applied against them in a way that only the mal-positioned teeth will move — into better position. The challenge is to avoid the anchor teeth from moving too. That's where Temporary Anchorage Devices (TADs) come in. TADS are mini-screws or mini-implants temporarily placed into the bone of the jaws to be used as non-mobile anchor units that facilitate tooth movement. TADs can shorten orthodontic treatment time and are easily removed once they've done their job.... Read Article
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS LOCATION - 903 N. STATE RD. 434, ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL 32714 Phone: 407-682-1818
LAKE MARY LOCATION - 920 Williston Park Point, LAKE MARY, FL 32746 Phone: 407-682-1818
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3237
|
__label__cc
| 0.678501
| 0.321499
|
The View’s Whoopi Goldberg scorches Trump for blaming ‘fake news’ for Helsinki: ‘You gave the middle finger to America’
President Donald Trump blamed the universally negative coverage of his Helsinki summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin on “fake news” — and “The View” host Whoopi Goldberg called him out.
The president sided with Putin over U.S. intelligence services and law enforcement agencies, and Republicans and Democrats alike accused him of rolling over for Russia — or even committing treason.
“We wanted you to know this,” Goldberg told her audience, after discussing the Trump-Putin summit. “You-know-who tweeted that any criticism coming from the ‘fake news’ is fake.”
While I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way – the Fake News is going Crazy!
Goldberg read aloud Trump’s tweet, and reminded the president — who sometimes watches the show — that his news conference with Putin was broadcast live on worldwide television.
“Listen, man, we saw you, we heard you, it was live,” Goldberg said. “You can’t pretend you didn’t say it — you said it. You stood next to that man and said it, and gave the middle finger to America.”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3238
|
__label__wiki
| 0.938547
| 0.938547
|
Customer Engagement Center
Enabling Capabilities
Force Protection
Smart Sustainment
Surface Combatants
Third Air Warfare Destroyer launched
Raytheon Australia’s highly skilled combat system workforce celebrate success
Sydney, the third and final Air Warfare Destroyer was launched in Adelaide, Australia. Raytheon Australia is an integral member of the Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance, integrating the most advanced combat systems into the AWDs.
Sydney, the third and final Air Warfare Destroyer, launched on Saturday, 19 May, at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia. The milestone event brought the Royal Australian Navy one step closer to having three AWDs operating in its fleet.
The occasion also marked a milestone for Raytheon Australia, an integral member of the Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance. Raytheon Australia integrated Australia’s most advanced combat system into the AWDs. It was highly complex work that involved the installation of ten major subsystems, including the Aegis Weapon System, and the associated delivery of more than 3,500 major pieces of combat system equipment.
“Over the past ten years, we have seen more than 5,000 people and 1,500 suppliers contribute millions of hours of effort to the AWD program – the most complex defence project ever undertaken in Australia,” said AWD Program Manager Commodore Craig Bourke. “The complexity of this project is reflected in the sophistication of the AWDs. These warships will provide a true step-change in capability for the Australian Defence Force.”
The AWDs are equipped with the Cooperative Engagement Capability system, enabling United States and Australian warships to share targeting data in real time. Australia is the first international partner outside of the U.S. to gain access to this technology.
“As the most potent warships Australia has ever possessed, all three destroyers feature an advanced anti-submarine warfare capability, state-of-the-art radar technology and an air defence system capable of engaging enemy aircraft and missiles at an extended range,” said CDRE Bourke.
Raytheon Australia’s involvement in the Government’s AWD reform strategy helped to realise productivity improvements of 60 per cent from the first to the third ship in the shipbuilding element of the AWD program.
“Raytheon’s work as the Combat System Integrator has been delivered on time and on budget,” said Michael Ward, managing director of Raytheon Australia. “There are lessons that have been learnt through this program, and those lessons will deliver real benefits to future complex naval programs in Australia.”
4 Brindabella Circuit Canberra Airport ACT 2609
Copyright © 2019 Raytheon Australia.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3239
|
__label__wiki
| 0.726338
| 0.726338
|
What Was James Buchanan Owned
He prospered from the estate he owned, Rancho Las Mariposas. President Millard Fillmore together earned more than 400,000 votes than the winner, James Buchanan. An Illinois Republican, Abraham.
Sports Illustrated called it “an elephant hunt of highly comic proportions,” and the Times related Sheriff James Buchanan’s embarrassment at not. a nonprofit founded by D.R. Miller, who owned the.
Bribery and kickbacks were so notorious within the administration of James Buchanan (1856-60) that when Abraham Lincoln. with another $300,000 donated in 1996 from officials of the state-owned.
Much ink has been spilled over Nancy MacLean’s "Democracy in Chains," a book that places Nobel Laureate James. Buchanan is writing a private letter to a person who is sympathetic to his academic.
Dec 21, 2018 · If one were to name an official Recently Deceased Nobel Laureate of the Age of Trump, the economist James M. Buchanan would be a good candidate. In 2017, Buchanan was the focus of two books and a.
Despite Pennsylvania being the birthplace of the United States, you might be surprised to learn that only one president was born in the Keystone State: President James Buchanan. And, while other presidents, such as George
Would be first bachelor president since James Buchanan, who was in the White House from 1857. mom Melissa ran family-owned store in city until selling it after IRS probe. Melissa’s stepfather Fred.
Warren G. Harding: Country, Locale, Remarks, Date. Panama, Colon, Baihos, Informal visit to Canal Zone. [Visit made as President-elect.] November 24, 1920. United Kingdom. Why buy one wax figure of a former president when you can buy five — right, John Oliver? After the Hall of Presidents and First Ladies Museum closed in Gettysburg last year, late night
Sergeant James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was a former soldier of the 107th Infantry Regiment and the best friend of Steve Rogers, since childhood. Barnes was conscripted and assigned to the 107th in 1942. His regiment was captured by the forces of HYDRA, but.
The port authority actually owned most the land where the slum currently sits. And, honestly, I believe him. James Buchanan is a Senior Research Associate and PhD Candidate at the Department of.
James Buchanan Eads was born on May 23, 1820, in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, to Thomas C. Eads and Ann Buchanan Eads. Thomas Eads worked as a merchant in Lawrenceburg and later in Louisville, Kentucky, when James was a child.
A 19th-century Evanston house, originally owned by an abolitionist who played a pivotal role. For his role in the incident, Jenks was denounced by President James Buchanan. Decades later, Jenks.
Take Abraham Lincoln. He, too, was the subject of a book arguing that he had male lovers. James Buchanan, America’s only bachelor president, has been the target of similar chatter since the 1850s. Yet.
Abraham Lincoln Tour Washington Dc Plan your vacation with our interactive Washington DC Map. User-friendly design with detailed info about all the tourist attractions and Old Town Trolley route. Tips for Visiting Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. The Lincoln Memorial, an iconic landmark on the National Mall in Washington, DC, is a tribute to President Abraham Lincoln, who fought to
James Buchanan was a bachelor and never married. Garfield could write with both hands at the same time in different languages. 21. Chester A. Arthur owned 80 pairs of pants. 22. Grover Cleveland.
Gulick believed the city was under a “real state of siege”— and, practically speaking. Edwin Stanton, who had just ended his service as attorney general under James Buchanan, noted his own.
Why Was The Declaration Of Independence Revised The Declaration of Independence is the usual name of a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign. In his book, “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution,” retired. To
From Wikipedia: "James Buchanan Duke, known by the nickname "Buck", was born near Durham, North Carolina, on December 23, 1856 to Washington Duke and his second wife, Artelia Roney Duke.". "Washington Duke (1820–1905), had owned a tobacco company that his sons James Buchanan Duke and Benjamin Newton Duke (1855–1929) took over in the 1880s.
James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University
From BuildZoom: J.Buchanan Painting, Clearfield, PA (Owned by: James A Buchanan) holds a We provide interior painting and drywall services license and 1.
The Great Depression President Herbert Hoover The Great Depression. In October 1929 the stock market crashed, wiping out 40 percent of the paper values of common stock. Even after the stock market collapse, however, politicians and industry leaders continued to issue optimistic predictions for the nation’s economy. Nov 6, 2013. President Herbert Hoover felt that the part of the answer to
Your Guide to Lake Buchanan "Lake Buchanan is now full and BEAUTIFUL!" A Regatta on Lake Buchanan. Lake Buchanan (pronouced buh-CAN-un) is the second largest of the Highland Lakes in Central Texas with a length of 30 miles and a width at the widest point of just under 5 miles and a shoreline of 124 miles.
Getzenberg, PhD, director of research of the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute and professor. Dr. Getzenberg holds a patent for the assay technology that detects EPCA-2. The patent is owned.
Our soon-to-be-outgoing president generally draws rave reviews for his rare ability to tell a joke that sometimes makes people laugh. This got us wondering: Who were our funniest presidents. so.
The Town of Buchanan is centrally located 24 miles between Roanoke and Lexington, and just 20 miles from Bedford. Buchanan is surrounded by beautiful countryside as well as National Forests making it an idea destination for those who enjoy outdoor adventure with easy access to more urban areas.
Robert Strauss is author of the forthcoming Worst. President. Ever.: James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents. shot a pig owned.
James Buchanan was an original participant of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. However, after an archery accident, he was unable to make the trip and Sacagawea was chosen to attend in his place.
It’s obviously priceless to our family but we were curious about its worth because it was signed by President James Buchanan. The property was originally. stayed within our family we believe that.
Thomas Cliff owned the only home in this area of the city and ran a. He served in the Senate until 1857 and was President James Buchanan’s Secretary of State. Cass Street was located immediately.
James Buchanan was the 15th president of the United States, serving during the build-up to the Civil War. Learn more at Biography.com. James Buchanan was the 15th president of the United States.
Andrew Jackson isn’t the only US President to keep a pet bird in the White House. Teddy Roosevelt had a one-legged rooster and James Buchanan supposedly owned two bald eagles (because America). But to.
“That doesn’t make sense to me. I would say I don’t believe James Buchanan ever visited Taunton. Crowley was also unfamiliar about any visits by the 15th president. Cleveland, who owned a summer.
A summary of Chapter 6 in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Great Gatsby and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
(2) While MacLean doesn’t quite go so far as to assert that James Buchanan was racist in supporting school vouchers in Virginia in the late 1950s, some of her defenders do. I pointed out that he gave.
Buchanan’s is a brand of Scotch whisky owned by Diageo and produced in Scotland. James Buchanan, born in Canada but son of Scottish immigrants, returned to the United Kingdom shortly after he was born and he was brought up in Larne.
James Buchanan was booked in Dallas County, TX on 12/23/2010 at 20:00. All are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Published mugshots and/or arrest records are previously published public records of: an arrest, an indictment, a registration, supervision or probation, the deprivation of liberty or a detention.
Her chief villain on this score is James Buchanan, an economist and political philosopher who argued that government actors ought to be subject to built-in structural constraints. On the other hand,
Would be first bachelor president since James Buchanan, who was in the White House from 1857. mom Melissa ran family-owned.
Ada, born February 22, 1867. Thomas Buchanan was a king among early New York merchants, and his firm was in existence for full fifty-five years, and was kno^^Ti in 1766 as Wal- ter and Thomas Buchanan. Between that date and the close of the Revolution the firm changed, and became Thomas Buchanan & Company.
Did you know? Montpelier, James Madison’s Virginia plantation home, was established by his grandfather in 1723. An estimated 100 slaves lived at Montpelier when Madison owned it.
James Buchanan, 15 th President of the United States, was born in Pennsylvania, the son of a storeowner. He learned to add sums and keep books in his father’s store. He learned to add sums and keep books in his father’s store.
Critics and history buffs, quick to scorn the sensationalist cover, have pointed out that James Buchanan was likely the first homosexual President more than a century ago. Rumours about Buchanan’s.
Posted byadmin April 6, 2019 Posted inFacts
Orphan Trains During The Great Depression
William Penn Facts For Kids
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3240
|
__label__wiki
| 0.922652
| 0.922652
|
American Grit
Interview: John Cena on American Grit season two’s major changes
by Andy Dehnart 11 Apr. 2017 | 8:30 am
Last November, in a rural Georgia park, I interviewed several contestants for American Grit season two. It was the first thing a tiny contingent of press—two Fox TV station crew, and another print reporter and I—did before traveling to the actual set, where the contestants would be mentored by military elites and test their own endurance in the John Cena-hosted show.
From the moment the contestants stepped out of the van, though, it was clear something was wrong.
The first person I interviewed was George Foreman IV—yes, the son of that George Foreman—who isn’t himself a household name, but his name certainly has more celebrity cachet than contestant on season one.
I wasn’t surprised, though, that the series would cast a celebrity-ish contestant for a low-rated show that nevertheless was renewed.
While George seemed athletic and ready to compete, after him, I was quickly baffled by the handful of cast members I interviewed.
They seemed so out of place, from their wardrobes to their lack of physical preparedness. They had no answers for my questions about the kind of challenges that season one’s cast faced.
I felt like I was interviewing rejected Big Brother cast members who were about to play Survivor. Why would this group be cast on a show that prided itself on the toughness of its cast?
What I learned later was that this is not American Grit season one, because the show made some major changes.
Here’s how John Cena described the show’s changes to me:
“they’re not going to be roughing it as much”
“a different style of competitor”
“[me] and the cadre are going to be condensed together”
“the challenges won’t be purely physical”
“the contests won’t be purely physical”
“we end with an elimination challenge”
“it won’t be purely a team show”
“only one person can win”
Also, the elimination challenges aren’t endurance challenges.
How exactly is this American Grit? And is Fox ruining yet another wonderful summertime show?
That was my biggest fear—that a show capable of producing this absolutely amazing moment was going down the path of Home Free.
So that’s the first thing I asked John Cena when I interviewed him, and he said he was as concerned as I was about the new format: “Initially, yes, because I didn’t want lose the DNA of the show,” he told me while we stood swiping at mosquitos on a bridge near where both he and the contestants will live. “And the DNA of the show is doing good by helping people.”
When the second season’s format was pitched to him, he said, “a lot of that’s dumped on your plate at once, so it was a lot to digest. It took me a deep breath and a cup of coffee to realize that it’s actually better than the first time around.”
Better! Why?
“Because people are starting from the bottom. When you recruit the 1 percent, they already know hard work, and they already know grit. But there’s a lot of folks out there that may be in a lull in life—or maybe just, Oh, you know, nothing good ever goes my way. Well, you have to learn how to make it go your way, where you have to just look at life differently.”
“Hopefully that’s what’s going to happen here,” he added.
How the changes affect the contestants and the cadre
Chris Krueger and Tabatha Armour, aka Goldie Knocks, compete in the circus on American Grit’s first episode.
When American Grit season two’s cast was announced last week, Fox said that its 17 contestants are people “who either have lost their grit or never had it.” That’s a significant change from season one, when “sixteen of the country’s toughest men and women will face a variety of military-grade and survival-themed challenges set in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.”
Instead of freezing cold weather and a shared living space, the contestants and their lack of grit will live in lakeside cabins, complete with a floating dock and fire pit. (I’ll have details from the show’s production designer in a future story, but you can see Cena’s house and the contestants’ cabins in this photo.)
The one thing that hasn’t changed is that four ex-military mentors will lead teams of contestants. (There are four teams, so guess what happens to contestant #17.) This season, the cadre will have to help their contestants succeed despite the contestants’ lack of ability.
“I think that’s a much better use of the talent we have in that house right there,” Cena told me, gesturing toward a large house sitting on a lake, which overlooks the four brand-new cabins that were built for the show.
“The accommodations are, in my mind, a little more plush. I think the backdrop is beautiful. We’re in warmer weather—it has this drawback with the bugs, but that’s not bad,” Cena told me. (The bugs were really bad.)
Cena said he didn’t want people to be so uncomfortable they quit, so the housing situation—beds, couches, a kitchen—helps by giving them a place to unwind. “They’re going to change their life but not to the point of, Hey, you’re out on an island with nothing. They’ll still have creature comforts of normal life, but they’ll just have to do it differently enough so they have to look within themselves,” he said.
The cadre will coach more than they did in season one.
“I think they’re here, broken down to us. They’re going get time to spend with their cadre; their cadre are going to do their best to prepare them for what their cadre thinks they’re up against,” Cena said. “So you’ll have a lot of coaching before these challenges, which is something we didn’t necessarily have last year, so you’ll get a lot more preparation.”
Also in season one, Cena connected with the contestants at various points during the competition, but stood out especially for his one-on-one conversations before endurance challenges. Will that continue?
“I anticipate a lot more conversation with this group,” he said. While it was easy for him to relate to dedicated, athletic contestants during season one, Cena said, “I’ve got no idea what I’m dealing with—no idea. So it’s going to be tough for me to help these people, and it’s going to be tough for our cadre to help these people. The only way you can get over a problem is to communicate.”
But even American Grit didn’t know what to expect from this relatively pampered, definitely unprepared group: “Who knows, man? I think that’s what’s fun—it’s unexpected, it’s out of my comfort zone, so it’s going to be fun.”
What John Cena wants American Grit to do
American Grit host and star John Cena (center) with cadre members Grady Powell and Chloe Mondesir. (Photo by Jeffrey Neira/Fox)
John Cena is still committed to American Grit, as an idea and as a television show, and wants it to have an impact on both the contestants and viewers.
“You can always make TV, but when you can do something that hopefully betters people’s lives, both in the competition and watching at home—that’s using the entertainment platform to give back,” Cena told me. “At the very least, they’re entertained, but best case scenario they take away a few tips to help themselves.”
“I think and hope that [viewers] get attached to people on the show,” he said, “because every single person is going to go on a journey. We have some pretty elite cadre that aren’t used to working with the competitors we have. That’s going to be a challenge for them. Like I said, it’s going to be a challenge for me. And it’s going to be a challenge for the competitors to look inside themselves to see if they’ve got what it takes to change.”
The format change for American Grit is, he insisted, “gonna be fun because it’s so unpredictable. I really did like season one,” he said, but added that it was easy to figure out who’d do well and who would struggle.
This season, though: “I don’t know. We all have no idea,” John Cena told me. “We don’t have that this year, and I think that makes for a better television show.”
An interview with Jon Kroll, American Grit’s executive producer and showrunner, and a behind-the-scenes look at the new set that the show’s production designer built in South Carolina.
Summer 2019 reality TV schedule and guide
This summer reality show 2019 schedule is a frequently updated list of premieres for broadcast, cable, and streaming reality TV shows, documentary series, game shows, and other prime-time nonfiction TV.
Behind the scenes of the Big Brother house
The CBS Big Brother house behind the scenes: a tour of the control room, back yard, Julie Chen’s studio, and camera ring from where houseguests are filmed.
Behind the scenes with the new Mythbusters
I went behind the scenes with new Mythbusters Jon Lung and Brian Louden during filming of part of their “Rock ‘n’ Roll Road Rage” episode.
Big Brother 12 house: inside the soundstage
Big Brother behind the scenes: a detailed tour of the soundstage home of the season 12 houseguests, including their bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and more.
American Grit renewed, and is now casting
Behind the scenes of American Grit season two
other behind-the-scenes, interviews more stories about American Grit
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3242
|
__label__wiki
| 0.804875
| 0.804875
|
December 22, 2016 / 1:38 AM / 3 years ago
2016: A year of transition from talk to action on climate change
Megan Rowling
BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When it comes to climate change and the battle to keep it in check, 2016 was a year of extremes.
The euphoria of the super-fast entry into force of the Paris Agreement to curb global warming crashed days later with the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, fuelling fears he may pull the world’s second-largest emitting nation out of the pact.
But the explosion of efforts to drive climate action forward - at local, national and international levels - nurtured hopes the global movement to tackle climate change has grown more powerful than any single government.
One important reason is that money is moving away from environmentally harmful projects into cleaner, greener investments. Renewable energy has become much cheaper, making it competitive with fossil fuels in many places.
And in a year set to notch up a new heat record, stoked partly by the El Niño phenomenon, governments stepped up concrete measures to protect their people from climate and weather extremes such as floods, droughts and storms.
As 2016 draws to a close, the Thomson Reuters Foundation asked experts to list the top five signs climate action is gathering speed. Here is a compilation of their views.
1. AGREEMENTS GALORE
The Paris Agreement on climate change took effect in November - 11 months after it was crafted by U.N. member states. Its swift entry into force was unexpected, but the prospect of a skeptical U.S. leader moving into the White House spurred international determination to push on with ratification.
At U.N. climate talks last month, governments gave themselves two years to hammer out the rules to put the Paris accord into practice and review national plans to keep temperature rise to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius.
In October, 191 countries in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreed on a global carbon reduction and offsetting scheme for air travel.
That same month, 197 parties to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer signed up to an amendment to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), one of the fastest growing and most potent greenhouse gases, used mainly in cooling and refrigeration.
2. FOSSIL FUELS LOSE FRIENDS
In May, the G7 group of wealthy countries set a deadline for the first time to end “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies, encouraging all countries to do so by 2025, although the wider G20 shied away from a firm commitment at a later summit.
Meanwhile, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney led the charge to ramp up pressure on companies to heed the financial implications of their fossil fuel assets.
An international task force set up to prevent market shocks from global warming will ask companies to disclose how they manage risks to their business from climate change, as well as the impact of emissions cuts on their bottom line.
And a global campaign to persuade investors to pull their money out of fossil fuels gathered pace, doubling in size in 15 months, as the number of institutions that have committed to divest reached 688, representing $5.2 trillion in assets under management.
3. RENEWABLES STEAL THE LIMELIGHT
The International Energy Agency boosted its five-year growth forecast for renewable energy thanks to strong policy support in the United States, China, India and Mexico, and sharp cost reductions.
Renewables surpassed coal last year to become the largest source of installed power capacity in the world, it said.
Solar energy had a good year, as 2016 heralded the first solar-powered round-the-world flight, plans for roads paved with solar panels were announced for four continents, and Tesla Motors Inc. unveiled solar roof tiles.
A group of 48 developing states most at risk from climate change said they would strive to make their energy production 100 percent renewable as soon as possible before 2050.
4. PUSH TO PREPARE
Severe droughts linked to a powerful El Niño, hitting more than 60 million people, especially in southern Africa, reminded governments of the importance of preparing for weather and climate extremes by improving infrastructure, public services and food security.
U.N. envoys drafted a blueprint to reduce the damage from such events in future, while aid agencies tested innovative ways to get money to where it’s needed before a disaster strikes.
Meanwhile, developing states are working on national plans to adapt to climate change effects - including wild weather, rising seas and melting glaciers - backed with up to $3 million per country from the fledgling Green Climate Fund.
5. IN WITH THE CLIMATE CROWD
This year saw a flurry of initiatives to tackle climate change get underway or expand - involving businesses, investors, cities and local governments, among others.
For example, the Under2 Coalition, a club of sub-national governments that have committed to cut their emissions by at least 80 percent by 2020, grew its membership to 165, accounting for a third of the global economy.
And the Science Based Targets initiative said more than 200 companies had pledged to set emissions reduction targets in line with the global effort to keep temperature rise under 2 degrees.
“2016 truly marked the year of transition from endless talks and global negotiations on how to tackle climate change to moving into action by governments, provinces, cities, companies, parliaments and affected communities,” said Saleemul Huq, director of the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).
Sources: E3G, Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre, ActionAid, CARE International, 350.org, ICCCAD, International Institute for Environment and Development, World Resources Institute, Oxfam
Reporting by Megan Rowling @meganrowling, editing by Alisa Tang. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3246
|
__label__cc
| 0.701861
| 0.298139
|
Project Hermetically Open
Posted on September 2, 2012 by BPH
The Ritman Library: House of Living Books
Who am I? Why am I here? What is the source of existence? Answering these ‘big’ questions will probably take a lifetime, though they are central to our lives. The Hermetically Open Project is based on an open and living tradition. In 1957, Joost R. Ritman decided to devote his life to preserving the knowledge related to these questions. In 1984, the Ritman Library was opened on Amsterdam’s Bloemstraat to make this knowledge available to all. This living tradition of knowledge is captured in the six collecting areas Hermetica, Alchemy, Mysticism, Gnosis, (Western) Esotericism and Comparative Religion Studies.
Over the past 25 years, the library’s active involvement with the academic community has been of great value in achieving this goal, especially since the foundation of the Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (GHF) at the University of Amsterdam in 1999. In the past decade, this department created a full research and teaching programme in the field of Western esotericism. In order to encourage a wider dissemination of the relevant sources and integrate them in academic curricula, and also to offer a new frame of reference for the 21st century, it is vital to enhance the reputation of this specific field by increasing academic awareness of the Hermetic tradition. The academic collaboration which has been so successfully begun, therefore, needs to be intensified and upgraded to a new level. The academic world is already showing signs of greater interest in what has been traditionally perceived as ‘alternative’ thinkers, in the themes they address and in the sources they rely on. The recent work by Prof. Dr. W.J. Hanegraaff, Esotericism in the Academy. Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture (2012) may be regarded as a sort of sign of the times, uncovering the ‘neglected’ story of how the intellectual community since the Renaissance has tried to come to terms with ‘esoteric’ and ‘occult’ currents present in Western culture.
The Ritman Library’s traditional motto ‘Ad Fontes, Ex Fontibus’ – to the sources, from the sources – is coupled with a new motto, Hermetically Open, as an invitation to anyone wishing to consult or study sources belonging to the field of Christian-Hermetic Gnosis for personal, academic or other purposes. On a second level Hermetically Open refers to human origin, that which is at the heart of human existence, that which constitutes the ground, the source of all that is. This source is not taught but presents itself to anyone willing to enter an open state of consciousness or Gnosis: a personal authentic experience of divine reality. Post-renaissance thinkers like Weigel, Arndt and Khunrath were promoting this authentic experience as the sole criterion of reliable knowledge, a knowledge which could be achieved by exploring the living ‘Book of Nature’. The Ritman library is dedicated to hermetically opening up this living tradition, which has been regarded as the impetus directing the flowering of arts and sciences in many ages and as the common inspiration of the world’s religions. It is also known as ‘the golden chain’ of human existence.
Hermetically Open aims to create a co-creative platform by hosting an open learning environment both online and offline, where knowledge related to the ‘big questions’ can be discussed and debated in a free and lively atmosphere. A major focus within the Hermetically Open project is the development of an online community: a Hermetic Circle. Starting on 2 September and coinciding with the beginning of the academic year in the Netherlands, the Hermetically Open project is online and ‘live’. In the coming months, five subprojects will be presented via our website: 1. TimeTravel, 2. Virtual Hermetic Library & Gallery, 3. The Scholarly Hermetic Circle, 4. The Global Hermetic Circle and 5. The Ritman Library webstore and Facebook application. The project is an initiative of director and librarian Esther Oosterwijk-Ritman. The pilot phase, which will be running through the end of 2012, is co-financed by the Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam.
TimeTravel – journeying through Hermetic space
TimeTravel is a virtual timeline space inviting participants to work together by using a wiki platform. This subproject focuses on the historical contextualization and visualization of sources which are either physically present in the library or intimately related to these sources. Not only sources and authors, but also major events and places relevant to the Hermetic tradition will be highlighted and mapped. The timeline architecture will be designed and developed to simplify and optimize searches. TimeTravel also includes a game aspect, with guided virtual tours by legendary and historical figures (e.g., Hermes Trismegistus, Plato, Paracelsus and Böhme) to attract the younger generations and their interests. The TimeTravel project reflects the physical reality of the Ritman Library’s collection, presenting the collection areas as they are found in the library’s open-shelf setup. Scalability, real time data adding by multiple users active from multiple locations, quality, transparency and reliability are key issues to guarantee accessibility, added value and sustainable development of the wiki timeline platform over time.
Virtual Hermetic Library and Gallery – digitization on demand
The Virtual Hermetic Library & Gallery focuses on digitization – also on demand – of sources available in the library. Part of its added value lies in offering online relevant content of sources which are not generally accessible, findable and shareable, and which as yet are mainly contained in preserved physical sources. The Virtual Hermetic Library and Gallery subproject is closely associated with the TimeTravel project by embedding it in the timeline pop-up page appearing when an author, source or event in the timeline is searched. In the course of the Hermetically Open pilot phase, a selection of sources and images will be digitized, catering for both the academic community and the larger public. In view of the academic content selection, source selection will coincide with the academic curriculum of the Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents starting from September 2012.
Ritman Library Webstore and Library Facebook Application – e-books and publications
The Ritman Library Webstore is working in close conjunction with an international webstore developed by Aquarius Hand. This webstore will function as an integrative platform: an Amazon.com of ‘spiritual records’. The platform covers various parties: individual – upcoming and established – academic authors, enterprises, foundations, libraries, platforms, online or otherwise, start-ups, all of whom are actively involved in preserving, selling, publishing and communicating the living Hermetic tradition. The webstore formula will be linked to the Ritman library’s publishing house In de Pelikaan by opening its own online bookshop, which will be connected to a Library Facebook application. As a result, it will not just be a simple bookstore but a complex communication system connecting organically to social networks and other communication surfaces. The application itself will offer users access to both books for sale as well as free downloadable sources connected to the library’s field of expertise. When signed up, the application will run on users’ Facebook pages, supporting user autonomy by allowing them to act as hosts to the communities that develop around their Facebook Library pages.
Scholarly Hermetic Circle – academic co-creation and collaboration
The Scholarly Hermetic Circle is conceived of as a focus for facilitating interdisciplinary discourse and connecting existing offline and online scholarly communities interested in or associated with the library’s field of expertise. During the pilot phase, the Hermetically Open project will be collaborating closely with the Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents. A concrete offshoot is the planned Infinite Fire Webinar Series which is dedicated to a shared passion for Hermetic philosophy and related currents. In this series three academic experts connected to the Center, Prof. Dr. Wouter. J. Hanegraaff, Dr. Peter J. Forshaw and Dr. Marco Pasi, will each choose three subjects related to the ‘field’ and share their fire in a series of 9 (3×3) webinars. A first introductory video of Peter Forshaw, who is kicking off the series, is launched today. A separate blog post will be devoted to this initiative. Apart from the Infinite Fire Webinar Series, the Scholarly Hermetic Circle invites all academic teachers, post-graduate students, undergraduate and graduate students to contribute to the wiki TimeTravel platform. If you are interested in sharing your research results or work in progress, course experiences, or other ideas related in any sense to the field of Hermetic Gnosis, let us know! We also invite contributions to the wiki. To join, simply send us an email at: bph@ritmanlibrary.nl. From 2013 onwards we will be focussing actively on knowledge sharing opportunities with scholars and universities from all over the world. If you already have an idea, proposal or suggestion for a collaborative project, you are warmly encouraged to share it with us before the beginning of 2013.
Global Hermetic Circle
The Global Hermetic Circle aims at building and involving an international community of practitioners, devotees and all others who are interested but do not operate within the academic field. Over the past 25 years, the Ritman library has managed to establish a large international network thanks to major research projects carried out under the aegis of the BPH’s research institute – the Ritman Institute – and its series of high-profile international exhibition projects with partner libraries in Moscow, Wolfenbüttel, Florence, Venice and other European cities. The results of these research and exhibition projects have been published in a series of exhibitions, exhibition catalogues, text editions and scholarly studies published by the library’s publishing house, In de Pelikaan. Having been active mainly in a network of national and international Hermetic avant-garde institutions focusing on building a horizontal network, the Ritman library now intends to direct its attention also to vertical network expansion by proactively enlarging access, visibility and awareness of the living tradition it preserves. Already, a rapidly increasing new interest in the living tradition is becoming manifest. Besides a passionate interest in co-creative projects with established partner institutions and organizations, we aim at fostering new co-realizable ways of collaboration with foundations, companies, organizations, institutes and fields of expertise outside the already existing Hermetic platform, such as the fields of physics, astronomy & astrology, arts, leadership, education innovation, change-making, health & healing, permaculture and herbal medicine, technology and data science, and also games.
8 Responses to Project Hermetically Open
Travis ZINN says:
Wonderful to see this site up and running! —looking forward to good reads!
Pingback: Hermetically Open – BPH 2.0 « Heterodoxology
gold price says:
This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source . Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources.
Paul Reisdorph says:
I am excited to see deeper.. Opening what is sealed.. Great stuff!
Other works are Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447-1500): The Hermetic Writings and Related Documents (Tempe 2005; with Ruud M. Bouthoorn), Swedenborg, Oetinger, Kant: Three Perspectives on the Secrets of Heaven (West Chester 2007), and numerous articles in academic journals and collective volumes. He is the main editor of the Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (Brill: Leiden 2005), editor of Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism and the “Aries Book Series: Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism” (both Brill), as well as of four collective volumes on the study of religions and the history Western esotericism. He is member of the editorial board of the journals Religion , Numen , Religion Compass and Esoterica , and on the advisory board of Journal of Contemporary Religion and Nova Religio .
Irina Lapshina says:
Dear staff members of the Ritman Library
I would be honored to have an opportunity to become a member of the Scholar’s Circle.
I am a scholar of science and linguistics myself.
Thank you your attention and consideration.
Irina Lapshina.MS.
Knight Legatus
Dr Bill Grossman says:
Now I have 2 reasons to go to Amsterdam.
When do you reopen?
BPH says:
Dear Dr. Bill Grossman,
We are very honoured to be a motivation to come to Amsterdam! We are sorry to say that we are currently moving to our new premises of the House with the Heads in Amsterdam. It is an original 17th century canal house which is currently being rebuilt, refunded and remodeled. We expect to reopen mid 2018. It will be worth the wait, promise!
For an impression of how our new premises will look like, you can check out the website of the House with the Heads: http://www.huismetdehoofden.nl
Best regards and see you,
Alchemy on the Amstel in the press, 13 Dec 2012 in BPH in the Press
Colloquium Convivencia. L’Art de Vivre Ensemble, 02 Sep 2012 in Blog
Sabarthez, Cradle of Humanity, 02 Sep 2012 in Blog
Project Hermetically Open, 02 Sep 2012 in Blog
The resurrection of a library, 28 Dec 2011 in BPH in the Press
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3248
|
__label__wiki
| 0.585267
| 0.585267
|
Keep up to date with all that's new in the property world
Buy-to-let landlords 'generally earn twice UK average salary'
by Gary Whittaker
A new industry survey has highlighted the current health of the UK buy-to-let market and the considerable financial rewards available to landlords.
Research conducted by BDRC Continental on behalf of BM Solutions has found the average landlord expects to earn a yearly income of almost £60,000 from rent payments, which is more than twice the average national salary rate of £27,174.
At present, the average landlord has a portfolio of eight or nine properties with a total value of £1.2 million, with two-thirds relying on buy-to-let funding through mortgages when making a purchase.
Confidence in the sector was also shown to be on the rise, as 61 per cent of landlords are confident on the prospects for buy-to-let, up from 54 per cent during the same period last year. Meanwhile, optimism regarding capital gains rose from 27 per cent to 49 per cent.
Over the past financial quarter, average UK rental yields increased by 0.2 percentage points to 6.2 per cent, which was roughly in line with the 6.1 per cent rate seen over the last 12 months. Yields increased most in the East Midlands and Wales, achieving a return of 6.7 per cent, while Yorkshire and the Humber saw the lowest returns at 5.7 per cent.
The report also revealed that 78 per cent of landlords view their property as their pension, with 64 per cent of those in the buy-to-let market considering themselves to be professional.
Phil Rickards, head of BM Solutions, said: "It's easy to see why people are attracted to the buy-to-let market; it offers a tangible investment which can provide the long-term returns that some other assets won't.
"For those people considering the opportunities that this market presents, it is however important to understand the financial and legal commitments being a landlord brings and to ensure that you undertake the right level of research and due diligence."
With recent research from Countrywide revealing that the cost of renting is falling when compared to the cost of buying a home, the rented property market is likely to remain healthy for some time.
Find out more about letting agency software
06-June-14General Lettings News
Receive weekly lettings news by email by filling in the form below.
General Lettings News
Plays nicely with...
& lots more...
Belvoir Q3 rental index confirms why property is likely to remain a good investment in 2019
20-December-18
The results of Belvoir’s Q3 rental index, compiled by TV property expert Kate Faulkner, confirm that landlords are continuing to exit the property market, although not at the rate anticipated by pre
More news →
© 2019 Rentman Software
Site by Airship
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3250
|
__label__wiki
| 0.909116
| 0.909116
|
AJ Foyt Racing's 2017 Drivers Bring Youth and Speed
Conor Daly and Carlos Munoz are set to reinvigorate Foyt's team with some help from Chevy power.
By Marshall Pruett
Marshall Pruett
Conor Daly made his IndyCar debut in a one-off drive for AJ Foyt Racing at the Indy 500 in May of 2013, and with his confirmation today as the Texan's newest driver, the Indiana native has come full circle.
Daly, who chronicled his IndyCar debut for RoadandTrack.com, will join Colombian phenom Carlos Munoz at Foyt after the four-time Indy 500 winner purged the unsuccessful pairing of Takuma Sato and Jack Hawksworth from the program.
At 24 years old, they represent the youngest lineup in IndyCar, and despite their youth, Daly and Munoz should be able to lift the team from the bottom of the championship standings to a solid midfield presence . Munoz will carry the familiar No. 14 and Daly will wear the No. 4; both entries will feature sponsorship from longstanding Foyt supporter ABC Supply.
Foyt's offseason switch from Honda engines and aero kits to Chevy's all-conquering package will also expedite the team's turnaround.
"It's been a busy off season, which to me is a great thing," Foyt said. "There are many moving parts as we grow and continue to strengthen our weaknesses as a team. It's wonderful to continue our relationship with ABC Supply and adding two young and fast drivers is exciting for our program. I can't remember a time when the Verizon IndyCar Series has been this competitive from top to bottom, so we know we have to work around the clock this winter to meet our goals before the season starts. We've had a great deal of changes in a short amount of time, but the team is committed and the group as a whole is moving in the same direction. I'm looking for this positive momentum to translate to on-track results."
Conor Daly at Indy in 2013 for AJ Foyt.
Coming off an impressive season with Dale Coyne Racing—his first full-time drive in IndyCar, Daly says it's fitting to return to the team where everything started.
"I am thrilled to be reunited with AJ Foyt Racing for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season," Daly said. "A.J. and Larry [Foyt] were the ones who gave me my first chance at not only getting in an IndyCar for a test at Sebring but also the greatest race in the world, the Indianapolis 500 in 2013. Now we get an opportunity to compete as a team for the full season and I couldn't be happier. It will also be very special to me as an American to be in a red, white and blue ABC Supply machine. This will be a great opportunity for me to continue building my IndyCar career and I can't thank A.J., Larry and ABC Supply Company enough for believing in a young American to deliver for them."
For Munoz, who was the top driver at Andretti Autosport in 2016, becoming a leader at Foyt is a natural progression after spending three years as an understudy.
Carlos Munoz at Indy for Andretti in 2016.
"I am really excited about this new chapter in my professional career," Munoz said. "I'm looking forward to driving the No. 14 car, which has so much history, and working with Larry and his dad A.J., who is a legend in auto racing. One of my main goals is to be an Indy 500 champion and I know they want to win another one so hopefully we can do it together. It is a whole new package for AJ Foyt Racing in 2017 plus the team is adding some new personnel, and we will be pushing hard to be competitive every time out. I can't wait to get started."
More From Motorsports
Watch the Fastest Tire Change In the History of F1
Watch the VW ID.R Set the Quickest Goodwood Time
This Mitsubishi Evo Is a Corner-Carving Weapon
The 2019 IMSA at Mosport Live Blog
Porsche's New RSR is Stronger, Faster, Meaner.
Mazda's Scholarship For the Next Racing Star
9-Second Drag Kart Is the Wildest Thing on Wheels
Watch This Miata Driver Pass 17 Cars in One Lap
Bentley Continental GT Breaks Pikes Peak Record
Here's What an 820-HP Toyota MR2 Sounds Like
A.J. Foyt: In His Own Words
80-year-old A.J. Foyt is tougher than all of us
Tony Kanaan Moves to A.J. Foyt Racing
A.J. Foyt: Mr. 500
Artist Hector Bergandi on Indy Winner A.J. Foyt
The incomparable A.J. Foyt, at 80
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3251
|
__label__wiki
| 0.822066
| 0.822066
|
Men's soccer season ends in heartbreak
In a stunning upset, the Nipissing Lakers cut the men’s soccer team’s season, defeating them 1–0 in the first round of the OUA playoffs Wednesday night.Continue...
Women’s cross country was the big winner for Queen’s this weekend, running away with OUA team gold as sisters Brogan and Branna MacDougall finished first and second.Continue...
Women’s hockey comes out of weekend with two wins
While most students spent their long weekend at home, the women’s hockey team (4-2) stayed in Kingston, picking up two wins against the York Lions (1-2) and Brock Badgers (2-1).Continue...
Brett Gibson claims 150 wins as head coach
When men’s hockey head coach Brett Gibson first joined the Gaels’ hockey program in 2006, he admits he was a kid. With several program records, a nationally-ranked team, and now 150 regular-season wins under his belt—he knows he’s a man.Continue...
Football misses playoffs after Homecoming loss to Ottawa
Before the football team (3-5) took the field on Saturday against the UOttawa Gee-Gee’s (6-2), their chances at making a playoff run looked bleakContinue...
Cross country heading to OUA Championships cautiously optimistic
The men’s and women’s cross country teams will be in action this weekend at the OUA Championships at Western University.Continue...
Women's rugby finishes OUA season with silver medal
This year’s women’s rugby OUA championship felt like déjà vu.Continue...
Women's basketball flush with young talent ahead of new season
After falling early in the playoffs last season, a new batch of young players may pick the women’s basketball team back up this season.Continue...
The Journal 's sports editor breaks down the latest athletics news on campus.Continue...
While the men’s and women’s soccer teams finished their regular seasons, women’s hockey split their weekend series against Western and Windsor.Continue...
Gaels handed first loss on Homecoming weekend
The men’s hockey team endured its first loss of the season and captured one win in back-to-back games this weekend.Continue...
Drawing the hard line on banned substances
Spending three hours waiting to have to pee was something Jack* never thought he’d have to do in his life.Continue...
Playoff implications abound for football on Homecoming
Coaches rarely utter the phrase, “Winning is everything.”Continue...
Homecoming game predictions
The Journal’s sports editors forecast what’s in store for Queen’s teams this weekendContinue...
Men’s volleyball adapting to new role as a league leader
Heading into the 2018-19 season, first-year men’s volleyball head coach Gabriel DeGroot is ready to steer the ship.Continue...
Women's volleyball poised for strong 2018-19 campaign
After a difficult loss to Western in last season’s OUA quarter-final, the women’s volleyball team is ready to hit the hardwood.Continue...
Golf team completes strong season at OUA's
Queen’s golf capped their season off on a high note earlier this week, finding success at the OUA Championships on Monday and Tuesday.Continue...
Women’s rugby advances to OUA championship
After a 29-24 OUA semi-final win over the McMaster Marauders on Saturday, women’s rugby secured a spot in the OUA final next weekend.Continue...
Women's hockey splits opening weekend
After a hectic first weekend of the regular season, women’s hockey head coach Matt Holmberg struggled to find a single word to define the Gaels’ opening pair of games.Continue...
It was a vital weekend for the Gaels playing away games the weekend of Oct. 12-14.Continue...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3254
|
__label__wiki
| 0.861877
| 0.861877
|
Oilers name Ralph Krueger as new head coach
After an lengthy search, the Edmonton Oilers now have their new head coach.
Wednesday morning at Millennium Place, Ralph Krueger — who’s spent the past two seasons as Tom Renney’s associate behind the Oilers’ bench — was named the 11th bench boss in the club’s 34-year history in the NHL.
“You speak with people that have worked with Ralph and players that have been coached by him, they talk about leadership, clarity and motivation,” said general manager Steve Tambellini. “He’s a person that they want to play for. He has a reputation that people will play for him and want to win for him.”
In 2011-12, his second full campaign as the team’s head coach, Renney coached the orange and blue to a 32-40-10 record. It was made public on May 17 that the Oilers would not renew his contract and would seek a replacement for “the next phase of the rebuild,” Tambellini said.
Krueger, 52, is entering his third season with the Oilers and his first as an NHL head coach. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native was in charge of special teams last season, helping the team’s power-play vault to third in the NHL with a 20.6-per cent success rate.
With Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and now Nail Yakupov, highlighting the Oilers’ wealth of potentially elite skill is Priority No. 1 in Krueger’s mind.
“A winning culture grows out of a culture of excellence,” he said. “We’re going to be extremely detail-focused. From the summer training that’s going on right now, we’ll communicate with the players as much as possible to support them. We want to be known as a hard-working team on and off the ice — a very disciplined team. The winning will come as a byproduct of that.
“Our natural ability will lead us to winning. The winning is a byproduct, not a focus. The focus will be excellence; it will be our execution, our practices. You won’t come to a practice where you see us, in any way shape or form, compromising our quality. Every practice, on or off the ice, will be at the highest possible level and winning will naturally be a byproduct of the time we put it in.”
Most recently in a lead role, Krueger was the head coach of the Swiss National Team, anchoring a three-year tenure where he helped the squad climb eight spots to seventh overall in the IIHF World Hockey Rankings. In doing so, he also coached the Swiss to a sixth place finish at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
From 1991 to 1998, he was the general manager and head coach of VEU Feldkirch in Austria’s First Division. Between the Austrian, Alpenleague and European titles, nine championships were won under his guidance and leadership.
“I’m about creating processes that are positive,” Krueger said. “Anybody who’s worked with me knows that. But that doesn’t mean happy-go-lucky, hugging kind of positives. It means solutions are what we’re going to be all about and working toward those. It’s not about me, it’s about the group. I’ll pull out a whip if I need to communicate quickly with the players.
“Tough empathy is what I’m really about as a leader.”
Assistant coaches Kelly Buchberger and Steve Smith, along with the rest of the staff will stay on under Krueger’s leadership.
Coaching veteran and now TSN analyst Marc Crawford, as well as Oklahoma City Barons Head Coach Todd Nelson, were also interviewed, although Tambellini wouldn’t declare the exact number of candidates.
“There were some (candidates interviewed) internally, some externally.”
Twice in 2010-11 and three more times in this past season while Tom Renney sat out with a concussion, Krueger stepped in behind the Oilers’ bench. He earned his first win on Feb. 2 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, shellacking the playoff-hunting Flames by a 6-1 score.
In total to this point as a fill-in, he’s amassed a 2-5 coaching record. Now, he’s ready to take the Oilers to the next level.
“(His) teaching ability, obviously his technical skill is elite,” Tambellini said. “The leadership of this group is so important right now. Our young people need the right message; one that’s instructive, inspiring, motivating — and I can’t think of a better person to do that than Ralph Krueger.”
“We’re going to work,” Krueger added. “The surreal feeling is not there at all. It’s been a natural, healthy 23 years of growth as a coach and I’m ready for this situation.”
Vehicle fire deemed suspicious
Khadr’s lawyers appeal to Ottawa for transfer
OTTAWA — The province of Quebec offers the federal New Democrats fertile…
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3255
|
__label__wiki
| 0.836364
| 0.836364
|
Is it really May 11 already? It's about damn time I posted some thoughts. It's been too long. Now let's celebrate Mother's Day weekend with some good old-fashioned zombies and horrible humans. Enjoy.
Spoilers ahead. Please catch up to the third season finale before reading.
In the ocean of mostly awful, annoying, or pointless television there are always a few rare gems. Among those, a show has to be exceedingly special for me to write about it. I'm just one person after all, so I have to be selective. I've praised Supernatural and Doctor Who in the past, both wonderfully creative shows with big themes that also understand the importance of character development. Though, my time has been limited and I haven't so much as mentioned them for far too long...unless they're on t-shirts, which they often are. I've written tens of thousands of words and spent hundreds of hours of my time talking about Fringe, my biggest TV obsession. You know that if you've ever been here before. But now that Fringe has been over for more than three months and is no longer a full-time volunteer job, I've been freed somewhat to focus on other series. Lately I can't stop thinking ofThe Walking Dead, one of the few that truly deserves to be remembered. I just haven't had the opportunity to write anything since I marathoned the first season just after it had ended. But the addition of the great David Morrissey as Philip Blake, The Governor, has been nothing short of the best decision that the producers have ever made, and my mind won't stop nagging me to finally say something.
The Walking Dead felt special from the get-go, with a man, Rick Grimes (if you didn't know and are reading anyway despite my spoiler warning), waking up alone in an abandoned hospital, wires and panels ripped from the ceiling, blood on the floors, bullet holes in the walls. We took a journey of discovery with him though death and devastation. It's a feeling I'd never had watching TV before. I was amazed by the sense of epic destruction but soon realized it was going to be so much more. I fell in love with it in the first episode when Morgan, the first living soul Rick came across, tried to shoot his wife, who had fallen victim, but broke down instead. I couldn't keep back the tears when Rick talked to a zombie before shooting, apologizing for what had happened to her. Since then there has been so much to put a lump in my throat or jump out of my seat, and my love for it get deeper each passing week. The third season ended in March, but this is one show that packs an emotional punch in every episode and always sticks with me long (loooong) after most others have faded. I will be thinking about it until the next season starts and provides more harrowing situations and dramatic deaths, and I'll always have a wealth of episodes to refer to when in need of an example of incredible writing and acting.
Two of those episodes that are the very best (ie. most effective at shocking and saddening) are from the end of the third season, just prior to the finale. "This Sorrowful Life" was a perfect send off for Merle, a character that up until then I thought could only work against the group and I just hoped would get zombie chomped, although I did find him to be entertaining in his nastiness. And Philip stalking Andrea through the warehouse in "Prey" while whistling was one of the creepiest and most suspenseful scenes of the series...of any series. It also brought back the theme I associate with him that sounds like a relentless pulsing. A heartbeat in the grip of a diseased madness: threatening and frightening. That's what I thought of immediately when I first heard it in "When the Dead Come Knocking," and that's apparently what Bear McCreary intended, because it's called "The Pulse." It was near the end of the episode, I think, when Philip was holding Andrea. The scene isn't on YouTube, but I did find the music. A second version of "The Pulse" was used in the finale, "Welcome to the Tombs." But the one in "Prey" is actually a bit different and is called "The Governor's Madness." They all have the similar nonstop, ominous, synthesized rhythm, though, and that's what I remembered. Together they set the mood so perfectly - building dread, fear, and tension - that these companion pieces (like "Hello Zepp" and "Zepp Overature" from Saw) are without a doubt some of my favorite tracks ever.
"The Pulse (A)" from "When the Dead Come Knocking"
"The Pulse (B)" from "Welcome to the Tombs"
"The Governor's Madness" from "Prey"
Bear McCreary talking about "The Pulse"
But it's not just the music I'm enamored with. From the beginning, the story was gripping, tragic, and acted with conviction. I loved the first season for the way they introduced this new world, its terrors and the scope of the destruction. I became invested in the characters after such a short time. I was nervous the entire first half of the second season for the desperate search for Sophia, because each unsuccessful day ended in a little more hope lost. The reveal at the end was one of the most devastating moments in television. Then I was riveted by the second half for Shane's continued descent into the darkness that had taken root in him and where that ultimately led, the sad loss of another beloved character, and the harrowing escape from the farm.
Then there's the third season, my favorite because of the addition of The Governor. I'd read not long after it was revealed in the second season finale that the prison storyline was going to be something to really look forward to. I recently read that the man depicted in the graphic novel had no depth or nuance and was too outwardly evil to be a realistic leader that people trust and gravitate toward. I'll have to see for myself at some point. But the actor, David Morrissey (@davemorrissey64), has been fantastic from his first charming smile, a smile that I'm not sure ever really reached his eyes. There was so much beneath the surface that was only hinted at in the beginning and so much hidden from the characters around him, but that simple gesture put the blind at ease and the wary on edge.
"The Talking Dead," which I finally might start watching, mentioned the smile.
Morrissey has been a perfect choice, because he brilliantly plays broken, unstable, vulnerable, dangerous; in other words, human. He has conveyed insanity, rage, and despair simultaneously and doesn't need to say a word to be chillingly intimidating. Charismatic and manipulative, fascinating and terrifying, and falling apart at the seams, Philip Blake is alternately deeply sympathetic and stunningly brutal. He keeps me on edge, because I never know if he's going to shoot someone or thank them. He has turned out to be one of my favorite villains of all time, equal to Heath Ledger's Joker. Therefore, I think I have another favorite actor...no, not think. When I sacrifice sleep to find interviews, I know.
I am fascinated with the development and escalation of this deeply damaged character. Philip completely unraveled after losing his daughter for a second time, no longer able to desperately cling to the hope he could get her back. In the finale he told Milton that if he'd been like this (ie. sadistic and uncompromising) when Penny was alive then she would have been afraid of him but she would have been safe. So, he blames himself. Damn. This guy really needed a post-apocalyptic therapist.
"When this awful thing happens and she turns into a Walker, he's got to carry on fulfilling those promises. So things like brushing her hair just broke my heart. It's just great."
David Morrissey, BullettMedia Interview
On top of that, he lost his wife, his world, his eye, his sense of control, and trust in his closest allies. Merle lied about killing Michonne, brought the wrath of the prison by kidnapping Maggie and Glenn, chose Daryl over him, and then tried to kill him. Andrea, the woman he seemingly started to care for, betrayed him and went to tell the prison group his plan. And Milton helped Andrea escape and then gave up the chance to redeem himself in The Governor's eye(s). In the end he had nothing left save for revenge, and here were all of his able-bodied people retreating against orders. In a jaw-dropping moment that I saw coming in Morrissey's thousand-yard stare only seconds before it happened, The Governor slaughtered his militia. It was a terrible thing and sadly puts the character beyond redemption, but he was never strong enough mentally to really survive. Though he had become a leader, the man he was died with his daughter, the only thing he had in the world, the one thing he was supposed to protect. So he forged on, transforming into someone that would do anything to keep his town safe and his people dependent upon him. When they failed him, he snapped, completely letting go of any last spark of descency or sanity. It was a terrible thing, but it saved the prison group for now. Unfortunately, Rick took in the remaining citizens of Woobury, so there will be more hungry mouths to feed, more people to get attached to, and more new friends to rip away. Fortunately, and contrary to the original story, Philip survived instead of Andrea. I love this change, because he is a far better character on the show and so terrific to watch.
In fact, the only thing about this season I didn't like was Andrea continuing to be ineffectual. I kept hoping she would grow on me. I'm sorry that this is the first death of a group member that didn't affect me all that much. I thought it would. The last time I cried for Andrea was when her sister died. The last time I felt sorry for her was when she was left behind at the farm house. (Edit 10/7/2018: Over time, my mind has changed somewhat about Andrea. It was a sad ending for her, and for Michonne mourning her friend. Every time I think of Andrea, I feel sad for her, because she was a good person just trying to do her best.) In contrast, I was floored by Merle's final act and really his entire final episode. His talk with Michonne was a brilliant piece of writing and acting to make me forget for a while how awful Merle had been. Then in an unexpected moment of courage and selflessness - mixed with the knowledge that he didn't fit in anywhere - he let Michonne go and sacrificed himself for his brother. I never thought they would give him more depth. I wish we'd been allowed to know more of this side of him before the end. Daryl's breakdown upon finding Merle turned (shot in the chest instead of the head) was so hard to watch, but beautifully acted by both Norman Reedus and Michael Rooker.
I also had tears for Milton, who did not deserve to die so slowly, and for Michonne because she lost a friend. I was stunned that Woodbury ambushed the prison and murdered Axel. I was just starting to get to know and like him, and I was smiling because of something he said when the bullet took his life. Morgan (from the pilot!) returned as a shell of what he had been, crazed and alone after losing his son, Duane. T-Dog, someone I barely knew but who was there from the beginning, sacrificed himself for Carol, so I miss him. I was even sad for Otis, and he was there for just two episodes. I knew nothing about him, except that he risked his life for a kid he didn't know. I cried for Jim, who was left bitten and alone under a tree. The first time I saw Dale I was positive that the old guy of the group was going to go sooner rather than later, but I let myself get attached to him anyway. Sophia's exit is a scene forever burned into my mind. I was stunned when she shambled out of the barn. I felt a loss when Lori died because of Rick's devastation. His agonized howl was gut-wrenching, and his subsequent the telephone conversations with ghosts were mesmerizingly haunting(?). But I really had no good feelings toward Lori after she basically told Rick he needed to "take care" of Shane and then was appalled when he actually did so in self-defense. There's no way Shane was coming back, so I was glad of his death but was deeply affected at the same time. Shane struggled so much. It was a depressing end for him, but after he aimed a gun at his friend's head while they were searching the woods together and later sacrificed Otis, I was very wary and scared of him. I was hoping until the last moment that Shane could be saved while simultaneously willing Rick to pull the trigger, as if anything I felt strongly enough about would change what the writers had already written and the actors had already filmed.
So what happened with Andrea? Laurie Holden did a great job with what she was given, and I will always sort of miss her and feel that she's a part of the family. But the character was so standoffish and she seemed to make bad decision after bad decision, such as not killing Phil the Raging Maniac when she had the chance because she couldn't bring herself to do it. Still, I wanted Andrea to survive and make it to the prison not just for the sake of the group, and not because I loved her (I didn't, unfortunately), but because she wanted to save people. Also, she was a fighter and her death scene seemed out of character. Andrea should have been able to defeat one zombie, but she wasted time talking and then dropped the pliers on her first attempt. Of course, picking a tool up with your feet while strapped to a chair would be quite hard to do, but it was predictable and a let down. Predictable is a word I hardly ever associate with The Walking Dead, but everyone in TV and movies always drops whatever important thing they need at just the wrong time. I was like, "She going to drop the pliers. Yup. Wow, what a surprise." It actually served to reduce the tension and take me out of the moment, and then they cut away in another failed attempt to be suspenseful. If Andrea had been unable to free herself because Milton turned earlier or if the struggle had been shown and we could see she was too exhausted to fend him off then it would have been more exciting. So that was frustrating, yet Milton's part in it was heartbreaking. The likable, soft-spoken guy finally stood up to the big bad and lost his life for it but struggled to stay alive long enough for Andrea to escape. Oh well, it's just a small blemish in this consistently tense and intriguing show. I forgive the writers because of what they gave me with Daryl and Merle's emotional final scene, for the Governor's closing act - the moment any remaining spark of decency in him was extinguished - and for every other gut-wrenching moment before.
Now I can't wait for season 4. There's so much promise in a continuing storyline with The Governor, because he won't let his downfall go unanswered, even though he should kinda probably maybe sort of possibly be blaming himself for being such a d-bag. I hope they don't write The Governor in a way that I want him to die early next season, though. I love to hate him. I love to see his progression, losing his grip more with each episode. I mean, he's so awful that he won't survive forever (he's too reckless for that now), and I don't want the show to get stale, but David Morrissey is astounding and I hope he's around for a while. He revitalized the show and brought a living, scheming menace to it more dangerous than just a horde of slow-moving zombies. Without a doubt, he puts everything into this role. Just fantastic. But I feel that after his time as The Governor is up, Morrissey's next show has to cast him as the most soft-hearted marshmallow ever just to make up for all the evil. ;) I've not often felt so physically and emotionally drained by television, but I can't wait to do this all over again. It's going to be a long wait.
Walking Dead - The Complete Second Season Blu-ray
Walking Dead - The Complete Second Season DVD
Also available on Netflix.
Bear McCreary, David Morrissey, music, The Walking Dead,
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3258
|
__label__wiki
| 0.585225
| 0.585225
|
All Talent
marcus bronzy
Hailing from Northwest London, presenter Marcus Bronzy is one of the freshest, fun-loving and hard working young presenters in the UK.
Marcus’s meteoric rise began when he presented shows for BANG Radio where he was an instant hit with listeners. His fun style and interaction with the audience resulted in him being spotted by BBC Radio 1Xtra where he covered shows across the network. His natural talent alerted Capital XTRA’s bosses and he was offered his own show waking up the nation every weekend!
In addition to presenting on the radio Marcus is a DJ & host. He has worked throughout the UK and Europe alongside the likes of Rolldeep, Boy Better Know, Ms Dynamite, Akala and Wiley to name a few. Marcus loves technology and is an avid fan of all things gadget related. He is usually one of the first to test new products and is passionate about wanting the best for the average consumer. As he says himself: “it’s not just whether its good tech, but how relevant and/or fun is it, and for how long?” His love for all things tech has seen him become well known as the presenter for the hit kids CBBC show Technobabble!
Copyright © 2018 Represent Talent Management
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3260
|
__label__wiki
| 0.92827
| 0.92827
|
Adoption: DNA test led to discovery of biological mother
Updated / Wednesday, 30 May 2018 18:15
Dolores Quinlan did a DNA test and tried to find relatives that way
A woman who recently discovered that she was adopted unofficially has been describing how DNA testing has helped her find her biological mother.
Dolores Quinlan explained to Philip Boucher-Hayes on RTÉ’s Liveline how a public health nurse found her as a baby living in a house where there had been no pregnant woman and the discovery was reported to officials.
She said the authorities tried to track down the doctor who had delivered her and who had also organised the adoption, but he had died.
"Nothing was done. I was left in that same house," she said.
No official adoption took place and the 51-year-old said she only found out in the last two years that she was adopted, which "was quite a shock".
Dolores said she really feels for the people who are about to receive letters or phone calls notifying them that they were adopted because of the position she was in.
She explained that her mother died two years ago and about three weeks later she was visiting her father to check on how he was doing.
She had been talking earlier to friends about where they were all born and she said she had always known that she was born in a private nursing home. However, when she asked her father the name of the home he said he did not know and also did not know where it was in Dublin.
Dolores said she thought this was very unusual and so she asked "out of the blue" if she was adopted. Her father nodded his head in response. She described the revelation as "pure shock".
Dolores’ father told her that he had always wanted to tell her that she was adopted but her mother had asked him not to tell her as she would have been sworn to secrecy.
When she asked her father the name of the adoption agency, he said there was no agency involved. It appears that a relative knew the couple wanted a baby and knew of a doctor and made the connection.
Her father said they went to a meeting in the doctor’s house but he does not remember what was discussed at the time.
The couple then went to another house and the baby was "handed over". Dolores said she doesn’t know who handed her over to her adopted parents. She said she was around ten days old when she was given to them.
Dolores said she has some more information now because there is paperwork from when the nurse discovered her in the house. However, as it is a "false" adoption there is no traceability and she could not find out who her birth mother was.
She did a DNA test and tried to find relatives that way. She had a match with a second-cousin through a DNA testing company and with the help of a friend, who is a genealogist, she was able to trace her biological mother.
As a result, she actually met her biological mother recently for the first time. Dolores said she had been so moved by how her biological mother’s husband has been "so generous" in welcoming her.
Dolores said her mother was very well and she was able to see similarities between her own personality and her mother’s.
She said she is "still in shock". She described how she and her mother chatted for hours "like old friends", saying it was "surreal" and "absolutely incredible".
Dolores believes she is so lucky that her biological mother is still alive. Having discovered the story of her origins and her biological mother, Dolores said she "feels complete".
She said she always felt there was something missing, as she was quite different from her family in many ways, including personality, but having met her biological mother she said "it’s absolutely incredible, the personality similarities".
While expressing her joy at meeting her biological mother, Dolores acknowledged that they are "very early in the process".
Dolores, who is a psychotherapist, explained that because of her job she has self-care, supervision and great support but she wonders how other people cope with the revelation of finding out late in life that they were adopted as it "really turns your life upside down".
"It’s an identity crisis, everything that was normal in your life is no longer normal," she said.
Dolores said people need a lot of support in dealing with this situation and speaking to people going through the same thing was hugely helpful.
Dolores said the DNA websites are full of people searching for distant relatives, as well as adoptees looking for biological parents. She said if it was not for a DNA website, she would not have found her mother.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3262
|
__label__cc
| 0.58925
| 0.41075
|
Comrade Schumer to AIG Workers: We Will Seize Retention Bonuses
RUSH: I keep trying to move on now from the bonus business, but, for crying out loud, folks, I can’t! I want to ask all of you in this audience and those of you who are new to this program a question: Way back last fall when all this bailout stuff started, I warned you. ‘This isn’t gonna work. This is not the way to do it. This is the government asserting control.’ We see now what a total mess all of this has become! Guess where we are now? We’ve got the administration, led by President Obama and his teleprompter. His teleprompter told him to say yesterday that these AIG executives are greedy and selfish, and now what? We’ve got death threats being phoned in on the AIG headquarters in New York, and all this time we’ve been told that it’s talk radio that incites this kind of hatred. ‘It’s Limbaugh and the little Limbaughs that create all of this animosity and anger and cause people to behave in ways that are uncivil,’ and the president’s own teleprompter is telling him to say that these executives are greedy and selfish — and this is inciting people to behavior that could lead to violence if their threats are acted out. This whole thing is a boondoggle! It is a mess, brought to you by the United States government led by Democrats. Charles ‘Chuck-U’ Schumer this afternoon on the Senate floor.
SCHUMER: My colleagues and I are sending a letter to Mr. Liddy informing him that he can go right ahead and tell these employees that are scheduled to get bonuses that they should voluntarily return them because if they don’t, we plan to virtually tax all of it. He should tell these employees if they don’t give the money back, we’ll put in place a new law that will allow us to tax these bonuses at a very high rate so that it’s returned to its rightful owners, the taxpayers. So for those of you who are getting these bonuses, be forewarned: You will not be getting to keep them.
RUSH: The hand, the soothing words of a compassionate, understanding government. Charles Chuck-U Schumer, from the state of New York, sending a letter to the government-installed CEO of AIG, demanding that the recipients of these bonuses give the money back or it’s going to be taxed at 100%. Again I must remind you, ladies and gentlemen, there is a law, the stimulus bill, and the stimulus bill has a limit on executive pay. But Christopher Dodd put an amendment that is now the law of the land that exempted bonuses from any limits on executive pay. So here you have Senator Schumer targeting individuals, threatening individuals. The United States government… This is on the heels of Dingy Harry Reid targeting me.
Now these people who are getting the bonuses are being singled out and personally targeted, by the United States Senate. No equal treatment under the law here! This is just a Stalinist-type, intimidating power grab — and the whole thing is a game. It is designed to distract you from the mess that the Democrat Party has created with these bailouts, that they have created with the stimulus bill, that they have created with the omnibus budget. It’s a mess, it is a cacophonic mess, and they have to do something to distract from it so they’re going after $165 million when bailouts are totaling over a trillion now, and they are utter failures. Every one of these bailouts has been a failure. It hasn’t accomplished anything. So you have to be distracted.
Oh, one more thing about Chris Dodd, before we get to what a retention bonus is. Senator Dodd — in addition to everything else that you know about him with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the subprime mortgage business, Senator Chris Dodd — was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle. AIG donated $103,100, according to OpenSecrets.org, to Senator Dodd. One of AIG’s financial products’ largest offices is based in Connecticut. What this proves is that ‘you can lease Chris Dodd, but you can’t buy him.’ He’ll work for you as long as you do what he wants, but then when you turn around and embarrass him, why, he’s gonna come after you. I want you to listen to Chuck Schumer again. Here is a compassionate, understanding, traditional liberal Democrat.
RUSH: By the way, if this ever did come to pass, you would not see your pocket swell at all with cash. You’re not going to ever see this money, if it ever does come back, and it’s chump change compared to the $93 billion that AIG gave to other banks. That is a real scandal, and that’s the one that’s being papered over and covered up — I told you about it yesterday — while everybody is being agitated about this.
Now, what is a retention bonus? The best way to explain a retention bonus is to say that a retention bonus is offered to an employee who is being laid off down the road in order to keep the employee, in order to retain the employee. When a company announces layoffs for whatever reason, they still need cooperation from the employees who are going to eventually lose their jobs.
There is often a transition period to change the business practice, and AIG is like any other of these companies being bailed out. They’re going to have to downsize, and they knew they were going to have to downsize. All these people getting bonuses are going to be laid off. All these people getting bonuses are being fired down the road, and everybody’s known it for a year. Everybody knew the payout date of the bonuses and yet there’s Barney Frank acting like he didn’t know a thing about the details until he got a letter from Andrew Cuomo this morning. These people are lying through their teeth to you. Members of Congress, the media, the president, they’re lying. They’re lying through their teeth. They knew of the payout schedule. They knew about the retention bonuses.
They knew how much and they knew the payout date, and they sit around, they act like innocent bystanders, surprised and shocked, just this past weekend, as though they are learning about this for the first time. During this transition period, the company needs these employees to assist. They just… You can’t do work without employees. For example, if the employee were told that they had six months left in the job, their immediate focus would be finding a new job. To hell with their current work, they’re getting laid off. What the hell does it matter? The only thing that will keep them there, the only thing that will keep them working until their termination date is a retention bonus. Some employees forgo the retention bonus, because they get a hiring bonus from their new employer.
So when you hear that these people who are getting the bonus ought to be fired? They have been! They’ve been told they’re being sent packing. These retention bonuses are to keep them there to keep the company running, which is, I thought, the purpose of the bailout: to keep the company running.
RUSH: Chillicothe, Ohio, this is Tom. Thank you for waiting, sir. You’re next.
CALLER: Mega dittos, Rush. I’ve got a question. There was a promise during the campaign that people over 65 weren’t going to have to pay income tax anymore. I seem to remember Barack Hussein Obama saying that, and I’m 66 and I’m still paying them. I’d kind of look at it as a bonus if I didn’t have to, you know.
RUSH: Yeah, I don’t remember that proposal of people over 65 will not have to pay taxes.
RUSH: ‘Cause Social Security benefits are taxed.
CALLER: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
RUSH: Where did you hear that?
CALLER: I seem to remember hearing it during the campaign.
RUSH: Are you sure that you are not confusing over 65 with the 95% of Americans will pay no tax increase or get a tax cut?
CALLER: I must be in the five percent then because my CPA says I’ll have to pay federal income tax until I’ve been dead for six months.
RUSH: Oh, I would think it would be beyond that.
CALLER: This is horrible. This is back to the seventies. The millions of dollars to AIG people and, you know, Schumer’s already been made a liar on Fox News. There’s no way to get the money back, according to Neil Cavuto.
RUSH: Well, AIG could write the government a check if they wanted to, if they had the money. There may be no way to get the money back from the individuals now, but Cavuto is perhaps — I love Neil Cavuto now, don’t misunderstand — but if Neil Cavuto says that there’s no way of getting the money back, Neil Cavuto does not understand the full power, depth, scope and intentions of these people running the government. Oh, legally? He means legally? That’s what I mean. He doesn’t understand the full scope, depth and deceit of these people running the government. What the hell — legally?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3263
|
__label__cc
| 0.582546
| 0.417454
|
Magnificent New Route in India
Sebastien 17/12/2015 18/12/2015 Blog
By Dougald MacDonald
Spectacular climbing on the east face of Cerro Kishtwar in India. Photo by Manu Pellessier.
November 20, 2015 – In one of the year’s most impressive big-mountain climbs, a Slovenian-American-French quartet has made the first ascent of the east face of Cerro Kishtwar (6,173m/20,253’) in northern India.
Hayden Kennedy (U.S.), Urban Novak (Slovenia), Manu Pellessier (France), and Marko Prezelj (Slovenia) climbed Light Before Wisdom (1,200m, ED+ 5.11 WI6 M6 A2) from October 5 to 8, making the third ascent of the peak. They descended the south slopes and eastern couloir.
The first ascent of the east face of Cerrro Kishtwar took three days (green line). After camping on top, the climbers descended the gully on the left (yellow). Photo by Marko Prezelj.
Britons Mick Fowler and Stephen Sustad were first to climb Cerro Kishtwar, via the northwest face, back in 1993. The area was then closed to climbers for nearly two decades. In 2011, the international team of Denis Burdet, David Lama, Rob Frost, and Stephan Siegrist did a new route on the northwest face. Prezelj had climbed in Kishtwar in 2014 while making the first ascent of the north face of Hagshu and was eager to return.
Kennedy, Novak, and Prezelj acclimatized with the first ascent of the south ridge of a neighboring peak, 6,278-meter Chomochior (1,400m, D+), in late September. Pellessier was ill and sat this one out, but felt well enough to join the others for Cerro Kishtwar about a week later.
On October 4, they camped below the very steep east face and the next morning approached the wall. “We started to shift our gaze toward the left, where a prominent couloir offered a little more feasible route of ascent,” Novak wrote in a report shared by the Alpine Association of Slovenia. “In those moments of doubt and hesitation, Marko showcased why he is what he is in alpinism. Some positive provocation and motivational ‘insults’ were enough to erase our doubts and fears of the unknown, and to direct our attention solely to the intended route.
On that day they climbed 300 meters of steep rock, and the following day, October 6, they continued up ice and mixed climbing and continued late into the night, finally bivouacking on a ledge dug into steep snow at 2 a.m. Another long day of uncertainty let to the summit in darkness, and they camped right on top before rappelling the couloir left of the face the following day. By the time they reached the bottom, the ice they had climbed on the lower east face was gone. They returned to base camp on October 8 and left for home two days later.
Steep, sun-softened ice on the second day. Photo by Marko Prezelj.
The summit bivouac on Cerro Kishtwar. Photo by Marko Prezelj.
From left: Marko Prezelj, Manu Pellessier, Urban Novak, and Hayden Kennedy on top. Photo by Marko Prezelj.
← Climbing Ice – The Iceland Trifecta
Enjoy your Weekend! →
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3264
|
__label__wiki
| 0.800191
| 0.800191
|
Income derived from game farming
Section 26(1) only applies to income derived from the carrying on of pastoral, agricultural or other farming operations. The Supreme Court of Appeal in CIR v D & N Promotions (Pty) Ltd 1995 (2) SA 296 (A), 57 SATC 178 considered the meaning of the term “derived from”. The court quoted with approval the explanation of the meaning of this term from the court a quo which held that –
“the income and the source from which it arises, namely the farming operations, which embraces numerous agricultural activities, must be directly connected. An indirect connection or remote one will not suffice”.
Also in the court a quo Levinsohn J stated that –
“the legislature intended farmers to be placed in a privileged position as far as their entitlement to deduct capital expenditure from farming income and hence the concept of income derived from farming operations ought to be strictly construed, see Ernst v Commissioner for Inland Revenue 1954(1) SA 318(A) at 323C–D.”
A taxpayer may earn income from distinct businesses, namely, farming operations and other operations – it is only the income which is directly connected to the farming operations which will fall under the ambit of section 26(1). For example, in ITC 128516 the court found that the prize money from racing horses, which the breeder had initially intended but had failed to sell, was not part of the taxpayer’s stock farming and horse breeding business and did not therefore fall under section 26(1).
The same principle applies to game-farming operations. Some activities will generate income directly from the game-farming operations and will be regarded as game-farming income, while other activities and the income derived from them will not be regarded as such.
The following types of income are regarded as being derived directly from game-farming operations:
• Income from the sale of live game.
• Income from the slaughter and sale of game meat, carcasses and skins.
• Fees received from hunters to hunt the game.
• Income derived from supplying guides and trackers used in a hunting expedition.
Income not derived from game farming
The income earned from the following activities is not regarded as having the required direct connection to game-farming operations and accordingly will not be regarded as game-farming income:
• Accommodation and catering.
• Admission charges payable by persons spending holidays on the farm.
In determining whether or not game-viewing fees (for example, the fee paid to go on a game drive) constitutes income from game farming, it is necessary in the first instance to determine whether or not the particular taxpayer is conducting a farming operation. This will depend on the facts and circumstances of the particular case and will take into account whether the taxpayer has a genuine intention to make a profit from the raising of livestock and whether the objective review of all the facts supports that contention. For example, game viewing conducted in conjunction with other uses such as the hunting and sale of the game may be a part of a valid farming operation.
However, when game viewing is incidental to activities which do not constitute farming activities, the income from game viewing will not constitute income from farming operations. For example, certain eco-tourism operations the purpose of which is tourism and accommodation and those elements are the revenue and profit generators, while the game viewing serves as an attraction and is an incidental revenue generator.
Income derived from activities which give rise to income from game farming and those which do not will have to be accounted for separately since the deductions provided for under the First Schedule can only be used to reduce the income derived from farming operations.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3274
|
__label__cc
| 0.617814
| 0.382186
|
by Billy Joel
Performed by Billy Joel 319
Performed as a song (by any artist) 321
Setlists featuring New York State of Mind
30 Sep 2018 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainBig Shot, Pressure, The Entertainer, Vienna, Zanzibar, Movin' Out, Don't Ask Me Why, Say Goodbye to Hollywood, And So It Goes, Allentown, New York State of Mind, My Life, Highway to Hell by AC/DC, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Only the Good Die Young, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
EncoreWe Didn't Start the Fire, Uptown Girl, It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, You May Be Right
21 Sep 2018 - Billy Joel at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO, USA
MainBig Shot, My Life, Vienna, Big Man on Mulberry Street, Movin' Out, Don't Ask Me Why, New York State of Mind, No Man's Land, The Ballad of Billy the Kid, And So It Goes, Allentown, The Entertainer, Respect by Otis Redding, She's Always a Woman, Sometimes a Fantasy, Only the Good Die Young, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
7 Sep 2018 - Billy Joel at Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL, USA
MainBig Shot, My Life, Summer, Highland Falls, The Entertainer, Vienna, Big Man on Mulberry Street, Movin' Out, And So It Goes, Don't Ask Me Why, No Man's Land, Allentown, Respect by Otis Redding, New York State of Mind, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Only the Good Die Young, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
23 Aug 2018 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainBig Shot, My Life, The Longest Time, The Entertainer, Vienna, Big Man on Mulberry Street, Movin' Out, Don't Ask Me Why, And So It Goes, Respect by Otis Redding, Allentown, New York State of Mind, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Only the Good Die Young, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
EncoreWe Didn't Start the Fire, Uptown Girl, It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams, You May Be Right
10 Aug 2018 - Billy Joel at Fenway Park, Boston, MA, USA
MainBig Shot, My Life, Summer, Highland Falls, Zanzibar, Vienna, Movin' Out, The Downeaster 'Alexa', The Entertainer, And So It Goes, Allentown, New York State of Mind, Don't Ask Me Why, She's Always a Woman, Centerfold by The J. Geils Band, Sometimes a Fantasy, Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard, Only the Good Die Young, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
27 Jul 2018 - Billy Joel at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA, USA
MainBig Shot, My Life, Vienna, Zanzibar, The Entertainer, Half a Mile Away, Don't Ask Me Why, Movin' Out, The Downeaster 'Alexa', A Room of Our Own, And So It Goes, Allentown, New York State of Mind, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Only the Good Die Young, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
18 Jul 2018 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainBig Shot, My Life, The Entertainer, Vienna, The Downeaster 'Alexa', Half a Mile Away, Movin' Out, Don't Ask Me Why, This Is the Time, Allentown, New York State of Mind, Zanzibar, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out by Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen, Only the Good Die Young, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
30 Jun 2018 - Billy Joel at Volkspark, Hamburg, Germany
MainMy Life, The Entertainer, Vienna, Zanzibar, The Downeaster 'Alexa', Movin' Out, Leningrad, Allentown, New York State of Mind, Don't Ask Me Why, A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum, She's Always a Woman, Sometimes a Fantasy, Highway to Hell by AC/DC, Only the Good Die Young, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
23 Jun 2018 - Billy Joel at Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Pressure, The Entertainer, Vienna, The Longest Time, Movin' Out, And So It Goes, Allentown, Don't Ask Me Why, New York State of Mind, The Downeaster 'Alexa', My Life, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Only the Good Die Young, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
EncoreWe Didn't Start the Fire, Uptown Girl, It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, Big Shot, You May Be Right
16 Jun 2018 - Billy Joel at Old Trafford, Manchester, United Kingdom
MainMy Life, Pressure, The Entertainer, Vienna, The Longest Time, Half a Mile Away, Zanzibar, New York State of Mind, Movin' Out, Don't Ask Me Why, The Downeaster 'Alexa', Allentown, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, A Day in the Life by The Beatles, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
2 Jun 2018 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Pressure, The Entertainer, Vienna, The Longest Time, Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, Half a Mile Away, Don't Ask Me Why, Baby Grand, Movin' Out, Allentown, New York State of Mind, My Life, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Only the Good Die Young, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
23 May 2018 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Pressure, Don't Ask Me Why, Vienna, Zanzibar, She's Got a Way, The Entertainer, Allentown, Goodnight Saigon, Movin' Out, Stop in Nevada, New York State of Mind, Half a Mile Away, She's Always a Woman, I Go to Extremes, My Life, Sometimes a Fantasy, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
13 Apr 2018 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainMovin' Out, The Entertainer, Vienna, Zanzibar, She's Got a Way, Big Man on Mulberry Street, The Longest Time, Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Allentown, Stop in Nevada, New York State of Mind, Sleeping With the Television On, Don't Ask Me Why, Until the Night, My Life, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
28 Mar 2018 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), My Life, Zanzibar, Vienna, She's Got a Way, All About Soul, The Entertainer, Movin' Out, The Longest Time, Stop in Nevada, Allentown, New York State of Mind, The Downeaster 'Alexa', Don't Ask Me Why, You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC, A Room of Our Own, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
EncoreWe Didn't Start the Fire, Uptown Girl, It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, Big Shot, Only the Good Die Young, You May Be Right
21 Feb 2018 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Pressure, She's Got a Way, Vienna, The Entertainer, Don't Ask Me Why, Movin' Out, A Minor Variation, Zanzibar, Stop in Nevada, Allentown, New York State of Mind, The Downeaster 'Alexa', My Life, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, Highway to Hell by AC/DC, We Didn't Start the Fire, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
EncoreUptown Girl, It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, Big Shot, Only the Good Die Young, You May Be Right
9 Feb 2018 - Billy Joel at Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL, USA
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Pressure, Everybody Loves You Now, Vienna, The Downeaster 'Alexa', Movin' Out, All About Soul, The Entertainer, New York State of Mind, Zanzibar, Stop in Nevada, Allentown, My Life, She's Always a Woman, Don't Ask Me Why, Sometimes a Fantasy, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
11 Jan 2018 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Pressure, A Matter of Trust, She's Got a Way, Vienna, The Entertainer, Zanzibar, Don't Ask Me Why, Movin' Out, Stop in Nevada, Allentown, New York State of Mind, The Downeaster 'Alexa', Urgent by Foreigner, Cold as Ice by Foreigner, My Life, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
31 Dec 2017 - Billy Joel at BB&T Center, Sunrise, FL, USA
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Pressure, She's Got a Way, This Is the Time, The Longest Time, Zanzibar, Vienna, Movin' Out, Stop in Nevada, Purple Haze by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, New York State of Mind, Don't Ask Me Why, All About Soul, Allentown, She's Always a Woman, Honky Tonk Women by The Rolling Stones, Auld Lang Syne by [traditional], My Life, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
20 Dec 2017 - Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Pressure, A Matter of Trust, She's Got a Way, Vienna, Zanzibar, The Downeaster 'Alexa', Stop in Nevada, The Joker by Steve Miller Band, Allentown, New York State of Mind, Don't Ask Me Why, Movin' Out, My Life, Sometimes a Fantasy, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
8 Dec 2017 - Billy Joel at Moda Center, Portland, OR, USA
MainMiami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), Pressure, A Matter of Trust, She's Got a Way, Everybody Loves You Now, The Entertainer, Vienna, Zanzibar, The Downeaster 'Alexa', Stop in Nevada, Allentown, New York State of Mind, Louie Louie by Richard Berry, The Longest Time, Purple Haze by The Jimi Hendrix Experience + Fire by The Jimi Hendrix Experience + The Wind Cries Mary by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Movin' Out, My Life, She's Always a Woman, The River of Dreams, Take It Easy by Eagles, Nessun dorma by Giacomo Puccini, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Piano Man
1 2 3 4 5 ... Next » Last
If you know of a concert where "New York State of Mind" was performed which is not on Setlisting you can add the setlist here.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3281
|
__label__cc
| 0.742979
| 0.257021
|
Istanbul Kebab House
Member since Aug 4, 2015
Re: “Burlington Renames Street to Honor Late Seven Days Photographer Matthew Thorsen”
He helped to tell the story of this community -- and told it as only he could. It's right, in a poetic sort of way, that his name be enshrined in the city's geography so that those who didn't have the pleasure of knowing him, who don't carry memories of him in their consciousness, can have a chance to appreciate his contribution.
Posted by Townie on 06/25/2019 at 8:50 AM
Re: “Seven Days Photographer Matthew Thorsen Dies at 51”
Matt's passing is a great loss for our community and for the many people whose lives he touched with humor, kindness, and warmth. He shot like he lived: with inimitable style and a keen sense of what makes us all so wonderfully weird.
Posted by Townie on 01/02/2019 at 5:00 PM
Re: “Burlington School Board Sends $85.5 Million Budget to Voters”
Chip Morgan: I'm also holding my breath over a tax hike for schools, and I share your concern. But I think it's important for the discussion, which will probably be contentious from this point forward, to look at our school budget in a broad context of the facts on where we rank. To say our results on most metrics are average relative to other states depends, of course, on the metrics. Contrary information is out there, and here's one example: the last major NEA study had Vermont with the lowest student-to-teacher ratio in the country. Number 1. If you think that's good for learning, then that's a positive distinction. Source: http://www.nea.org/home/rankings-and-estim…
I could cherry-pick statistics that reflect favorably and unfavorably on our schools, but I have to say, having looked at the research, Vermont is better than average on many metrics. I'm with you on the sting that comes with the new budget. Here's hoping we can let the facts guide the way to the March ballot.
This report that puts Vermont at number 12 overall. That's the top 25%, if my math is right (with apologies to the South Burlington school system for my weakness in this area. Totally my fault.): http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-…
Re: “South End Artists Hope to Stall the Champlain Parkway”
The mayor claims that the Parkway will cut down on heavy truck traffic on Flynn Avenue. I wonder if the operators of City Market, which has won approval to build a 20,000 square foot grocery store *on Flynn Avenue,* are aware of this. Plans put the new City Market site right at the juncture of the Parkway. Flynn Avenue, and most likely the streets connecting Shelburne Road and Pine, as well as the south end of Pine Street, are going to see more heavy truck traffic.
Posted by Townie on 09/25/2015 at 10:12 PM
Re: “Anger Management: Sanders Fights for Employees, Except His Own”
I object to the oversimplification that passes for a justification of this analysis in the first place:
"If he wins, he'll become the boss of some 4.2 million federal employees, have a standing army at his disposal and, you know, hold the nuclear launch codes. So an analysis of his management style and temper might be reasonable."
Come on, Paul. There are *no* checks and balances between the person in the Oval Office and the functions within his purview? Tell me: What kind of a boss was Lyndon Johnson. LBJ was unafraid to step on toes to pass sweeping and historic civil rights legislation. Bernie look like Mr. Rogers in contrast.
Maybe Bernie was justified in howling at staffers so gutless that, down the road, they didn't have the character to be identified on record.
Re: “Man Takes Aim at South Burlington High School's 'Rebels' Nickname”
The problem with the Rebel nickname today is that, stripped of its Confederate context — arguably a good thing, not just because of its slavery and segregationist associations but because it never made any sense in relation to South Burlington — it is meaningless. Rebels? What rebels? It's generic. It's like calling yourselves the Dogs or the Birds or the Soldiers. I vote for giving the students, teachers, administrators, and community members a chance to vote on a new mascot and nickname — maybe on that actually has something to do with S.B.
I played on S.B.H.S. sports teams, and I have no sentimental attachment to the nonsensical nickname.
I had Bob Walsh as a teacher when I was a student at S.B.H.S., and he was an outstanding role model. He's a veteran, a lifelong teacher, and a humanist. The idea that political correctness is liberal reactionary zeal run amok is itself a reactionary view. We can do better, people.
Posted by Townie on 08/24/2015 at 12:58 AM
Re: “'Rebels' Moniker Debated in South Burlington”
None of the rebel historical associations that Leonard Bast lists refers to the S.B.H.S. mascot. The advocates of a new mascot haven't "cherry picked" the Confederate association. The Confederate association is the original in this case. When I was an S.B.H.S. student, the precision dancing troupe, the Rebelettes, did a halftime routine to "Dixie." Maybe a new historical association could be forged with the word Rebel to retain the nickname. Without some specific association — which is where S.B.H.S. has landed since nixing the Confederate context — Rebels is a generic term. As such, it's kind of a lame nickname. It's like saying we're the Birds or the Dogs or the Soldiers. As an S.B.H.S. alum who played for Rebel sports teams, I advocate a new mascot, one that can be specific and maybe even connected to South Burlington in some way without being potentially offensive to someone.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3282
|
__label__wiki
| 0.843451
| 0.843451
|
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Fighting-fierce-over-Alameda-Point-development-3274412.php
Fighting fierce over Alameda Point development
DEVELOPMENT Measure B, plan to build housing at old Navy base stir sharp debate
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published 4:00 am PST, Friday, January 29, 2010
The northern tip of Alameda Point, shown filled with weeds and cracks on Wednesday January 20, 2010 in Alameda, Calif., is just one of many undeveloped spaces on the former Naval Base. Alameda's Measure B has brought an ongoing debate about development in area to a head. less
The northern tip of Alameda Point, shown filled with weeds and cracks on Wednesday January 20, 2010 in Alameda, Calif., is just one of many undeveloped spaces on the former Naval Base. Alameda's Measure B has ... more
Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle
The Navy might have pulled out of Alameda a dozen years ago, but fighting at the former Naval Air Station has never been fiercer.
City leaders, environmentalists and an Orange County builder are in a costly, protracted battle over development at Alameda Point, an issue the voters will ultimately decide at the ballot box Tuesday.
Measure B would create a one-time exemption to the city's 1973 ban on multi-unit housing, allowing apartments and condominiums at the former Navy base. It also ushers in a host of other provisions that some argue would leave the city amid a sea of financial and legal wreckage but others say are necessary for any development in this stagnant real estate market.
"Measure B would be an enormous catastrophe for Alameda," said Dave Needle, a Fernside resident who is among the leading opponents of the initiative. "Without a doubt, this will cost the city money."
Development battles over Alameda Point began around the time the last Navy ship set sail in 1997. Four developers tried and failed to transform the 1,500-acre Superfund site into an urban oasis of parks, housing, retail and offices. But funding, the fluctuating real estate market and the city's multi-unit housing ban have prevented any project from moving forward.
The latest developer to tackle Alameda Point is SunCal, based in Irvine, which submitted plans to the city in 2008 calling for 4,500 units of housing, two schools, a library, 145 acres of open space, a 58-acre sports field complex, 15 miles of bike paths, a ferry terminal and other amenities.
To move ahead with the proposal, SunCal needs Measure B to pass. If it fails, SunCal is likely to pull out of the project when its agreement with the city expires in July.
SunCal has an unlikely ally in its fight to pass Measure B: Greenbelt Alliance, which has argued that the benefits of SunCal's proposal - the parks, trails and public transit - outweigh the negatives.
"This isn't the perfect process, but we believe it will lead to a good outcome: a vibrant, mixed-use community," said Jeremy Madsen, director of Greenbelt Alliance. "If we let this opportunity pass us by, it could be decades before anything happens out there. We simply don't have that much time."
Much of Alameda Point is contaminated with benzene, asbestos, PCBs, lead and other toxins, left over from six decades of ship and airplane repair. The Navy hopes to finish cleaning up the site by 2017. In addition, many of the roads, pipes and buildings are crumbling from lack of maintenance, creating liability problems for the city, said Alameda Councilwoman Lena Tam.
"It's a ticking time bomb," said Tam, the only member of the five-person council to support Measure B. "Clearly the city is not in a financial position to repair the rapidly decaying infrastructure out there. We're going to need to leverage private funds."
But many in Alameda say Measure B itself is the ticking time bomb. If it passes, the measure would allow SunCal to lower the amount of affordable housing from 25 to 15 percent, remove much of the city's control over the project and potentially let SunCal walk away from the deal at any time, Needle and city Councilman Frank Matarrese said.
Opponents are also concerned that Measure B caps at $200 million the cost of the schools, library and other amenities. Those projects would cost at least $228 million, meaning some of the projects would get dropped or the city would be responsible for the extra $28 million, a third of the city's general fund, Matarrese said.
SunCal estimates that the schools and other amenities will cost only $160 million, well below the $200 million cap. Officials also said they plan on adhering to the city's request for 25 percent - not the state minimum of 15 percent - affordable housing.
"This issue has become so complex I think a lot of voters are confused," said SunCal's vice president of operations, Pat Keliher.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3283
|
__label__wiki
| 0.964922
| 0.964922
|
Sky-High Potential
Former St. Joe's forward Ronald Roberts Jr might be the most athletic prospect in the 2014 NBA Draft.
by Jake Fischer June 03, 2014
Ronald Roberts Jr can fly.
He took off when he dunked all over Dayton’s Kyle Davis. He went airborne as he hurdled Creighton’s 6-0 Antoine Young. He defied gravity when he slammed a one-handed put back over Dayton’s Khari Price.
When he worked out for the Toronto Raptors last week, he touched the top of the vertical jump measurement device—12 feet—and the coaching staff couldn’t move the scale any higher, even though he hadn’t maxed out quite yet.
But the 6-8, 225-pound former St. Joe’s forward says his most memorable dunk won’t be immortalized on a poster any time soon.
“When we played VCU in the Atlantic 10 championship game, I was kind of ahead of the pack a little bit and then I dunked and that put us up a couple points late in the game,” Roberts says. “It was real memorable because right when I did that, everybody knew we were going to win the championship. It was kind of like a seal-the-deal type thing, it wasn’t a crazy dunk, but I was just really happy that my teammates were happy.
“I just put a statement on the game. Just seeing everybody happy made that my favorite.”
It’s a true testament to Roberts’ team-first, blue-collar attitude. After all, he was named St. Joes’ Most Improved Player in his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons, along with team MVP that junior season. His constant year-to-year improvement is something head coach Phil Martelli called, “unheard of.”
“He is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful human being, he represented his family name to the highest degree, represented this program, he was everything you want in a college basketball player,” Martelli says. “If somebody told me I could have a team full of Ron Robertses, I’d coach until they had to wheel me out on a chair.”
Roberts averaged 14.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game this season, helping lead the Hawks to the A-10 tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. He then scored 15 points and added 10 rebounds in the 10-seeded St. Joe’s 89-81 overtime loss to a certain UConn team. The Hawks were even leading 70-67 with 43 seconds left.
“We had a core group of seniors and we wanted it really bad,” Roberts says. “But winning the Atlantic-10 tournament, that was just a great way to end my college career.”
Roberts arrived on St. Joe’s campus with fellow seniors Langston Galloway, Halil Kanacevic and Daryus Quarles back in the fall of 2010. The season prior, the Hawks finished just 11-20. Their freshman season, St. Joe’s dropped two more games, finishing the season at 11-22, but the Class of 2014 sought to change that. St. Joe’s went on to win 20 games in 2011-12, 18 in ’12-13 and 24 this past season.
With each season, Roberts matured within Martelli’s program. His scoring average improved from 6.4 in his freshman season to 14.4, good for second on the team, his senior campaign. He boosted his blocks incrementally from 0.6 per night to 1.3 per night by the time he graduated.
Roberts can’t even imagine counting how much time he spent refining his game with assistant coach Dave Duda.
“They spent hours watching tape,” Martelli says. “Ron was willing to listen to the criticism, to accept it as coaching and not to see it as a personal attack—which is rare among today’s players—and then he was willing to put in hour, upon hour, upon hour working, whether it be through film or on the court taking baby steps so he could sprint now and be considered a professional prospect.”
Duda and Roberts keyed in on his main weaknesses from day one on City Avenue.
“He was not a very good passer, he had to dramatically improve his foul-shooting ability and he had to be willing to run on every single play,” Martelli said. “By the end of his time and in his NBA workouts, people will tell you that he’s just outworking everybody he plays against.”
The explosive big man showed off his motor and hustle during this year’s Portsmouth Invitational. En route to earning All-Tournament team honors, he averaged 13.8 points on 51.1 percent shooting, 10.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 26.8 minutes per game over four contests.
“I have a really high motor and I never really stop playing,” Roberts says. “I’m just always constantly moving and I’m always working hard on the court, moving around. I just use my motor to outwork players and make my teammates better.”
Most of his points came on one-on-one post-up situations and offensive rebounding during his college career. As an undersized power forward, Roberts will have to prove he can constantly knock down a 15-foot jumper to make an NBA roster, let alone get playing time. But just like he did at St. Joe’s, he’s recognized what areas of his game need improvement and is seeing those kinks get worked out in the gym.
“I’m working on my jumper every day, that’s like the main thing I’ve been working on, that’s where I need the most improvement,” Roberts says. “I’m working every day to trying to get it automatic so I can open up the floor some more.”
And true to Martelli’s word, he’s been a bull in pre-Draft workouts. He finished a monster dunk and ripped down 6 rebounds at the Los Angeles Clippers mini-combine. When he worked out for the Philadelphia 76ers alongside five other players last week, a source told SLAM that the Sixers’ staff came away the most impressed with Roberts’ energy and athleticism.
He knows what role he’ll have to assume at the next level and he’s ready for that challenge.
“A lot of teams have franchise, and superstar and all-star players, I’m not trying to be that,” Roberts says. “I’m just going to come in and work really hard, play defense, get on loose balls, rebound and block shots.”
Two years ago, during the summer of 2012, Roberts, who was born in the Dominican Republic, ventured to the University of Kentucky to train with the country’s national team that was working out with then-head coach John Calipari. Roberts was chosen as one of the young, up-and-coming Dominican players to serve as a scout team against the squad that featured Al Horford, Francisco Garcia and Charlie Villanueva.
Roberts lives every day by the advice Garcia gave him during his three-day stint at Rupp Arena.
“Francisco was telling me, to keep working hard whenever I’m in the gym,” Roberts says. “To be in the NBA, you have to dedicate your life and sometimes you have to be a little selfish to get where you have to go. Al Horford was just telling me the same things: work really hard and stay in the gym.”
Wait, be selfish? That’s not the consummate team player we’ve come know Roberts as.
“He just meant pick your spots on the court. If you have an open shot and you’re confident, step up and knock down the shot,” Roberts explains. “You can’t overpass your opportunities. Obviously, you want to pass the ball, but you also have to be aggressive to make an impact and get noticed.”
With his word-class athleticism, teams have certainly taken notice of him. That’s nothing new for Roberts; he first dunked as a 5-8 seventh grader just messing around in gym class. But he’s ready for a new beginning, the next step in his basketball career where he’s determined to be more than just a big-time dunker.
Ronald Roberts Jr is a prospect you need to know.
2014 Prospects You Need To Know NBA Draft Ronald Roberts Jr.
Bol Bol: ‘I Just Want to Prove Everyone Wrong’
R.J. Barrett to Knicks Fans: ‘Let’s Try to Get Back to That Championship Way’
Pelicans: Zion Williamson Not ‘Here to Save This Franchise’
Zion Williamson: ‘I’m Ready to Be the Face of a Team’
Alvin Gentry: Anthony Davis Situation ‘Will Take Care of Itself’
’41 Games at The Garden’: Zion Williamson Envisions Playing in New York
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3286
|
__label__cc
| 0.731579
| 0.268421
|
Svenska Search Menu
Animals in research and education at SLU
Last changed: 13 June 2019
What legal regulations are there for using animals for scientific purposes ex in Sweden? Anyone who performs animal experiments must be authorized by the Swedish Board of Agriculture (SJV). The premises where the animals are kept must be approved for the purpose by SJV and there should be a responsible director and an advisory veterinarian attached to the activity.
All use of living animals for scientific or educational purposes must be preceded by an animal testing ethics review and all staff working with the animals must have proper training. Statistics must be kept over the animals involved in research or education. There are also detailed regulations that can be found on the homepage of the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
Coordinator at SLU
SLU must have a coordinator for matters concerning research animals. The coordinator is responsible for training all those involved with animals used for research or teaching at SLU in laboratory animal science for researchers. The coordinator provides information and advice regarding questions about research animals, inspecting permits, coordinating supervision and collation of statistics.
Coordinator is PhD MSc Katarina Cvek at the department of Clinical Sciences.
The Board for Animals in Research and Teaching (FDN)
The Board for Animals in Research and Teaching (FDN) is to function as SLU's animal welfare body and therefore work actively to prioritise animal welfare within the organisation. The Board for Animals in Research and Teaching must follow the Swedish Board of Agriculture's regulations (SJVFS 2015:24 Article L 150). This includes providing advice to staff regarding animal welfare, as well as establishing and inspecting internal routine descriptions for the supervision, reporting and monitoring of the animals' welfare and the comprehensive work with animal welfare at the organisation. You can read more about the Board for Animals in Research and Teaching.
Definition of research animals
The EU and the Council of Europe define research animals as those that only experience some form of suffering during their use. In Sweden, our definition of research animals differs from its European equivalent – the purpose determines whether an animal is a research animal.
This means that all animals used for scientific research, teaching, diagnosing illnesses, manufacture of pharmaceuticals or chemical products, or other similar purposes are classed as research animals and are covered by animal welfare legislation, even if they are not subjected to painful procedures.
Consequently: all animals included in SLU research activities are classified as research animals, regardless of whether they are privately owned animals, wild animals or animals at the various SLU research facilities.
What are the research animals used for at SLU?
Most animals used for scientific purposes at other universities serve as model animals for humans and human diseases. At SLU on the other hand, research involving animals is focused on getting results that will benefit the animals themselves. It is the welfare of the animals that is the common focus for SLU: s research on disease control, health, behaviour, breeding and husbandry.
Policy on the use of animals in research and education at SLU
All staff involved in planning research on animals or who work with animals in teaching must read and follow the SLU policy on the use of animals in research and education.
Use of animals in education
The university's areas of responsibility include animal husbandry, health and welfare of animals being used by humans. SLU offers professional education and training for prospective veterinarians, animal agronomists, veterinary nurses, equine scientists and also general higher education courses for future work with animals.
In the professional programmes at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, practical animal husbandry is very important to the acquisition of knowledge and skills.
Therefore, husbandry and skills training are best carried out by the student conducting the components themselves under supervision, and in the manner it is to be conducted in practice. The purpose of the training, focusing on animal welfare, is to promote sustainable use of animals, good production, health and function.
Students are to be given the opportunity to read the SLU policy for the use of animals in teaching if they plan to participate in a degree programme where handling of animals and animal materials is included.
All degree programmes and free-standing courses must contain a summary of the elements where live animals, animal corpses or animal tissue are included, which prospective students can obtain before they apply for a place.
Contact the coordinator if you have any questions or thoughts on animal use for scientific or educational purposes.
Coordinator for matters concerning research animals
Katarina Cvek
Department of Clinical Sciences
djurforsok@slu.se
Page editor: Lotta.jaderlund@slu.se
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3289
|
__label__wiki
| 0.983437
| 0.983437
|
Day of strong emotion in stem cell debate
December 5, 2006 — 11.00am
A LIBERAL MP broke down during an emotional speech in support of legislation to overturn a ban on therapeutic cloning.
Debate on the private member's bill of the former health minister Kay Patterson, which would allow scientists to clone embryos to extract stem cells for medical research, resumed in the House of Representatives yesterday.
Teresa Gambaro said she was a Catholic but her decision to support the legislation was influenced by her father's diagnosis with Parkinson's disease 11 years ago. "I can't look him in the eyes and say I won't be supporting this bill," Ms Gambaro said.
But another Liberal MP, Sophie Mirabella, spoke of a "slippery slope" towards scientific barbarism.
"Therapeutic cloning is a step in the wrong direction, a depraved practice reflecting nothing more than the turpitudes of modern scientific egos in their race to the bottom of the ethics ladder."
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3290
|
__label__cc
| 0.731378
| 0.268622
|
Our work for children in Qatar
Our children's charity in Qatar since 2014
SOS Children's Villages International opened an office in the Gulf Area in 2014. Based in Dubai, it services the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), namely Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. SOS Children’s Villages does not directly run any child or youth programmes in these countries.
Some facts about the Gulf Area
The Gulf Area, made up of the Arabian Peninsula, is located in the South-Western part of the Asian continent. Covering about 3 million square kilometres, it consists of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar,Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
These countries (excluding Yemen) constitute the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with a combined population of approx. 50 million. The GCC was established in 1981 in Abu Dhabi with the signature of a unified economic agreement. The member countries aim at strengthening cooperation of the private sector, strengthening ties between their peoples, fostering research and technical progress and ultimately establishing a common currency.
The oil and construction sector, together with high birth rates and a young population have led to a steady growth in population and an increased demand for expatriate workers in the past years. With the increasing number of expats, the region consequently also benefits from an increasing cultural diversity. In 2020, the World Expo will be hosted in Dubai.
SOS Children's Villages in the Gulf Area
The Gponsorships. The Gulf Area office located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was established in 2014 in order to support vulnerable children and orphans in SOS Children's Villages worldwide and in particular in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region and to support local initiatives. The Gulf Area office aims at promoting the goals and activities of SOS Children’s Villages by raising awareness, working in partnerships with public and private entities, raising funds and providing training and capacity building.
The GAO also supports local public and private partners who work towards improving the situation of orphans, children without parental care and vulnerable children.
SOS Children's Villages International, Gulf Area Office
International Humanitarian City
e-mail: gulfareaoffice@sos-kd.org
www.sos-childrensvillages.org
WWH - Sponsor a Child
Give a child a strong start to life.
WWH - Donate
Make a difference. Become part of the SOS family today.
Donate for a child
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3292
|
__label__wiki
| 0.80954
| 0.80954
|
$300,000 No Min. $15,000 $25,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 $125,000 $150,000 $175,000 $200,000 $225,000 $250,000 $275,000 $300,000 $325,000 $350,000 $375,000 $400,000 $425,000 $450,000 $475,000 $500,000 $525,000 $550,000 $575,000 $600,000 $625,000 $650,000 $675,000 $700,000 $725,000 $750,000 $775,000 $800,000 $825,000 $850,000 $875,000 $900,000 $925,000 $950,000 $975,000 $1,000,000 $1,100,000 $1,200,000 $1,300,000 $1,400,000 $1,500,000 $1,600,000 $1,700,000 $1,800,000 $1,900,000 $2,000,000 $2,500,000 $3,000,000 $3,500,000 $4,000,000 $4,500,000 $5,000,000 $7,500,000 $10,000,000 $15,000,000 $20,000,000
$400,000 No Max. $15,000 $25,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 $125,000 $150,000 $175,000 $200,000 $225,000 $250,000 $275,000 $300,000 $325,000 $350,000 $375,000 $400,000 $425,000 $450,000 $475,000 $500,000 $525,000 $550,000 $575,000 $600,000 $625,000 $650,000 $675,000 $700,000 $725,000 $750,000 $775,000 $800,000 $825,000 $850,000 $875,000 $900,000 $925,000 $950,000 $975,000 $1,000,000 $1,100,000 $1,200,000 $1,300,000 $1,400,000 $1,500,000 $1,600,000 $1,700,000 $1,800,000 $1,900,000 $2,000,000 $2,500,000 $3,000,000 $3,500,000 $4,000,000 $4,500,000 $5,000,000 $7,500,000 $10,000,000 $15,000,000 $20,000,000
Homes for Sale in Kitty Hawk, NC $300,000 to $400,000
city:Kitty Hawk; state: NC; property type:Single Family Home,...; price:$300,000-$400,000; more...
city:Kitty Hawk; state: NC; property type:Single Family Home, Condo/Townhouse, Multi Family Home; price:$300,000-$400,000; less...
4904 Palmer Drive
Courtesy of Keller Williams - Obx, Sarah Spencer
4228 Ivy Lane
Courtesy of All About Obx Real Estate, Wende Pritchard
924 W Kitty Hawk Road
Courtesy of Obx Mvp Realty, Llc, Wayne Darnell
247 Duck Road
Courtesy of Premier Properties Of The Outer Banks, Whitney Hawkins
4140 Lindbergh Avenue
Courtesy of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, Kim Desocio
4113 S Lindbergh Avenue
Courtesy of Resort Realty - Kh, Dave Hoare
3806 Hallett Street
Courtesy of Century 21 Nachman Realty, Cheryl White
105 Sonnys Lane
Courtesy of Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty, Martin Griffin
Courtesy of Greenstreet Prop. At The Beach, Nancy Greenstreet
Courtesy of Beach Realty & Constr - Kh North, Nancy Bailey
3656 Poseidon Street
Courtesy of Midgett Realty - Rodanthe, Trisha Midgett
Courtesy of Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty, Natalie Dutt
112 Sunrise View
Courtesy of Resort Realty - Duck, Susie Von Suskil
4304 Johnston Lane
Courtesy of Joe Lamb Realty, Bobby Williams
858 Kitty Hawk Road
Courtesy of Outer Banks Blue Realty Srvcs., Ken Baittinger
210 Heritage Lane
Courtesy of Coastal Nc Realty Group, Abby Berquist
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3293
|
__label__cc
| 0.523251
| 0.476749
|
Shopify Blogs
How Pride Designz Uses Facebook Fan Pages to Average $30K a Month in Sales
Email Pinterest Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
Turning something you care about into a business gives you a unique edge: an intimate understanding of your audience and what engages them.
On this episode of Shopify Masters, you'll learn from Rizala Carrington, owner of Pride Designz, a store for LGBT jewellery and clothing, who followed her passions and created a Facebook fan page that drives the majority of her traffic.
In this episode, you'll learn:
How you can tell if you’re just interested or if you’re truly passionate about a niche.
How to transition from building an audience to monetizing that audience.
The kinds of content to post on your Facebook fan page to get the most engagement (featuring actual examples).
Listen to Shopify Masters below…
Rate and Review Shopify Masters on iTunes!
Store: Pride Designz
Social Profiles: Facebook, Instagram
Recommended: Playbuzz, Hextom (Shopify app developers), Retargetapp,
Rizala’s Entrepreneurial Timeline
Felix: Today I'm joined by Rizala Carrington from PrideDesignz.com, and that's P-R-I-D-E-D-E-S-I-G-N-Z dot com. Pride Designz was born from two major Facebook communities, Lesbian Pride and I Support Equal Rights, and sells many things including bracelets, dog tags, jewelry, mugs, necklaces, rings and t-shirts. It was started in 2015 and based out of Los Angeles, California. Welcome Rizala.
Rizala: Hey, what's up Felix?
Felix: Awesome. Tell us a little more about your story. Obviously I listed a bunch of products that you guys sell. What are the most popular ones?
Rizala: Right now actually it's switching back and forth between rings and bracelets. Necklaces are doing pretty well as well, but right now rings are pretty hot.
Felix: Nice. Cool. You and I met out in San Francisco when I was out there for Shopify Unite Conference. It was funny just bumping into you and you were telling me your story, and I was like, yeah, definitely want to have you on a podcast because of your interesting background and how you got started. I think it's a pretty not necessarily similar story for a lot of entrepreneurs out there, but this feeling of trying something and then not working and then almost failing a bunch of ways towards your first success. Tell us a little bit about your background, how you got started. Not necessarily in e-commerce, but what was your online business background?
Rizala: Sure. I got started in online entrepreneurship, we'll just say that, back in the end of 2012 and I got started with a network marketing company. It was a viral blogging system. Some people might know what that is by just saying that. I did that for almost two years. I really tried to make that thing work. I can't even tell you how much literally just blood, sweat and a lot of tears I put into just trying to get it working. I was barely breaking even. I decided I didn't want to give up my dream of leaving the corporate hustle and living paycheck to paycheck, but I wanted to take a break.
I decided t get into just doing completely different from blogging and I got into building fan pages. I'm making a very long story short of how it happened, but pretty much everyone was talking about Facebook fan pages, and I was like "Let me go ahead and try this out." At the time I was trying to lose weight and stuff, so I was like, "Let me just try to make a weight loss fan page." The weight loss industry, as many people know, is very competitive. Getting likes for that was super ridiculous, ridiculously expensive. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I'm still not getting this." One of my mentors was like, "You know what, do something that you're passionate about. Do something that's very easy to get into to generate content for."
I tried to figure out what do I want to do, what do I want to do? Then next thing you know, I look in the mirror, I'm like, "Why don't I just do it about me and my lifestyle, and being apart of the LGBT community," and that's when I started first I Support Equal Rights, and then I started Lesbian Pride, just because I noticed how much activity the women of I Support Equal Rights, it was just so active. I'm like, "Let me see what happens if I just create one page just for mainly women, LGBT women." That one just pretty much blew up. I like to tell people this because it's very important, but I really only had $5 a day to spend on building this fan page. The reason being was we just got back from Germany to America. My wife wasn't able to work because we were still waiting for her green card.
I was working my job and we were living in California. California's expensive. We were living off my paycheck and off credit cards, and I literally was like, "I shouldn't be spending money on this." I spent like $5 a day every day, which is $150 bucks for about a little less than six months, and I look up and I didn't sell anything. I just look up and I had over a hundred thousand fans, very active community. At that time I was getting hundreds of comments and hundreds, almost thousands of likes. It was crazy. Then I started selling t-shirts on Teespring and making a couple thousand dollars a month, and it was amazing.
Then next thing you know, I was making the same amount of money as I was with my job. You're starting to get a little burnt out because at that point I was barely sleeping. I was sleeping maybe four, five, six hours a day, which isn't good to do. My wife was like, "Okay, you have to give up something," and she recommended I give up my job because my dream was to work for myself and have my own business. I gave up my job, and I don't know if you remember this Felix, but do you remember when Facebook changed their algorithm from see first to their own algorithm where it was like based off engagement?
Felix: Yeah, definitely. I think anybody that started on Facebook, especially back then, definitely felt that as well.
Rizala: Oh man. I felt that so bad. It literally happened right after I quit my job, my engagement, and the crazy thing was the money I was putting in, because I had such high engagement on my fan page, the money I had to put in for advertisement, literally for every $1 put in I'd make maybe $5, and it's because of all the organic engagement I was getting. Facebook was really just letting my posts travel very far. When Facebook made that switch, I really was not prepared for it, and my reach went down. I went from just being able to reach millions of people with a page of a hundred thousand to barely reaching two, three hundred people. My ad costs went up.
I'm spending a dollar, and I was making $1.10, so I was making like $.10. The ROI was still an ROI, but it was barely anything. I wasn't really ready for it. Pretty much it was a lot of up and down from that point. Just launching campaigns and it was a struggle. There was even a point where I had to actually go back and get a job at an elementary school and work as a TA. At that point, I was working as a TA, and suddenly I started making a shift in my mindset of my thinking. I just started generating more content, and I just started really engaging. I went back to the basics pretty much, just engaging with my fans again. Next thing you know, I'm reaching more people. My ad costs, it was going down.
Facebook was just letting my posts be seen. Then it just kept going. I was doing Teespring I was also getting into Represent, which is similar to Teespring, and then finally I bit the bullet and I was like, "What is this Shopify everyone's talking about," and I finally got into Shopify. In August, I started Shopify at the last two or three days of July, August was my first month and I made $10,000. It was crazy. Ever since then, it's been pretty good. Back in February I had my first $30,000 month this year as far as sales revenue goes. It's been amazing with Shopify and just using my fan page as leverage. When people ask me how do I do it, I always say choose something that you're truly passionate about because it's so much more easier to find content, to be engaging, to just not get tired of running the community because that's so important is building a community, being engaged and being passionate about that community.
Not only does it goes a long way as far as the people seeing that you care, but it goes a long way as far as your ad costs. It goes down so much because you're getting so much organic reach. I don't care what anyone says, if you're going to give me free organic reach, I'll take that. I love talking about fan pages and the importance of just creating something that you can be proud of, as well as creating something that you can build a lifestyle off of.
Felix: Well that's the podcast folks. I'm just kidding. I think that's a great overview that I want to basically break down and dive into each thing you just said because I think it's really important. I think at the end of this too, we're talking before the podcast, you wanted to put together a visual timeline of all these successes and failures along the way, which I think is going to be really cool and we'll talk about a link to that in a second or at the end of this.
Let's start at the beginning. You said that you were getting into network marketing. Tell us a little bit more about that. For folks out there that aren't familiar with this, what is network marketing?
Rizala: Network marketing are sometimes called direct sales or MLM, multi level marketing. It's pretty much, even though you say it's not a pyramid scheme, it's kind of a pyramid when you look at it. You have a sponsor and they sponsor you and you sponsor other people and pretty much you make money off of the amount of people you accrue as well as the amount of product you sell from selling product, either to the people that are buying it, who you recruited. It's a way of just referral marketing, if you may say. You refer someone to a product, they buy it, then you say, hey, I have this great opportunity.
I got into it just because of the fact that I like the idea that it was online. I like the fact that you can make money off of the work that someone else was doing as well. I thought it would be quote/unquote "easy." I was completely new to it and the community was amazing. It was amazing community, very active, very passionate. One thing I have to say about network marketing, MLM, they're huge on mindset. That was important because I literally was just drilling, trying to, I guess you can say, almost brainwashed myself in the sense of cleaning my brain of all the negativity and the thoughts of this is impossible, to just starting to believe in myself and believe in the idea that it is possible to live the lifestyle of your dreams.
That was what network marketing did for me, but as far as, I don't know how to say what is it. It's kind of hard to explain in the sense of it's an opportunity to make money.
Felix: Yeah, it's hard to say without making it seem like a shady or bad thing.
Rizala: That's what I'm saying. That's important to talk about because I'll be honest with you, when I talk about my business now, I'm like, "Yo, this is my business. I don't care. I love what I do. When I was in network marketing, I was like, "I don't know."
Felix: I've heard this I guess suggestion that when you're starting a business, you should start a business where you would be proud to stand on a stage and talk about it. Just thinking of it that way, I think makes a big difference because there's certain things, would you tell your mom about your business or would you be okay talking to people about your business. I think that's a good exercise to go through when it comes to deciding what you want to be doing. Network marketing, this thing that you were doing, you thought it'd be easy to make money online. Maybe you can answer this question. Is there an easy way to make money online, and if you see an opportunity where there's an easy way to make money online, do you investigate it or do you run away for it?
Rizala: It depends on how they market it because I'm very interested in marketing and how people market. I'm not going to join it. I love what I'm doing now, but I love when someone catches my attention. It's like, "Ooh, how did you catch my attention?" I'll show you interest but not necessarily for a product or opportunity, but because of how you caught my attention.
Felix: I love that attitude because I actually had an email that I sent out about this recently, which was about how I think the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones that try to find opportunity to learn from anything and everything, even if you don't necessarily agree with a product or agree with the way they're doing things. I feel like there's always a lesson to be learned and you pull out the things that you need and then apply it to your business rather than being so quick to judge. I think that sounds like the attitude you have, and I think it's a great one to have.
Rizala: I have ADD so I'm like, "Whoa, you caught my attention? You disrupted me? Let me see."
Felix: You're a good Litmus test then [inaudible 00:14:09]. You were doing this network marketing thing, and to get an idea of the time, this was 2012 you said?
Rizala: End of 2012 all the way until just about almost 2014.
Felix: You said about two years, and at what point did you start creating your first Facebook fan page?
Rizala: I started creating it in September. There was some overlap. I'll just say there's definitely some overlap. I started creating it in September. That was my weight loss one, which I wasn't really passionate about. I started creating that, and then I started creating my first I Support Equal Rights and Lesbian Pride in September.
Felix: This is an interesting topic, because you're saying you weren't interested or you weren't passionate about the weight loss Facebook fan page, but you did say before that that you were looking to find ways to lose weight. You were in the ...
Rizala: I was.
Felix: ... I guess attitude, not necessarily attitude but you were in that mindset of this is a topic that I'm interested in. You're saying there's a level even above that. I think there's not necessarily a trap, but a potential trap that other entrepreneurs might run into where they start rationalizing and saying, "Yeah, I could be passionate about that. I'm interested in it. I'm going to get passionate about it." That's I guess almost the direction that you went in because you were interested in this topic but you weren't passionate about it. How can you tell the difference between whether you're actually passionate about a particular business or passionate about a particular industry versus just being interested in it?
Rizala: That's actually a great question because sometimes to me it felt so, that's a really good question. Because the weight loss was because it was something I had to do. It was something that I was interested in how to lose weight and I figured out, let me just monetize this. With the Lesbian Pride it was so natural to me. It didn't even come up as an idea because it was so natural. I was always reading articles, engaging other fan pages, liking videos, watching videos, it just seemed like a form of entertainment. I was just like, "Wait, this can be a niche I can be a part of." For example a lot of people watching boxing or UFC or MMA and they're super passionate about it. They love it. They know all the fighters, they talk about things. They don't necessarily compete in it, but they are so passionate about it, but they wouldn't consider that a niche they can join because they think, "Oh I have to be a fighter."
No, no. Just being someone who is entertained by a niche, it can be used as your niche to monetize. It should be something natural. Before I got started I wrote down everything that I was and everything that I accomplished. I wrote down I'm a wife, I'm a salesperson, I'm a lesbian, I'm this, I'm that. I used to do this, I used to do that. I wrote down everything that I could possibly think of, everything that I've done, my favorite TV shows. That's where I was like, okay, these are the things. Let me try to figure out what I can do, and then when I found it, I was like, "Oh I'm a lesbian. I'm also interested in LGBT issues. Let me research this niche." Then I promise you, almost every single niche has some type of buying power.
LGBT niche has a huge buying power. MMA niche has a huge buying power. You have to get passionate, and then you go, "Oh wow, I can do something. I can pull some revenue out of this." I think that's what I did when I first decided, okay, let me get into this.
Felix: I love that exercise that you went through to really evaluate yourself, and I think that sometimes it's hard to be objective and I guess unbiased and look at ourselves that way, and I think I'm going to record a video about this particular technique that I think works well is just not necessarily to look inside yourself, definitely do that, but if you can't feel like you can't do that objectively or you just want another perspective, go out and ask people that are closest to you to describe you, because I bet that if you went on to your friends and asked them to describe you at that time, they wouldn't describe you as, "Oh she's really interested in weight loss."
They're probably way more likely to say, "She's interested in LGBT issues." If you go out and ask people that are close to you, "Describe who I am," that's a really good way to figure out what you are passionate about. Because like you were saying, the things that you're passionate about are natural and they rise u out of you whether you want to make it evident or not. The people that are the recipients of your passion are going to be the people closest to you and they can pick up on those things. That's I think a great I guess not necessarily idea, but a good exercise to go through is just definitely go through it yourself but then also ask the people that are closest to you to describe it to you.
Rizala: That's great. I love that idea too.
Felix: It's awkward though when you go to somebody and say, "Hey, can you describe who I am," because they obviously don't want to pigeonhole you in a certain way. If you can get them to say, I think it's a great thing to have. Cool. Let's work through this timeline here. You created the first fan page, you said was that in September 2012?
Rizala: 2013.
Felix: 2013, okay. About a year into the network marketing business that you were doing?
Rizala: Yeah. You know what, I made a mistake then. I totally forgot. I guess it was the end of 2011 that I joined network marketing.
Felix: Almost two years of you doing that and then starting the first fan page. I guess at that time did Facebook already implement the whole new algorithm for their news feed?
Rizala: No.
Felix: Not yet, okay. You were able to just start this fan page, and you said you had $5 a month to spend, and you were buying ads? How were you able to get the traction early on?
Rizala: I had only $5 a day, which was like $150 a month. You said $5 a day, a month.
Felix: Okay, sorry, $5 a day.
Rizala: Yeah, just in case. Just in case people are like, "What? Really?"
Felix: Yeah, you can't do much with $5 a month. So $5 a day. What were you doing to get that traction?
Rizala: I was doing page like ads, and I know this kind of controversy, people are like, "That doesn't work." I was doing page like ads and straight up I did not get ... I think my cheapest like was about $.2 to $.3 but it took maybe three weeks to get it down there. What I would do, since I only had $5 a day, is I'd make maybe three or four ads. I think I started off with actually, what I do? I think I did three ads and I would do like one dollar and fifty cents or one dollar and something. I just divided it. It was one dollar, and I kept it super simple. What I would do to find images is I would just Google LGBT pride and whatever image popped up on Google I would just use that image.
Now it's even easier now because Facebook has a way you can use their images, by Shutterstock, I don't know if anyone knows that, but you can just type in LGBT, Gay or whatever, or if you're into golf just type in golf or whatever and they'll actually give you images from Shutterstock which is way better. I would just use those images and I would run the ads for maybe five days, see how long it took Facebook to optimize it, and if it didn't work I would shut it down. If it did work, I'd keep it running. That's pretty much all I did. It didn't take very long at all.
Felix: Cool. I want to get into, as we make our way through this timeline, what you do today because obviously things are a little bit different.
Rizala: Oh yeah, for sure.
Felix: Before we get there, you started this Facebook fan page, got traction. Did you immediate start monetizing that audience or how long did you wait before you started selling you said t-shirts was the first thing?
Rizala: Yeah, Teespring. It took less than six months. I remember I was so reluctant to do it because it was like my baby. It was like, "I have to monetize my baby." It took less than six months just because I wanted to get the community really engaged. Also I was so focused on my job at the time. I was working so much at that job that I needed to just stay focused on that and I just didn't have time to really do nothing. All I could really do was just literally just create the ads, and that took less than maybe twenty minutes and that's all I had.
Felix: You were just spending twenty minutes a day ...
Rizala: Pretty much.
Felix: I think you touched on a really important point, which is I think a lot of business advice, and I totally agree with this too, which is you want to be build an audience first before you start selling anything. What they don't talk about next is the issue that you ran into, because you build an audience first and the best way that I was thinking to do that is just to create content. Content is free though, so you're providing a bunch of value, bunch of value all free, and now you want to start asking your audience to pay you for things, which you never had that kind of relationship with them before because they've always expected free things from you. Did you have this I guess concern about now going to have to ask people to pay me for things when I never did before, and did you have an actual issue with it?
Rizala: I think my thing was I was afraid of unlikes and people, yeah. It was pretty much losing people. I'm over that now. I was definitely afraid of just asking, I was like, "Oh I don't want to lose my fans." Just as much as they grew a relationship with me, I grew a relationship with them. They're people who I reply to every single comment that was on my page. What I would do is on my breaks when there was downtime at my job, I would just hop on my phone and I would just go on my fan page and reply to comments. Like comments or reply to it. I built this relationship, and I wasn't used to that.
The way I intro'd into monetizing was I created my first t-shirt and I didn't put a link or anything, I just wrote, "Hey, would you guys buy this if we started selling it?" The amount of response they gave me was more than enough motivation to start selling. I was like, "Oh okay."
Felix: I like that because you basically, and I've heard this work out well too but not for this particular I guess purpose, but you involved them super early, really early on. Almost like you guys as a group collectively decided to let's sell these things rather than, "Hey, I did this thing," not necessarily behind your back but off to the side and here it is. Now would you want to buy it? You got their feedback early on. I think that's a great technique. Did you have any kind of backlash once you released it even though you took these steps?
Rizala: Yeah, I did. I don't get it anymore. At least I don't see it anymore, because I still hope on my page every once in a while and just go through stuff. Yeah, I got one out of maybe two hundred comments of yes. There was a no. "I can't believe you're selling stuff. How whatever," some really just say some negative, but it was like one out of two hundred. I definitely didn't hone in on that. One thing that feels good is deleting and blocking people. Like, "Oh, I'm just going to delete and block you." That feels good. I do that if someone says something really absurd.
No, if someone says just no, it's just, "Hey, one out of two hundred was fine."
Felix: That's half a percent or whatever.
Rizala: Yeah. Felix: You said that doesn't bother you now. Is it because you're able to do things like block people or was it a mental shift that you went through? Talk to us about why doesn't it bother you now?
Rizala: Totally a mental shift. I just realized there's a fine line between okay, this is my business, this is my life or whatever. It's inter-tangled. I built this. I put my heart and soul into it, but then you also have to remember it's just a Facebook fan page. It was just like being able okay with just not everyone liking what you like. Again, it feels really good to delete and block somebody when they're being really mean. Like, "You know, I'm just going to do this because they thrive off of confrontation."
I think I confronted people maybe once or twice and then I realized it was bothering me more than them. I don't know if it was bothering them at all, to be honest with you, but it bothered me. I was just like, "You know what, I'll feel so much better by just deleting and blocking this person who's being extremely rude." If someone says no, I don't delete and block someone, but if someone's being extremely rude or just mean, it's like, okay, I don't want negativity like that in my life, on my fan page that I built using my own money. I'm not going to allow it.
Felix: Yeah, it's not even just so much an attack on you, but then it can bring down the entire community as well if you let it spread in.
Rizala: Yeah.
Felix: I want to talk about this in a second too about if you encounter these things, but one great quote that I heard before was I think it was, "If video games have taught me anything, if you're encountering enemies and encountering haters, then you're going the right way," which I think is because you're not taking these steps where you are putting things out there and putting your neck out there and getting love or hate, then you're not really doing anything sometimes. Because if you're not really actually standing for something or making some kind of definitive stance on something, then you're never going to have haters, which means you're never going to have the other side of it, which are people that love what you're doing.
I think this not necessarily an issue, but I think this comes up a lot too with people that have Facebook fan pages is about how to take control of the negativity. Is your direction just to block them or do you try to I guess respond to negativity with your own comments or anything like that?
Rizala: No. It's just a waste of time. They're trolls. People are just trolls. I tell my VA, don't give in to it. Because my VA, she pretty much, I'm pretty sure we'll talk about it later when did I get a VA and stuff, but I had to take a few steps back from just being all about the fan page sometimes. I tell her, "Listen, if someone's being mean or whatever, you go ahead and delete and block them. I trust your judgment." Because it causes too much stress just to let someone ruin your day that you don't even know. I would say the best advice I would give to people is turn on the profanity filter because that will automatically, it hides the comments. It doesn't necessarily block the person, but it hides the comments from your other people seeing.
You put on block words so people are going to say, always people say, "You can find this on Amazon or eBay or this and that," or whatever. This thing is whack or ugly. You can turn it on and just say, "Okay, I don't want these words, any words like this that shows up, immediately hide it." That reduces greatly. Only like ninety percent of the people will see those comments, which is really good. That's what I do. It saves me a lot of time. It saves my VA a lot of time. It saves a lot of stress and just doesn't take a control of our life.
Felix: Awesome. Let's actually get into the Facebook fan page strategies, because I think this is where you have a ton of expertise. In the early days you're saying that you were buying ads. Were you doing anything else other than buying ads to get traction? Let me just ask you that one question. Were you doing anything other than just buying ads to get people to like the page?
Rizala: No. I heard a lot of people, I heard one strategy some people can do if you have a little bit more time is posting in Facebook groups, saying, "Hey guys" or doing it [inaudible 00:30:10]. Just saying, "Hey guys," first maybe ask an admin as well and say, "Hey guys, I got this amazing fan page. Would love it if you can show me some love" or whatever. Some people will do that. I didn't do that. I didn't have time, but I heard that works really well. I just really just bought Facebook likes, that's all I did.
Felix: Once you got to a certain I guess number of likes, were the ads improving in the ROI? Was there anything about having a thousand likes that made it easier to get the next thousand?
Rizala: I guess you would say the ad itself matured. It would go down from $.4 a like to maybe $.2 a like. Also here's something that I really thought was cool. I noticed that people who liked my page were also inviting a lot of other people who liked my page. That's why I was getting so much. If you were to do the math, you say, okay, I have this many likes and I spent this much money, I was maybe spending less than a penny per like. If you were to say, okay, if I take all the likes I paid for or all the likes I currently have, add that together and divide that by the amount of money I spent, it was just less than a penny because so many people were liking and sharing and commenting on my posts, and inviting people to like my page that it just allowed the community to grow really quickly.
The strategy that I would recommend now is still if you're still brand new to Facebook and you've never ran an ad, I would still highly recommend to start with Facebook like ads just because it's easier. It allows you to build confidence because I kid you not, I had so much confidence that when it came time to do ads for Teespring, I already knew what I was doing. I already knew that this was a winning community, these are winning target keywords. I already knew all I had to do was transfer was a few tweaks here and there, and then boom, I was able to make a certain amount of money. I still recommend that as a starting point.
Keyword, starting point for people who are just getting started in Facebook advertising.
Felix: Awesome. I think you have probably seen as I've seen, everyone who's listening has seen the news, the article about how buying ads for Facebook likes gets you a lot of fake likes. What are your thoughts on that? Did you have that issue?
Rizala: No, never. I did read an article. To be honest with you, when I see that and people say, "Oh likes are whack," I completely ignore it because I know it works. It's like, okay, that's what someone didn't have a good time with it. That's the their issue, but for me it worked. Another thing is it depends on who you're targeting. If you're targeting countries that if you're trying to get likes just to have a community or just to have a page full of likes, you can do that. It's very easy. You just target countries like India, sometimes they'll like something really quickly.
The engagement isn't as high sometimes. If I had targeted men for a lesbian pride fan page, I promise you my likes would have been less than a cent. It's how you target. It's not fake likes, it's just people who don't really engage in your page. People always say it's fake, but it's just people who aren't engaging in your page.
Felix: That makes sense. I think this is a really important point about the engagement fact because I think Facebook takes as a consideration and we've all seen those Facebook fan pages where, I think someone actually asked this question in my Facebook group where they said some communities have thirty thousand fans and only two to three likes. Is that the result of you think these quote/unquote "fake likes" or you just think that they're not providing the right kind of content that gets the engagements?
Rizala: It could be. To be honest with you, I do know people who have built their ... There was a method a while ago where people would buy fake likes and what would happen was Facebook had it set. This is before I joined. Someone told me about this strategy. People buy a ton of fake likes, and what would happen was Facebook would immediately move that page higher up on the suggested pages. That strategy was long gone before I joined, started doing this. Now I think if that's the case, that might be the case for some pages, but now I think that's a case for a lot of the pages, they're not providing the content that the person originally liked the page for.
If the person liked the page for MMA, because it had an MMA video on it, but yet all they talk about is eating healthy or whatever, the person just probably really wants to see more MMA content, not necessarily about eating healthy. Even though they're kind of related, the person just is more interested in MMA, if that makes any sense.
Felix: That does. Does that mean when you are creating these Facebook fan page, because obviously you guys are selling a lot of different products but you're not creating a fan page about a specific product, you're creating a fan page about something I guess larger than that, and maybe someone out there wanted to create a fan page they would create about a particular lifestyle that their customer I guess, or ideal customer, was living. When you are creating a fan page, how targeted should the core topic be?
Rizala: As targeted as the person wants it to be, to be honest with you. I know people who have a fan page on a specific dog breed, and they do amazing, especially in Shopify. They sell amazing stuff and they're doing great. I know people who just have it on just regular dogs and they're doing great as well, because it really matters on what you want because you can always do something with it. I think just to veer off the subject real quick, a lot of times people think you have these people who aren't ever going to buy everything, but here's the cool thing. If I send them to my blog, I have AdSense on my blog. If I send them here, I have this and that, I have affiliate stuff on my blog and stuff.
Sure, they don't buy anything from me from Shopify, but I still have a way to monetize. That's something that's really important that a lot of people don't realize, that you can still utilize the audience that you got for something. As far as targeted niche goes, it really doesn't matter. It just matters on how much content that person who creates the fan page is willing to provide for it.
Felix: Makes a lot of sense. Let's talk about the content then. What kind of content are you posting? Maybe walk us through your process for figuring out what to post on your fan page.
Rizala: Honestly, right now this is something that, I'll be honest with you, this is crazy cool, but I use a lot of Instagram content. It's great because it's kind of cool because a lot of people, they don't, I don't want to say a lot of people don't use Instagram on Facebook, but a lot of the super active people on Facebook aren't super active on Instagram. It's easier to take that content from Instagram. I lead the love on. I let people keep their usernames because people like to tag the pictures. I keep that on, that's cool, and I just post it on my Facebook.
The amount of engagement is crazy. Because they're like, "Whoa, cool, a new picture." As far as articles go, what I do is I just go to YouTube and just take off a picture, a YouTube video and I just pop it on my blog and maybe I'll put a banner up for my Pride Designz products, and I just put that up there as well. I keep it super simple.
Felix: I like this about re-purposing content because I don't think there's an issue at all being a curator, because I think a lot of times we think about I have a fan page, I got a blog, and I got to create everything from scratch. It has to come from my mind only, and I'm not looking anywhere else. You take the steps to curate the content to a certain degree, and I think with your blog you at least put your own kind of spin or tweak on it, but I don't think there's anything wrong at all with curating because curation is valuable in itself.
You go to a museum and all of that is curated and there's still value in being a central hub for content. Is it all the content you put out are there pretty much images? What are your thoughts on this? I think there's a lot of conversations about text posts don't work as well as images and video is the next big thing. What are your thoughts on the different types of content for your fan page?
Rizala: I'd say everything works. Nothing doesn't, honestly. Videos are hot right now, that's true, but a lot of people like to take videos from other people and stuff, and from YouTube and then download it, they do all this funky stuff. I don't like to do that, unless someone comes to me and says, "Hey, I want you to do that." Then I'll do it. I just use YouTube and post that. I know videos for a fact work really well. Just linking out to websites still works as well. If Facebook notices people are clicking out, because Facebook doesn't necessarily take the person out and open up a new web browser. If you're on mobile, of course. It actually just opens it up in Facebook.
If you're in the app, you click on a website article, it doesn't necessarily open the article out into Safari or Google Chrome. It just opens it into Facebook. You're reading the articles technically still inside the app. I still get really good traction with links. I have one link that is just going crazy. It's a quiz, and I get like two to three thousand visitors a day. I spent a dollar on it. It's absolutely insane.
Felix: Wow. Give us an idea of the kind of scale. Your two Facebook fan page, how many likes are on there, and then tell us how many comments and likes you usually I guess on average will get for something you post.
Rizala: I Support Equal Rights has a little less than a hundred thousand. That is kind of sort of active. I have took a break from that a little bit, just because Lesbian Pride's doing so well. I get maybe a hundred, two hundred likes, maybe two or three comments or maybe ten at the most. Lesbian Pride on the other hand will get up to three thousand likes on average and maybe a hundred to a thousand comments. If I ask somebody to drop a selfie, I promise you, if you refresh the page in a minute there will be at least a hundred selfies. Sometimes I'll just do drop a selfie hour, and people will just drop a selfie.
What it does is it really just boosts engagement. It really depends on what I'm doing and what I'm asking, but it definitely can get up to a thousand. Shares are average five hundred to a thousand shares for Lesbian Pride. I will say, I'm at three hundred thousand fans, so it's not huge.
Felix: That's great. I'm not sure, I can't do the math in my head, but with three hundred thousand you're talking about thousands of likes, hundreds of comments. I think that's, I've never seen that kind of engagement anywhere else. Is there a strategy to getting this interaction, because I like this idea of asking you to post a selfie, because everyone loves sharing their selfie if they're taking one? It seems like you hit on something. You hit on almost like a call and response technique on the Facebook fan pages that works really well for you with this selfie thing. Are there any other strategies or kinds of interaction posts that work well for you?
Rizala: Yeah. There's several actually. I'll just list as much I have on the top of my head. One is voting. You post two different pictures of two different pictures, you say, "Vote. Who's hotter?" Or maybe two different shows sometimes. Orange Is the New Black versus The L Word, which is your favorite.
Felix: Just real quick, these are voting on two things, right? You're not asking them to pick from like ten different things?
Rizala: No, just two things.
Felix: I think that's important. I saw this really interesting thing too, just a study about how the more I guess options you have on these kind of polls, less people want to vote. I think sticking with two sounds like a good idea. Keep going. Sorry.
Rizala: No, no, no, you're right. It's either a little or a lot. I know that sounds crazy, but it's either two things or twenty-one things. Everything in the middle, they're kind of like, "Eh." What I'll do is I'll post quizzes as well, and that's where I come into the, okay, I put a fifteen to twenty-one question quiz, instead I'll post, "Oh what did you get? Comment below. What did you get?" People will take the quiz and they'll come back on the page just to comment and say what they got. That gets crazy. When you think about it, it's kind of crazy how well they will actually go through, finish the quiz. I use a tool called Play Buzz, and you can go in and create a quiz and stuff like that.
You can see how long people stay on the page. Whenever I post a quiz on my blog, I can see people stay on my page for at least three minutes to finish the quiz, to come back, to comment on my fan page, to say, "I got this."
Felix: Is this the kind of quiz where it's like which city should you live in, that kind of idea?
Rizala: Yeah, but it's more geared towards my community where it's like what type of lesbian are you or how gay are you or how well do you know your LGBT trivia.
Felix: I think this is a really great psychological hack because it plays on two different things. One thing is that people love, love, love, love learning more things about themselves. Everyone's favorite topic is themselves. If you give them a way to learn more about themselves, that kicks them into wanting to participate. Second thing is they love to talk about themselves, but they don't want to come off as bragging. The best way to do that is to get someone else to talk about them. If it's the results of a quiz, they're not saying, "Hey look, I'm this type of person," this quiz determined that. I think that's really great. I've seen it work really well for a lot of different I guess Facebook fan pages and groups is the idea of posting these quizzes.
You said asking for a selfie, voting for two different things, quizzes. Anything else that you recommend listeners try to do if they want to increase engagement?
Rizala: Just to go off really quick on the selfie thing, one selfie that really blows up is saying, I do a selfie challenge. Drop a selfie and add anyone who likes it. That actually goes, the results are ten times that, just a side note. If anyone wants to try that and then switch it up a little bit.
Felix: I'm sorry, what was that? You said add someone that likes it.
Rizala: It's called a selfie challenge. You drop a selfie, and then add anyone who likes your selfie. What will happen, and that causes crazy engagement because everyone is going through all the comments, liking peoples pictures, commenting on peoples pictures, so I'm not even doing anything to create engagement. They're all going through comments, liking pictures, commenting and it creates some crazy engagement. One selfie one time had over three thousand likes on it. It was crazy. More likes than the picture, and I was like, "Wow."
Felix: Sorry, I'm a little dense on this. I just want to make sure I understand. Someone posts their selfie, and then the idea is to add them as a friend, is that what you're saying?
Rizala: Yeah, the goal is, there's two steps. Step one is you post a selfie. Step two is you go through all the comments and you like selfies of other people. If someone likes my selfie, I have to add the person who liked my selfie.
Felix: Okay. That makes sense.
Rizala: If that makes any sense. It creates crazy engagement. What I usually do is I usually put a free gift as a link in the post so that way people, "Oh, there's a free gift," or a chance to sign up for an email list, and then I grab some emails and stuff like that or I'll grab a couple hundred emails for free. No money.
Felix: Cool. I think the most important question out of this, and I've heard this asked a couple of times when I was asking my community what they want me to ask, was about how do you turn those likes into actual buyers? How do you go from likes to purchases? When you're posting this content, is there a call to action? How do you actually drive people? It's great there's all this activity, but how do you actually get them to buy things from you?
Rizala: That's a great question. I actually like when someone asks that question because a lot of times and a lot of marketers say, "Like doesn't equal money," and that's one hundred percent true. Likes do not equal money, but what likes does is it can allow you to equal more engagement because you have a person who's already somewhat warmed up to you. To me this is the formula, likes equal engagement equal clicks equal email equals money to me. That's where I get. I have the opportunity to communicate with you through your email.
To break it all down, I get a like. It's a very high chance that someone is probably going to see my post. They see my post and they like it, and then they engage in it. When they engage in it, they either engage in it by commenting, sharing or even clicking on the link I have in my post, which is usually several different things. It can be sign up for a newsletter, sign up for a giveaway, sign up for my social site as well. It's several different things. Someone can sign up for one of those email lists. If they don't, no worries because they already engaged in it, which allows other people to see it because when you're engaged in it, Facebook allows the post to travel more into other peoples news feed.
Once that happens, I get something from that person. Then if I get an email, then when I'm in their inbox, that's when I communicate with them in a sense. I'm, "Okay, you're on my email list." Let's just say they get on my email list for the giveaway. I say, "Okay, we announce a giveaway once every week. In the meantime, here's a discount to one of my products," and they get a discount, and from there they can decide to either purchase something or they can just hang out until they're ready to buy something, or they'll join another email list from there. It keeps going. I create a circle. You're doing something with me. I don't know what you're doing, but you're doing something.
Felix: I like that. I love that. Two things that you said about that, first I like the funnel that you have set, because you have likes, which means that they're going to be seeing your content. You're posting things, they're engaging in them. They're really, really familiar with you and have you top of mind. Then there's going to be certain posts that you have. I guess not every single post, but certain posts that events that drive them to some place either through a giveaway or I'm not sure if you mentioned anything else, but the basic idea is to drive them to some other landing page that collects the email. Is that right?
Rizala: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Felix: Okay, collects the email and then you have some kind of auto responder set up?
Rizala: I do.
Felix: How do you get them to buy from there?
Rizala: I have an auto responder set up as well as I have scheduled broadcasts. I try to do too much auto responder stuff. Because sometimes the same person will join the same email list twice or something. I just keep it fresh. I have two email auto responders set up, and then I just do broadcasts. They're either joining another email list that qualifies them more into being a buyer, or it gets them to try to buy something, or it gets them to interact. I sometimes send them back to a quiz. I say, "Oh okay, you just joined my email list. Check out this quiz." Keep them in a circle. I try to get to know them, keep them entertained, keep them used to opening my emails, clicking my links, commenting, sharing. I want them to just engage with me. I don't care what you're doing. Just engage.
Felix: I like this attitude. This was the second thing I liked about what you're saying is that sometimes we stress so much about how do we get the funnel, how do we get them from point A to point B, but sometimes there is no direct path. The idea I think what you're getting as is that they're going to be doing something with you to go and expose you somehow. There's no direct path from going from likes to buyers. You just keep them involved, immersed into your brand's universe and pull them deeper and deeper and deeper into it by getting them more and more and more engaged. It's almost like this huge spiderweb that you set up.
Eventually they will hit one of the opportunities where they want to buy from you. I think that's an important point because sometimes we stress too much about, "Oh my conversion rates are dropping here and dropping there," and sometimes it's not a straight path. Sometimes it's really getting them as engaged as possible. I think that's a great point. Can you give us an idea of how large the email list is? Let's say you have three hundred thousand likes on the Lesbian Pride group; how many emails can that I guess equate to for your situation?
Rizala: I'll be honest with you, I'm still kicking myself in the butt for this, but it took me forever to finally design an email list. I would say I'm at about fifty thousand, and I should be at a lot more. I'll be honest, I didn't start until October.
Felix: That's amazing though. Fifty thousand from just three hundred thousand likes and just starting in October. I guess right now that's about six months ago. I think that's a great growth.
Rizala: Thanks.
Felix: I don't think that's anything to be ashamed of at all.
Rizala: I keep telling people just build an email list. Don't be like me. Build an email list.
Felix: Are you able to see the conversions? Do you ever just come out and pitch a product on the Facebook page or is it all done through the emails?
Rizala: I do and I don't. I don't really go really hard on pitching. I post the product on my Facebook page, so it still gets a lot of organic reach. I'll go, one day I'll post three products and then I won't post anything for a week, and that's because I'm driving traffic to those three products or traffic from another funnel is coming back to those products or one traffic is going to those products. If you were to look at my posts, it either has no link or it has a link to something like a giveaway or something. The goal is to try and get people on the email list. I even try to send them to Instagram. That's another thing.
I'm like, "Okay, check out Instagram," because that's another place where I can communicate with somebody. I don't go very hard with posting too much product. I don't have a daily or twice a day I post a product. I don't do that.
Felix: Was it because you weren't getting the same kind of conversions as email? What'd you change your I guess direction?
Rizala: I never really did. If I were to post a product, it would be just because I'm creating an ad and I would just publish it on the page. It wasn't because I had a schedule. To me, yeah I just don't. I just don't.
Felix: Okay. I think that's a good idea too is just, I've said this plenty of times too and people might be tired of hearing about it, but always drive the followers that you have, the likes, whatever, to an email list because that is the only platform that you have true control over. Email never goes away. The way that I've always thought about these kind of new social media platforms popping up is that think of it as almost an eBay or an Etsy because these social media platforms, they spend a lot of time marketing, spend a lot of time, have full teams building a marketplace of eyeballs at these different locations. A bunch of prospective customers for you.
The problem with being on an Etsy or an eBay is that you don't actually own that customer. At the end of the day, they still own it, so they can shut it down any time and change things and all of a sudden it's gone. I feel like for any entrepreneur out there that wants to go around on social, your only goal is to get all those people, all those eyeballs, all those prospective customers from those platforms onto your platform, because it's going to go away some day and you'll always have your own platform.
Rizala: Totally.
Felix: Facebook is going to go away some day. Facebook fan page is going to go away some day.
Rizala: Yes.
Felix: Because you have an email list ...
Rizala: Say it ain't so.
Felix: Because you have such a huge email list, you don't depend on it. Not just that, but if another popular social media platform pops up, you can drive all fifty thousand or however many you have at that time to there. All of a sudden you're like the big shot on the new platform and you'll get a lot more organic growth from there because a lot of platforms care about who's the most active on there. I think you're doing the right thing, and I think your message is the right thing too, which is to get started with emails as soon as possible.
We're almost running out of time here. I want to ask you one more I guess big thing about Facebook fan pages, which is not about Facebook fan pages, it's about Facebook groups. I think everyone out there who might be listening is saying, "Why haven't you started a Facebook group," because everyone saying the things that you've heard plenty of times, which is fan pages are not getting as much organic reach as before. Groups is the new big thing. What are your thoughts on that? What are your thoughts on groups versus pages?
Rizala: I'll be honest with you, I just started a group from the fan page, but what I did was I made it a reward. I said, "If you do this, you'll get a reward of being able to join this group." Groups are pretty good. I would say there's a ton of ... I have maybe two thousand people and I would say I get about a hundred new posts every single day. It's crazy engagement in groups. I would say yeah, groups are cool and all, but at the same time, it's a lot of work because you're monitoring things a lot more. Even though you're an admin, unless you want to restrict people from posting, which isn't very fun for them, it's like I feel like more of a babysitter in a group and I feel like I have less control, being okay with having less control.
It's good for training purposes. It's good for community learning purposes, but for what I do in the sense of I'm trying to drive people to certain things, I don't know. To be honest with you, I don't know. I like it in the sense of engagement, but I don't like it in a sense of the lack of control.
Felix: I think you hit the nail on the head there because with Facebook fan pages, you control the topics. Because people can't create their own topics, they have to respond or reply to your posts. You control the main topic everyone should be talking about. Facebook groups, everyone can create their own topic so it's almost like a free for all kind of forum. Literally it's a forum.
Rizala: It's crazy. Oh my gosh, I'm doing this picturing.
Felix: No, I think that makes sense. I guess moving on from there, I want to talk a little bit, close this out, talk a little bit about your actual store itself. I think just real quick, I guess what's your day to day like? How much involved are you with the Facebook fan page versus running your actual Shopify store?
Rizala: I would say my day consists of in the morning after I get situated with exercise and stuff, I sit down and I check my ads first thing. Maybe take me an hour to an hour and a half. The store I will probably add maybe an item or two to the store from whatever, a vendor or something, or supplier or even custom content that I created. You know what, this is the best advice I can give people starting a Shopify store. Just spend one or two days just adding a bunch of items to your store. Just add it. Just add it. Especially if you're starting off with direct shipping, find a supplier and just start adding products because if you just spend a couple days, and you only have eight items, I'm just going to add an item a day, that's not going to get you anywhere.
At least have forty items in your store and then just start going from there and just promoting each item, and maybe spend one week promoting one item and see if that can be a winner. I'll be honest with you Felix, that's kind of a problem that I had is that I had to create less time for myself because I'm less productive when I have too much time. Does that make sense to you?
Felix: I think that's, yeah. It's almost like the more time you have you just learn to fill that time with things that aren't as important.
Rizala: I had to make it so that I only had four hours to spend on my business a day, four to five hours. I had to, okay, I'm going to go work out, I'm going to go do this, I'm going to spend time with my wife, I'm going to try to make dinner or we're going to go out to eat. I'm just going to chill for an hour or two a day because that's what I want to do. I try to spend only four to five hours a day, not consecutively. I spend maybe three hours and maybe two to three hours on my store. Just doing random stuff. I'll be honest with you, I'm literally just the first two hours I spend just with ads and the next couple hours I'm spending just doing random stuff, things store owners do. I don't know.
Felix: I think that makes a lot of sense. I like the idea of limiting your time. I've heard of this. I think John Lee Dumas, I'm not sure if you listened to him or anyone else does, he runs Entrepreneur on Fire Podcast. He talks a lot about this baby affect, which is that a lot of entrepreneurs kick things into higher gear once they have less time or more things, either less time or more at stake because once you have a baby all of a sudden you don't have any time at all to do anything, so you really learn how to prioritize and focus on what's actually important because more time doesn't necessarily mean you can devote it towards the right things. You could be totally distracted and then all of a sudden be doing things that are detrimental to your business. I think that's a really great advice.
When we were talking, I actually remember one thing I do want to ask about Facebook fan pages, which is you were saying you were using ads before to build the likes. Is that still the strategy that you use today where what's working for you today at the scale that you're at with a hundred thousand likes one page, three hundred thousand likes on your main most profitable page? What are you doing now to drive more and more likes to those pages?
Rizala: I do not Facebook page like ads anymore just because the amount of ads and the amount of ad money I'm spending on regular ads. I actually get a ton of page likes without having to do a page like.
Felix: It's just organic sharing?
Rizala: Yeah, organic, or just when you run ads people will like your page from those ads. It's crazy. When you run an ad for, let's say, website clicks, you're trying to get more website clicks, if you click on like I want to see how many people like my page from this ad, it's kind of crazy. There are people who like the page. I guess not only did they click, but they liked it.
Felix: Is it because your Facebook fan page is the one that I guess owns the ad, or are they looking it up afterwards? How are they going from seeing your ad to a product to then finding your Facebook fan page?
Rizala: What I have noticed, this is something, because I actually asked my wife and I ask a lot of people their behaviors when they see ads on Facebook and my own personal. What I usually do is I'll click on the ad. I'll click on the ad, it'll take me to the page, and then I'm like, "Oh, I'm interested," "I'm not interested," and I'll click back. I did like the offer, and I'm interested in the page, so I'll go click on the link for the page. It'll take me to the page, and I'll look on the page and see what they got going. "Oh this is an interesting page." I'm going to go ahead and like the page.
I ask my wife, and I always ask people, "What do you do?" They tell me, "This is what I do." I do that too. They'll do two or three things. They'll click the thing. People who don't buy doesn't mean they didn't give you something. They might have given you also a like too. I don't know. That's my behavior and the behavior I've asked from other people, is I'll click on the ad, and I'll either go back and say I'm interested in the page, so I'll get the page and I'll like the page.
Felix: That makes sense. Cool. In terms of running this entire operation you have going on here, are there any particular tools or apps, either through the Shopify app store or just outside of it, that you really depend on to keep things running?
Rizala: Oh yeah. I'm going to give a huge shout out to my guys at Hextom, H-E-X-T-O-M dot com. Those guys have amazing apps. The banner apps, the countdown timer banner app has definitely increased my conversions. I don't like pop-ups. My people don't like pop-ups, and I still want to provide them with scarcity. I think people need a little pressure. The countdown timer app from Hextom is amazing. It allows you to even just, if you want to just show the countdown timer on just a cart page, it really helps you to increase conversion. Say, "Hey, in less than an hour we're going to shut down the free shipping." That's an app that I definitely recommend.
Another app that I use is Retarget app. People who don't really understand too much about Facebook advertising and they don't like the whole new Facebook pixels, the new thing everyone's asking questions about. Definitely install Retarget app. It takes so much pressure off of you. It's dynamic retargeting, which means after someone visits a certain product, not only will it retarget that person on that product but also relatable products to that person as well. That's really important because retargeting is huge. If you're driving traffic, you need to be retargeting people, so please download that Retarget app. I think those are the only two apps that I really use consistently all the time. No, those are the only two apps I really use all the time.
Felix: Awesome. Cool. Thanks so much Rizala. I think you dropped a lot of knowledge here about Facebook fan pages, a lot of things I think people can get started on immediately or they have a fan page already, things they can implement immediately as well. PrideDesignz.com, P-R-I-D-E-D-E-S-I-G-N-Z dot com. Rizala.com, which is R-I-Z-A-L-A dot com is your personal site. Anywhere else you recommend the listeners go check out if they want to follow along with what you're up to?
Rizala: No. I would just be inside our Facebook group answering questions. If anyone has any questions, they can just refer to your Facebook group, Traffic and Sales, and I'll be in there answering questions. Just if I can give one advice, just be patient and be consistent. Those are the two things that I want to say. Be patient and be consistent, and if you can get those two down and just keep doing what you're doing, it's going to happen. It's bound to happen.
Felix: Yeah. I love [inaudible 01:06:19]. I think that's great advice. You don't even have to be great, if you can just be good or good enough and be consistent, it'll get you really, really far.
Rizala: I promise you.
Felix: I think it's a game of attrition, who can stay in it the longest. It's not necessarily who's best but who's left. Who can stick around and just be consistent. I think that's great advice.
Rizala: Awesome.
Felix: Awesome. Thanks so much. Again, PrideDesignz.com, Rizala.com, and we'll link all that in the show notes. Thanks again for coming on.
Rizala: Thank you again for having me. I really appreciate you having me on the show. I really like giving back to the community that's given me so much.
Felix: Yeah, you definitely have. Awesome. Thanks so much.
Rizala: Thanks Felix.
Felix: Thanks for listening to Shopify Masters, the e-commerce marketing podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs. To start your store today, visit Shopify.com for a free fourteen day trial.
Expand me!
Ready to build a business of your own?
Start your free 14-day trial of Shopify today!
Felix Thea is the host of the Shopify Masters podcast, the ecommerce marketing podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs, and founder of TrafficAndSales.com where you can get actionable tips to grow your store’s traffic and sales.
Join 446,005 entrepreneurs who already have a head start.
Get free online marketing tips and resources delivered directly to your inbox.
Singapore Guides
Selling Globally from Singapore
Build a better Shopify store in Singapore
Resources and tips for getting started
Start generating more traffic and sales today
Ecommerce Trends
Industry trends and news that matters
Ecommerce Inspiration
Ideas and examples for improving your business
Learn everything about running a business
A Global Selling Guide for Shopify Merchants in Singapore
MATTER: Building a conscious fashion community with Shopify Singapore
The Story of Pew Pew Patches
Statement.sg: Building a Six-Figure T-shirt Business in Singapore
15 Business Podcasts to Help You Become a Better Entrepreneur
7 Ways to Start a Business Without Quitting Your Day Job
How to Get More Followers on Instagram: 13 Strategies that Work
SingaporeChange your country or region.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3294
|
__label__wiki
| 0.916955
| 0.916955
|
Home > Books
Prowling The Set Of Netflix's Daredevil
Still think Daredevil is a joke? Think again. Louise Donovan goes behind the scenes on Netflix’s bone-cracking new superhero series
For a man who makes his living in the ordered world of the law, Matt Murdock’s eighth-floor loft apartment is a complete mess. Hidden away in a hellish Hell’s Kitchen high-rise, in one respect, the blind public defender’s place is everything you’d expect: stark walls, no pictures and none of the clutter littering our own homes. But there’s also (to put it kindly) crap everywhere: an old, yellowing armchair appears to be missing its fourth leg, caution tape drapes off the banister and, most alarmingly, an entire chunk is absent from the bottom stair. It quickly becomes evident to all of us standing in the middle of this downtown Brooklyn set, something is a little off.
“Things are pretty busted,” agrees production manager Loren Weeks, confirmer of unvoiced thoughts and the man responsible for making the mess on Marvel’s first TV venture Daredevil look convincing. The chaos, it turns out, plays an important part in the eighth episode: “We had a fight in here recently, so the place is destroyed,” before adding “but I can’t tell you why” in that typically mysterious Marvel manner. “We started shooting before we finished this set and when I met our stunt coordinator I told him: ‘Don’t worry, I’ve reinforced and anchored the trusses because I heard there was going to be a fight.’ His eyes lit up when I told them that.”
If all-but cementing the roof in preparation for a scrap seems a little extreme, you’ll have a job adjusting to the world of Daredevil, Netflix-style. Despite even tiny plot details being protected with FBI levels of secrecy, the first glimpses of Murdock as the lawyer-cum-crime-fighting Daredevil on the small screen aren’t pretty – brutally violent fight scenes, eyeballs impaled on spikes and blood splatters Quentin Tarantino would be proud of. One thing’s for sure, the latest stab at Daredevil is shrouded in Christopher Nolan-levels of vigilante grimness.
RECLAIMING THE NAME
Even if you’re no comic-book aficionado, Daredevil no doubt gives you terrifying flashbacks to Ben Affleck in red leather. There have been dozens of takes on the blind Marvel character who lost his sight in a chemical spill, but the much-maligned 2003 film was a complete flop. At the peak of his career, Affleck’s performance was described by critics as “dull” at best, “depressingly average” at worst and knocked Daredevil’s status as a superhero into the realms of embarrassing. No pressure, Netflix.
“I don’t think [the Daredevil film] works brilliantly,” says British actor Charlie Cox (last seen in The Theory Of Everything), somewhat diplomatically, as he’ll be playing the latest Murdock reincarnation. “It’s just a very particular takeon things. It’s not anyone’s fault.”
Perhaps it was a good idea, then, that Cox watched the film after he bagged the role, but much of the new cast was also pointedly uninterested. Vincent D’Onofrio, playing crime lord Wilson Fisk (AKA The Kingpin), has yet to hit play (“Maybe I’ll watch it sometime”), while Elden Henson (the mute fella in Mockingjay) ignored the film and based Murdock’s crime-fighting partner, Foggy Nelson, on a family friend.
Still, with this yardstick on how not to do Daredevil, Netflix has embarked on its own distinct, albeit grittier, version. “We pay homage to the mythology, but
we reinterpret it ourselves,” says Weeks. So diehard fans, for instance, will instantly recognise Daredevil villain Melvin Potter (AKA Gladiator), best known for building costumes in the comics. But in Netflix’s version, (played by Matt Gerald), however, he’ll be more of a machinist and tinkerer. The same applies to the modern day description of New York area Hell’s Kitchen. “This is still a very rough and impoverished neighbourhood,” explains Weeks. “We didn’t want to be too literal with the real. It is the Marvel universe, after all.”
Charlie Cox and Deborah Ann Woll
CRAZY KINGPINS
He’s certainly not wrong. Gone are Kingpin’s big white suits and monster cigars, replaced with a murky darkness much closer to the show’s Frank Miller-era source material. Part of this comes down to the revolutionary Netflix business model: we all know it’s the sole reason your TV licence is quietly gathering dust in some far distant corner. But its 13-episode drop brings a whole new addition to the limited structure of cram-it-all-in superhero franchises: freedom.
“Movies are two hours long – you set it up, go in and get out,” explains showrunner Steven S DeKnight, best known for his work on Spartacus. “This is very Marvel, in its size and scope. But because it’s a television show, and because it’s going on for 13 hours, you’ll get to know the characters in a way you’ve never known any of them before.”
The show’s appeal also lies in characters you can’t help but feverishly swap sides over: do you love Fisk because he (like many men) turns into an awkward mess when speaking to women he likes, or despise him because he later decapitates someone with a car door when it all goes wrong? Fisk is as comfortable in an art gallery as he is covered in blood, and it’s terrifying. “There’s no end to what makes him who he is,” explains D’Onofrio, who looks like he’s been plucked straight from legendary Daredevil writer David Mazzucchelli’s pages. “In two sentences, Fisk can move from a child into a monster.”
This subtle writing also makes our superhero a hell of a lot more interesting to watch. It’s not often you see the leading man gleefully push a thug off a rooftop, leaving him in a coma. And it’s a lot of fun. Do we finally have a small-screen antidote to some of TV’s more angelic superheroes? “There’s definitely something more human about him,” agrees Cox. “I think people will relate to that. As the season progresses he becomes more torn between what he thinks is the right thing to do and what isn’t. We see him begin to fall apart at the seams.”
For someone who read only The Beano as a child, it came as a shock to Cox when he learned that this role needed a little extra research. “It was funny, as there was no script. The character description list was 15 words long – charming, charismatic, energetic, funny – but it didn’t mention ‘blind’. I wasn’t familiar with the comics, so I had to look him up and email my agent, saying, ‘Is he blind? Should I be playing this blind?’”
Once he got the part, of course, reality set in; convincingly playing someone with no sight “has been tricky”. To get it right, Cox worked with a man named Joe who’s been blind for 20 years, and was particularly helpful because he had an experience of sight, and lost it at age 19. “We practised doing everyday things you wouldn’t necessarily think about, like making a cup of tea. He tells me if I’m walking with my cane right based on the sound, which is fascinating. One day he stopped me and said, ‘Hang on a second, you’re about to walk into a wall.’ He was behind me, I took my blindfold off and saw that the pavement had taken a bend. Joe describes it as echolocation – we were talking, and the way my voice was bouncing let him know.”
So no superpowers, no flying and certainly no billionaire bank rolling – just next-level heightened senses (Murdock can tell if you’re lying by listening to your heartbeat). But herein might just be Daredevil’s winning formula. This guy isn’t your all-star US hero. Sure, he’s been trained by a ninja, but at heart he’s a street-level guy simply interested in saving his neighbourhood as best he can. He’s almost like one of us.
“Murdock’s physical abilities are superb, but we try to limit them to what a human can do,” says Weeks. “We’re more The Wire than other Marvel movies. It’s not the stuff you see in Agents Of SHIELD, it’s the stuff you see every day. He does flips, but not triple ones.”
It’s a step closer than Superman, anyway. And with Daredevil being the first of four Marvel shows (the others are AKA Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage) due to hit our screens, before all the characters come together for mini-series The Defenders, it’s safe to say we’ll be gorging on leftfield comic-book adaptations for the foreseeable future. Forget Arrow, The Flash, Gotham and any other fledgling superhero you’ve pegged above this underdog: Daredevil just got seriously cool.
Daredevil starts on Netflix on 10 April
(Images: Netflix)
The 5 best horror short stories that you can read for free
The best dystopian novels of all time, ranked
Best audiobooks: great narrations that let you read on-the-go
Best Spider-Man comics: graphic novels and fan favourites ranked
The best Kindle 2019: Which is the best Kindle for you?
Best Kindle books for holiday reads: great sun-soaked stories
The 10 best Batman graphic novels to read today
The 30 scariest books ever written
Best rock star biographies and memoirs
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3298
|
__label__wiki
| 0.609316
| 0.609316
|
Defibrillator Donated To Club
A4MTS helps improve clubs medical coverage at the Greenhous Meadow
A4 MTS, one of the largest independent suppliers of ambulances and training services in the West Midlands, were at the Greenhous Meadow earlier in the week to donate a Defibrillator to the club.
A4 MTS who provide the matchday ambulance cover at the Greenhous Meadow were happy to give a new unit to the club to help on non matchday. As with all Football League club Town have a unit as part of their matchday kit but with events going on at the Greenhous Meadow 365 days a year it was felt another unit was needed.
A number of staff at the Greenhous Meadow have been trained by A4 MTS to ensure that there is cover during the events and conferences that take place all year round.
Steve Bennett, A4MTS’s Chief Ambulance Officer met with Town’s Stadium Manager Alan Roberts to drop off the unit and discuss the season ahead.
“I am once again looking forward to working with A4MTS over the upcoming season”, said Alan.
“The donation of the unit will help the club to provide a defibrillator for the stadium to use on non match days.”
“A number of staff in different departments have been trained by A4MTS in its use to ensure we have people who can cover conferences and functions all year round.
“Hopefully the club will never have to use it but now we have one in place should the need arise.”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3299
|
__label__cc
| 0.739121
| 0.260879
|
While the principles of Sigma Nu have stood stalwart over 150 years, the Sigma Nu of today looks entirely different from the Sigma Nu of the late 1800s. In the course of that large breadth of time, the Fraternity has seen membership from almost every continent (incredibly difficult to recruit in Antartica) and there is no facet of society in which a Sigma Nu cannot be found excelling with honor.
The Fraternity has seen musicians, poets, playwrights, artists, soldiers, sailors, airmen, innovators, inventors, scholars, teachers, doctors, lawyers, philanthropists, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and a multitude of men in-between join the hallowed ranks of our brotherhood. We have mourned these same men when they have entered the Chapter Eternal, and have sought to honor their legacies by fulfilling our own commitment to the oath we took upon our initiation.
Our foundation was laid down by three men who breathed life into our great Fraternity, to whom we owe a debt that can never be repaid, but we also owe our thriving existence today to the works of every initiate who came before us.
In the Hall of Honor at the Fraternity’s Headquarters one needs only to look up in reverence at the names etched along the cornice to see some of the men who made exceptional contributions to our foundation. Names like Baldinger, Bennett, Carmichael, Crowdus, Fletcher, Howard, Mills, Omohundro, Palmer, Roberts, Scott, Sears, and Wells.
Isaac Newton wrote, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
These are our Giants.
These are the men who fulfilled their oaths to their final days and allowed us to enjoy the Sigma Nu we know and love today.
It is entirely intentional that the small groups at College of Chapters are named after these men. It is from their work that the Legion of Honor’s current collegiate leaders make impacts on their campuses, develop as ethical leaders, and forge the ties of brotherhood that will carry us forward for another 150 years.
In the pages that follow you will see the stories of such men, our Giants, and those who stand today on their shoulders. May we all labor so that one day a brother who follows us may say the same of us.
Fraternally Yours,
Drew Logsdon (Western Kentucky)
The Delta Fall 2018,
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3300
|
__label__wiki
| 0.564594
| 0.564594
|
Code Redhead- Release Tour and Giveaway
CODE REDHEAD
Genre: Multiple Genres Content Warning: Sweet Contemporary to Erotica
Thirteen authors have come together to be part of a fundraising project called Code Redhead – A Serial Novel. Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Chris Karlsen, Angela Ford, Tammy Tate, Carol Ann Kauffman, Ella Medler, N.D. Jones, Laura Strickland, Kim Knight, Tina Donahue, JR Wirth, Sibelle Stone
Each writer has their own interpretation of the title ‘Code Redhead’. There's a story to satisfy and entertain most every reader in Code Redhead. Genres ranging from; Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Historical Romance, Mystery, Romantic Time Travel, Suspense/Thriller, Victorian Romance, Science Fiction Romance, Erotic Romance, Time Travel Romance, and Dystopian.
Books To Go Now will donate the proceeds from the sale of the Novel to The Children’s Cancer Research Fund.
Amazon US ✯ Amazon Int'l ✯ Goodreads
REDHEADS HAVE MORE FUN by Sharon Kleve
Ambrosine Dubreauil owns Who Do Voodoo, a voodoo shop on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that her grandmother left to her.
Her life is quite, calm, and relaxing until the sexy Remy LaCroix charms himself into her life and heart.
REDHEAD DEAD by Jennifer Conner
As a plant chemical biologist, Aiven, always has her mind buried in her work. When her co-worker talks her into going out for a night of fun Aiven reluctantly agrees.
Coleman just wants to spend the night with a pretty girl and forget about the brutal underworld where he's an undercover cop.
Neither expects death to be waiting around the corner when Coleman and Aiven get pulled deeper into danger and life on the run.
MOONLIGHT SERENADE by Chris Karlsen
Genre: Historical Romance
It's 1945 and the world is at war. An American Marine on leave in Melbourne, Australia, a pretty red-haired big band singer, and one of Glenn Miller's greatest songs come together for a weekend. In their brief time, they find love in the chaos of war.
REVEALED by Angela Ford
The tears came. Some days in waves. She realized it was okay to cry, not to cry, and that time doesn’t heal all wounds. Grief changed Maya Delcort.
After her sister’s death, she disconnected from the world she knew, and the man she loved. Maya’s new world became the CIA, as a covert operations agent.
An assignment takes her to Ireland with only one contact; a man she never met. Maya only knows him as Blue; he only knows her as Red. When her identity gets jeopardized, and Blue isn’t answering; she fears the worst. Emotions run high, danger lurks, and she realizes she’s ready to love again.
Will Maya escape death and find love?
STARLIGHT KISSES by Sibelle Stone
Genre: A Victorian Love Story
Tatiana Langdon is an heiress, which makes her a target for many bachelors in Gilded age New York. The fact that she’s beautiful, educated and from one of the oldest families in the city isn’t as important to many of the men as the millions she’ll inherit when she marries. When she meets Merritt Barclay, she knows he’s different from the other men who are pursuing her but her Aunt Olivia is doing everything in her power to prevent Tatiana from getting to know the handsome man.
Merritt Barclay loves a mystery and something happened years ago to cause a rift between his family and Tatiana’s. It involves her Aunt Lorelei and his father, but no one in either family will divulge the secret. Merritt joins forces with Tatiana, a young woman who has bewitched him with her beauty and intelligence, to discover what happened.
But Tatiana’s aunt will do everything in her power to keep the couple apart, and as their attraction grows stronger, the danger rises. What lengths will some people go to in order to keep a family secret?
REUNITED by Tammy Tale
Ten years after a nasty breakup, Tara and Ryder surface for a class reunion and when Tara gets struck by lightning, all memory of Ryder vanishes. Will Ryder use it to his advantage to win her back?
DAY OF THE DEAD by JR Wirth
Two adolescents find themselves on a hunt for their friend, Cali, after she is abducted, on Halloween, by a psychopath who kills on “Dia De Los Muertos” (Day of the Dead).
RITUALS by ND Jones
Jackson Glory introduces his Serenitarian wife, Nevaeh, to an old Earth custom—hot and sexy for some, not enough for others.
Red-HOT by Tina Donahue
A chance meeting between strangers, a steamy hook-up that burns the sheets, now if only he can find her again...
ONE NIGHT IN LONDON by Kim Knight
When the lights shine bright, and the city is lit up, Rita Lane will show you a good time.
THE CLUE OF THE RED TRESSES by Laura Strickland
Genre: Time Travel Romance
Chasing a beautiful thief through time, Stephen Longstreet never imagines the peril he faces—Nazis, ancient Britons and courageous Bridie Maguire, who might just steal his heart.
THE FREEDOM GENE by Ella Medler
In a dysfunctional society where 'bottle' redheads are the height of fashion, real redheads host a gene that protects them from brainwashing. Two men fight to rescue a redheaded girl, for different reasons. The guard because he loves her. The scientist because he wants to give the human race a way to rebuild and take itself out of its brain-dead slavery.
RED SARAH by Carol Ann Kauffman
Sarah works for an organization that fixes broken timelines in history. She has a very special skill set involving time travel. Her mission is to save the life of Lucas, a young man who will be pivotal in the progress and advancement of his planet.
Links will take you to the authors' websites or Facebook pages
Sharon Kleve was born and raised in Washington and currently lives on the Olympic Peninsula with her husband.
Sharon is a multi-published author of contemporary romance. She loves romance. She loves reading romance, living romance, and especially loves writing about romance. She gets no greater feeling than watching her characters come alive in each other's arms. Most of all, she loves giving her characters the happily ever after they deserve—with a few bumps and bruises along the way.
Jennifer Conner is a best-selling Northwest author who has over eighty short stories and books in eBook, print, foreign language editions, and audiobooks. She writes in Christmas Romance, Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Romance, Historical Romance, and Erotica. She has hit Amazon's top fifty authors ranking, and her books have been #1 in sales.
Chris Karlsen I was born and raised in Chicago. My father was a history professor and my mother was, and is, a voracious reader. I grew up with a love of history and books.
I am a retired police detective. I spent twenty-five years in law enforcement with two different agencies. My desire to write came in my early teens. After I retired, I decided to pursue that dream. I write three different series. My paranormal romance series is called, Knights in Time. My romantic thriller series is Dangerous Waters. The newest is The Bloodstone Series. Each series has a different setting and some cross time periods, which I find fun to write.
Bestselling Romantic Suspense & Contemporary Romance Author, Angela Ford originates from Nova Scotia...Canada's Ocean Playground! Her love of the ocean and sunsets are always in her heart and give her inspiration. Her love for words keeps her turning the page. She is never without a book, whether she's reading or writing. Her dedication to volunteer and involvement with cyber safety seminars gave her an Award of Distinction and sparked the idea for her Cyber Crime series. In between mysteries, Ms. Ford writes short contemporary romance...sometimes sweet...sometimes spicy...and sometimes with a dash of suspense!
Sibelle Stone is the pseudonym for award winning historical romance author Deborah Schneider. Sibelle writes sexy steampunk and paranormal stories, filled with mad scientists, dirigibles, automatons, and fantastical creatures. Between them Deborah and Sibelle have published six books and two novellas. In her spare time Sibelle enjoys dressing up in Victorian ensembles, modding play guns into something that looks a bit more sinister and wearing hats. She owns some very nice hats!
Tammy Tate was born and raised in Hollywood, Florida but has lived most of her adult life in Texas. Her passion to write began in high school. It follows her everywhere she goes...creating a world where anything is possible. She's been married to the same wonderful man for over thirty years. Her secret to a long marriage? It's easy when you marry your best friend. In her world, Friday night is still date night.
Since she believes reading is the next best thing to writing, she enjoys romance, fantasy, science fiction and thrillers. In December of 2013, she signed her first book contract with a traditional publisher. Her books have made Amazon's Best Seller list.
JR Wirth is a practicing psychotherapist, which helps provide insight into the human mind and condition, and gives him a strong understanding of the emotions of a moment in time, as well as the inner workings of his characters. JR has several pieces published—including a poem and several short stories in online venues.
In all of his works, J.R. combines ordinary people with extraordinary circumstances, to create characters that jump off the page and straight into the readers’ heart and psyche. He remains dedicated to the craft of writing, highlighting the conflict, frailty, and hero in all of us.
N. D. Jones lives in Maryland with her husband and two children. She is the founder of Kuumba Publishing, an art, audiobook, eBook, and paperback company. Kuumba Publishing is a forum for creativity, with a special commitment to promoting and encouraging creative works of authors and artists of African descent.
A desire to see more novels with positive, sexy, and three-dimensional African American characters as soul mates, friends, and lovers, inspired the author to take on the challenge of penning such romantic reads. She is the author of two paranormal romance series: Winged Warriors and Death and Destiny. N.D. likes to read historical and paranormal romance novels, as well as comics and manga.
Tina Donahue is an Amazon and international bestselling novelist in erotic, paranormal, contemporary and historical romance for traditional publishers and indie. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised her work. Three of her erotic novels (Freeing the Beast, Come and Get Your Love, and Wicked Takeover) were Readers' Choice Award winners. Another three (Adored, Lush Velvet Nights, and Deep, Dark, Delicious) were named finalists in the EPIC competition. Sensual Stranger, her erotic contemporary romance, was chosen Book of the Year at the French review site Blue Moon reviews. The Golden Nib Award at Miz Love Loves Books was created specifically for her erotic romance Lush Velvet Nights. Two of her titles (The Yearning and Deep, Dark, Delicious) received an Award of Merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competition. Take Me Away and Adored both won second place in the NEC RWA contest (different years). Tina is featured in the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Before penning romances, she worked at a major Hollywood production company in Story Direction.
Kim Knight is 34, and from London in the UK. She’s a qualified teacher and mother to a beautiful toddler. As a reader, she’s head over heels in love with romance, historical fiction, crime fiction, African- American, suspense and thriller genre books. A Stranger in France (republished January 2017) is her first romantic suspense novel. Her second romance novella Not Just for Christmas was published November 2016. At present Kim is writing her third thriller novel, to be published in 2017. As a writer, Kim enjoys creating stories within the romance, romantic suspense and general thriller genres. Kim also writes beauty and book related articles for Love Life, Live Magazine. When she’s not reading, or writing stories of her own, her other passions include practising her French, fashion and spending time at her sewing machine dress making. Watching make –up and beauty tutorials on YouTube, letter writing and being a mum.
Award winning author Laura Strickland delights in time traveling to the past and searching out settings for her books, be they Historical Romance, Steampunk or something in between. Born and raised in Western New York, she’s pursued lifelong interests in lore, legend, magic and music, all reflected in her writing. Though she’s made pilgrimages to both Newfoundland and Scotland, she’s usually happiest at home not far from Lake Ontario with her husband and her "fur" child, a rescue dog.
Ella Medler is a U.K. author and editor. She writes fiction in many genres in a seemingly vain attempt to slow down her overactive brain enough to write non-fiction on subjects she knows a thing or two about. She also does not believe in the starchy use of English and ignores the type of rule that doesn’t allow for a sentence to be finished in a preposition. Her books are action-driven, and well-developed characters are her forte. Loves: freedom. Hates: her inner censor.
Carol Ann Kauffman is the author of eighteen books to date, from short stories to full-length novels. Her novels, classified as romantic action adventures with a sci-fi/ fantasy twist, and mysteries. They’re about life, love, loss, and lunacy. She is a retired teacher from a local school district in Ohio, where she taught for thirty-five years. She has worked as a printer, managed a department store office, worked as an insurance agent, and worked in the hardware and automotive departments of a large store. She was a Red Cross volunteer. Carol loves to travel; her favorite places being Italy and Aruba, which show up in her novels quite a bit. She loves to play Bridge and to garden. She grows African violets and orchids. Carol loves dachshunds and trains.
MoB Promotions
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3301
|
__label__cc
| 0.675773
| 0.324227
|
Star Students
by Editorial Staff--Suburban Family Magazine
Steven Roth, Shane Waters, Justin Londono and Jacob Donneys (pictured)
These four Orchard Valley Middle Schoolers took the top prize at the 2015 Future City Competition for their project called “Valley City.” The boys were tasked with creating an imaginary city, which was then judged by a handful of engineers who asked specific questions regarding their concept city and its functions. The team was presented with the “Fire Sprinkler Water Delivery” award, given to them by the PennJerDel Chapter of the National Fire Sprinkler Association.
Connor Newman
The Doane Academy senior campaigned last summer to save the historic hand-carved 1910 Dentzel Carousel that once stood on Burlington Island. Newman raised $1,350 to save the carousel that was going to be auctioned off piece by piece. The town of Seaside Heights eventually protected the carousel; and Newman donated the entire collected sum to the Burlington Island Scholarship Fund.
Edward Gelernt
Moorestown
The 16-year-old from Moorestown Friends School won the 2015 Cogito Research Award from the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth for his research of high-density lipoproteins. Gelernt is one of 10 students in the U.S. to receive the award along with a grant to fund his research. He hopes that his research will be able to assist doctors in determining a patient’s susceptibility to heart disease.
Morgan Sehdev
A sophomore at William & Mary University, the Haddonfield native has received a Goldwater Scholarship. Sehdev joins a class of 260 U.S. undergraduates who were also nominated for the scholarship based on academic merit either in mathematics, science or engineering by faculty at their schools. A 1693 Scholar double majoring in biology and Hispanic studies, Sehdev’s scholarship will cover school costs up to $7,500 per year.
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Family Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 2 (April, 2015).
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3303
|
__label__wiki
| 0.969606
| 0.969606
|
Summit is a Three-Car Town
The Summit Herald of May 18, 1901 reported that the collection of the Public Library had grown to 3,500 books. Due to heavy use by the community, library hours were expanded from nine hours per week to twenty hours. Mr. Callender of Springfield Avenue and Mr. Votey of Tulip Street purchased automobiles, bringing the total number of horseless vehicles in Summit to three. Mr. Votey’s name also appeared in the Lost and Found column: his King Charles Spaniel, Rags, was missing. The high school graduating class of ’01 consisted of six young men, four of whom were college-bound. A concert to benefit the YMCA was scheduled, featuring Professor Hendrickson the magician, and Rosani, prince of jugglers. Tickets were 25¢.
Plans were set for the official opening of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Rumors circulated in Paris that the United States was planning to purchase the Panama Canal project from France. President McKinley received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of California, and would be receiving another from Harvard.
The Library has a searchable database of local historical newspapers. Search or browse at: http://www.digifind-it.com/summit/home.php
Getting Rid of "Ain't"
The Summit Herald of May 11, 1923 reported that Clean-Up Week, led by the Town Improvement Association, had excellent results. At its May meeting, the T.I.A. announced that it would be erecting a public bulletin board downtown, and installing six new waste cans throughout the city. At the meeting of the Roosevelt School PTA, praised the students' successful campaign against the use of the word "ain't". Their new goal was to get rid of "I seen" and "I done". Tickets were on sale for two performances of the play "A Tailor Made Man" at the Lyric Theatre to raise funds for the construction of Memorial Field.
The State Fish and Game Commission restocked the hunting areas of New Jersey with over 1400 ring-necked pheasants. The NJ Legislature passed a law permitting game wardens and licensed hunters to shoot stray cats found killing birds.
http://www.digifind-it.com/summit/home.p
Tournament of (Jacks and Marbles) Champions
The Summit Herald of May 11, 1928 reported that the Republican Club of Summit were addressed by most of the Republican candidates for Governor and U.S. Senator in the upcoming primary. The new JCP&L office on Springfield Avenue celebrated its opening with a demonstration of electrical equipment controlled by a touch-sensitive glass sphere. The Summit Taxpayers’ League voted to recommend to Council that the office of City Supervisor be eliminated, to be replaced by a professional civil engineer. A suggestion was also discussed to make City Clerk a full-time job, but no vote was taken on that idea.
Children in the various Summit schools competed in championship tourneys in marbles and jacks. The YMCA advertised a vaudeville show (proceeds to benefit the Y’s Twilight Basketball League). The Lackawanna Baseball League prepared to begin the season with the Summit Red Sox playing at Springfield.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3304
|
__label__cc
| 0.643115
| 0.356885
|
What’s Bad For Us…TODAY?
Is it fat? Sugars? Sodium? Cholesterol?
The reality is that according to an article in the Washington Post, “the answer’s the same, because the kind of research that would definitively answer that question is impossible to do”. They go on to say that “We can’t hold large groups of people captive, feeding them a specific kind of diet until they die from it — or don’t. The studies in which people are held captive are necessarily too short to reveal long-term effects, and the other studies, in which we try to draw conclusions from what free-living people eat, are complicated by all the other things those free-living people do.
This kind of reporting brings smiles to food lobbyists and other groups who have long taken issue with ingredients under fire for causing harm. Except for one – and that is salt.
There is, however, one thing you can’t fill in the blank with, and that’s salt.
In 2013 a review of research on long-term salt reduction concluded that there’s a significant benefit in the form of reduced blood pressure, results that provided “strong support for a reduction in population salt intake.” A 2014 study of more than 100,000 people from 17 countries found that sodium consumption “between 3 g per day and 6 g per day was associated with a lower risk of death and cardiovascular events than was either a higher or lower .?.?. intake.” (That’s between 3,000 and 6,000 milligrams, by the way, significantly more than the U.S. government’s proposed guideline of 2,300 milligrams a day or less.) And a recent report from the Institute of Medicine highlighted possible dangers from too little sodium and concluded that there’s no reason to go below the U.S. guideline.
The best-documented population-wide reduction was in the United Kingdom.
The Washington Post’s story says that in 2003, a government-commissioned report on salt concluded that high salt consumption in the British population was contributing to cardiovascular disease and stroke. The U.K.’s Food Standards Agency responded with a two-pronged salt-reduction plan. The first prong was increasing public awareness. The second, critical prong was working with the processed-food industry to reduce salt in their products.
When the study commenced, Britons’ salt intake averaged 3,740 milligrams of sodium per day. By 2011, consumption had dropped 15 percent, to 3,190 milligrams. Blood pressure dropped commensurately. Stroke mortality dropped by 42 percent, heart disease by 40 percent.
Was it all from reduced sodium? They can’t say that as Smoking dropped (from 19 percent of the population to 14 percent), and fruit and vegetable consumption rose slightly (by about one-fifth of a portion per day).
There are other that instituted similar population-wide salt reduction programs, Japan and Finland, that also saw big drops in disease. (Finland’s program resulted in a 30 percent decrease in salt intake over a 20-year period, and a 75 to 80 percent decrease in deaths from stroke and heart disease.
Maybe its time to stop arguing and just reformulate?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3305
|
__label__cc
| 0.549171
| 0.450829
|
Travel by Country/Region
Girlfriend’s Getaway
byJeana
The Roman Empire is an iconic civilization centered around power and brutality. Even today, thousands of years later, people are fascinated by the Roman Empire and its accomplishments. The Romans ruled the world stretching their reign all over Europe and into Africa and the Middle East. They represented an unflinching determination and force that led them to the many victories of a lasting empire. During their reign, the essence of Roman culture blossomed and carried through the centuries influencing societies in many aspects. The power, strength, and riches of the Roman world was unmatched by other civilizations.
As an optional part of my Espresso Italia tour with Topdeck Travel, we visited several key Roman sites, like the Colosseo, but at the center of Roman life was the Forum. It was the hub of activity in ancient Rome, located between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, marble buildings stretched skywards with massive columns and beautiful arches. It was the political, religious, and social heart of Rome where elections were held and the Senate came together. Temples were erected and dedicated to the gods and the people worthy of becoming a deity. It was believed that building a temple in dedication of a mere human made them a deity and Julius Caesar was the first to receive that honor.
Also read: Planning a Destination Wedding in Los Cabos, Mexico? Here is Everything You Need to Know
The Temple of Caesar once stood in the forum inviting worshipers in to honor the great Julius Caesar. While it was actually Caesar’s nephew that was the first emperor of Rome, Julius Caesar was a general and statesman that had fought in many wars. Eventually, he stepped into the politics of Rome and became Dictator of Rome only to be killed in a coup. His reform of Rome had been popular among the lower classes, but the Senate was wary of his growing power. Cassius and Brutus plotted his death to put a stop to his reign. Caesar’s death turned him into a martyr and mobs of lower class citizens attacked the homes of Cassius and Brutus after Caesar’s funeral. In Caesar’s honor, he was the first Roman to be defied and the title “The Divine Julius” bestowed upon him from the Senate. Today, only the altar still stands from The Temple of Caesar.
Other fragments of the great buildings still remain today, calling to mind the power and resilience of the Roman Empire. Six granite columns from the Temple of Saturn stand proudly among the ruins of the forum. In this Temple, dedicated to the god of seed-sowing, the treasury was housed as well as those that controlled the finances of the Republic.
Built in 203 AD, the Arch of Septimius Severus was a symbol of victory. It was built after the Romans defeated the Parthians. The substantial size and elaborate decoration is testament to the typical pride of the Romans.
Also read: 7 Tips For the Beginner Hiker
The Curia Julia was commissioned by Julius Caesar but completed under the rule of the first Emperor Octavian (given the title of Augustus). Meant to replace the original Curia that was burned during riots, the Curia Julia was the Senate House. Here, the Emperor met with the Senate to discuss important matters of state. Because of renovations throughout history and the frequent repurposing of the building, the Curia Julia is one of the few buildings that survived with much of the structure still intact.
The Via Sacra (sacred road) can be found within the forum. This is where Emperors would stride as they made their way to the official ceremony marking their induction as the new leader. It is also the road that armies took back into the city as they returned from war.
Many of Rome’s Emperors allowed excess to be their downfall, pulling Rome down into the depths of chaos. However, those men rarely lasted in the world of Roman brutality. The Emperors that thought broadly and fought fearlessly brought growth and new life to the Roman Empire. Rome’s history is characterized with the hills and valleys of growing pains until it fell and with it a history rich in culture, politics, extravagance, and ruthless violence. The artifacts left behind tell the story of an ancient world built on the might of men. Among the ruins of a once great society is the eerie realization that even the powerful shall fall.
Also read: Mastering the Art of the Day Trip
Thank you to Topdeck Travel for having me as a guest on the Espresso Italia tour. All opinions remain my own.
Rarely caught without a camera, Jeana is an adventurous traveler with a passion for people, cultures and food that has led her to 43 countries in 6 years. When she's not using her powers for social good, she enjoys photography, cooking and building LEGOs with her son. On occasion, you may also find her crocheting cute things to hide in her husband's underwear drawer.
Bahamian Junkanoo: The Celebration of Life and Culture
Posted on August 20, 2015 February 26, 2018
Most Wanted Kids Club Amenities
Subscribe to our newsletter (no junk, promise!)
12 of the Most Stunning Sunsets Worth Taking an End of Summer Road Trip For
How to Tell if Your Hotel Room is Actually Clean
byKait
23 Inspiring (and Awesome!) Travel Tattoo Ideas
17 of the Best Audiobooks for Family Road Trips
Where to Stay in Mykonos Greece and Why it Should Be Your Next Vacation Destination
5 of the Best Natural Springs in Florida to Visit This Summer
byAshley
Best Spots to Stand Up Paddle Board in Southern California
6 Festivals in Quebec City that will Make You Want to Book a Ticket Now
byThis is a guest post
Jennifer Pridemore says:
These are some beautiful photos! I would love to visit Rome and learn more about it’s history some day.
My next big trip is to travel to Italy and visit the areas my husband’s family comes from. Rome is on my list!
Stephanie of The TipToe Fairy says:
This would be one of my dream vacations. I love learning about history like this. I can’t imagine how fast the Roman empire was and yet now it’s all gone.
Tatanisha Pitts-Worthey says:
Beautiful photos! Rome is on my travel bucket list, I’m looking forward on that very day when I’d set a foot on beautiful Rome.
Love it. I havent been to Rome but other cities in Italy, and I really cant wait to go someday.
Leave a Reply to Jennifer Pridemore Cancel reply
Instagram @JeanaTravels
Instagram @SurfandSunshineBlog
Rarely caught without a camera, Jeana is an adventurous traveler with a passion for people, cultures and food that has led her to 43 countries and counting. When she's not using her powers for social good, she enjoys photography, cooking and building LEGOs with her son. On occasion, you may also find her crocheting cute things to hide in her husband's underwear drawer.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3306
|
__label__cc
| 0.711891
| 0.288109
|
Home » Cafe Chat » Marcos Ambrose
Marcos Ambrose
Wednesday 22nd June, 2011 - 11:59am
Marcos Ambrose could be a NASCAR Sprint Cup winner at the end of this weekend, if all the planets can finally align for him.
The Australian has been one of the fastest drivers at Infinion Raceway, Sonoma, over the past three seasons, going ever so close to winning last year before he made an error under a caution period, electing to save fuel, in turn stalling his car and losing the lead.
This weekend, Ambrose has a chance to right his wrongs.
See below for a transcript from a press conference with Marcos Ambrose ahead of this weekend’s race at Infinion Raceway.
QUESTION: I SUSPECT YOU HAVE REPLAYED THE STRATEGY FROM LAST YEAR A FEW TIMES IN YOUR HEAD.
MARCOS AMBROSE: I sure have. I have lost enough sleep on it.
Marcos Ambrose leads Jimmie Johnson
Racing is all about split second decisions. I am looking forward to a fresh chance to go to and win with a brand new team and Stanley has put a lot of effort behind this race as the primary sponsor and we have some great programs around the Childrens Miracle Network around this event. I have a lot of things to look forward to and I am optimistic about our chances. I have done all the testing preparation we can do to be ready for it.
QUESTION: YOU HAVE SOME EXTRA MOTIVATION FOR RACING VICTORY LANE ON SUNDAY. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THAT?
MA: Yeah, Stanley has put together a fantastic program with the Children’s Miracle Network and we are going to feature on our car a special paint scheme for the weekend. One child from every state that has been a patient or is still in the care of the Children’s Miracle Network, we are going to have their story on the car.
We are going to donate $1 million dollars if I win the race and if I really mess it up and come in dead last, we will still donate $100,000. There is a lot to race for and pride is at stake and also the charity that we have chosen. I am lucky that I have a lucky young family and I know I am lucky and blessed and there are families out there that arent so fortunate. It is great that Stanley and Richard Petty Motorsports can give back in this way and hopefully we can win a million bucks for a kid.
QUESTION: OBVIOUSLY LIFE AS A SPRINT CUP SERIES DRIVER IS VERY HECTIC BUT I WAS WONDERING WHAT YOU DO TO SORT OF GIVE YOURSELF SOME DOWNTIME AND GET AWAY FROM IT ALL. WHAT’S YOUR HOBBY OR THE THING YOU LIKE TO DO TO RELAX?
MA: Well, 80 percent of my time is directly associated to it and getting to, from or at the race track.
Also we are raising a family, so there’s not a lot of down time, but when I do, obviously I like to spend time with my kids and family and I also like getting outside, too. I’ve actually picked up a hobby of gold panning of all things. I’ll be heading to California this weekend and I really enjoy just driving over to a few local areas near the racetrack that have some gold history and stuff like that. It’s a good hobby to have. I can do research on the racetrack and then get out in the field when I travel around the country.
QUESTION: NASCAR SEEMS TO BE GOING THROUGH A PERIOD WHERE IT’S TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW AGGRESSIVE IT WANTS TO ALLOW ITS DRIVERS TO BE ON THE TRACK AND EVEN AFTER RACES. HEADING INTO A RACEWAY THAT’S KNOWN FOR A LOT OF CONTACT, DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU STAND ON THIS ISSUE?
MA: Sure, I’m a good boy, so I don’t get in trouble.
But yeah, NASCAR has an open policy. They let the drivers duke it out on the race track. They try to let the drivers settle it between themselves on the race track, so they don’t have to worry about it during the week. I come from a racing series where you get penalties after the fact; the winner’s get their win taken away through protest and all that kind of stuff that go on for weeks, months, sometimes even years. So I think the way NASCAR handle drivers conduct is appropriate for our sport.
I think it’s great for the fans to see the story get told live in front of them, whether they are at the track or on TV, and they can see who the heroes and villains are in the sport. And NASCAR can control it; when it gets too far out of hand they bring us back some.
I don’t expect to have any trouble at Sonoma. Everyone knows it’s a really tight race track and there’s going to be contact throughout the day. You’re going to push others as much as you get pushed yourself. As long as you can be aggressive but not silly I think everyone out there on the race track understands what kind of race track it is and what can happen.
QUESTION: WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND LAST YEAR WHEN THAT HAPPENED? OBVIOUSLY YOU’RE THINKING, THIS IS IT, YOU GET YOUR FIRST SPRINT CUP WIN. CAN YOU JUST WALK THROUGH THE TERROR THAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN THE CAR STALLED AND WOULDN’T RE-FIRE?
MA: We were doing great in the race. We had a good strategy, although the way it was running down, I was running out of tires, running out of fuel, and getting ready for a late restart. I don’t need to look back on what happened last year; it is what it is. I couldn’t get the motor re-fired for whatever reason. This year we have a brand new team, brand new chief, brand new sponsor and brand new carburetor, so I should have no issues. Im just looking forward to getting out there and trying to win it.
QUESTION: GETTING AWAY FROM ROAD COURSES, I KNOW YOU’RE AN EXCELLENT ROAD COURSE RACER, HOW MUCH HAVE YOU HAD TO ADJUST TO THE OVALS, AND DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE OVAL IN THE SPRINT CUP SERIES?
MA: Oval racing is really my passion these days. I’ve road raced in my life and it’s a great side of the sport, but it is not what makes NASCAR what it is. Oval racing and mile-and-a-half mile races in particular, really is, I think, the pure form of NASCAR. I can’t get enough of it. I’m learning every time I hit the racetrack.
This year more than any other I’m starting to get a feel of what I need to do to run well and some of the tricks and techniques that you need with all of the people around to you help make it happen. I really feel that, you know, when I get to Dover or Kansas, Kentucky coming up is going to be great, Texas, Vegas, Charlotte, all of these high-speed one-and-a-half-mile or less race tracks really are a lot of fun and a very pure part of the sport.
I don’t know if we have an answer to Jimmie Johnson for a championship or Carl Edwards right now, but I’m working at it and our team is working at it and I think it’s just a matter of time.
QUESTION: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN THE PHYSICAL DEMANDS WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING ON A ROAD COURSE, ESPECIALLY ONE LIKE INFINEON RACEWAY?
MA: There is a lot going on behind the wheel. You’re obviously changing gears, you’re turning left and right, you’re managing front and left brake pressure, sometimes you’re doing it together. The track is undulating and there’s a lot of dust that’s get thrown off by other cars that run across the track. There’s just a lot going on at a road course. You really have to stay very focus on your own car and not really worry about whether a guy is pulling away for a lap or two. It normally balances out.
Physically, it’s quite challenging with the heat and the amount of work that you have to do, and I think mentally it’s the toughest part, because I’ve grown up road racing, for me, I can tell you that I can run three or four hours in a road race car and I’ll be fine. But when you have not done it for a year, you know, it just seems to mentally be really demanding, and mistakes creep in. Guys start locking up tires on the brakes, too much wheel spin, getting greedy on the gas pedal, coming up in the corners, and all that have stuff can make or break your race.
For me, I think mistakes by drivers are the biggest thing that you see road racing compared to ovals. You can follow Tony Stewart or Matt Kenseth, at the end of a 500 mile-oval race, they don’t make mistakes. But when you go road racing, mistakes are part of life, and I think as drivers get tired, mistakes get more prevalent.
QUESTION: DO YOU BECOME A MUCH MORE POPULAR GUY IN THE GARAGE AREA DURING THESE ROAD RACE WEEKENDS? DO YOU HAVE OTHER DRIVERS COMING TO YOU FOR ADVICE OR IS IT PRETTY MUCH LIKE A NORMAL WEEKEND?
MA: I think Stanley likes it. I think they are going to enjoy this weekend. They want to run up front and I want to try to get them in victory lane.
The boys are really pumped up to and put a lot of effort into the road course here. I guess I become, you know, the hare, and I’m out front. I normally have a pretty good diving car. People want to follow me in practice to find out what my lines are and how my car is performing. You have got to be a little cagey; you don’t want to give the game away. You don’t want to be rude but of course you have your own race to play on Sunday. I normally try to find my own space on the racetrack and I don’t ever let anybody see how my car is handling or what I’m working on.
QUESTION: CURIOUS, DID YOU GO HOME TO AUSTRALIA AT ALL IN THE LAST YEAR, AND DO PEOPLE ASK YOU ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED (AT SONOMA LAST YEAR) OR DID THEY AVOID THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU?
MA: Thanks, I’m trying to forget about it. Not really. Races come and you make split-second decisions out there. It’s the closest I’ve been to winning a race so far and clearly it’s on people’s mind this weekend but it doesn’t matter. I didn’t go home this year. I just had too much to do with the Richard Petty Motorsports merger and joining a new team and so forth.
This is the first year I have not been back to Australia. And right now my kids and family are actually vacationing in Australia. The kids and wife have gone back there. I tell you what, NASCAR is where it is for me right now. I’m sitting here talking about Sonoma; I just want to get there and racing and try to win it.
QUESTION: IF IT COMES DOWN TO FUEL MILEAGE OR SAVING FUEL, DO YOU HAVE TO DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT THIS YEAR, AS FAR AS BECAUSE OF EITHER NOT KNOWING EXACTLY MAYBE HOW MUCH YOU GET IN OR WITH THE E-15 FUEL?
MA: Sure, I mean, clearly fuel mileage is less than what it was last year with the new fuel. I’ve got a new motor program. The FR9 Ford motor generates a lot of power and is using quite a bit of fuel. So clearly we are going to have to do things differently than last year.
I have a new carburettor and systems to play with when we get there. I’m looking forward to it and I think we still have a great chance to play a fuel mileage race, I think it’s still going to be a major factor in the outcome of the race. Last year we forced everyone to pit when we did, and it worked out in our favour. I think that fuel is going to be a talking point in the weekend. Whether it turns into a fuel mileage race, I don’t know.
QUESTION: DO YOU THINK TEAMS HAVE TO ADJUST HOW THEY FIGURE OUT IF THEY TRY TO WORK THE RACE, OR WHERE TO PIT, IF THE TANK IS FULL ON EACH PIT STOP?
MA: Depends on whether you can do it in two or three stops and how the race will pan out from that, and yeah, I actually don’t know the break-up of the weekend. Until I get there and I see the fuel mileage numbers after practice and then we start to calculate how far we can go because it’s a bit of an unknown right now.
I haven’t been concerned about whether we can make the right 30 or 40 or whatever it is. We have to work that out when we get there. It’s going to be unique to your style and each team and how they run their carburettors and how they manage their fuel burn.
We have a lot of work getting ready for it as best we can because we know we are going to have to try to be as aggressive at fuel saving as we can but we can’t give up performance. We’ll work it out when we get there. I think every team is going to be watching, not just us, but the major players at road races and how they look to conduct that first pit stop, because after the first pit stop, you start to work out what everyone is trying to do.
QUESTION: SINCE THERE’S SO MUCH OF A REPRESENTATION THAT FOLLOWS YOU ON ROAD RACES, DO YOU FEEL MORE PRESSURE TO GET THAT FIRST SPRINT CUP WIN IN THIS PARTICULAR RACE AND IF SO HOW DO YOU HANDLE IT?
MA: Sure I feel pressure, especially with Stanley and the charity they have put together this year for Sonoma. A million dollars, if I can win the race, goes to the Children’s Miracle Network, it’s a huge incentive. I’ve never really raced with that kind of premise before, and it means a lot to me to give back like that.
Yeah, there is pressure and people have expectations of performance so. That being said I know what I’m doing on road races and I know what I need to feel and I know what I’m looking for out there.
So I really enjoy the road race format and looking forward to getting to Sonoma and chasing my car out against competition and seeing where we are at in practice. It’s just great to be talked about, it’s great to be viewed as a contender, and I want to make it that way. I want to make it stick this year, and get the Stanley Ford for Richard Petty up on the top step of victory lane and celebrate it.
QUESTION: IN PREPARING A CAR FOR A ROAD RACE, ESPECIALLY OVAL, SINCE YOU HAVE THE EXPERTISE ON THE TRACK, I KNOW YOU TRUST YOUR CREW, BUT DO YOU EVER GO IN THE GARAGE AND SAY, THIS IS HOW THE CAR IS HANDLING AND ON THIS PARTICULAR COURSE, NOT TO THROW YOUR WEIGHT AROUND, BUT DO YOU SAY, MAYBE YOU WANT TO DO THIS OR DO THAT?
MA: Yeah, pretty much, we have done quite a bit of preparation testing for Sonoma and Watkins Glen coming up in August, and I think that we have a really good base.
When we get there, especially on qualifying day, we don’t have a lot of time to get the car dialled in, so I will really be very aggressive on what I’m looking for, because I know exactly what I need to feel to run well there. I’m driving the car and without the use of data acquisitions systems on the car; it really is difficult for the crew chiefs to make them any better. So I know what I want. I know what I need. I’ve got enough experience now to know whether I want a rear roll bar or spring change or whether the front end is the missing a link. There’s a lot that I can contribute. I look forward to it.
But at the same time I’m not going to walk around with a steel hammer and bop anyone on the head that doesn’t agree with me. It’s going to be a consensus as a team and we are going to make choices as a team, but I’m obviously going to be a fairly strong leader during the process.”
QUESTION: YOUR RICHMOND TIGERS ARE CLOSE TO MIDWAY THROUGH THE SEASON, DO YOU THINK THEY ARE GOING TO GET OVER THE LINE THIS TIME?
MA: I love Aussie Rules Football, but it seems a long way away from NASCAR and Sonoma this weekend. So I appreciate it. The reason I used to root for the Richmond Tigers was when I was 10 years old I was given a pair of Richmond Tigers’ socks, yellow and black. So not much to the story apart from I was given a free pair of socks. It is a great game, but it doesn’t come close to NASCAR and Sonoma this weekend. But good luck to them and I hope they make the final leg.
QUESTION: TONY STEWART WAS RECENTLY IN A F1 CAR. CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO FANS WHAT THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE A ROAD CARS HAS?
MA: First, I’ve never had the chance to drive a F1 car, and here is Tony Stewart, a long way away from F1 today, and gets a chance to drive Lewis Hamilton’s car, one of the best of all time. That must have been a big thrill for him.
I talked to him about it and he really loved the experience. He couldn’t believe the performance of the car. I think Lewis Hamilton was on the other end of the scale, couldn’t believe the size of NASCAR and the power of the engine and all of the effort that goes into making a stock car get around the track on Watkins Glen. A big thrill, and a little jealous, he’s a good friend of mine, so I’m not going to say anything bad about him. Just great to let him sample it.
F1 to NASCAR being viewed as a similar level of sport, I think it’s just great for NASCAR and the international presence. To drive a big, heavy stock car around a road course is one of the hardest things you could ever do as a race car driver. I’ve driven sports cars, fast, high-powered, open-wheel cars, I’ve driven them around the world on all types of race tracks, but getting a stock car around Sonoma for the total length of the race with tyres going away and the brakes going away and the drivers swarming over you like a bunch of bees on the rear bumper trying to get past you; it’s really challenging and it’s a tough thing to do and that’s why you see a lot of guys that come from road race backgrounds do OK when they turn up on Watkins Glen and Sonoma.
Mattias Ekstrom is a good example. I love those cars and he’s one of best drivers in Europe and he came here and he had a tough time with it. I’m fortunate because I come from heavy cars that handle a little similar to a stock car, so I had a competitive advantage before I came here.
The biggest challenge you can get in racing is a stock car around a road course. Everything is very physical. The cars are heavy, and the competition is fierce.
QUESTION: ROAD COURSES, YOU’VE BEEN ON THEM IN SO MANY COUNTRIES, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE STRANGEST THINGS YOUVE SEEN ON A ROAD COURSE?
MA: Well, I can’t believe the amount of contact in a NASCAR race on Lap 1. You know you’ve got a lot to sort it out, fuel mileage and race, yet we turn into Turn 1 every year and there’s someone off in the boonies, and it is just classic to see it. We are all anxious to get going, we know how important track position is, and time and time again, I think guys get turned around. Crazy stuff in the first couple of laps.
But you know what, just when you think you’ve seen the most of what NASCAR can throw at you, something else pops up. I’m pretty sure my car parked on the side of the hill last year trying to get restarted is one of those moments. Unfortunately I was the one in that car but it was a fairly surreal moment.
QUESTION: HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO YOU GET OVER THAT OR WILL IT BE SOMETHING YOU’LL PROBABLY NEVER GET OVER IT?
MA: Oh, I’m over it. I just wish you guys would stop talking about it. As soon as I left that race track, I knew I wasn’t going to get that race back.
You hate to lose races to a team like that, and especially that I wasn’t able to get to victory lane at the Cup level, that was a disappointment. But I tell you what, I’m still proud of my effort last year. I definitely led a lot of laps and was the pace setter. I’m proud of what I did but it was a shame we couldn’t finish it off. I haven’t lost sleep on it. I’m looking forward to this chance, I have a great sponsor that is desperate to get up to victory lane and they have all the resources and effort behind it this weekend.
Richard Petty has been kind enough to give me the chance to drive for his team, and it’s going to mean the world for me to get him to victory lane again. Just really excited, really excited for the future and this weekend’s race.”WHO
QUESTION: DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO BE THE MOST COMPETITIVE BESIDES YOURSELF IN THE RACE THIS SUNDAY?
MA: Well, I’m used to pitching how to get around a road course. I’m just really excited that NASCAR has come a long way in road racing. You know, drivers put a lot into these races that we go to. We run a 26-race schedule but had this format came along, guys realised that two out of the 26 races are road races, so the teams put a lot of effort and energy into these road races. It means the same to win at Sonoma as it does at Talladega or Daytona. It looks the same on the score card. Teams realise it’s a great opportunity if you have the ingredients right for a road cars to sneak a win in, and we are one of those teams that think we can.
Anyone that thinks that NASCAR road racing is amateur is very mistaken. The level of expertise has really gotten high, and yeah, there’s one of 20 guys who can win the race on Sunday.
Next Story Josh Waters Previous Story Adrian Burgess
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3308
|
__label__cc
| 0.710408
| 0.289592
|
General, Web 2.0
Tour de France as a community
July 19, 2010 Richard Gayle 1 Comment
by mikebaird
Contador needs to let Schleck beat him tomorrow in order to win.
Contador may have to make abeyance to the peloton for what he did today. Otherwise, there could be some really dangerous times ahead for him. The peloton is not happy. I think he may purposefully give back the yellow jersey tomorrow to Schleck.
Contador, who is such a good time trialist that he can probably overcome a 90 second deficit in the last time trial later this week, broke a major peloton rule today. The yellow jersey, Andy Schleck, attacked on a steep hill and slipped a gear, forcing him to stop. I have watched the replays several times to see what happened next.
The ‘rules’ state that no one else attacks until the yellow jersey regains his bike. You do not take unfair advantage just so you can wear the yellow jersey. Another rider, Alexandre Vinokourov, had been sprinting with Schleck. He immediately slowed down. As expected.
Not Contador. From several meters behind Schleck, he attacked hard, passing the yellow jersey and continued on. By doing this he violated the rules and put himself into the yellow jersey at the end of the day. Schleck tried hard to come back but was not allowed to by Contador.
Interestingly, Vinokourov showed the honor and respect usually displayed by race leaders. He is on the same team as Contador and could have kept up with him. Having a teammate along with him would have helped Contador gain even more time.
Instead, Vinkourov finished in the same time as Schleck. He did not take advantage of the mechanical failure. He followed the ‘rules.’
When Contador put on the yellow jersey, I heard audible boos from the crowd, the first time I had ever heard such a thing. There was a lot of unhappiness all around.
Contador is only 8 seconds ahead of Schleck. He should be able to make up a lot of time in the time trial. Tomorrow, he could sit back and let Schleck pick up 30 seconds or so, putting things back to where they were. Schleck puts on the yellow jersey, things are back to normal, the peloton is happy and Contador comes out looking great, displaying the honor and leadership the peloton looks for.
And he can still win it all at the Time Trial.
Contador has shown himself capable of fixing things when he breaks a rule. He did this on an earlier stage when circumstances made him pass and beat a teammate, one who had been out in front for some time. A Tour leader does not need to win every stage to win the Tour and usually the other team members are allowed to win a stage to reward them. But Contador took that away from his own teammate, who was visibly unhappy at the result.
What happened the next stage? Contador and the other team members made sure that this unhappy teammate was rewarded. They made sure he won the next stage.
Interestingly, the unhappy teammate was Vinokourov, the same one who followed the rules today. Perhaps Contador will again fix things. That would be really amazing.
Now what is all of this about ‘rules’, unhappy pelotons, leadership and what not? Isn’t everyone out to win, everyman for themselves?
Not the Tour de France. In order to just survive without major injuries, the peloton has to operate as a community, protecting its members and allowing all sorts of unspoken rules to develop. Without this, there would be very few racers who would survive to the end. Every man for themselves would result in massive numbers of injuries, deaths and few racers surviving to Paris.
No one would enter a race that they would most likely not survive.
I have been following the Tour for over 30 years, before Armstrong, before Lemond, even before TV coverage in the US. Cycling is a perfect example of all that is great and all that is horrendous in sport. The riders have done everything they can to provide unfair advantages for themselves before the race – every drug in the world has been used.
Yet, during the race, when there would be all sorts of opportunities to take unfair advantage in order to win, we seldom see any. And when it does happen, the riders usually take some very direct action to demonstrate their unhappiness.
The peloton, once it really forms, creates a traveling community, an ad hoc social network, one that has its own rules and own enforcement in order to make sure no one breaks the rules of the community.
Any group of 200 or so people all focussed on a common goal will develop very similar characteristics. Add in tremendous personal dangers and you will often find a community that develops its own rules and viewpoints in order to adapt and survive. They can only survive if all the members of the community recognize the rules and characteristics that develop.
In the Tour, some characteristics that always seem to be there are ones of character, respect, phlegmatic outlook and honor. Lacking these, I do not believe the peloton could survive the 3 weeks of the Tour without complete disintegration. In order to make it through so many of grueling physical endeavors, the Tour and the peloton select for individuals that respond by developing these three traits.
These men race up to 100 km/hr in a physically draining sport that can produce horrendous bodily damage and even death. It would be very easy for unscrupulous riders to move themselves up in the peloton by knocking people over, etc. There are plenty of opportunities to do this over 3 weeks. Think of NASCAR over a three week period with races along shear cliffs.
They have to trust in the character of the other riders because even a short lapse in attention can wreck havoc with everyone.
They have to respect the abilities of others because their survival in the race could depend on those abilities.
They have to be able to keep strong emotions in check because real anger can result in violent injuries to others. Road rage produces a rider that simply will not make it through the entire Tour and represents a danger to others.
They have to honor those that are simply better because dishonor and disrespect open up pathways for really serious physical injury and complete destruction of the community formed in the Tour.
Riders that are unable to display these traits will be quickly displaced by the members of the community, if the peloton hopes to survive to Paris. When riding at high speeds right on the wheel of another rider, they have to know that nothing stupid will happen.
And lots of stupid things happen early on in every Tour, as the community is forming. This is when all the crashes happen, as the community begins to figure out who will help it survive. This is always the most dangerous time.
But always things rapidly change. The peloton adapts, developing the characteristics necessary to make it to Paris. There are very few Tours where there have been major crashes involving large parts of the peloton late in the race. The little community has adapted and can just race at high speeds.
The peloton knows which riders to stay away from when in a dangerous situation (often these members are relegated to the back or simply do not finish the Tour) , which ones can be counted on to show courage and honor, to protect themselves and others. Inevitably, the entire group recognizes those who make it safe to really compete and those who can be dangerous.
This Tour has been a little different in some ways. In particular, it had the nasty cobblestone section early, which would be dangerous under the best of circumstances. Happening before the peloton had really gotten together, it permitted lots of dangerous actions to occur, which had major consequences for the leaders. If the cobblestones had happened later in the race, I do not expect quite as much havoc to have occurred.
The peloton was not happy. It demonstrated its displease with the outsiders – the Tour organizers – the next day by purposefully not racing. They organized themselves to simply cross the line together, with no winners. Several of the sprinters were visibly upset that they could not sprint at the end but they knew better – do not go against the wishes of the peloton if you want to be allowed to be a member.
Strong social mores had already developed, controlling the behaviors of all the members of this community.
In a later race, we had a racer – Renshaw – do something really dangerous in order to help his teammate win. In a full sprint, where 10-20 racers are moving at full speed to the finish, he looked back, slowed down and looked to purposefully move over to drive a competitor against the wall. At the 50-60 km/hr these guys are going, this was an incredibly dangerous thing to do.
Almost all the sprinters were rightly upset at this incredibly dangerous move. They have to trust that the other sprinters will not be trying to kill them. He endangered all of them with his unfair behavior. There had to be some response to this blatant attempt to destroy the collegiality of the group.
Renshaw was disqualified from the race, totally removed from the Tour community. His flouting of the ‘rules’ of the peloton resulted in his removal. Possibly for his own good. As we saw earlier, the peloton can take things into its own hands if need be.
Now, one the the other ‘rules’ of the peloton is that you do not take advantage of the man in yellow if he suffers a mechanical failure. There is honor and respect that goes to the main in yellow. Taking an unfair advantage is actually dangerous for the peloton. It creates doubt in the peloton for the character of other racers. ‘If they will do this to win, what else will they do?’
When individuals in the peloton begin to doubt the leaders, the possible disintegration of the community emerges. And if that happens, there can be some serious injuries ahead.
I think that in order to maintain the community of the peloton, Contador must do something. If he fails to recognize his breaking of the rule, even if it was unintentional, he risks a disintegration of the peloton and a really dangerous situation. Every man for themselves is a recipe for real disaster for the racers.
There are all sorts of ways the peloton can show its displeasure, in ways quite harmful for Contador and his team.
Contador can easily appease the peloton without doing any real damage for his chances. SImply let Schleck win tomorrow by more than 8 seconds. He can put Schleck back in the yellow, recognizing the tremendous work the other racer has done, without really hurting his chances for a win.
Otherwise, he really risks a lot. Not just this year but in future Tours. He may never really be trusted by the peloton ever again.
GeneralWeb 2.0
We are all scientists
These works by SpreadingScience and Richard Gayle are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
The end of Liberalism is the beginning
Diamandis details 21st century entrepreneurship
Moving Adobe into the Special category
Disagreement, Yes. Disrespect, No.
The Space Trade Association Experiment
The road to Hell really is paved with good intentions
The latest fraud shows science working as expected
Whole Foods does not realize the supermarket is dying
It’s all personal
Exhausting day
RSS- Posts
Archives Select Month April 2018 February 2017 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 January 2015 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 September 2012 August 2012 June 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 January 2011 December 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3310
|
__label__wiki
| 0.590131
| 0.590131
|
SPECIAL RULES FOR MA REGIONAL PLANS
Sec. 1858. [42 U.S.C. 1395w–27a] (a) Regional Service Area; Establishment of MA Regions.—
(1) Coverage of entire ma region.—The service area for an MA regional plan shall consist of an entire MA region established under paragraph (2) and the provisions of section 1854(h) shall not apply to such a plan.
(2) Establishment of ma regions.—
(A) MA region.—For purposes of this title, the term “MA region” means such a region within the 50 States and the District of Columbia as established by the Secretary under this paragraph.
(B) Establishment.—
(i) Initial establishment.—Not later than January 1, 2005, the Secretary shall first establish and publish MA regions.
(ii) Periodic review and revision of service areas.—The Secretary may periodically review MA regions under this paragraph and, based on such review, may revise such regions if the Secretary determines such revision to be appropriate.
(C) Requirements for ma regions.—The Secretary shall establish, and may revise, MA regions under this paragraph in a manner consistent with the following:
(i) Number of regions.—There shall be no fewer than 10 regions, and no more than 50 regions.
(ii) Maximizing availability of plans.—The regions shall maximize the availability of MA regional plans to all MA eligible individuals without regard to health status, especially those residing in rural areas.
(D) Market survey and analysis.—Before establishing MA regions, the Secretary shall conduct a market survey and analysis, including an examination of current insurance markets, to determine how the regions should be established.
(3) National plan.—Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as preventing an MA regional plan from being offered in more than one MA region (including all regions).
(b) Application of Single Deductible and Catastrophic Limit on Out-of-Pocket Expenses.—An MA regional plan shall include the following:
(1) Single deductible.—Any deductible for benefits under the original medicare fee-for-service program option shall be a single deductible (instead of a separate inpatient hospital deductible and a part B deductible) and may be applied differentially for in-network services and may be waived for preventive or other items and services.
(2) Catastrophic limit.—
(A) In-network.—A catastrophic limit on out-of-pocket expenditures for in-network benefits under the original medicare fee-for-service program option.
(B) Total.—A catastrophic limit on out-of-pocket expenditures for all benefits under the original medicare fee-for-service program option.
(c) Portion of Total Payments to an Organization Subject to Risk for 2006 and 2007.—
(1) Application of risk corridors.—
(A) In general.—This subsection shall only apply to MA regional plans offered during 2006 or 2007.
(B) Notification of allowable costs under the plan.—In the case of an MA organization that offers an MA regional plan in an MA region in 2006 or 2007, the organization shall notify the Secretary, before such date in the succeeding year as the Secretary specifies, of—
(i) its total amount of costs that the organization incurred in providing benefits covered under the original medicare fee-for- service program option for all enrollees under the plan in the region in the year and the portion of such costs that is attributable to administrative expenses described in subparagraph (C); and
(ii) its total amount of costs that the organization incurred in providing rebatable integrated benefits (as defined in subparagraph (D)) and with respect to such benefits the portion of such costs that is attributable to administrative expenses described in subparagraph (C) and not described in clause (i) of this subparagraph.
(C) Allowable costs defined.—For purposes of this subsection, the term “allowable costs” means, with respect to an MA regional plan for a year, the total amount of costs described in subparagraph (B) for the plan and year, reduced by the portion of such costs attributable to administrative expenses incurred in providing the benefits described in such subparagraph.
(D) Rebatable integrated benefits.—For purposes of this subsection, the term “rebatable integrated benefits” means such non-drug supplemental benefits under subclause (I) of section 1854(b)(1)(C)(ii) pursuant to a rebate under such section that the Secretary determines are integrated with the benefits described in subparagraph (B)(i).
(2) Adjustment of payment.—
(A) No adjustment if allowable costs within 3 percent of target amount.—If the allowable costs for the plan for the year are at least 97 percent, but do not exceed 103 percent, of the target amount for the plan and year, there shall be no payment adjustment under this subsection for the plan and year.
(B) Increase in payment if allowable costs above 103 percent of target amount .—
(i) Costs between 103 and 108 percent of target amount.—If the allowable costs for the plan for the year are greater than 103 percent, but not greater than 108 percent, of the target amount for the plan and year, the Secretary shall increase the total of the monthly payments made to the organization offering the plan for the year under section 1853(a) by an amount equal to 50 percent of the difference between such allowable costs and 103 percent of such target amount.
(ii) Costs above 108 percent of target amount.—If the allowable costs for the plan for the year are greater than 108 percent of the target amount for the plan and year, the Secretary shall increase the total of the monthly payments made to the organization offering the plan for the year under section 1853(a) by an amount equal to the sum of—
(I) 2.5 percent of such target amount; and
(II) 80 percent of the difference between such allowable costs and 108 percent of such target amount.
(C) Reduction in payment if allowable costs below 97 percent of target amount .—
(i) Costs between 92 and 97 percent of target amount.—If the allowable costs for the plan for the year are less than 97 percent, but greater than or equal to 92 percent, of the target amount for the plan and year, the Secretary shall reduce the total of the monthly payments made to the organization offering the plan for the year under section 1853(a) by an amount (or otherwise recover from the plan an amount) equal to 50 percent of the difference between 97 percent of the target amount and such allowable costs.
(ii) Costs below 92 percent of target amount.—If the allowable costs for the plan for the year are less than 92 percent of the target amount for the plan and year, the Secretary shall reduce the total of the monthly payments made to the organization offering the plan for the year under section 1853(a) by an amount (or otherwise recover from the plan an amount) equal to the sum of—
(II) 80 percent of the difference between 92 percent of such target amount and such allowable costs.
(D) Target amount described.—For purposes of this paragraph, the term “target amount” means, with respect to an MA regional plan offered by an organization in a year, an amount equal to—
(i) the sum of—
(I) the total monthly payments made to the organization for enrollees in the plan for the year that are attributable to benefits under the original medicare fee-for-service program option (as defined in section 1852(a)(1)(B));
(II) the total of the MA monthly basic beneficiary premium collectable for such enrollees for the year; and
(III) the total amount of the rebates under section 1854(b)(1)(C)(ii) that are attributable to rebatable integrated benefits; reduced by
(ii) the amount of administrative expenses assumed in the bid insofar as the bid is attributable to benefits described in clause (i)(I) or (i)(III).
(3) Disclosure of information.—
(A) In general.—Each contract under this part shall provide—
(i) that an MA organization offering an MA regional plan shall provide the Secretary with such information as the Secretary determines is necessary to carry out this subsection; and
(ii) that, pursuant to section 1857(d)(2)(B), the Secretary has the right to inspect and audit any books and records of the organization that pertain to the information regarding costs provided to the Secretary under paragraph (1)(B).
(B) Restriction on use of information.—Information disclosed or obtained pursuant to the provisions of this subsection may be used by officers, employees, and contractors of the Department of Health and Human Services only for the purposes of, and to the extent necessary in, carrying out this subsection.
(d) Organizational and Financial Requirements.—
(1) In general.—In the case of an MA organization that is offering an MA regional plan in an MA region and—
(A) meets the requirements of section 1855(a)(1) with respect to at least one such State in such region; and
(B) with respect to each other State in such region in which it does not meet requirements, it demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that it has filed the necessary application to meet such requirements, the Secretary may waive such requirement with respect to each State described in subparagraph (B) for such period of time as the Secretary determines appropriate for the timely processing of such an application by the State (and, if such application is denied, through the end of such plan year as the Secretary determines appropriate to provide for a transition).
(2) Selection of appropriate state.—In applying paragraph (1) in the case of an MA organization that meets the requirements of section 1855(a)(1) with respect to more than one State in a region, the organization shall select, in a manner specified by the Secretary among such States, one State the rules of which shall apply in the case of the States described in paragraph (1)(B).
(e) [Stricken. ]
(f) Computation of Applicable MA Region-Specific Non-Drug Monthly Benchmark Amounts.—
(1) Computation for regions.—For purposes of section 1853(j)(2) and this section, subject to subsection (e), the term “MA region-specific non-drug monthly benchmark amount” means, with respect to an MA region for a month in a year, the sum of the 2 components described in paragraph (2) for the region and year. The Secretary shall compute such benchmark amount for each MA region before the beginning of each annual, coordinated election period under section 1851(e)(3)(B) for each year (beginning with 2006).
(2) 2 components.—For purposes of paragraph (1), the 2 components described in this paragraph for an MA region and a year are the following:
(A) Statutory component.—The product of the following:
(i) Statutory region-specific non-drug amount.—The statutory region-specific non-drug amount (as defined in paragraph (3)) for the region and year.
(ii) Statutory national market share.—The statutory national market share percentage, determined under paragraph (4) for the year.
(B) Plan-bid component.—The product of the following:
(i) Weighted average of ma plan bids in region.—The weighted average of the plan bids for the region and year (as determined under paragraph (5)(A)).
(ii) Non-statutory market share.—1 minus the statutory national market share percentage, determined under paragraph (4) for the year.
(3) Statutory region-specific non-drug amount.—For purposes of paragraph (2)(A)(i), the term “statutory region- specific non-drug amount” means, for an MA region and year, an amount equal the sum (for each MA local area within the region) of the product of—
(A) MA area-specific non-drug monthly benchmark amount under section 1853(j)(1)(A) for that area and year; and
(B) the number of MA eligible individuals residing in the local area, divided by the total number of MA eligible individuals residing in the region.
(4) Computation of statutory market share percentage.—
(A) In general.—The Secretary shall determine for each year a statutory national market share percentage that is equal to the proportion of MA eligible individuals nationally who were not enrolled in an MA plan during the reference month.
(B) Reference month defined.—For purposes of this part, the term “reference month” means, with respect to a year, the most recent month during the previous year for which the Secretary determines that data are available to compute the percentage specified in subparagraph (A) and other relevant percentages under this part.
(5) Determination of weighted average ma bids for a region.—
(A) In general.—For purposes of paragraph (2)(B)(i), the weighted average of plan bids for an MA region and a year is the sum, for MA regional plans described in subparagraph (D) in the region and year, of the products (for each such plan) of the following:
(i) Monthly ma statutory non-drug bid amount.—The unadjusted MA statutory non-drug monthly bid amount for the plan.
(ii) Plan’s share of ma enrollment in region.—The factor described in subparagraph (B) for the plan.
(B) Plan’s share of ma enrollment in region.—
(i) In general.—Subject to the succeeding provisions of this subparagraph, the factor described in this subparagraph for a plan is equal to the number of individuals described in subparagraph (C) for such plan, divided by the total number of such individuals for all MA regional plans described in subparagraph (D) for that region and year.
(ii) Single plan rule.—In the case of an MA region in which only a single MA regional plan is being offered, the factor described in this subparagraph shall be equal to 1.
(iii) Equal division among multiple plans in year in which plans are first available.—In the case of an MA region in the first year in which any MA regional plan is offered, if more than one MA regional plan is offered in such year, the factor described in this subparagraph for a plan shall (as specified by the Secretary) be equal to—
(I) 1 divided by the number of such plans offered in such year; or
(II) a factor for such plan that is based upon the organization’s estimate of projected enrollment, as reviewed and adjusted by the Secretary to ensure reasonableness and as is certified by the Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
(C) Counting of individuals.—For purposes of subparagraph (B)(i), the Secretary shall count for each MA regional plan described in subparagraph (D) for an MA region and year, the number of individuals who reside in the region and who were enrolled under such plan under this part during the reference month.
(D) Plans covered.—For an MA region and year, an MA regional plan described in this subparagraph is an MA regional plan that is offered in the region and year and was offered in the region in the reference month.
(g) Election of Uniform Coverage Determination.—Instead of applying section 1852(a)(2)(C) with respect to an MA regional plan, the organization offering the plan may elect to have a local coverage determination for the entire MA region be the local coverage determination applied for any part of such region (as selected by the organization).
(h) Assuring Network Adequacy.—
(1) In general.—For purposes of enabling MA organizations that offer MA regional plans to meet applicable provider access requirements under section 1852 with respect to such plans, the Secretary may provide for payment under this section to an essential hospital that provides inpatient hospital services to enrollees in such a plan where the MA organization offering the plan certifies to the Secretary that the organization was unable to reach an agreement between the hospital and the organization regarding provision of such services under the plan. Such payment shall be available only if—
(A) the organization provides assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that the organization will make payment to the hospital for inpatient hospital services of an amount that is not less than the amount that would be payable to the hospital under section 1886 with respect to such services; and
(B) with respect to specific inpatient hospital services provided to an enrollee, the hospital demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the hospital’s costs of such services exceed the payment amount described in subparagraph (A).
(2) Payment amounts.—The payment amount under this subsection for inpatient hospital services provided by a subsection (d) hospital to an enrollee in an MA regional plan shall be, subject to the limitation of funds under paragraph (3), the amount (if any) by which—
(A) the amount of payment that would have been paid for such services under this title if the enrollees were covered under the original medicare fee-for-service program option and the hospital were a critical access hospital; exceeds
(B) the amount of payment made for such services under paragraph (1)(A).
(3) Available amounts.—There shall be available for payments under this subsection—
(A) in 2006, $25,000,000; and
(B) in each succeeding year the amount specified in this paragraph for the preceding year increased by the market basket percentage increase (as defined in section 1886(b)(3)(B)(iii)) for the fiscal year ending in such succeeding year. Payments under this subsection shall be made from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund.
(4) Essential hospital.—In this subsection, the term “essential hospital” means, with respect to an MA regional plan offered by an MA organization, a subsection (d) hospital (as defined in section 1886(d)) that the Secretary determines, based upon an application filed by the organization with the Secretary, is necessary to meet the requirements referred to in paragraph (1) for such plan.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3312
|
__label__wiki
| 0.834913
| 0.834913
|
Campus Public Relations and Marketing Officers
TBR Chancellor Recommends Alisa White as APSU's Next President; Board to Meet Monday for Approval
TBR Chancellor Recommends Alisa White as APSU's Next President; Board to Meet Monday for Approval NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 27, 2014) – Alisa White is expected to be named the next president to lead Austin Peay State University pending approval by the Tennessee Board of Regents on Monday, June 2. The Board will meet via telephone at 3:30 p.m. CDT to consider TBR Chancellor John Morgan’s recommendation for White to replace Interim President Tristan Denley, who agreed to serve a temporary appointment after former APSU President Tim Hall ended his tenure at the university earlier this month to become president at Mercy College in New York. White is currently the provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas at Tyler. She will join Austin Peay on June 30. “Dr. White is the right fit for Austin Peay, and she will be an excellent leader for this progressive university,” Morgan said. “She is committed to the student success efforts that have already demonstrated a positive impact at Austin Peay. The breadth and depth of her teaching, administrative and management experiences allow her to bring a unique and enthusiastic perspective to the leadership role.” White assumed her current post at UT-Tyler in 2012 and immediately made a dynamic impact on the institution. She secured $4 million in funding from the UT system to establish a comprehensive course redesign initiative to increase student learning, engagement and satisfaction while allowing the campus to more efficiently plan schedules and classroom space. She also oversaw the development of the university’s pharmacy college and established an International Programs office, center for Executive Education and an Office for Academic Innovation and Student Success. In addition to overseeing those efforts and the university’s colleges and graduate school, White has been responsible for research and technology transfer, institutional effectiveness, honors programs, the library, and more at UT-Tyler. White’s résumé reflects her impressive rise through the academic ranks in higher education. She has more than 25 years of experience in higher education and has served as graduate adviser; department chair; dean; acting associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, curriculum and instruction; and provost at a wide range of institutions, including The University of Texas at Tyler; Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas; The University of Texas at Arlington; The University of West Georgia; Louisiana State University in Shreveport; and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. White holds the Ph.D. in mass communications from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, a master of science in library and information science, and a bachelor’s degree in business from Lee College in Cleveland, Tenn. Her full résumé is available at http://tinyurl.com/TBRWhite White was selected after a national search that resulted in 79 applicants from around the country. The search advisory committee, chaired by Regent Bob Thomas, worked with executive search firm Greenwood/Asher & Associates to identify a broad range of highly qualified candidates. Twelve candidates were interviewed, and four finalists were selected and visited the campus. Established in 1927 and named after former Tennessee Governor Austin Peay, Austin Peay State University is a regional University serving approximately 10,500 students. Categorized as a Master’s Large institution by the Carnegie Foundation, Austin Peay has been the fastest growing public university in Tennessee for the past 10 years, offering 18 graduate degrees, 44 undergraduate and four associate degrees. The university has been nationally recognized for innovation by the likes of President Obama and Bill Gates in addition to being nationally recognized for multiple years as a Chronicle of Higher Education “Great College to Work For” with honors, as well as G.I. Jobs “Military Friendly Schools,” and Military Times “Best for Vets” College. The June 2 meeting is open to the public and the press as listeners. Those wishing dial-in information for the call should contact Monica Greppin-Watts at monica.greppin-watts@tbr.edu or 615-366-4417 before 9:00 a.m. June 2. Anyone with a disability who wishes to participate should use the same contact to request services needed to facilitate attendance. Contact may be made in person, by writing, by e-mail, by telephone or otherwise and should be received no later than 4:30 p.m. CDT, May 30. The TBR is the nation’s sixth largest higher education system, governing 46 post-secondary educational institutions, including Austin Peay State University. The TBR system includes six universities, 13 two-year colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology, providing programs across the state to more than 200,000 students.
The College System of Tennessee is the state’s largest public higher education system, with 13 community colleges, 27 colleges of applied technology and the online TN eCampus serving approximately 100,000 students. The system is governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents.
Monica Greppin-Watts 615-366-4417 Published: 05/27/2014 Follow on twitter @tnregents
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3325
|
__label__wiki
| 0.805593
| 0.805593
|
Category Archives: Press Coverage
From The Texas Tribune: Analysis: “Tax relief,” maybe, but no savings for taxpayers
In the midsummer special session, Texas lawmakers will be talking about your rising property taxes again. Don’t get excited: That does not mean your tax bill is going to get any smaller.
by Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune
Photo from The Texas Tribune
State officials are talking once again about your property taxes. Like you, they hate those taxes. A lot.
But they’re hoping to fool you, once again, into thinking they are going to lower the price of local government and public education.
None of their proposals or their recent actions would do that.
School property taxes are the biggest part of every Texas property owners’ tax bill. They are also the only local property tax that goes up and down primarily because of what happens in Austin.
State officials don’t set your school property tax rate; they just decide how much money local officials are required to raise.
In practice, it amounts to almost the same thing.
If the state spends less money per student, the local districts have to spend more. They get their money from property taxes, so property taxes go up.
And then, state officials complain — alongside property taxpayers across Texas — about rising property taxes.
The current long slide in state funding started in 2007 — right after lawmakers rejiggered the formulas and balanced state and local funding, with each covering 45 percent of the total cost of education and the federal government picking up the remaining 10 percent.
The numbers ten years later: Locals pay 52 percent, the state pays 38 percent and the feds are still at 10 percent.
According to the Texas Supreme Court about a year ago, local property taxes and the system they finance remain constitutional. Lucky for the state that’s not a criminal court, though: Taxpayers clearly feel robbed.
State officials can feel the heat of that ire. But their new budget doesn’t address the school finance problem. They killed legislation that would have put another $1.5 billion into public education — the only bill in the regular session that would have moved school taxes, if only indirectly and only a little bit.
It wouldn’t save you any money — contrary to the rhetoric billowing from the Senate — but it could lower the speed at which your property taxes grow. It’s like promising a gazelle you can make the lions a little slower.
And their effort to limit growth in property taxes levied by other local governments failed, too. Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will put that one on the agenda of the midsummer special session. One version, passed by the Senate and apparently favored by the governor, would have required voter approval for any local property tax increases of more than 5 percent.
Texas lawmakers have replaced the idea of lowering state taxes with a new one: Complaining alongside taxpayers who want lower taxes. Actually doing something about it has remained out of reach.
They could replace an unpopular tax with a less unpopular one, but they have few options — none of them particularly lucrative. The Texas Lottery was an example of this, and it served mainly to underscore our widespread innumeracy: A surprising number of Texans thought state-run gaming would cover the full cost of public education in Texas. In fact, the Texas games earn the state about $2.5 billion every two years, about as much as taxes on alcoholic beverages and less than half as much as the (also) unpopular business franchise tax. Lawmakers budgeted $41 billion for public education over the next two years; the lottery will cover about 6 percent of that.
They could cut spending, except it has proven nearly impossible to do that in Texas, partly because the state budget is, relatively speaking, pretty tight, and partly because when you get down to it, the programs that would be cut are more popular than the tax cuts that might result.
People want roads and schools and prisons and whatnot, and the political experts who run the government — give them their due for getting into and then remaining in office — have ascertained that it’s more rewarding to keep current programs alive than to cut taxes.
That’s a safe assumption, isn’t it, since they haven’t cut those programs or whittled those taxes?
But state leaders can hear the voters, too, so they’re trying to force local governments to hold the line on taxes. They can’t provide any relief themselves, but maybe they can make someone else do it.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/06/12/analysis-tax-relief-maybe-no-savings-taxpayers/.
Texas Tribune mission statement
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
This entry was posted in Legislative Update, Press Coverage, special session and tagged budget, education, funding, Gov. Greg Abbott, Greg Abbott, house, legislative update, legislature, school finance, senate, session, special session, tax, Texas Tribune on June 12, 2017 by admin. - 1 Reply
From The Texas Tribune: Texas teachers have mixed opinions on bid to reduce state tests
by Aliyya Swaby, The Texas Tribune
State Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, on the floor of the House on May 15, 2015. Photo by Bob Daemmrich.
Jennifer Stratton said her third-grade son has been on the honor roll for the last three quarters but is anxious his progress could be erased if he does poorly on standardized tests.
She testified Tuesday before the House Public Education Committee to support House Bill 1333, which would scale back the number of required standardized tests and reduce its importance in rating schools and districts.
HB 1333 is one of several this session aimed at limiting the high stakes of standardized testing across the state.
The House is expected to soon hear a bill that would radically change the proposed A-F accountability system to be more palatable to educators, who do not want their ratings tied to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams. And the Senate could pass a bill as soon as this week allowing students who fail required exams to graduate by submitting alternative coursework to a committee of teachers and administrators.
HB 1333, proposed by Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, would slash the number of required state tests from 22 to 17, allow districts to choose their own test providers with state oversight, reduce the weight of the state STAAR exam when rating schools and districts, and allow districts to use national exams as alternative tests with federal approval. It would also disallow using student test scores to evaluate teachers.
“Students and educators are stressed — and rightfully so — preparing,” Isaac said Tuesday. “Taking the 22 exams required by state law steals valuable time from the children we are preparing to become the next leaders of our state and nation.”
Monty Exter, who represents the Association of Texas Professional Educators, said he supported most of the components of Isaac’s bill — but not the provision that would let districts across the state use different tests.
Standardized tests are useful to compare data between different districts, especially when it comes to disadvantaged groups of students, he said.
Texas Aspires, a nonpartisan group that lobbies for increased testing and stricter accountability for schools, organized a few parents and teachers to testify against Isaac’s bill.
Stefanie Garcia, a teacher in Keller ISD, said her students failed the STAAR exam because they had not absorbed the content and were not on track to move up a grade level. “Before, no one noticed that they could not really read and write,” she said.
Weakening the system that holds educators and schools accountable for student learning would mean more students would slip through the cracks, she said. “Because that failure actually mattered, now they are ready to graduate,” she said.
Molly Weiner, director of policy for Texas Aspires, argued Isaac’s bill would cut out standardized tests in subjects that are important for measuring student growth. “For the system to work, we need objective comparative data and it must be weighted heavily in our accountability system,” she said.
A State Board of Education survey in 2016 showed parents, teachers, students and business leaders agree state test results should not be tied to high school graduation or promotion to the next grade level. Instead, they want test scores to be used to see where specific students need more support.
The House Public Education Committee passed a bill to overhaul a proposal to give schools and districts grades between A and F, to try and get educators on board with the accountability system.
The Texas Senate Education Committee heard Tuesday from supporters, and a few critics, of a bill that would make permanent a 2015 law that allows students to graduate even if they haven’t passed their required exams by going before a graduation committee.
Disclosure: The Association of Texas Professional Educators has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/04/25/house-panel-hears-teachers-proposal-decrease-testing/.
This entry was posted in Legislative Update, Press Coverage, Testing and tagged ATPE, education, house, House Public Education Committee, Jason Isaac, legislative update, legislature, Monty Exter, press, SBOE, STAAR, teachers, testing, Texas Tribune on April 26, 2017 by admin. - Leave a reply
From The Texas Tribune: Texas Senate passes private school choice bill
Editor’s note: This story has been updated throughout.
Texas senators spent hours on Thursday questioning how a “private school choice” bill would hold private schools accountable or help students with disabilities before voting to give it final passage, 18-13.
They voted out a floor substitute of Senate Bill 3 that limits the scope of the two public programs proposed to subsidize private school tuition. The version passed by the upper chamber would limit eligibility for the programs to students who have attended a public school for at least a year, prevent incoming kindergarteners from participating and would exclude counties with populations under 285,000 from participating unless 5 percent of registered voters petition the county for access.
The changes seemed directed to appeal to rural legislators with constituents who have fewer options for public schools and to those with concerns about the state costs of a major subsidy program.
“Basically, what we’ve done with this floor substitute is narrow it,” said Senate Education Committee Chairman Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, author of the bill. “We didn’t add things. We took things away.”
Republican Sens. Kel Seliger of Amarillo, Joan Huffman of Houston and Robert Nichols of Jacksonville voted against the bill along with almost every Democrat. Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, was the lone Democratic vote in favor.
SB 3 would create two public programs subsidizing private school tuition and homeschooling expenses. The first program, education savings accounts, would give parents access to online accounts of public money to pay for private school tuition and other expenses. The current version of the bill would cap the size of an education savings account by family income, so that a family of three making more than about $75,000 could not participate. (The previous version of the bill would have allowed families of any income to participate in the education savings account program.)
The second would be a tax credit scholarship program, letting businesses credit their insurance premium taxes in exchange for donations to approved scholarship organizations. The current version of the bill would cap that program at $25 million in the next fiscal year, instead of $100 million in the previous version.
The current version would also require that 75 percent of funding for each program be dedicated to paying for tuition and the other 25 percent for education expenses, such as tutoring and special education services.
Taylor said the bill in its current form would save $55.3 million by 2022 because under the program, the state would be paying just 75 percent of the cost to educate each public school student who decides to take a tuition subsidy for a private school. Only students already enrolled in public schools would be able to access the program, meaning the state would be paying less for each student who moved from public to private school, he said.
Left-leaning policy organization Center for Public Policy Priorities released its own fiscal analysis on Thursday showing the bill would cost the Texas public school system more than $500 million per year.
“As many senators mentioned today by citing CPPP’s analysis, Senate Bill 3 is still undeniably the wrong solution for Texas kids because it would drain state dollars from already under-funded public schools,” executive director Ann Beeson said in a statement after the vote. “Instead of shifting our tax dollars to private school tuition, the Legislature should remodel our outdated school finance system.”
In calculations for previous versions of the bill, the Legislative Budget Board estimated a cost to the state of between $90 million and $330 million; Taylor did not release the new fiscal note to the Senate before taking up the bill.
Most of the almost four-hour debate revolved around whether private schools would be held to state standards and whether the bill would actually help students with disabilities.
Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, offered up an amendment to require private schools to be held accountable to the state’s A-F rating system, which will soon be in place for public schools. Taylor argued parents would leave any private school that was not working for them, representing a strong accountability system outside of the state.
“I understand Sen. Taylor saying accountability is with the parents,” Rodriguez said. “But we’re not getting to the core of what people would like to see when it comes to these types of programs.” Taylor rejected his amendment, and it failed 13-18 in a subsequent vote.
Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, successfully amended the bill to require letters be sent to parents who take the subsidies for private schools, letting them know private schools are not required to serve their students with disabilities under federal law. Taylor agreed to that change.
The bill now goes to the House, where House Public Education Committee Chairman Dan Huberty, R-Houston, has said it will die.
Read more Tribune coverage here:
Legislative staffers Tuesday received a one-page report detailing changes to Senate Bill 3, which would exclude rural counties from participating in the private school subsidy programs and limit overall participation.
In a 7-3 vote, the Senate Education Committee passed a bill that would create two public programs subsidizing private school tuition and homeschooling expenses.
Tuesday’s Senate Education Committee debate on private school subsidies lasted more than seven hours and saw experts on both sides arguing they knew best how to educate black and Latino Texas students.
Disclosure: The Center for Public Policy Priorities has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors is available here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/03/30/senate-school-choice-bill/.
This entry was posted in Legislative Update, Press Coverage, Vouchers and tagged Dan Patrick, education, Larry Taylor, legislative update, legislature, press, privatization, senate, session, Texas Tribune, vouchers on March 31, 2017 by admin. - Leave a reply
From The Texas Tribune: Analysis: A window into who Texas legislators’ favorite employees are
Lawmakers want to stop deducting dues for union and non-union employee associations from state paychecks — but only for the employees they disagree with.
State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, the chairwoman of the Senate State Affairs Committee, listened to testimony during a Sept. 14, 2016, committee meeting. Photo: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
The union dues bill is a great example of the difference between an ideological piece of legislation and a case of lawmakers just picking favorites.
Texas allows state and government employees to deduct the dues for their unions and employee association from their paychecks — an automatic payment that improves collections and retains members for those groups and that saves the employees the trouble of writing checks or sending payments every month. It doesn’t cost the state anything; the groups that benefit pay the processing costs.
The governor had a line about stopping the practice in his state of the state speech a few weeks ago. The lieutenant governor put Sen. Joan Huffman’s legislation against the practice on his list of priorities, giving it a low number — Senate Bill 13 — and a fast ride through the process. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted it out on Thursday. The full Senate will get the next look. Two years ago, similar legislation passed in the Senate and then died in the House at the end of session.
Republicans like the bill, and it’s not hard to figure out why. It zings teacher and trade unions that often favor Democrats, and it’s a crowd-pleaser for conservative audiences. Groups like the Texas branch of the National Federation of Independent Business favor the legislation, too, saying the dues checkoff enables their legislative foes and has no public purpose.
Legislators are selective in their scorn: Some public employees are easier to kick than others.
But the bill wouldn’t end the practice of allowing public employees to pay their dues automatically through a payroll deduction — a detail that undermines the argument that this is about unburdening state and local payroll clerks.
Like the legislation that failed two years ago, Huffman’s bill would allow police, fire and emergency responders to keep their payroll deductions in place. Teachers would be cut out, as would prison guards, social workers and other public employees.
Lawmakers who don’t think the state ought to be collecting dues for employee unions and associations would be voting to end the practice. On the other hand, if you just want to bust unions and associations that tend to vote for the other party, outlaw it for them but leave your own supporters alone.
It’s a modern spoils bill, rewarding public employees thought to support the people in charge and punishing dissenters.
State law already prevents payroll deductions for political purposes — the union and non-union associations collecting these dues can’t use that money for the political action committees or for other political expenses. But the groups frankly admit that without the automatic payments, they’d lose some members. They like painless payments for the same reason streaming media companies and other subscription services like them: If people don’t have to write checks or consider payments every month, they’re more like to remain enrolled.
The debate is coming earlier in the session this time around, increasing chances that lawmakers will hear a full argument on the merits before the end of the session.
The exceptions could be the most interesting part of the fight. Instead of a straight-up argument over whether and when public workers should be allowed to sign up for payroll deductions for this or that, this is shaping up as a debate over which public workers should have the privilege — a debate over good eggs and bad eggs.
All lawmakers like first responders and want to be seen as supporting them. They all love education but some of them don’t like teachers, especially when they form groups that lobby on their behalf. Lots of lawmakers have remarkably low regard for their own employees, the workforce they deride as the bureaucracy.
When the session is over, voters will have a good look at how those groups rank with their lawmakers. Even if the dues bill passes, Texas will still have payroll deductions for union and non-union employee groups — but only for the groups that have found favor with or that are feared by the people in elected state office.
This isn’t about the paychecks. It’s about the politics.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/02/17/analysis-window-who-texas-legislators-favorite-employees-are/.
This entry was posted in 85th Legislature, Payroll deduction, Press Coverage and tagged Dan Patrick, education, Greg Abbott, Joan Huffman, payroll deduction, press, senate, session, teachers, Texas Tribune on February 17, 2017 by admin. - 1 Reply
From KUT: Texas Education Groups Encourage More Students, Teachers to Vote
By KATE GROETZINGER & KATE MCGEE
Austin ISD Superintendent Paul Cruz chatted with six Reagan Early College High School students as they gathered at the ACC Highland Mall campus’ early voting center on Monday afternoon to cast their ballots on their way to class. The students are among 1,963 young adults in AISD schools that are age 18 or older this month.
“I can say that it’s important to vote, and people are going to say ‘That’s an old guy, right?'” Cruz said to the students. “But, if they hear you saying it, I think it’s a different message. Don’t you think?”
The students, who take classes at ACC through their high school, recorded a video with Cruz while standing outside the polling place to encourage other students their age to go to the polls. The video is part of a concerted effort Cruz’s office has made this fall to educate students at AISD schools about the importance of exercising their right to vote. The superintendent’s office plans to share the video on the AISD Twitter account and Facebook page to reach students in a new way.
“In all of our high schools, we have individuals who help students and families understand about voting. It’s something we’ve done for many years,” Cruz said. “This is to use different mediums that students are used to now. It’s just another approach to get the word out.”
Reagan Early College High School Academic Director, Jesse De La Huerta, says many students find the voting process intimidating
“Every time I talk to students who are becoming of-age to vote, it’s scary. They’re like, ‘What if I don’t know what to do? What about this? What about that?’” De La Huerta said.
Teachers at Reagan quell students’ concerns about voting by answering these questions in government classes at Reagan, De La Huerta says. They enthusiastically accepted the challenge from the superintendent’s office this year to talk more to their students about the importance of voting, he said.
AISD Superintendent Paul Cruz poses with students outside of ACC’s Highland Mall campus during an AISD voter awareness event.
CREDIT MIGUEL GUTIERREZ JR. / KUT
But education groups across the state say teachers also need encouragement to vote, and they want school district superintendents to create a culture of voting on campuses – an effort called Texas Educators Vote.
“When people vote, they often have an issue in mind and it’s not usually education,” said Laura Yeager, the director of Texas Educators Vote. “These are educators who vote and then they often get to school and say, ‘Gee, why aren’t they funding our schools?’ and ‘Why am I only teaching testing?’ and ‘Why are all these things happening?’ And we’re trying to link the issue that’s important to them with their vote.”
The group includes the Association of Texas Professional Educators, the Texas Association of School Boards, the Texas Rural Education Association and others. Yeager says she and some others got the idea after the last legislative session.
“We were bemoaning how hard it was to get good public education passed, but we had done a pretty good job stopping some bad legislation,” she said. The idea, Yeager adds, is to educate teachers and hope that education trickles down to students and other school employees.
“We can get them to research and think about who actually supports public education,” she said. “Get them educated, and then encourage the culture of voting for students, educators, bus drivers and custodians and, really, everyone working in Texas public schools. Maybe we’d get to elect people that really did support public schools.”
The group doesn’t endorse any candidates, but encourages teachers to educate themselves on who is running and their views. They also suggest schools provide incentives to teachers to vote through school-wide contests or mini prizes for those who wear an “I Voted” sticker.
“You could go down in history, you could be that person who says later, ‘I voted for the first female,’ if that’s the case, or whatever the case may be,” De La Huerta said.
Last month, Austin School Board trustees approved a resolution to encourage Texas educators to vote.
While this message seems to be inspiring at least some students at Reagan, they may have to do a little digging to figure out how to vote on their own. Celeste Vasquez, one of the students featured in the video, said she used the internet to figure out how to register to vote.
“My government teacher talked to me somewhat about the procedure, but mostly about the importance of voting,” she said. “I pretty much learned how to do all the other stuff on my own through websites. I figured out step by step what I needed to do, one step at a time.”
This story was produced by KUT in collaboration with the Annette Strauss Institute’s Lebermann Forum. It was originally published by KUT and reprinted with permission. View the original article and listen to audio here.
This entry was posted in Election, Press Coverage, voting and tagged ATPE, education, election, press, superintendents, Teach the Vote, teachers, Texas Educators Vote, voter registration on November 4, 2016 by admin. - 1 Reply
From The Texas Tribune: Eleven Texas school boards ordered to the classroom
Houston ISD trustees admonish TEA for delaying campus turnaround plan implementation. Graphic by Todd Wiseman / The Texas Tribune
The superintendents and elected school boards of 11 Texas districts — including Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth — have been ordered by the state education agency to attend two-day training programs to learn how to fix their failing schools.
Deputy Commissioner of Education A.J. Crabill sent letters to the 11 school boards Oct. 10 saying they need additional governance training because their districts submitted unsatisfactory plans for turning around floundering campuses. All 11 superintendents and boards have agreed to the training, with several members expressing frustration about what they saw as an unfair and vague request.
The letters were sent about two months after TEA released 2016 accountability ratings showing that 467 campuses statewide — including 42 in the targeted districts — were labeled “improvement required,” a decrease from 603 campuses last year. The notices were sent to Brazosport, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Hearne, Houston, Lubbock, Midland, Nacogdoches, Tyler and Waco.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has promised to crack down on low-performing schools and to halve the number of failing schools over the next five years.
State law requires districts to submit detailed plans in the spring to fix problems at schools labeled “improvement required” for two or more consecutive years. The districts are supposed to include parents and the community in drafting the proposed fixes.
Morath has the final say on approving the plans — by mid-to -late June, according to a TEA timeline — so districts can start implementing them the following school year.
But for the 11 school districts, that implementation will have to wait until board trustees and superintendents attend a two-day, 24-hour governance training session.
In the letters, Crabill said he wasn’t sure the plans the districts submitted would address problems — including low test scores, low graduation rates, high dropout rates, and poor college readiness — within two years. The training sessions will help trustees identify and fix weaknesses in their plans, the letter said.
“While I don’t have a problem with training, I do have a problem with a demand that I implement what it is we are going to be trained on, when I don’t even know what it is.” — Joyce Foreman, Dallas school trustee
If Morath decides not to approve a plan, he can replace the board of trustees, replace the principal of a school or shut the school down completely, Crabill wrote.
Houston Independent School District’s board of trustees told Crabill it will likely vote to attend the training. But it also admonished the agency for leaving little time to actually turn around its schools. The commissioner said he would respond to the plans in June, and now may not approve them until trainings are completed in December.
“Our ability to make significant changes to the plans for these seven schools at this date may be somewhat limited,” the Houston board wrote Oct. 25. “Since TEA has missed its own published deadline for responding to the turnaround plans by four months, we ask that you provide us with specific concerns that TEA may have with the plans for these seven schools, so that we may begin considering how to make any appropriate adjustments in a way that will cause the least disruption during the school year.”
At an Oct. 27 Dallas Independent School District board meeting, a few trustees said the request for training was too vague.
“While I don’t have a problem with training, I do have a problem with a demand that I implement what it is we are going to be trained on, when I don’t even know what it is,” said trustee Joyce Foreman. “We need to know the specifics of what is wrong. We need to know specifics about the training. We need to know specifics of why these eight schools.”
The commissioner did approve campus turnaround plans in other districts around the state, TEA spokesperson Lauren Callahan said. She could not say what the difference was between those plans and the ones the commissioner flagged.
After receiving a flood of questions from district officials across the state, Crabill included a few key explanations in a follow up email to all 11 superintendents. He slashed the training from four days to two, after trustees said it was too hard for them to fit into their schedules. He presented six different dates and locations for the training, in Kilgore, Waco, Fort Worth, Midland, El Paso and Houston, on weekdays and weekends between Nov. 9 and Dec. 17.
All trustees and superintendents from all 11 boards must attend the entire workshop, Crabill said.
“This is a team event so just like in other team events, the whole team has to win together. Completion means that all trustees and the superintendent were present at the same workshop for the entirety of the workshop,” Crabill wrote.
Though all 11 boards have agreed to attend the training, it is not clear whether all trustees will show up.
A veteran Lubbock board trustee said he voted yes to the resolution agreeing to training – but now he’s not sure whether he will actually attend. He called the demand for governance training “unprecedented” in his 14 years on the board.
He said he is not sure whether he can get away from his day job for two 12-hour days. Districts have to cover the cost of any travel required for board members to attend the training session.
TEA does not have a plan in place in case board members don’t show up, Callahan said. “So far, TEA is receiving confirmation that board members will attend and complete the training. As a result, discussions on failure to participate have not been necessary,” she wrote in a statement Tuesday. “Any talk of penalties is premature.”
Read related Tribune coverage here:
Education Commissioner Mike Morath on Tuesday outlined plans to crack down harder on chronically low-performing schools, saying he wants to cut in half the number of them that end up on the state’s failing list over the next five years.
More Texas school districts and charter schools are failing in 2016, though the number of individual campuses that received that label decreased.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2016/11/02/tea-demands-district-training-delays-turnarounds/.
This entry was posted in Accountability, Press Coverage, TEA and tagged A.J. Crabill, accountability, Commissioner Morath, Commissioner of Education, education, Mike Morath, press, school board, superintendents, TEA, Texas Tribune, turnaround on November 2, 2016 by admin. - 1 Reply
From The Texas Tribune: Speaker Joe Straus calls for immediate special education overhaul
Oct. 26, 2016 5:18 PM
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus is shown at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 19, 2016. Alana Rocha / The Texas Tribune
House Speaker Joe Straus urged the Texas Education Agency Wednesday to immediately overhaul its system for identifying students in need of special education services.
Straus sent a letter to Commissioner Mike Morath Wednesday to suspend or adjust its use of a TEA benchmark related to how many special education students schools can serve. A recent Houston Chronicle investigation determined Texas schools had arbitrarily denied tens of thousands of students special education services to comply with a TEA benchmark that only 8.5 percent of students get special education services. TEA officials told the Chronicle that the 8.5 percent guideline was not used as a cap to keep disabled students out of special education.
“It will be a priority for the Texas House to make special education services available to all students who need them, while also ensuring that schools do not identify students for special education when it isn’t appropriate,” Straus’ letter reads. “The House will work with TEA to find the right balance. But in the meantime, students should not be denied the services they need.”
This entry was posted in Press Coverage, special education, TEA and tagged Commissioner of Education, education, house, Joe Straus, legislature, TEA, Teach the Vote on October 27, 2016 by admin. - Leave a reply
From The Texas Tribune: Count of Texas registered voters eclipses 15 million mark
by Alex Samuels, The Texas Tribune
The Big Conversation
A record-breaking 15 million Texans are registered to vote in the upcoming November election, the secretary of state’s office announced Thursday.
As the Tribune’s Alex Samuels reports, this figure amounts to 78 percent of the state’s voting-age population and more than 1.3 million additional registered voters from four years ago. Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state, previously told the Dallas Morning News that the spike in registered voters could be attributed to high interest in the 2016 presidential election cycle.
In Texas, the margin separating Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is shrinking. A WFAA/SurveyUSA poll released Thursday found Trump beating Clinton 47 percent to 43 percent — which falls within the margin of error.
As the Tribune’s Patrick Svitek reports, Trump’s polling numbers have been decreasing after the release of a 2005 clip showing him making lewd comments about women, and the 4-point margin may be Trump’s smallest lead in Texas yet.
Travis County voters cast ballots at Travis County Tax Office on Feb. 25, 2016.
This article has been edited for length. It originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2016/10/14/brief/.
This entry was posted in Election, Press Coverage, voter registration and tagged election, press, Texas Tribune, voter registration on October 14, 2016 by admin. - 1 Reply
From The Texas Tribune: Analysis: A Game of Chicken Between Texas, Its Biggest School District
Voters in Texas’ biggest school district in Texas might do what the nine Republicans on the state’s Supreme Court wouldn’t do: Force the Legislature to overhaul the way it pays for public education.
Such a move would require some daring. Voters in the Houston Independent School District will have a choice in November to approve spending $165 million raised locally from school property taxes on other, poorer school districts in the state.
The ballot language is opaque, and a pretty good argument for improving the writing skills of the people in charge of state and local governments: “Authorizing the board of trustees of Houston Independent School District to purchase attendance credits from the state with local tax revenues.”
The actual choice presented by that ballot measure? Vote “for” spending $165 million of the district’s money in other districts, or vote “against” spending that money and risk taking $18 billion of the district’s commercial properties from the tax rolls and assigning them to the tax rolls of another district.
A “No” vote in November — urged by many of the HISD’s trustees, the city’s mayor, and others — would spark some political drama.
About one Texas school district in four spends some of its locally raised money to help educate students in districts that can’t raise enough money from their own tax bases. It’s called recapture by the policy wonks, but because it takes from “property rich” districts and gives to “property poor” districts, it’s more commonly called the Robin Hood system.
When a district’s voters refuse to go along — something that hasn’t happened — the Texas Education Agency is required to move part of that district’s property tax base to another, poorer district.
The agency obviously doesn’t move the real estate, but it would assign some of one district’s biggest commercial property taxpayers to pay taxes in another district. The law gives a preference to closer districts.
In HISD’s case, a “no” vote would mean taking an estimated $18 billion in property from that district’s rolls. The TEA would start with the most valuable properties and work its way down until it has taken away enough property to cover the $165 million or so that HISD owes under the Robin Hood system.
Houston’s biggest commercial property taxpayers would be paying taxes in another school district — and they could be asked to pay at a different tax rate up to 15 cents higher than what they’d be paying in HISD.
It means that some school taxes — those used to pay borrowing debts — would probably rise for the taxpayers left behind. The district still has to pay what it owes even with $18 billion pulled out of the tax base. The taxpayers left behind would pay more.
The commercial taxpayers are mobilizing against being moved to a tax roll in another district where they might not own any property. The Austin-based Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, which represents many of them, is warning policymakers of the consequences, both to the departing taxpayers and to those left behind.
So, one might ask, why would anyone in HISD cast a vote that could result in higher tax bills for every taxpayer now in the district?
Because they think the Texas Legislature will blink.
Some of Houston’s political leaders think the combination of big, angry taxpayers and a multitude of incensed voters will be enough to force state lawmakers to rework the formulas used to pay for public education and to make sure each district in the state has a reasonably equal financial foundation for its schools.
So, one might ask, why would anyone in HISD cast a vote that could result in higher tax bills for every taxpayer now in the district? Because they think the Texas Legislature will blink.
“I’m counting on the business community to step up,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “And I’m counting on conservatives, too. This would be a redistribution without the consent of the people. I have not found one elected official, including the trustees themselves, that is advocating a yes vote on this deal.”
If he and others are right, Turner’s former colleagues in the Legislature might take on school finance.
The system is unfair and broken — so much so that half of the state’s districts went to court to try to force an overhaul. The Texas Supreme Court agreed in a May ruling that the financing schemes are “byzantine” and “imperfect” but said the system is not unconstitutional. At the same time, the court’s opinion suggested lawmakers should enact “transformational, top-to-bottom reforms that amount to more than Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid.”
Cool idea, but Texas lawmakers simply don’t make major reforms to school finance — this is something that arises every decade or so — unless their hands are forced by the courts.
Or, perhaps, by a game of chicken with taxpayers and voters in the state’s largest school district.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2016/09/26/analysis-game-chicken-between-texas-its-biggest-sc/.
The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
This entry was posted in Funding, Press Coverage, School Finance and tagged appropriations, budget, education, election, funding, Houston ISD, lawsuit, press, recapture, school board, school finance, tax, TEA, Texas Tribune on September 27, 2016 by admin. - 2 Replies
From The Texas Tribune: Amid STAAR Upheaval, Panel Working on Fixes
by Kiah Collier, The Texas Tribune
As displeasure with Texas’ standardized testing regime mounts, all eyes are on a special panel the Legislature created last year to figure out whether to scrap the widely reviled STAAR exam.
The 15-member Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability, scheduled for its second-to-last meeting Monday, has been studying alternatives to the high-stakes tests, which state law requires 5th and 8th graders and high schoolers to pass to move to the next grade level or to graduate. The panel includes a diverse mix of educators, elected officials, business leaders and anti-testing activists.
Its work couldn’t be better timed, with parents and school officials up in arms over wide-ranging problems reported with this spring’s STAAR administration — issues that prompted Education Commissioner Mike Morath on Friday to waive the requirement that 5th and 8th pass the tests to move on to the next grade. The panel first convened in January, the month after Congress passed a new federal law giving states far more freedom to determine what their testing and accountability systems should look like. And many educators, parents and elected officials agree that major overhauls are necessary, even if they don’t entirely agree on what they should be.
Commission members have expressed high hopes for devising meaningful changes to a system that assesses students and holds them and schools accountable. Many view that system as unnecessarily stressful, overly punitive and developmentally inappropriate. Their recommendations are due to Gov. Greg Abbott and the Legislature by Sept. 1.
“I really am excited about the potential for this,” said commission member and Senate Education Committee Chairman Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, in an interview ahead of the panel’s April meeting. “It’s really a varied group with a lot of different experiences and backgrounds on there, and it’s what I had envisioned as far as having a meaningful dialogue of stakeholders that bring their own perspectives to it and try to come up with some type of consensus.”
Teacher, school and parent groups also have been excited by the opportunity to make big changes. But some say their hope for revolutionary reform has waned over the months — particularly after the panel’s May meeting, when members struggled to hammer out a list of recommendations. Several panelists said it will be crucial to make progress at Monday’s meeting, as they are set to finalize their guidance at a meeting in July.
Monty Exter, a lobbyist for the Association of Texas Professional Educators, said it quickly became clear after the panel’s first monthly meeting that it was not looking to eliminate statewide testing and that it would likely keep STAAR, or something like it, in the lower grades.
“I do think they will reach consensus around some areas,” he said. “I don’t think that it’s probably going to be groundbreaking.”
The federal government has required states to assess students in grades 3 through 8 annually and once in high school since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 — at least if they want to receive federal funding. Many other states are also tinkering with their testing plans amid pressure from parents to reduce testing time and make the overall experience less taxing.
The commission has coalesced around some larger concepts, such as the importance of accounting for improvement in student scores; that exams should be more developmentally appropriate and diagnostic rather than summative; and that there should be multiple different measures of student performance with consequences for poor outcomes falling more heavily on teachers and administrators than on students. But they have struggled with specifics, getting hung up on recommendations that would cost districts a lot of time or money or pose other problems.
Scott Placek, an Austin-area lawyer representing a group of parents who recently sued the state over STAAR, said they are concerned by the interest panelists have expressed in having a series of smaller assessments throughout the year rather than one big, end-of-year exam. (Education Commissioner Mike Morath also has expressed support for the concept.)
“Some of the things that have been discussed in terms of more continual assessment, more data-driven assessment, you know, it’s concerning to parents who I think believe the system is already too data-driven,” said Placek, adding that his own son struggled with STAAR.
“I think that parents were initially very supportive of the idea of re-examining assessment,” he added. “I think as the work of the commission has gone on, that’s sort of shifted to caution and suspicion.”
Read More Parents Sue Texas Education Agency Over STAAR Exams
Comal ISD Superintendent Andrew Kim, the panel’s chairman, said he’s tried to remind the panel that many of the things under discussion — including smaller, diagnostic assessments throughout the year — have been tried and rejected before.
“This is a very complex topic,” he said. “There’s not, in my opinion, one silver-bullet solution that’s going to meet the needs of various constituents out there in our state, and … it probably merits further discussion going forward even beyond the commission.”
He also said that there’s a desire among educators to not “throw the baby out with the bathwater” or risk overcorrecting the problem.
Taylor, too, said he’s “not huge on reinventing the wheel.” Still, he foresees a potentially “massive” impact from the commission’s work, including possibly getting rid of the five end-of-course exams high schoolers are supposed to pass before they can graduate and instead using an exam like the SAT or ACT. Nearly half of all states now require students to take either of these two college entrance exams in lieu of, or in addition to, some other type of test, according to a 2015-16 Education Week survey.
“I don’t want this to just be an exercise of what ifs,” Taylor said.
Panel member Theresa Treviño, president of the influential anti-testing group Texans Advocating For Meaningful Student Assessment, said the recommendations the panel will make “are probably not as grand as I would have hoped” but that she still thinks they will make an impact.
“I think it’s going to be more than a tweak, which is what I was really afraid of,” she said. “I’m hoping that with this next meeting we can sit down and hammer out those recommendations that could make a bigger difference and they don’t have to be huge.”
Commission member and outgoing House Public Education Committee Chairman Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, said striking an appropriate balance has been challenging but that he thinks the commission will produce recommendations to “get rid of some of the craziness” that has created such a stressful testing environment, including some high-stakes provisions.
Even if the panel does recommend big changes, some teacher and school groups worry they may fall victim to House-Senate gridlock next year, with leadership already publicly butting heads over public education priorities.
“The work of the commission will have a challenging road ahead of it in the 85th session,” said education lobbyist David Anderson.
“There’s not, in my opinion, one silver-bullet solution that’s going to meet the needs of various constituents out there in our state, and … it probably merits further discussion going forward even beyond the commission.” — Andrew Kim, Comal ISD and panel chairman
Last week, after House Speaker Joe Straus directed representatives to study improvements to the state’s school funding system, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — a vocal school choice proponent — issued a news release that praised Straus’ move but also said it “must be packaged with education reform.”
Amy Beneski, a lobbyist for the Texas Association of School Administrators, said that even if the recommended changes are smaller, they still could make a huge difference.
“The bottom line is, the majority of people I’ve ever talked to aren’t happy with the current system, and that’s not going to change,” she said. “We’re just going to have to keep plugging away. This is hard work.”
Disclosure: The Association of Texas Professional Educators and the Texas Association of School Administrators have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/11/amid-staar-upheaval-panel-working-fixes/.
This entry was posted in Accountability, Press Coverage, Testing and tagged ATPE, Commissioner Morath, Commissioner of Education, Dan Patrick, education, Federal, Greg Abbott, interim charges, Jimmie Don Aycock, Joe Straus, Larry Taylor, Mike Morath, Monty Exter, NCLB/ESEA, No Child Left Behind, press, STAAR, testing, Texas Association of School Administrators, Texas Tribune on June 13, 2016 by admin. - 2 Replies
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3327
|
__label__cc
| 0.689889
| 0.310111
|
USATT Videos
Insider E-Newsletter
History of USATT
USA Champions
2019 US National Ranking Homepage
Rules News & Info
2019 USA Hopes Tour
Tournament Guide
2019 US National Championships
Coaches and Officials
Coach Certification and Courses
Referee and Umpire Information
Coaches List
Umpire & Referee Search
Coach of Year Program
USA Club Championships
Youth Portal
National Centers of Excellence
USATT League Program
Colleges (NCTTA)
USATT Tournament Guide
Club Development Handbook
Tournament Director Info
Regional Centers of Excellence
Para Home
2019 US Para Team and Coaches
2019 Selection Criteria
High Performance News and Updates
National Team Coaches
Selection Procedures
New ITTF Olympic and Pan Am Eligibility Requirements
2019 TTTeamUSA Male National Team Group
2019 TTTeamUSA Female National Team Group
USATT
Directors and Officials
Minutes & Actions
SafeSport Information
About USATT
46-Day Countdown to Change in the ITTF's Presidency
By Sheri Cioroslan | July 17, 2014, 5 p.m. (ET)
Day 46, July 17 - Steve Dainton’s Journey to Becoming the ITTF’s Director of Marketing
“It has always been my passion and driving force to bring more resources to our sport.”
Today Steve Dainton, the ITTF’s Director of Marketing, speaks to the Countdown about his passion: commercializing, popularizing and growing table tennis.
What was your introduction to table tennis?
My father was one of the top players and the president of the club in the town I grew up in, a medium-sized Australian town named Albury on the border of New South Wales and Victoria. At first when I was a young boy I wanted to beat everyone in my family on the garage table. What happened was that I eventually joined the club, later became club champion, then club head coach, and even had a small stint as Club President. It’s basically all due to my Father, who by the way at 66-years-old, is still an active and top player in that same club today.
What is your background in marketing?
I studied it at the University. And, to be frank, it has always been my passion and driving force to bring more resources to our sport. The more resources we generate, the more we can help develop and grow our sport. If the economy is strong, just like a country, the more you can do to support the people within it.
As an adult, you have made a career in our sport: first at Table Tennis Australia, then with the Oceania Table Tennis Federation and finally with the ITTF. Can you tell us about that pathway?
How to make this concise …
As an Australian, I never expected to make a career out of table tennis, no matter how much I would have dreamed of it. The opportunities for table tennis in Australia are just too limited, but somehow I managed to find a way.
My first table tennis job was with Table Tennis Australia in 1999. Through my coaching in Albury I had produced several State and National Junior Champions, but it was still a major surprise when I was selected as a Scholarship Coach in Table Tennis Australia for the Australian Institute of Sport where there were young future coaches from numerous sports. Glenn Tepper was on the panel of those who had chosen me. It was quite an exciting time with the Olympics in Sydney fast approaching.
During my time as a Scholarship Coach, Glenn was in charge of the ITTF’s Development Program. He began with setting up the Oceania Development Pogram, then the scope of his work expanded to being the worldwide Manager. At that point, he needed someone to take over the Oceania Development activities. He asked me in 2001, but I personally felt I needed to finish my University degree (which I already had put on hold to take the Scholarship), so I politely declined.
Since I was not 100% sure how far my table tennis passion would take me in the future, I felt it was important to finish my degree in Marketing and International Studies (including studying Chinese language and half a year exchange in Beijing) in Adelaide, Australia.
The day I finished my studies, while I was still in Beijing, I received an email from Glenn asking me if I would be interested to be the Oceania Table Tennis Development Officer now that I had completed my studies. Although I had some other job offers at the time, as a young guy it would have been crazy to refuse – a chance to learn more about the world while continuing my passion for table tennis. I stayed in the position for close to 3 years until an article appeared on the ITTF Website (http://ittf.com/stories/Stories_detail.asp?ID=5959&Category=&General_Catigory=General&)
For me this looked like the perfect opportunity. An office in China (I had learnt Chinese), the World Championships in Shanghai just around the corner and a chance to further my career in table tennis, all in the country most famous for table tennis and one which fascinated me. It was Glenn who would be my help again, but in a different way. It had been suggested to him that he take charge of the office because his wife was originally from Shanghai. Luckily for me, he and his wife were not looking to move to China. So I jumped at the chance. I emailed the ITTF President, and told him that I was his guy for the Shanghai Office. Fortunately, he and then ITTF Executive Director Mr. Jordi Serra agreed, and after a fair bit of screening, the rest is history so they say.
As you’ve already mentioned, you are fluent in Mandarin Chinese. There must be an interesting story behind that.
During my time as a Scholarship Coach, I had my first chance to travel outside Australia. It was then that I realized how isolated we were as a country. I was even surprised that everyone didn’t speak English. I spent some time in Sweden where people spoke English along with various other languages, and some time in China where I could see the young people trying their best to learn English. It dawned on me that I shouldn’t expect everyone to be able to speak my language, and that if I want to understand the world a little better then it would be good to learn another language. It was natural for me to choose Chinese. Why? My first trip to China made me fascinated with the country. I could see the country becoming a powerhouse in the future. Plus, they were also the “kings” of the sport I loved. So, it made sense to learn Mandarin Chinese.
Speaking of China, I remember in 2006, I was in Shanghai with an American delegation celebrating the 35th Anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy. President Sharara suggested that we drop in at the ITTF office to pay you a visit. Back then, it was kind of like a “one-man shop.” Now you have relocated the ITTF Marketing Program to Singapore. What size staff do you have there and how does the office function?
We started small in China by helping with the World Championships in Shanghai as an intermediary between the key ITTF staff and the Local Organizing Committee, and in general to support the title sponsor, Volkswagen. After that we kept working with Volkswagen. We were looking at ways we could support TMS to grow its Chinese portfolio and help them with any events in the region. A relationship was formed with several regional TV networks and eventually some Chinese brands sponsoring table tennis events.
In 2011, after 6 years in China -- 3 in Shanghai and 3 in Beijing -- we decided to move the office to Singapore. It was also just before this time that I was promoted to ITTF Marketing Director. With the move to Singapore, it gave us a chance to reorganize ourselves and, in more recent years, we have brought Media and Marketing closer together, slowly but surely integrating Media into our team. The Equipment Manager and Coordinator also operate out of Singapore, so we are currently a team of nine.
Basically we are a young team, passionate to see how we can further commercialize, popularize and grow table tennis.
Many people do not clearly understand the differences and similarities between TMS and ITTF Marketing. Could you clarify how the two “entities” function in tandem?
Yes, it’s quite simple. Like all companies, the Marketing Department is there to ensure that the products are as good as they can be, given internal and external factors, for the sales team to sell. TMS is therefore the sales team. More specifically the ITTF Marketing Department is responsible for:
Branding ITTF activities;
Working with the various departments to see how the events can be improved from a commercial point of view, i.e., Product Development;
Analyzing the performance of our events – especially within the media to see how we perform and therefore to see how we can improve;
Working with our various “non profit” programs to see how we can bring them more finances – i.e., Dream Building (CSR);
Assisting our members to help them further understand the marketing potential of their activities – especially currently focused on our Continental Marketing Agreements; and
Managing the relationship with TMS.
And TMS is responsible for:
Selling the commercial rights on behalf of the ITTF, as follows:
TV rights
Digital Rights – Streaming, Data, Website, etc.
So basically it’s the ITTF Marketing Department’s job to ensure that the products we sell to our Marketing Agency, TMS, are as easily “sellable” as possible. This is the same way it would function in any large corporation.
Why it may seem more connected than the above is because there are so many synergies in what ITTF Marketing and what TMS does, that more often than not we are helping each other achieve the goals of each organization. Anders Thunstrom, Managing Director of TMS has always guided me with excellent and experienced advice. We have also helped in our work to bring some partners to TMS, especially in Asia (which is ultimately to the ITTF’s benefit). So the relationship between us is really a win-win situation.
Thank you very much, Steve. Tomorrow let’s continue our visit and further address the ITTF’s marketing strategies.
47-Day Countdown to Change in the ITTF's Presidency July 16, 2014
National Team Info
USATT Financial Reports
USATT Headquarters
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3328
|
__label__cc
| 0.733381
| 0.266619
|
Transform how you engage and collaborate with your communities
Wednesday03Jul 2019
Guest Blog: Paul Clarke, Esri UK explores how developments in GIS technology are transforming data driven citizen engagement while driving down costs.
The complexities of the challenges facing local authorities cannot be underestimated. From the burgeoning demand for adult social care to the increasing pressure of delivering services, it’s becoming harder for local authorities to balance the books. Meanwhile central Government has made transparency and Open Data a priority to foster accountability, efficiency and spark economic development.
As we now have the technology that makes it possible for organisations to present data quickly, securely and in a format that’s easy to understand, citizens have the unprecedented ability to interact with that information. People expect to connect to government through apps, websites, community engagement dashboards and social media, and the doubling of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests over the last decade clearly demonstrate increasingly active engagement.
It’s not surprising when we consider the very nature of communities themselves; no-one cares more about a community than the people who live there. Citizens actively participate in making their community a better place to live in and this human interaction goes hand in hand with the rise of the internet which has provided a platform for immediate access to information, people and places.
Transforming data driven citizenship
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are already used extensively across the public and private sector, including central and local government, in both the back office and improving people’s access to frontline services. Recent advances in GIS mean that local authorities can build on existing systems and develop a powerful digital engagement platform that rallies communities around issues and initiatives, and apply data to decision-making to create more efficient, liveable, sustainable, smarter communities. The digital platform is effectively a GIS Hub, which also enables local authorities to create value from Open Data while connecting internal departments and external stakeholders to issues and initiatives they care about.
When we look at FOI requests, most are for information that is not publicly available or searchable, missing key efficiencies and highlighting the need for increased automation. Using a two-way digital engagement platform, local authorities can now build quick-to-set-up Open Data portals that give citizens free access to important data, supporting cost-efficiencies through channel shift, while meeting Open Data/transparency obligations.
Engagement and collaboration
Many local authorities will have high profile projects that have a specified need to engage and collaborate with citizens and external stakeholders. For example, there may be a need to communicate the breadth, scope and ambition of a redevelopment. GIS Hub technology can be deployed to demonstrate a geographical representation of project timelines, locations and proposed scenarios from which a core data set can be used to inform communications and consultation strategies.
If we look at how GIS supports a regeneration project, it provides a means of engaging and consulting with citizens and gives the local authority a better understanding of peoples’ needs, views and aspirations. Local authorities can also spur participation in the community and harness volunteers to digitally sign-up to initiatives from projects to improve the quality of the local environment to encouraging volunteer drivers to sign-up, giving help to people with no access to transport.
Understanding GIS Hub technology
Undoubtedly developments in GIS are transforming data driven citizen engagement while driving down costs. A two-way digital engagement platform can transform the way in which local authorities engage with communities, inform citizens of key initiatives and offer compelling ways for the public to provide feedback.
If you would like to find out more please join Esri UK’s webinar on July 23, which will include first-hand experience from customers including Cheshire East Council and RSPB, showcasing the power of Esri’s ArcGIS Hub. To discover more and register, simply click here.
Paul Clarke, ESRI UK
HR Solutions - Supporting Mental Health at Work...
Adopting a Digital First Approach and Transitioning to True Cloud...
Cloud migration: the problems with ‘lifting and shifting’ data...
Unlocking the trapped value in cloud...
Strategic Adoption of Cloud Services in the Public Sector...
The Power of Connected Data in Driving Transformation...
The Challenges of Cloud Native Development...
AI, Tell Me Should I Go AI?...
Interoperability in the Cloud – Why should I care?...
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants - Cloud First Blockchain Adoption...
Meet the Public Sector Tech Innovator...
The development of tech must be driven by purpose...
Diversity as a driver of business growth...
What can we learn from the debate about the NHS-Amazon collaboration?...
Realising the ambitions of the Digital Declaration...
Transform how you engage and collaborate with your communities...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3331
|
__label__wiki
| 0.989445
| 0.989445
|
Taking On a Lake-Eating Monster in East Texas
RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Caddo Lake, often called Texas’s only honest lake, is under siege by a fast-spreading, Velcro-like aquatic fern.
UNCERTAIN, Tex., July 25 — How this one-time steamboat landing on Caddo Lake got its name is, well, uncertain — as uncertain as the fate that now clouds this natural wonder, often called the state’s only honest lake.
With more submerged acreage than Minnesota, Texas has just 166 bodies of water commonly considered lakes. All but one of them, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, are artificial reservoirs, most created in the 1950s to fend off drought.
Now that one, Caddo Lake, a mystical preserve of centuries-old mossy cypress breaks, teeming fisheries and waterfowl habitats, is under siege by a fast-spreading, Velcro-like aquatic fern, Salvinia molesta, also known as Giant Salvinia.
In what East Texans here liken to a horror movie, the furry green invader from South America, which is infiltrating lakes in the American South and abroad to growing alarm, is threatening to smother the labyrinthine waterway, the largest natural lake in the South, covering about 35,000 acres and straddling Texas and Louisiana.
“It’s probably the most dire threat that the lake has ever faced, and we certainly have had more than our share of threats,” said Don Henley, the drummer, singer and songwriter of the Eagles, who grew up in nearby Linden, keeps a double-wide trailer on Caddo Lake and has put his celebrity and fortune behind efforts to preserve it.
The United States Geological Survey calls Salvinia molesta one of the world’s most noxious aquatic weeds, with an ability to double in size every two to four days and cover 40 square miles within three months, suffocating all life beneath. The plant is officially banned in the United States, but it is carried from lake to lake by oblivious boaters, to the point where some private lake communities now limit access to boats already there.
“It’s your classic 1950s drive-in-movie-monster plant,” said Jack Canson, director of a local preservation coalition and a former Hollywood scriptwriter who, under the pseudonym Jackson Barr, co-wrote a B-movie plant thriller, “Seedpeople,” released in 1992.
On Tuesday, Mr. Canson and six local waterway and community officials gathered around a table here to trade sightings of the weed and plan how to spend $240,000 appropriated by the Texas Legislature. “I started to put down yellow markers,” said Robert Speight, president of the lake association, showing a map stuck with yellow pins. But he said he gave up: “I ran out of yellow.”
With most of the growth spreading unchecked on the Louisiana side, where Texas residents say the authorities have been preoccupied with Hurricane Katrina recovery, local advocates raised $35,000 for a two-mile net, put up in June, to seal off Caddo Lake’s more contaminated eastern half.
“We just stuck our necks out,” said Paul Fortune, a contractor who has lived his whole life on the lake. “We just did it.” But propagating leaves still float through gaps left open for boats, and are spread by the boats themselves.
In one area of Louisiana, along a thicket of cypresses called the Big Green Brake, the Salvinia has already grown out into the lake as a luminescent green crust over the water. “It’s at the stage where it starts to lose its eerie beauty and starts to look like a real monster,” said Mr. Canson, the prow of his motorboat poking cracks in the matted covering like an icebreaker. Even flamethrowers have failed to kill it, he said. And beetles that devour the plant elsewhere die in the Texas cold.
Now chemical weapons have been thrown into the battle.
Mike Turner, a burly boat mechanic who calls himself part of the “Caddo Navy,” has set aside his business to go out daily in his small boat for $25 an hour to spray Salvinia infestations with a government-approved herbicide mixture of diquat and glyphosate and surfactants to make it stick to the leaves.
“It gets in the water hyacinth and it hides, like it’s a thinking animal,” said Mr. Turner, removing the surgical mask that protects him from the chemicals.
“I’m finding stuff that was not there two days ago,” he said, mopping his brow in the rising morning heat. He said he felt the task was hopeless at first and considered moving but changed his mind. When he was born 40 years ago, he said, his parents dipped his feet in the lake, and he did the same 12 years ago with his newborn daughter, Patte.
“I’m trying to preserve this for her and her grandchildren,” Mr. Turner said. “Who we are won’t mean a lot a hundred years from now; it’s what we leave behind.”
Ken Shaw, chairman of the Cypress Valley Navigation District and a retired paper executive with a home and boat on Caddo Lake, said that no matter what, he too was there to stay. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” Mr. Shaw said. “If Salvinia takes over, so be it.”
There is a lot to preserve, historians say. The only natural lake in Texas, perhaps augmented by a blockage of the Red River in the late 1700s or early 1800s, was home to the Caddo Indians said to have given Texas its name — tejas was their word for friend. The lake was once part of a navigation system that carried steamboats up the Mississippi River from New Orleans and along the Red River as far inland as Jefferson, Tex. The difficult landing here may have given Uncertain its name. A replica paddle-wheeler, the Graceful Ghost, now chuffs through the sloughs carrying tourists.
After Texas was founded in 1836, the lake became an outlaw haven so violent that two groups of warring vigilantes — the Regulators and the Moderators — fought each other to establish order, as chronicled in “Caddo Was...,” a published account by Fred Dahmer, a native of Uncertain, who died in 2001. A pearling business from the abundant mussels flourished here, and in defiance of county dry laws “beer boats” slaked local thirsts. Lady Bird Johnson was born in nearby Karnack where her father, Thomas Jefferson Taylor, ran a general store. And Howard Hughes Sr. tested his revolutionary rotary oil drilling bits on platforms in Caddo Lake.
The lake has long been called one of Texas’s best-kept secrets for its mirrorlike reflections of moss-draped cypresses along 88 miles of marked boat “roads,” bald eagle sightings, alligator haunts and prize fishing: a 500-pound bony fish called an alligator gar was once netted here and another, not much smaller, was caught on a rod and reel. Y. A. Tittle, the former star quarterback, keeps a lake house here with a cabin on the dock, Mr. Fortune said, where he can pull up a trap door and fish from inside.
Well before the Salvinia threat, Mr. Henley, having underwritten an effort to protect historic Walden Pond in Massachusetts, came home to Caddo Lake in the early 1990s to fight plans to dredge a transport canal that he called ruinous. On that victory, he and a lawyer-friend from Aspen, Dwight K. Shellman Jr., founded the Caddo Lake Institute in 1993. They were crucial in getting most of an 8,500-acre decommissioned Army ammunition plant turned over to the federal Fish and Wildlife Service for a Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge in 2004, although decontamination work at the site is continuing.
Some local businessmen who had pressed for an industrial park instead were further outraged when the Caddo Lake Institute formed a coalition in 2001 with other local groups concerned about protecting the lake under guidelines of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, a conservation treaty signed in 1972 in Iran. Mr. Henley was denounced as a United Nations tool — “kooky stuff,” he called it — but the discovery of Salvinia in Caddo Lake last year overshadowed everything else.
“We spent years here fighting politics, “ Mr. Turner said. “Now it’s Mother Nature.”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3335
|
__label__cc
| 0.636656
| 0.363344
|
Rags to Riches - Oli Fowler (Signed by the artist)
Edition number 15 16 17
Artist: Oli Fowler
5 layer CMYK process screen-print
315gsm Heritage white
Oli Fowler is an artist who specialises in screen printing and graphic design. He grew up in Kimpton, Hertfordshire and moved to London in 2000 to study fashion and textiles at Central Saint Martins. More recently, he received a BA in Graphic Design from Camberwell College of Arts.
Oli’s artistic practice spans across various forms of graphic art and design, including printmaking, illustration, photography, and photomontage, and he frequently combines these different mediums in his creative process. He values experimentation from the earliest stages of work and bends the rules of printmaking, allowing for chance and deliberate mistakes to give direction for the finished piece. When screen printing, Oli often uses tape and stickers to break down the composition, and plays around with patterns, textures and photographs to create density of imagery. His dynamic, abstract compositions are characteristic by their use of sharp shapes and pure CMYK colours.
Apart from occasionally experiencing a sudden impulse to draw the odd robot or two, Oli is interested in all things nostalgic, colourful, futuristic, and is an obsessive collector of prog and jazz rock.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3337
|
__label__wiki
| 0.690507
| 0.690507
|
The Rarely Used Congressional Power That Could Force William Barr’s Hand
It hasn’t been done in nearly a century, but House Democrats could arrest the attorney general after they find him in contempt.
Russell Berman
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat on the House Judiciary CommitteeJ. Scott Applewhite / AP
Updated at 4:32 p.m. ET on May 8, 2019.
Impeachment is Congress’s most famous, yet rarely exercised, power over wayward presidents and other federal officers. But as Trump-administration officials continue to defy House subpoenas related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Democrats in control of the chamber could turn to an even blunter weapon in their arsenal: arrest.
Courts have recognized that the House and Senate each have the authority to enforce their orders by imprisoning those who violate them—literally. They can direct their respective sergeant at arms to arrest officials they’ve found to be in contempt and bring them to the Capitol for trial and, potentially, jail. Congress hasn’t invoked what’s known as the “power of inherent contempt” in nearly a century, but the escalating clash between two co-equal branches of government has Democrats talking about moves previously deemed unthinkable.
“Its day in the sun is coming,” Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland told me by phone on Tuesday. Raskin, a second-term Democrat and former constitutional-law professor, sits on the House Judiciary Committee, which on Wednesday approved, on a vote of 24–16, a resolution finding Attorney General William Barr in contempt for his refusal to give Congress the full, unredacted Mueller report. As lawmakers met to consider the move, the White House carried out its threat to assert executive privilege over the document.
The contempt resolution now goes to the full House, where it will likely clear on a party-line vote with the backing of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who announced on Wednesday morning that she supported holding Barr in contempt. From there, Democrats would have three options to force Barr’s hand: They could refer the matter to the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., who would decide whether to launch a criminal prosecution of his own boss, the attorney general. Democrats could turn to the courts to enforce the subpoena. Or they could take matters into their own hands and call their sergeant at arms. Raskin himself brought up the arrest option when I asked him how far this confrontation could go, even as he acknowledged that not many members of the House were aware of that particular congressional power, much less supported its use.
The debate over how congressional Democrats intend to defend their constitutional prerogative to oversee the executive branch extends beyond Barr; Donald Trump’s administration is challenging the House’s authority across a range of areas, from the Ways and Means Committee’s bid to get the president’s tax returns from the IRS to the Judiciary Committee’s request to hear from both Mueller and one of his key witnesses, former White House Counsel Don McGahn.
“This is not some peripheral schoolyard skirmish,” Raskin said. “This goes right to the heart of our ability to do our work as Congress of the United States.”
Still, Democrats have been reluctant to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump for fear that they would backfire politically. Would they really send the House’s sergeant at arms down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Department of Justice with instructions to haul the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer to the Capitol, in handcuffs if necessary? House Republicans made no such effort after they voted to hold then–Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt in 2012 over his refusal to turn over documents connected to the “Fast and the Furious” probe.
In our interview on Tuesday, I spoke with Raskin about the Judiciary Committee’s confrontation with the Trump administration over subpoenas and the bubbling debate within Congress over impeachment. Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Russell Berman: If the House does vote to pass the resolution to hold Barr in contempt, where would it go from there?
Jamie Raskin: Well, first of all, at that point the contempt finding is complete. In other words, that goes on his permanent record, as you might say. He has been held in contempt of Congress, meaning in contemptuous or contumacious defiance of a lawful order of Congress, okay? So at that point, contempt is complete. However, we still need to enforce the contempt resolution in order to obtain compliance with the subpoena. There are different ways of doing that. There could be a criminal prosecution, but given the object of the resolution, there might be a problem getting the U.S. attorney to act forcefully and with dispatch. But we also have the power to go to court.
We also have the power—and I should say I’m speaking for myself here, because I don’t know how many people I’ve been able to convince about this—but we do have the power to exercise the so-called inherent powers of contempt of Congress. It was ruled in the 19th century, in a case called Anderson v. Dunn in 1821, that Congress has the power to enforce its own orders. Just as a court can enforce its orders, Congress can enforce its orders. And in the 19th century, Congress had the sergeant at arms arrest and detain people until they complied with lawful orders of Congress. And we would have the power to fine people who were out of compliance with the law. So that provides another avenue.
Berman: If it got to that point, do you think the House would have the attorney general arrested by the sergeant at arms?
Raskin: Well, the vast majority of the Judiciary Committee, much less the House itself, are just not aware of this process. So it’s just premature to be talking about it. But, you know, its day in the sun is coming. We will educate people about the power of the House to do it. The executive branch is acting in categorical bad-faith contempt of Congress. This is not like a dispute over one document or the timing of the arrival of a particular witness. This is the president of the United States ordering the executive branch not to comply with the lawful requests of Congress.
The Supreme Court has emphasized that Congress has the power of inquiry and investigation. This is essential to our lawmaking function. We have a responsibility to research how the current laws are working and what conditions are that might require legislative changes. We also have a specific power, the Supreme Court has emphasized, to investigate corruption, self-dealing, fraud, waste, and abuse in the executive branch of government. So, you know, this is not some peripheral schoolyard skirmish. This goes right to the heart of our ability to do our work as Congress of the United States.
Berman: From your point of view, would you personally support and advocate this move, which in modern times is unprecedented, to have the attorney general arrested by the sergeant at arms? Would you personally advocate that?
Raskin: Well, no, nobody has advocated that specifically. But I just want to make sure that we have all instruments on the table, and we should be aware that Congress has inherent powers of contempt that can relate to fines, orders, as well as arrests. But I, you know, nobody’s calling for that at this point.
Berman: Is there a risk that if the president does resist all of these attempts by the House to conduct its oversight, and if he wins in the courts, that it would actually set a new precedent for executive authority? That he could end up not only skirting oversight himself, but that, through court rulings, it could end up that the presidency itself winds up with more power?
Raskin: Well, it’s definitely been suggested by a number of people that the president has succeeded in packing the courts, including the Supreme Court, to the point that they essentially are part of the White House political operation. I hope that this is not the case.
In any event, we know that the executive branch is acting in categorical defiance of lawful orders of Congress for information. And whether or not we can get the Supreme Court to agree with us in this or that case is irrelevant to that broader judgement. We will decide, as the House of Representatives did when it drafted the third article of the Nixon articles of impeachment, whether President Trump has been acting in an unlawful way to obstruct the work of Congress.
Look, the obstructionism that was canvassed so methodically by Special Counsel Mueller in his report came leaping off the pages and right onto our doorstep and into our committee rooms. The president has been obstructing us with the same kind of vigor and zeal that he obstructed the special counsel.
Berman: Do you expect that the Judiciary Committee will follow this same process for each of the potential refusals to comply? Barr also refused to appear before the committee. Do you expect a second contempt process to begin if he continues to refuse to testify, and then would that same process also apply to McGahn and anybody else who refused to testify?
Raskin: Well, let’s broaden the question. The president essentially is trying to pull a curtain over the executive branch of government, and to systematically thwart and defy the will of Congress. The word on the street is that they are begging for an impeachment, and they think this is the proper way to get it. And I just want to say about that: If we are going to impeach the president, we are going to do it on our own schedule and at our own pace. We are not going to be pulled into it just by a series of provocations from the president.
In our last two Judiciary meetings, I counted Republicans invoking impeachment a dozen times. If they are so eager for impeachment and they think the time is right, they should go ahead and introduce impeachment articles on their own. Otherwise, they’re going to have to trust our strategic and constitutional judgments.
Berman: Lastly, there has also been the suggestion that Barr should be impeached himself. Is that a path you could see the House going down, or is the contempt path the better one?
Raskin: Well, there are certainly members calling for the impeachment of William Barr, and it is likely that he has committed high crimes and misdemeanors supporting and advancing the president’s project of obstructing Congress in doing its work. So that becomes a strategic question of what we’re going to do in order to get to the truth that is in the Mueller report and to defend our constitutional system of government. And I can’t say that any of those judgments have been made yet.
Berman: You mentioned the Supreme Court and the president’s ability to install conservative judges more broadly. Is it possible that Trump will just win this fight—that the courts might just rule in his favor?
Raskin: I find it hard to believe that the courts have been so corrupted by Donald Trump already that they would completely abandon the rule of law. But we live in a time where nothing is normal. Let’s hope for the best, be prepared for the worst, and go fight like hell for the Constitution.
Russell Berman is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers politics.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3339
|
__label__cc
| 0.709166
| 0.290834
|
/ Personal Finance
/ Taxes
How to Use the New Tax Law to Boost Your Retirement
The new tax law created a passthrough income tax deduction of 20% on qualified business income. Here's how to use it.
TheStreet Guest Contributor
Updated Mar 8, 2018 8:11 AM EST
Original: Feb 25, 2018
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, going into effect this year, casts a wide net of changes to current tax law, and with that comes planning opportunities.
Since by now you've probably already given up on those New Year's diet resolutions, let's see if there are some areas you can focus on to reinvigorate those financial resolutions to pay dividends for years to come.
Some Itemized Deductions Are Out
Most people will say they are deducting their tax preparation fees, but that's not correct. Even though self-preparation programs ask the question, it usually didn't get deducted due to the required threshold to trigger a deduction having to be greater than 2% of your adjusted gross income, or AGI.
In the new tax law, the miscellaneous itemized deductions have been eliminated. The elimination of this deduction will greatly affect occupational workers with unreimbursed employee expenses such as sales personnel, airline pilots, flight attendants, truckers, and retired taxpayers who are deducting investment management fees. The strategy for the latter is to pay your investment management fees for all your accounts from your non-retirement account, to push you above the 2% threshold.
Of course, there was an argument to be made about whether deducting IRA management fees by paying for them outside of the IRA itself was beneficial or not, and the answer was based on one's individual circumstances. But now, with the elimination of the deduction for investment management fees, that argument is a moot point; the deduction is no longer available. It's now time to shift out of autopilot and have a conversation with your adviser and custodian about whether you should have your IRAs start paying their own way again, because those dollars are essentially tax-free -- they've never been subject to taxation in the first place. And while you are at it, take the time to review all those autopilot phone app and magazine subscriptions you've been meaning to cancel as well.
Passthrough Income? Yes, Please
The new tax legislation created a passthrough income tax deduction of 20% on qualified business income, or QBI. A lot of guidance and regulation is yet to come on this new provision in the code, but there are some items we do know that you can take advantage of with a little previous planning. To sum it up quickly, a lot of the more complex provisions won't apply if your taxable income is less than $315,000 for taxpayers filing jointly, and this is where we'll be focusing. The words "taxable income" are important. That's not the usual adjusted gross income that you're used to hearing. The taxable income amount will come after your standard or itemized deductions are taken, essentially meaning that your total income could be a bit higher than the $315,0000 limit to take advantage of this deduction.
But how would a retiree or pre-retiree take advantage of this 20% deduction? Often, employees switch to consultative work as opposed to a traditional full retirement. This consulting income will most likely be eligible for the deduction if you are structured as a sole proprietor, partnership, or even as an S-Corporation. Regarding LLCs, they don't have their own tax structure and can choose which type of taxation they want. The default for a one-person LLC is to be taxed as a sole proprietor. So, let's look at an example to see how someone transitioning from retirement to part-time consultative work can really rack up some deductions.
Jane Smith recently retired but is now doing some part-time consulting for the company from which she retired, and a few other companies. Jane nets $50,000 from her consulting work, and her husband nets $100,000 from his employment. The first thing Jane does is set up a solo 401(k) for herself, since she still doesn't need the income. She sets aside $18,500 plus $6,000 (catch-up) as a deferral from income. Now she contributes a maximum profit share to herself of $9,294 (which for a self-employed person ends up being 20% after an adjustment for self-employment tax). Since those 401(k)/profit sharing deductions aren't business deductions, but rather deductions from her 1040 (unless future regulations are passed that stipulate otherwise), her passthrough qualified business income deduction would be another $10,000. The big picture equates to over $43,000 in deductions on $50,000 of income -- almost 88%. To take it a step further, let's say John defers the maximum $24,500 to his 401(k) plan. John and Jane are both 65 or older, so in addition to the new $24,000 standard deduction, they also get an additional $1,300 deduction each. Here's the high level:
John's Income
Less John's 401(k)
Jane's Income
Less Jane's 401(k)
Less Jane's Profit Share
Less Jane's Passthrough Deduction
Less Standard Deduction
Less Elderly Deduction
Income Subject to Tax
Total Deductions
In that example, they brought $150,000 of income down to $55,106 -- a 63% reduction. But now you may be asking, what if I don't have this consulting opportunity? Are there strategies for me to reduce my taxes with this new law? Well the good news is that REIT dividends, and most likely income from rental properties on Schedule E, will be eligible for the 20% passthrough deduction as well. I say, "most likely," because the income from the directly-held rental property could be ruled ineligible in future regulations, but most tax professionals are interpreting it to be included at this point in time.
This now gives you two more homework items: 1) Increase the rents on your property that you've been meaning to do for years now, and 2) spend a little time on asset location for your portfolio by making sure you have tax efficient assets such as REITs and stocks that receive preferential treatment in your brokerage account, and tax-inefficient assets that produce ordinary income in your retirement accounts.
Maximizing Roth IRAs
Things are often better when Congress doesn't act, and in this case, IRAs were mostly left alone. While Congress did eliminate IRA recharacterizations, easier explained as a "do-over," they left the known backdoor Roth strategy unscathed. When your adjusted income is too high (starting at $189,000 in 2018 for joint filers), you become limited on your ability to make Roth IRA contributions.
The current strategy is to contribute to a regular IRA without taking the deduction, and then eventually converting that IRA to a Roth with zero to minimal taxes. When doing this, make sure to let your tax preparer know, as form 8606 will be required for the non-deductible IRA contribution. I've seen a popular retail tax preparation software in the past not handle this situation correctly.
The catch is if you currently have any IRAs in your name, you can't cherry pick a specific IRA for this strategy. And this includes SEP and SIMPLE IRA plans as well. The fix? An IRA is exactly what the acronym stands for: Individual Retirement Account. Going back to John and Jane, if their income is above the threshold, but Jane rolled over her old employer's 401(k) plan to an IRA, this would not be a good strategy for her. But that doesn't mean that John couldn't take advantage if he didn't own any IRAs since the presence of Jane's IRA, even on a joint return, won't affect the strategy for him. There's still a ray of hope for Jane though. Depending on the custodian of her 401(k), she could do a reverse rollover, where she transfers her IRAs to her 401k, leaving her with zero IRA assets. Now that she's cleaned her hands of traditional IRA monies, she could investigate implementing the backdoor Roth strategy, allowing them to shelter an additional $6,500 each in Roth IRAs.
The good news for John and Jane is that in my original example their income isn't above the Roth contribution limits. It's now down to $55,106, which, due to their proper planning affords them about $22,000 they can trigger in long-term capital gains at a zero percent tax rate. Now they can take $13,000 of those proceeds (or $26,000 if they didn't contribute last year) and shift those from their brokerage account to fund their Roth IRAs. Since they've just sheltered more assets from future taxation, they can celebrate with a glass of champagne, or get back to that original resolution of going to the gym.
About the author: Joe Clemens, CFP, EA, is a founding partner of Wisdom Wealth Strategies and has taught tax and financial planning as an instructor for the College for Financial Planning. His practice revolves around helping clients turn the complexities of tax and finance into simple and actionable steps to reach their goals. Wisdom Wealth Strategies, LLC is a registered investment adviser offering advisory services in the states of Colorado and California, and in other jurisdictions where exempted. Clemens is also a member of the FPA of Colorado.
This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.
Personal FinanceTaxesTax Tips
More from Taxes
As U.S. Trade Deficit Widens, Trump Proves Loser at Own Game
When it comes to his oft-stated goal of reducing the U.S. trade deficit, President Donald Trump isn't winning. The current account deficit - a broad measure of the trade balance that also encompasses some investment flows - has averaged $48.9 billion a month so far in 2019, roughly 17% higher than in 2016, the last full year before Trump took office.
Bradley Keoun
What Is an Ad Valorem Tax?
The ad valorem tax is mostly levied as a property tax, and it could be substantial. That's why you need to know how it works.
Brian O'Connell
What Is a Statutory Employee?
Perhaps you've heard the term "statutory employee." Here's what it means and how it might save you a bundle.
What Is an Inheritance Tax?
Only a handful of people will ever pay taxes on estates and inheritances. Here's how it works.
Create a Tax-Efficient Withdrawal Strategy for Retirement Account
Retirement expert Michael Kitces has four simple steps to build a tax-efficient withdrawal strategy for your retirement accounts.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3340
|
__label__cc
| 0.670677
| 0.329323
|
Clint Black and Trace Adkins: 7 p.m. today, Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., Charlotte & 7 p.m. June 6, Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets range from $25 to $200. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.LiveNation.com.
Melissa Etheridge: 8 p.m. today, The Carolina Theatre, 309 West Morgan St, Durham. $59 and up; tickets available through Ticketmaster.
Three Dog Night: 8 p.m. today, Carolina Theatre of Greensboro. $25; $45; $60 and $75. Gala and concert is $300 and orchestra pit seating is $125. CarolinaTheatre.com or 336-333-2605 between noon and 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
Burlington Boys Choir's 60th anniversary spring concert: 7 p.m. Friday, Macedonia Lutheran Church, 421 W. Front St., Burlington. Free, but donations are appreciated. 336-266-5067.
The Jayhawks: 8 p.m. Friday, Haw River Ballroom, 1711 Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Rd., Saxapahaw. Doors open at 7 p.m. $25 in advance and $28 the day of the concert. www.hawriverballroom.com or 336-525-2314.
Gate City Blues Festival: 7 p.m. Saturday, White Oak Amphitheatre at the Greensboro Coliseum, Hanner St., Greensboro. Tickets range from $45 to $85. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.TicketMaster.com.
Tash Sultana: 7 p.m. Saturday, Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary. $35 general admission; $49.50 reserved seats; and $59.50 reserved table seats. www.boothamphitheatre.com.
Jazz Ensemble Spring Concert: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, McCrary Theatre on the Elon University campus. Free.
Bryan Adams: 8 p.m. Saturday, Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre, Charlotte. Tickets are $38 to $113. For more details or to purchase tickets, visit www.LiveNation.com.
Bob Segar: 7:30 p.m. Monday, PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte. $45 and up for each show; tickets can be purchased through www.LiveNation.com.
Elon Electric Ensemble presents Sounds of the '70s: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, McCrary Theatre on the Elon University campus. Free.
Comedian Roseanne Barr: 8 p.m. today, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh. Tickets start at $50 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.
Third annual Kernodle Brothers Tag Team Tournament: 8 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium, 1001 Springwood Dr., Gibsonville. $10 in advance; $15 at the door or $25 for the VIP experience. To purchase tickets, visit http://cwf247.ecwid.com.
Only Believe Movie Event — "Risen": 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Graham Cinema, 119 N. Main St., Graham. Free. For more information visit www.facebook.com/OnlyBelieveEvent.
Alamance County Historical Museum’s Annual Garden Party: 2 p.m. to 4 p .m. Sunday at the home of Sandy and Geoff Russell, 601 Truitt Dr., Elon. Special guest will be landscape architect Chip Callaway. Refreshments and a silent auction will be offered. $35 per person; advance tickets available by calling 336-226-8254. Tickets also will be sold at the home on the day of the tour.
Bill "Sauce Boss" Wharton: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, High Point Theatre, High Point. Tickets are $10 to $15. Attendees are asked to bring non-perishable food donations to support the Greater High Point Food Alliance. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.HighPointTheatre.com.
Red Circle Showcase: 4:30 p.m. today, Center for the Arts, Room 117 (Studio A) on the Elon University campus. Free.
"Man of La Mancha" presented by The Little Theatre of Winston-Salem: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. May 9-11; and 2 p.m. May 12, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), 750 Marguerite Dr., Winston-Salem. Tickets are $24 for adults and $22 for students. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.LTofWS.org.
Western Alamance High School presents "Little Shop Of Horrors": 7 p.m. today through Saturday, Pamela B. Mebane Auditorium at Western Alamance High School, 1731 N.C. 87 North, Elon. $10. 336-538-6020.
Elon University's Department of Performing Arts presents "The 1940s Radio Hour": 7:30 p.m. today and Friday and Monday; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Roberts Studio Theatre, Scott Studios at Arts West on the Elon University campus. $15 or free with Elon University ID. Reservations are recommended and can be made by visiting www.elonperformingarts.com or calling 336-278-5650.
Brian Collins' "Urban Pop Art": Artwork on display now through Friday, Suntrust Gallery, Alamance Arts, 213 S. Main St., Graham. This exhibit coincides with the 61st Visual Arts Student Competition for Young People. 336-226-4495 or www.alamancearts.org/.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3341
|
__label__wiki
| 0.56824
| 0.56824
|
Is Ornithology A Social Science
Films on Demand provides full video access to thousands of video titles in Humanities & Social Sciences, Business & Economics, Health & Medicine, Science.
American Ornithology is a dynamic, joint communication venture of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society (COS) seeking to promote the science of ornithology, recruitment and the understanding, appreciation, and conservation of bird species and their populations.
Wilson became a public figure in 1975 with Sociobiology (Harvard University Press), which argued that social behavior.
Citizen science projects are activities sponsored by a wide variety of organizations so non-scientists can meaningfully contribute to scientific research. Activities vary widely from transcribing old ship logbooks to digitize the data as part of the Old Weather project to observing and counting birds at home or in the field for eBird. Participation can be as simple as playing a computer game.
Zoologists and wildlife biologists study animals and other wildlife and how they interact with their ecosystems. They study the physical characteristics of animals, animal behaviors, and the impacts humans have on wildlife and natural habitats. Zoologists and wildlife biologists work in offices.
Nov 26, 2017. Social aspects of natural history meant that some pursuits were. Most collectors collected 'study skins'—simply prepared specimens that.
A spectacular social and scientific history of ornithology, highlighting controversies and their outcomes as the discipline matured. The illuminations of key figures.
A new study demonstrates that if animal groups are disturbed, this will have an impact on their collective behavior — results may be transferable to other social units. and the Max Planck.
For the research, an international team of scientists used the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s global citizen science database, eBird, to calculate how to sufficiently conserve habitat across the Western.
These citizen science resources were created in collaboration with the American Spring LIVE citizen science partners: Bird Cams Lab and Celebrate Urban Birds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
This is an advanced course in ecology that focuses on species identification, methodology and basic ecology about birds. The course is based on learning the.
Signed, scientists As scientists, we are compelled to write to you, our elected representatives, about the current administration’s proposal to legally define gender as a binary condition determined at birth, based on genitalia, and with plans to clarify disputes using “genetic testing”.1 This proposal is fundamentally inconsistent not only with science, but also with ethical practices.
The research in the Couzin laboratory focuses on revealing the principles that underlie collective animal behavior. Understanding how social influence shape biological processes is a central challenge, essential for achieving progress in a variety of fields ranging from the organization and evolution of coordinated collective action among cells, or animals, to the dynamics of information.
The science of ornithology and the practice of conservation are inextricably connected, a fact acknowledged and addressed by our conference theme, “Birds on.
Testosterone increases availability of carotenoids– Androgens and carotenoids play a fundamental role in the expression of secondary sex traits in animals that communicate information on individual quality.In birds, androgens regulate song, aggression, and a variety of sexual ornaments and displays, whereas carotenoids are responsible for the red, yellow, and orange colors of the integument.
To encourage citizen science participation during the broadcast and beyond, Nature: American Spring LIVE has partnered with the Celebrate Urban Birds and Bird Cams projects (Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
There are no degrees in ornithology and most come to the study of birds. of our own cultural and social development as the crops we have cultivated, the.
The emergence of ornithology as a scientific discipline. links between ecological conditions, behaviour, and social systems.
Common Terns gracefully row through the sky showing off their long angular wings, and breeding season gray belly, black cap, and red bill. They dive towards the water picking off fish just below the surface. The Common Tern is the most widespread tern in North America, spending its winters as far south as Argentina and Chile. They are social birds, foraging in groups and nesting on the ground.
Making Scientific Field Recordings in Ornithology”, in: Trevor Pinch & Karin Bijs. at the Cornell Library of Natural Sounds“, in: Social Studies of Science vol.
The International Journal of Science and Technology is an international premier peer reviewed open access science and technology journal promoting the discovery,innovation,advancement and dissemination of basic and transitional knowledge in science,technology and related disciplines.
Science Action Club makes it easy and fun to lead hands-on STEM in out-of-school time—no experience necessary! Through games, projects, and exciting investigations, Science Action Club inspires youth to explore nature, contribute to authentic citizen science research, and design strategies to protect the planet.
The EGI is particularly well known for its long-term population studies of birds, The study involved analysing social network structure in a population of wild.
"Having distinct multiple color types — a polymorphism — maintained within a species for a long time is extremely rare," David Toews, who studied Gouldian finches as a postdoctoral researcher at the.
Coupon For Evolution Coaching Have a great Evolution Organics coupon code we are missing? Share it with your fellow Bargain Hunters! Submit a coupon. Always have the latest deals? Join our Pays-2-Share program and make money! Learn more. What would you rate Evolution Organics? Save at Related Stores. You are viewing current navigation.com coupons and discount promotions for May
In their paper, Albert Kao, a Baird Scholar and Omidyar Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute, and Iain Couzin, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and Chair. be applied to many.
The experiment is built on new research by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The eBird citizen-science concept emerged over 20 years of trial and error during the rise of social media and the spread.
The participation of birdwatchers in ornithology dates back to before the origin of. Studies on the social impacts of citizen science have found that people who.
Quantum Physics For Poets Baker & Taylor In a book that aims to make quantum physics more accessible to the general public, the authors offer a history of the intriguing science, then look at modern-day ad In his estimation, he has 10,000 — everything from religious texts to quantum physics. In a StoryCorps interview taped this summer in Chicago,
Quality content you can trust, providing access to thousands of titles, with new books added every month. Find out how to subscribe or view the complete title list
Science Gateway Home – The most relevent web site for biomedical research with medline search, journals, textbooks, database
Nov 14, 2018. In some sectors, scientists have been very slow adopters of social media. That isn't true for ecology, and in particular, ornithology (avian.
Like the students I teach, I am a native Spanish Speaker. I was born and raised in Southern California and am Mexican American. I teach 6th-8th grade science at I.S. 347 in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Our school has a transitional bilingual program for native Spanish Speakers. I have been teaching this.
eBird is a global citizen science database of bird observations managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They pooled the results into four categories which Schuetz and Johnston call "cultural niche.
Using data on 77 North American migratory bird species from the eBird citizen-science program, scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology say that, in as little as four decades, it may be very.
When Is Desert Botanical Garden Free For decades, Félix Rodríguez has been determined to leave as much evidence behind about the many sacrifices fighters made in. Children’s garden: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Free admission. www.getty.edu Huntington Botanical Gardens: Specialty gardens. The Huntington Botanical GardensEncompassing approximately 120 acres, the botanical gardens feature 16 stunning themed garden areas. In 1903 Henry E. Huntington
You can find House Sparrows most places where there are houses (or other buildings), and few places where there aren’t. Along with two other introduced species, the European Starling and the Rock Pigeon, these are some of our most common birds. Their constant presence outside our doors makes them easy to overlook, and their tendency to displace native birds from nest boxes causes some people.
Jan 11, 2019. Building social science capacity in the world of bird conservation;. Fish, and Parks, Vicki Martin – Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Lara Mengak.
Geography 0460/12 2019 Past Papers Albany, NY — (SBWIRE) — 04/15/2019 — The demand within the global market for wood. product type, end-use industry, and geography. The relation of the wood chipper machines market to multiple. Darwin To Cairns Road Trip Apr 2, 2012. Would appreciate any advice about whether the trip from cairns to darwin is worth doing and
. a complex endeavor that requires innovative science and technology, a detailed understanding of ecological and social systems, and the ability to implement.
Sep 23, 2014. Jody Enck, a social scientist with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, has been studying how people come to think of themselves as birders.
During the first half of the twentieth century, scientific ornithology finally began. a breeding territory, and other distinct sounds to organize their social system,
angry birds, she's not usually referring to social media and video games. She's probably discussing science. “Birds have calls that they use when they're.
Research by scientists from the the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and other institutions. who also happen to be more dominant in the social.
As the home of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, no other institution of higher. flock of Cornell alumni inspired by birds includes renowned ornithological scientists, with a different mix of science, humanities, and social science opportunities.
Full list of titles. Click here to view a full list of titles currently in Oxford Scholarship Online (OSO). Title lists can be downloaded from each subject browse page within OSO, in either PDF or.xls format.
We believe in the power of birds to ignite discovery and inspire action. Join us on a lifelong journey to enjoy, understand, and protect birds and the natural world.
Tim Birkhead is a professor of zoology at the University of Sheffield and co-author of Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology Since Darwin.
Using an innovative tracking technique, researchers from the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. group-level costs of social instability, Proceedings of the Royal.
The author also emphasizes the scientific, social and cultural importance of museum. worked at Oxbridge during the critical early days of modern ornithology and the biological sciences, and also.
C In Science Word Whizzle Diversity in science is not just for optics. We need scientists from diverse backgrounds in all senses of the word—race. The word is derived. great happening for science and Hawaiian language and identity revitalization.” He said it would help promote the preservation of the Hawaiian indigenous language, which had. Atomic Child Coupon Code Sweeten the
This lesson will teach you about the scientific field of ornithology and how both scientists and non-scientists alike contribute to ornithology.
Jan 09, 2019 · A new study combining data from citizen scientists and weather radar stations is providing detailed insights into spring bird migration along the Gulf of Mexico and how these journeys may be.
Senior author Professor Iain Couzin, from the Department of Collective Behaviour at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. (2017, January 31). Habitat features and social behavior impact how.
ITHACA, N.Y. – An estimated 600 million birds die from building collisions every year in the U.S., and research from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers one explanation. the Leon Levy Foundation.
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science Course Descriptions Biological Sciences Chemistry and Biochemistry Complex Systems and Brain Sciences
Meta Analysis Defined Pdf Meta-Analysis of Moral Reconation Therapy ® Recidivism Results From Probation and Parole Implementations By Gregory L. Little, Ed.D., NCP, LPC Advanced Training Associates Aug 16, 2018 · Both high and low percentages of carbohydrate diets were associated with increased mortality, with minimal risk observed at 50–55% carbohydrate intake. Low carbohydrate dietary patterns favouring animal-derived protein and
Posted in Extracted
Can A Zoologist Work In The Hospital
When Is Desert Botanical Garden Free
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3342
|
__label__wiki
| 0.690904
| 0.690904
|
3Arena
Little Mix - Lm5 the Tour
Compare Tickets
Cheapest Option
Vip & Seating
British four-piece girl group Little Mix, became the first group to win The X Factor in 2011. Throughout their iconic career, the girls have been awarded numerous awards, including one MTV Europe Music Award and two Glamour Awards.
British four-piece girl group Little Mix, became the first group to win The X Factor in 2011. Throughout their iconic career, the girls have been awarded numerous awards, including one MTV Europe Music Award and two Glamour Awards. In 2015, the pop group released their third studio album Get Weird, which was to become their highest charting and best-selling album in the UK to date.
D01 F519
Fri 4 Oct 2019
Amelia Lily
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3344
|
__label__cc
| 0.529708
| 0.470292
|
The Generals Rule Egypt Again
Egypt and its democratic aspirations have been grievously wounded by the swift and severe manner in which the armed forces evicted and jailed Morsi, arrested most of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, killed hundreds of pro-Morsi demonstrators, and then started exerting pressure on the mass media to conform to the generals’ policies.
By Rami G. Khouri
One of the major ongoing debates these days is about the real meaning and consequences of the armed forces’ ousting of the elected government of President Mohammed Morsi in Egypt some three months ago, and the subsequent banning and arrests of the Muslim Brotherhood organization. This is an important debate that touches on the heart of the political realities that millions of Arabs have been struggling, sometimes dying, to define in the past nearly three years of uprisings—namely, whether public power and state authority will reflect the will of the majority and the consent of the governed, or instead will continue to be shaped and wielded by small handfuls of men with guns.
The school of thought that I subscribe to holds that the army’s populist coup marks a severe but temporary setback to the democratic transition that has been moving erratically since January 2011. Egypt and its democratic aspirations have been grievously wounded by the swift and severe manner in which the armed forces evicted and jailed Morsi, arrested most of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, killed hundreds of pro-Morsi demonstrators, and then started exerting pressure on the mass media to conform to the generals’ policies. Not only was this bad enough, but many Egyptians also supported the elimination of the Muslim Brotherhood, including many whom we referred to as liberals in recent years.
I say this is a temporary setback mainly because of how Egyptians behaved several times since January 2011—first evicting Mubarak and his armed forces and crony capitalist regime, and then again insisting in the year to June 2012 that the armed forces turn over power to a legitimately elected civilian government. Those mass and repeated expressions of rejection of military rule were deeply felt political realities that did not reflect momentary whims—they were the result of six decades of military rule that transformed Egypt from a leader of the Arab world and the developing world into a backwater of mediocrity and mass citizen humiliation.
I suspect that in due course we will see the critical reactions of many Egyptians who are now silent or support the armed forces, but who will probably discover that rule by generals was the core of the problems that led so many Egyptians to oust the Mubarak government and start on the path towards democratic and constitutional pluralism. What actually happens in Egypt remains to be seen. It is possible that I am dreaming, and that Egypt’s democratic moment is over.
That, indeed, is the view held by those who feel that the last three months mark the definitive end of the democratic transition in Egypt, and the return of rule by the generals, with only cosmetic gestures to civilian rule. They see the severe crushing of the Muslim Brotherhood as a sign of a fascistic moment that also includes some nationalistic hysteria. This line of thinking despairs of a successful democratic transformation in Egypt, given the ferocity of the armed forces’ treatment of the Muslim Brotherhood and the apparent widespread support for this move among the Egyptian public.
We do not yet have sufficient evidence to know which of these two views of Egypt’s direction is more accurate. It is possible that we may see something in between, akin to the liberalizations that the Arab world experienced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including parliamentary elections, new space for political parties and civil society organizations, and other signs of a peculiar Arab brand of liberalization without democratization. A dashing general may well run for the presidency and win on the strength of having restored order to a land that the Muslim Brothers had driven into disorder and fear.
Millions of Egyptians clearly were humiliated to such a great extent that they rose up in revolt against the Mubarak regime in January 2011. Was the fear of the incompetence and power-grab of the Muslim Brotherhood so great that these same Egyptians would welcome back the rule of the generals, simply to get rid of the Muslim Brothers?
It is very possible that we are seeing how the human need for basic security, jobs, food, gasoline and health and education services is so overwhelming that it takes priority over any issues of rights, freedoms and dignity in the political realm. It is also possible that Egyptians merely want a pause from the chaos of their political transition that the Muslim Brothers mishandled, and they trust the generals to provide that pause, ideally to be followed by a return to the path of forging a real democracy.
Egyptians do not have any other alternative right now. The Muslim Brothers are down for the moment, but they will return in another form. The non-Islamist political forces proved to be as incompetent as the Islamists. The armed forces are the only institution Egyptians trust for basic security. They rule again today, but for how long?
Rami G. Khouri is Editor-at-large of The Daily Star, and Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, in Beirut, Lebanon. You can follow him @ramikhouri.
Copyright © 2013 Rami G. Khouri—distributed by Agence Global
Legitimizing an Underdemocratic Process in Egypt The U.S. government, European governments, and international organizations interested in […]
The New Lineup Choosing Generals, Brothers, Remnants, or Liberals.
Egypt’s Al-Azhar Steps Forward The downfall of Egypt’s elected Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, in July 2013 has not […]
Popular Legitimacy Asserts Itself in Egypt The dramatic developments in Egypt since June 30 will continue to unfold at a brisk pace […]
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3348
|
__label__cc
| 0.585291
| 0.414709
|
The Animal Shelter Debate
The Humane Alternative to PETA's Pet Slaughter—David Frum
Ryan Prior
Romeo Gacad / Getty Images
In the Huffington Post today, Douglas Anthony Cooper outlines the philosophy, methods, and passionate hard work behind the No-Kill movement, revolutionizing animal shelters across America:
And I have determined—I am convinced —that Nathan Winograd's No Kill program is the best thing to happen to the world's domesticated animals in my time. Perhaps ever. It is a genuine revolution, of the sort that it is a privilege to experience: we are living in one of history's rare moments.
To make the commitment to radically decrease the kill rate at an animal shelter is a difficult one, requiring a community of dedicated, hard-working volunteers devoted to the goal. But many communities all across the country and the world are showing that is possible:
The No Kill movement has proven —repeatedly—that it is possible: Shelters that have tried sincerely to adhere to a euthanasia rate of 10 percent or less have been exceptionally successful, as documented here. Entire cities have gone No Kill. Entire counties have achieved this. It has been accomplished in much less wealthy nations than the United States of America.
PETA's standard response to the no-kill movement is that the programs promote hoarding and subject animals to sub-par conditions. While this has been true in isolated cases, these shelters are shut down by regulators and do not adhere to the standards the movement expects. No-kill communities, by definition, must be large-scale community-wide projects pooling the resouces of many. For the full outline of how a program ought to be run, click here.
To qualify as a no-kill shelter, the animal shelter must:
maintain a 90% or better live release rate. That is, 90% or more of the animals that come into the shelter leave it alive, whether they go to an adoptive home, a rescue, or are returned to their owners. More and more shelters are managing to be both open-admission and no-kill, which is a revolution in animal sheltering.
Click here to read Cooper's full story.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3349
|
__label__cc
| 0.540203
| 0.459797
|
Mark Levin Promises to Bring Pelosi's "Deem and Pass" Bill to Court (Video)
Conservative radio show host and author Mark Levin today Neil Cavuto today that he will bring the House “deem and pass” bill to court.
Despite what the state-run media is reporting, the Democrat’s use of the “Slaughter Rule” is unprecedented.
Chip Bennett reported this earlier:
Every legislative bill for which the House has used a self-executing rule in the past has already been considered, debated, voted on, and passed by the House.
In all uses of a self-executing rule, the House has never “deemed” as passed a bill on which it has not yet voted, but rather uses “deem and pass” in order to expedite passage of the Conference Report for a bill that has passed both House and Senate.
Thus, in all such cases, the Congressional record will show the results of the consideration of the bill. What is being “deemed” is merely that bill, as amended in Conference.
The Slaughter rule is unprecedented.
Pelosi did warn us earlier this week: “Kick open that door, and there will be other legislation to follow … We’ll take the country in a new direction.”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3352
|
__label__cc
| 0.65741
| 0.34259
|
Here’s a list of movies and series to watch on Netflix in October 2018
Also Read: Emma Stone's Netflix series Maniac won't get a second season: Here's why!
Movie buffs and Netflix subscribers are going to enjoy the new month of October. In case, you were wondering if there is anything worth-watching in Netflix India, then think twice. The media provider giant is ready to greet us all with some new movies and serials; so trust me when I say this, October is going to be a good month!
Our generations knows no television, all we ever binge-watch is shows and movies on Netflix so aren’t you a little excited about all the new additions they make to their never ending list every month?
It doesn’t matter whether you love Hollywood movies and serials or Bollywood because Netflix are going to make some additions that are going to make you very, very happy! So without further ado, here’s a list of new movies and series to watch on Netflix in October 2018:
Starting with the biggest blockbuster of this year, this Sanjay Dutt biopic will release on Netflix on October 15th, 2018. Helmed by Rajkumar Hirani, the movie features Ranbir Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Paresh Rawal and Anushka Sharma Kohli.
Dev. D
How excited are you to watch Anurag Kashyap’s psychedelic take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas. The movie features Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin and Mahi Gill in pivot roles.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is incomplete without magic; it is incomplete without Doctor Strange. Featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, this MCU film is streaming on Netflix NOW!
Soorma
This recently-released sports biopic swept us all and made us weep. With Diljit Dosanjh as Indian hockey player Sandeep Singh, the movie also featured Taapsee Pannu and Angad Bedi. Hold your breath as it will be available to stream on Netflix on October 21st, 2018!
Kaminey
Shahid Kapoor's double role in this Vishal Bhardwaj’s thriller drama Kaminey was commendable. Well, this movie is already streaming so go watch!
Little Things season 2
Yes, you guessed it right! Netflix wasted no time in acquiring the rights of this famous YouTube web series. The story revolves around an urban relationship of Dhruv (Dhruv Sehgal) and Kavya (Mithila Palkar). The show begins streaming from October 5.
It's always good to go back to your childhood days every now and then, which is why Disney-Pixar’s underwater movie is streaming now!
Now do you agree with me? It’s going to be a good, good October with Netflix!
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3355
|
__label__wiki
| 0.95965
| 0.95965
|
https://www.theintelligencer.com/sports/article/Leonard-quiet-on-future-as-Raptors-celebrate-with-14011793.php
Leonard quiet on future as Raptors celebrate with parade
Ian Harrison, Associated Press
Updated 10:07 am CDT, Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Cheering fans are reflected in the sunglasses of Toronto Raptors' Kawhi Leonard during the team's NBA basketball championship parade in Toronto, Monday, June 17, 2019. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Photo: Frank Gunn, AP
TORONTO (AP) — Fresh off leading the Toronto Raptors to their first NBA title, Kawhi Leonard received the key to the city at Monday's championship parade and rally.
For now, however, the two-way star and two-time NBA Finals MVP isn't saying whether he'll use it to keep a door open or close it behind him and move on.
Leonard spent several days partying with his teammates in Las Vegas and Los Angeles after last Thursday's Game 6 clincher over Golden State, returning to Toronto in time to ride in one of five open-top double-decker buses that carried the Raptors along a crowded parade route.
Police: 4 shot, 2 arrested at Raptors rally
Four people were shot and wounded at a rally Monday for the NBA champion Raptors, and two people were arrested, police said. (June 2019)
Now Playing: Police: 4 shot, 2 arrested at Raptors rallyAD:
A three-time All-Star and two-time NBA defensive player of the year, Leonard is expected to decline the player option on the final year of his contract and become a free agent. Toronto can offer him a five-year deal worth around $190 million, one year and some $50 million more than any other team.
Before stepping on stage Monday for a ceremony in the square outside Toronto's City Hall, Leonard said he hasn't been thinking about his future. Instead, he's trying to extend the celebratory vibe as long as possible.
"I'm enjoying this" he said. "It's not time to stress, it's still time to have some fun. I've just been enjoying my experience."
Toronto celebrates Raptors' NBA championship
Now Playing: Toronto celebrates Raptors' NBA championshipAD:
After two months of playoff basketball, Leonard doesn't have a lot of time left to be a fun guy — free agency gets underway at 6 p.m. Eastern on June 30.
"I'm going to take the right time," he said. "You don't need too many days to figure it out. We'll see what happens. Once that time comes, then we'll all lay the pros and cons out."
Visibly bothered by soreness during stretches of the Eastern Conference Finals against Milwaukee, Leonard declined to say how much pain he endured en route to winning his second career title.
"We're always battling through things," he said. "You know, knee pains, ankles, fingers. Everybody was just grinding it out."
Injured for all but nine games in his final season with San Antonio, Leonard played 60 regular-season games for Toronto and 24 more in the postseason, upping his minutes once April arrived.
While winning the Larry O'Brien Trophy was an obvious success, Leonard said he has enjoyed all aspects of his season north of the border, even the varied Canadian weather.
"It was a good experience, experiencing Mother Nature, all four seasons," he said. "Man, it was a great experience. Everybody off the court was great. The fans, just meeting people in Canada. It's been fun."
Fans chanted "Stay! Stay! Stay!" when Toronto Mayor John Tory presented Leonard with the key.
Later, the festive mood of the event was marred by gunfire. Four people were shot, leading to a stampede. Three people were arrested and two guns were recovered, police said.
Leonard is one of three Raptors starters with uncertain futures. Center Marc Gasol also has a player option, while guard Danny Green is a free agent.
Guards Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet and forward Serge Ibaka are heading into the final year of their contracts.
Ibaka and Leonard have become friends in their time together as teammates.
"I've been talking with him a lot during the season and in the playoffs, but after we won, I can see the man is happy," Ibaka said. "That's the most important. We play this sport because we want to enjoy and have fun and be happy and be somewhere people love you. I'm sure he feels that people here love him, and after this moment, that's the most important."
Lowry attended the parade wearing a game-worn Damon Stoudamire pinstripe Raptors jersey. Stoudamire was the first player drafted by Toronto in 1995 and won rookie-of-the-year honors in 1996. Lowry and Stoudamire were teammates in Memphis from 2006 to 2008.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3356
|
__label__wiki
| 0.913653
| 0.913653
|
How can I watch live sporting events on my iPad without a cable subscription?
Up until recently iPad users needed to log-in with their cable/satellite/telco credentials to watch live sports on their iPad, but networks have started to allow tablet owners to stream larger sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, without a cable subscription. Networks have started to realize that live streaming is an important tool to reconnect with the thousands of consumers who have cut the cord with cable companies. The first Super Bowl was live streamed by NBC in 2012, and CBS and Fox joined in the next two years.
In 2015, NBC decided to use Super Bowl XLIX to promote its new TV Everywhere platform by streaming 11 continuous hours of content. This was also the first year the half time show was live streamed. This will hopefully kick off a trend of more live sport streams in the future.
2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament
Click here for details on how to stream the 2017 March Madness tournament.
Click here to read all the NCAA March Madness live streaming options for 2016. New features include Apple TV support with split screen viewing, a redesigned Game Center and more.
CBS 2015
CBS announced on September 1, 2015 that it will stream "two regular season games, four playoff games, and Super Bowl 50 from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif." for free. The livestreams will be available to anyone, without the need of a cable subscription, on "laptops, desktops and tablets at CBSSports.com and on televisions through select Connected TV devices, including Xbox One, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku® players and Roku TV™ models." The games will include:
New York Jets-Miami in London (Oct. 4, 9:30am ET)
Carolina-Dallas (Nov. 26, 4:30pm ET)
All AFC playoff coverage, including the Wild Card, Divisional, and Championship games
Super Bowl 50 (Sunday, February 7)
HBO's new streaming service provides instant access to sports, comedy and music specials for $14.99 a month (plus HBO shows, movies, documentaries and so on). The service is available through the HBO NOW iOS app, Apple TV and HBONOW.com. It does not require a cable/dish subscription, but it is unknown at this time if customers will be able to stream live events, such as boxing.
Like HBO, Showtime launched its own subscription service for $10.99 a month. Subscribers get unlimited access to original Showtime programming such as championship boxing events. Users can subscribe through the iOS app or through showtime.com.
PGA TOUR LIVE
Watch live coverage of golf’s biggest stars on Thursday and Friday rounds from more than 30 PGA TOUR events annually. $4.99 a month. Supports all devices running iOS 8.0 or later.
App Store Link
The only way to watch March Madness on your iPad or online is through the official NCAA March Madness Live app or at NCAA.com/MarchMadness. Users can only watch the games that air on CBS without a cable/satellite subscription. You will need to log in with your TV provider to watch any of the games that air on TBS, TNT and truTV.
iPad users can stream Super Bowl XLIX on February 1, 2015 without a cable subscription by downloading the free NBC Sports Live Extra app. The "Super Stream" will include NBC’s presentation of Super Bowl XLIX, Katy Perry headlining the Pepsi Super Bowl XLIX halftime show, the Super Bowl XLIX pre- and post-game shows, and NBC’s post-game presentation of The Blacklist.
iPad Streaming
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3357
|
__label__wiki
| 0.988055
| 0.988055
|
Mark Lawrenson states his prediction for Man United v Brighton
The Liverpool FC legend is tipping Manchester United to ease to victory over Brighton in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday
By The Sport Review staff Saturday 17 March 2018, 05:40 UK @thesportreview
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho Photo: The Sport Review
Mark Lawrenson doesn’t anticipate Manchester United “running riot” against Brighton in the FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Devils were 2-1 winners against Liverpool FC at Old Trafford last weekend following Marcus Rashford’s first-half goals.
Manchester United missed out on a place in the Champions League quarter-finals following a 2-1 loss to Spanish side Sevilla.
Wissam Ben Yedder scored twice in the final 16 minutes at Old Trafford to deny Manchester United a place in the last-eight draw.
Jose Mourinho won the Europa League and the League Cup in his first season in charge at Old Trafford following his appointment as Louis van Gaal’s successor in May 2016.
Manchester United will look to make the most of their final shot at silverware this term when the Red Devils take on Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday afternoon.
Former Liverpool FC defender Lawrenson is backing Manchester United to beat Brighton but the BBC Sport pundit doesn’t expect an emphatic win for the home side at Old Trafford.
“It will be interesting to see if there is any reaction against Brighton because the United fans will certainly expect to see one,” Lawrenson told BBC Sport.
“In some ways this is a decent game for them to bounce back in, but I cannot see United running riot, even if they do improve.
“The Seagulls only lost 1-0, via a Lewis Dunk own goal, when they came to Old Trafford in November.
“Chris Hughton’s side were rolled over too easily at Everton last week but they will be well organised and if United to win, they will have to earn it.”
Manchester United signed Chile international Alexis Sanchez in a swap deal from Arsenal in the January transfer window to bolster their squad.
The Red Devils are in second place in the Premier League table.
MORE: Latest Manchester United news and views
MORE: Michael Owen states his prediction for Liverpool FC v Watford
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3363
|
__label__cc
| 0.512172
| 0.487828
|
UN chief hails commitment to Karabakh conflict
PanArmenian.Net
18 Jan 2019, 19:07 GMT+10
PanARMENIAN.Net - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on Thursday, January 17 that he welcomes the meeting between the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and the Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan held on 16 January in Paris under the auspices of the Co-Chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group.
The Secretary-General said he appreciates the continued commitment of the sides to finding a negotiated and peaceful solution to the long-standing Nagorno Karabakh conflict and particularly welcomed the Ministers' agreement on the need to take concrete measures to prepare the populations for peace.
The Secretary-General reiterated the full support of the United Nations for the important mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group.
A possible summit between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia would give a strong impulse to the dynamic of negotiations, a statement issued by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group said on Wednesday.
The co-chairs - Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America - hosted consultations between Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Paris on Wednesday. They met separately and then jointly with the Ministers. Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in these meetings. This was the fourth meeting of the two Ministers.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3364
|
__label__cc
| 0.526037
| 0.473963
|
Two South African B-Schools are peaking at global rankings
Two of the top-notch institutions in South Africa are deemed to be the best Business School around the world. The names of the colleges are UCT GSB, Graduate School of Business as well as Gordon Institute of Business Sci
Canada wants to support education climate education across the country
Since the history of the existence of human beings, climate change has been the most defining challenges that the world faces. And this is the reason why the country wants to enhance education along with the aw
Singapore things learning should be competition and removes the student's ranking system from their report cards
Ong Ye Kung, the Education Minister of Singapore, has been curating ways to exclude unnecessary competition from education. And this ultimately made the Education Minister opt for the idea which suggests that there won&#
Singaporean Teacher are happy with their jobs but face significant challenges
The teachers around the world, as well as in Singapore, play a crucial role, i.e., to educate the students. Moreover, the teachers are not simply responding to inform the students in academic content, preferabl
Post-18 education should work in a better way for everyone
The higher and further education should work in a better way for the universities, students as well as taxpayers, according to the Prime Minister of UK, Theresa May. The Prime Minister said that she welcomes the publicat
Equal Education: Angie Motshekga Performance Contract should be public
Angie Motshekhga has recently been appointed as the Basic Minister of Education of South Africa for the third time. And this also indicates that Motshekhaga has to urgently go through a commission which Cyril Ramaphosa,
Dominic Cardy said that the students need to receive the vaccination from attending schools
Dominic Cardy, the Education Minister, said that students should meet up with the immunization requirements of the region this year. If they don't, then the students will not be allowed to enter the school doors unti
UBEC will embrace Open Schooling for reducing the number of out-of-school children
UBEC or Universal Basic Education Commission said that it would soon embrace the idea of Open Schooling Programme. The program has the potential of diminishing the number of students who do not attend schools across Nige
Canada’s Horatio Alger Association launched new technical and vocational education scholarship
Canada’s largest need-based scholarship provider, Horatio Alger Association has recently announced that it is going to launch a new scholarship program for the technical and vocational studies in the country. Accor
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3365
|
__label__cc
| 0.64184
| 0.35816
|
All 2 2.00 2.25 2.50 2.75 2 1/2 2 1/4 2 3/4 3.00 3.25 3.50 4.00 6.70 26x2.00 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 155 160
All 60 70 80 90 100
All 4 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 22
All 20 22 24 26 28 30 31 32 33 35 36 38 39 40 41 42 43 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 75 76 91 C66
All B (50 km/h) E (70 km/h) F (80 km/h) J (100 km/h) L (120 km/h) M (130 km/h) N (140 km/h) P (150 km/h) Q (160 km/h) S (180 km/h) H (210 km/h)
Heidenau (168)
Pirelli (107)
Metzeler (60)
Schwalbe (57)
Irc Tire (33)
Duro (24)
Anlas (21)
Maxxis (12)
Maxima (7)
Mitas (4)
Quick (3)
Innova (2)
Kenda (1)
Out of all the vehicles that come under motorcycles, the moped and scooter are the smallest in size and power. Both these bikes have low ground clearance and a rigid body that doesn’t mix well with a bumpy road.
As these scooters and mopeds are designed to be more nimble, they have a compact size. The compact size demands smaller size rims. The standard rim size is thirteen inches, and the scale goes both ways. The small tyre on the scooter lets it use less energy to move around. The smaller tyres make it easier to maneuver and turn, making it ideal for use in a cramped urban environment.
For scooter and mopeds, there are independent tyre manufacturers. Most of these manufacturers produce tyres for the trailer, atvs, and motorcycles. There will be hardly any names that deal in car and motorcycle tyres – including moped and scooter tyres.
Moped tyres face another even larger difficulty. Due to the select number of user and the limitations of its range the tyres are not able to manage a lot of conditions. Scooter tyres come in off road and all season variety as these bikes can commute longer.
Where To Buy Moped And Scooter Tyres?
The safest bet is a motorcycle tyre shop. Since the majority of scooters have a standard rim size replacement tyres should be easily available. The other option is to search online. Buying tyres online can let you have them delivered to your door. It is also easier to go over the tyre specifications and draw a comparison.
Pirelli DIABLO SCOOTER
Motorcycle - Scooter/moped
Michelin CITY GRIP
Continental Scooty
120/70 D12 51P
Pirelli EVO22
130/60 D13 53L
Pirelli GTS24
100/90 D10 61J
Michelin SM 100
3.50 D10 59J
Michelin PILOT SPORT SC
Dunlop GPR100 F
Continental ContiTwist
Michelin M 29 S
90/80 D14 49P
Michelin M 62 GAZELLE
2.75 D17 47P
Pirelli ML75
2 3/4 D16 46J
3.50 D10 59L
Continental CONTITWIST RACE
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3368
|
__label__wiki
| 0.938854
| 0.938854
|
News » Overcoming Inequality » Hong Kong
Ban on HK pro-democracy candidate Agnes Chow widely condemned
Some believe her party Demosisto may see street protests as the only way forward as Christian groups start online petition
Pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow recites slogans during a protest at the Central Government Complex in Hong Kong on Jan. 28. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP)
ucanews.com reporter, Hong Kong
After Hong Kong's youngest would-be Legislative Council candidate was disqualified from running in the March by-election due to her party's political stance, Christian groups are joining the battle against the move with an online petition.
On Jan. 27, Agnes Chow Ting, 21, was notified by the returning officer of the Electoral Affairs Commission that she would not be allowed to participate.
The ban fueled accusations of growing political censorship in the former British colony, which was handed back to mainland China in 1997.
Chow is a member of Demosisto, a pro-democracy political party established in 2016 which calls for Hong Kong to be afforded self-determination. The Electoral Affairs Commission found this policy showed Chow was not loyal to Hong Kong's Special Administrative Region status under Beijing's Communist Party government.
On Jan. 31, eight Christian group launched a joint online signature campaign to protest against her disqualification and by Feb. 2 thousands of signatures had been collected.
The joint commission is composed of Hong Kong Christian Social Concern Fellowship, Hong Kong Catholic Commission for Labour Affairs, Christians for Hong Kong Society, Christian Classroom for Democracy, Christians to The World, Christian Street Fighters, Umbrella City Cyberchurch and Pastoral Care Group.
The commission issued a joint statement on Jan. 31 with a headline that “We are Hongkongers — Christians protest against Agnes Chow for being disqualified through an abuse of the power."
The statement said the government abused its power by arbitrarily depriving Chow of election rights and was wantonly dismantling the "reasonable high degree of autonomy" conferred on Hong Kong by "Basic Law."
Chow, back when she was a student at the Holy Family Canossian College, was a spokesperson for protests against official attempts to allegedly "brainwash" Hong Kong students. The mass demonstrations forced officials to back down on the plan.
The European Union has cautioned that the political ban imposed on Chow was not consistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and risked diminishing Hong Kong's international reputation.
The EU noted that protections of the covenant were guaranteed under Hong Kong's Bill of Rights.
Jackie Hung, an officer of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of Hong Kong, told ucanews.com that stopping Chow from seeking election to the Legislative Council was not justified.
Hung suggested that wider political discussion should be permitted even though the law, as it stands, does not allow for Hong Kong to become independent.
"Freedom of expression is the most important part of human rights law, but nowadays the space for expression and discussion is stifled," she said.
Hung noted that if Demosisto did not have an opportunity to influence Hong Kong's politics, its only option would be to take to the streets.
Nathan Law Kwun-chun, 23, chairman of Demosisto and the youngest person elected to the Legislative Council, was disqualified in July 2017.
He, along with three other elected lawmakers, were not allowed to take up their seats after inserting words into their official oath of office that were deemed to be offensive to mainland China.
Hung warned that Hong Kong people would resist any attempts to further limit their freedoms.
On Jan. 29, a joint statement was issued by all 30 members of the legal subsector of Hong Kong's 1,200-member Election Committee, an electoral college responsible for choosing Hong Kong's chief executive.
The statement expressed concern over the political ban on Chow, adding that all permanent residents had the right to seek elected office.
Benny Tai Yiu-ting, an associate professor of law at Hong Kong University, said the returning officer acted outside his legal powers in banning Chow as a candidate.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Jan. 30 suggested there were fair grounds for the disqualification.
However, she insisted that neither Hong Kong's secretary of justice nor herself had interfered in the decision-making process.
Hong Kong system under threat as Beijing blocks lawmakers
Pro democracy prosecutions overshadow Hong Kong election result
Cardinals outraged as Hong Kong jails young politicians
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3370
|
__label__wiki
| 0.895236
| 0.895236
|
Summer Stage Kicks Off its 40th Season with a Once-in-a-Lifetime Birthday Celebration - and EVERYONE is invited! - Upper Darby Performing Arts Center
Summer Stage Kicks Off its 40th Season with a Once-in-a-Lifetime Birthday Celebration – and EVERYONE is invited!
Lauren Stevenson Yacina
PRESS RELEASE • For Immediate Release
610.506.1355 • lauren.stevenson@verizon.net
Summer Stage alumni from four decades take to the stage to perform the Greatest Hits of Summer Stage, in a 40th Season Gala Celebration to benefit the program!
Tina Fey, center, joins Upper Darby Summer Stage participants singing “To Fill the World with Love.”
June 26, 2015, Drexel Hill, PA • Upper Darby Summer Stage is stepping out to celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime birthday celebration with a 40th Season Gala Celebration on July 10 and July 11th – and everyone is invited!
Upper Darby Summer Stage presents one of its most exciting and entertaining line-ups for its 40th Season, and the 40th Season Gala Celebration is the highlight of the season. Over 100 Summer Stage alumni, representing all four decades, are preparing to perform in a show like no other! Packed with dancing, singing and memories – and featuring performances from the Greatest Hits of Summer Stage – the 40th Season Gala Celebration is a not-to-be-missed musical extravaganza!
The 40th Season Gala Celebration will be presented on July 10 at 7:30 pm and on July 11 at 6 pm. There is a reception after the July 11 performance at Drexelbrook Event Center. Tickets are affordably priced from $10 – $30 and benefit Upper Darby Summer Stage. Tickets for the July 11 post-show reception at Drexelbrook are $30. The performances take place at Upper Darby Performing Arts Center, 601 N. Lansdowne Avenue, Drexel Hill, PA. More information is available at www.udpac.org or by calling the box office at 610.622.1189.
The 40th Season Gala Celebration will feature unforgettable moments from all four decades. Audience members will be entertained with songs from some of the early Mainstage musicals including Anything Goes, Brigadoon, Dames at Sea, The King & I and West Side Story. Recent hits include songs from Thoroughly Modern Millie, Ragtime, Fiddler on the Roof, Hairspray and Titanic. The Upper Darby Summer Stage Shooting Stars – both past and present – will perform a show-stopping “Swing Medley” and a reunion show wouldn’t be complete without a Children’s Theater medley that includes “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Be Our Guest” and the song that started every Children’s Theater show for decades, “Magic Up Our Sleeve.”
The Summer Stage list of notable alumni reads like a list of “Who’s Who” including writer, director, producer and actress Tina Fey; Josh Young, soon to open in Broadway’s Amazing Grace; Jeremy Morse, to be featured in The Waitress: The Musical on Broadway, Jillian Louis who is performing in Broadway’s It Should Have Been You, Alyse Alan Louis, who starred in Broadway’s Mamma Mia, the co-founders of Philadelphia’s acclaimed Arden Theatre Company, Terrence J. Nolen and Amy Murphy (who met at UD Summer Stage!); and the award-winning song-writing team, Brian Lowdermilk and Kait Kerrigan, to name a very few.
Notable alumni returning to perform in the 40th Season Gala Show include Monica Horan from Everybody Loves Raymond; Broadway and regional actress, Krissy Fraelich; and Marcus Stevens, Richard Rodgers award-winning playwright and acclaimed actor from NYC’s Forbidden Broadway: Comes Out Swinging!
Since the very first show in the summer of 1976 thousands of talented young people have performed in hundreds of musical productions at Upper Darby Summer Stage. The mission of the program is to empower the young participants and entertain families with affordable, quality entertainment. It has become one of the most successful youth theater programs in the country.
Upper Darby Summer Stage welcomes anyone in the Philadelphia region who has enjoyed a Summer Stage musical to attend the July 10 or July 11 Gala Celebration. Audience members, young and old, will be thoroughly entertained by the talented alumni – many traveling from all over the United States – back to their Summer Stage family, to the stage where they fell in love with performing, to the safe community where they established life-long friendships and to the place where they were taught by Founder and Executive Director, Harry Dietzler, that their first priority should be to “Fill the World With Love.”
The forty-season legacy of Upper Darby Summer Stage is a testament to Founder, Harry Dietzler. Much more than a summer theater camp, the program has set the bar by very high by reinforcing positive core values for the thousands of young people who participated over the years, their families, and members of the community who continue to attend the performances and support the extraordinary program.
Voted “Best Children Theatre,” by the readers of Main Line Parent the program is also a five-time consecutive MyFoxPhilly Hot List winner in the “Best Theatre” category from 2008-2012. The Founder and Executive Director of the program, Harry Dietzler was awarded the distinguished “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Philadelphia Theater.
The Upper Darby Performing Arts Center and Upper Darby Summer Stage are jointly sponsored by Upper Darby Township Mayor and Council and the Upper Darby School District Board of School Directors through the Department of Recreation and Leisure Services.
Upper Darby Summer Stage presents five sold-out performances of Disney’s Frozen, Jr.
Disney’s worldwide phenomenon takes Delco by (snow) storm! DREXEL HILL, PA | July 10, 2019 – The cold won’t bother the audience members
Seussical, Jr. comes to Upper Darby Summer Stage on July 17, 18, 19
Anything is possible at Upper Darby Summer Stage when beloved Dr. Seuss characters take to the stage in the live musical production, Seussical,
Upper Darby Summer Stage Opens its 44th Season with “Disney’s High School Musical, Jr.”
The fabulously popular Disney movie comes to life in a special one-hour performance for children. DREXEL HILL, PA— (June 28, 2019) – Upper Darby
2010 Summer Stage
Children's Theater
Summer Stage Blog
Summer Stage Shows
UDPAC Shows
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3372
|
__label__wiki
| 0.907007
| 0.907007
|
Breaking: Sarri Joins Juventus On A Three Year Deal; Chelsea Reacts
Sun Jun 16 2019 3:10 pm
Previous Article Pogba Wants 'New Challenge', Set To Dump Manchester United
Next Article Juventus And Chelsea Reach Agreement Over Sarri
Maurizio Sarri on Sunday was announced as the new manager of Serie A giant, Juventus. Chelsea Director, Marina Granovskaia who confirmed the development on the club's website said the move was as a result of several talks with the tactician.
She explained that Sarri wanted to be closer to his home country to enable him take care of his aging parents, hence his decision to leave.
The statement read in full
“In talks, we had following the Europa League final, Maurizio made it clear how strongly he desired to return to his native country, explaining that his reasons for wanting to return to work in Italy were significant.
“He also believed it important to be nearer his family, and for the well-being of his elderly parents, he felt he needed to live closer to them at this point.
“Maurizio leaves Chelsea with thanks from us all for the work he and his assistants did during the season he spent as our head coach, and for winning the Europa League, guiding us to another cup final and a third-place finish in the Premier League.
“We would also like to congratulate him on securing the role as big as any in Serie A and to wish him the best of luck for the future. Sarri moved to London last summer, joining us from Napoli, and his Chelsea side made a strong start to the Premier League campaign. We won our first five games and went unbeaten in all competitions from the start of the league season until late November when we suffered a reverse against Tottenham at Wembley.
“Progression from the group stage of the Europa League was comfortable and a home Premier League win against eventual champions Manchester City a highlight in December.
“However, our away form dipped in the New Year and we suffered heavy defeats at Bournemouth and Manchester City. Our league season by then was focused on achieving a top-four finish and entry back into the Champions League, a target that was reached with one game left to play.
“Sarri achieved this while implementing a new style of play and a change in formation which was spoken of favourably by members of the squad. Young Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek won increasingly frequent starts in the second half of the season until injury struck them both.
“In the Carabao Cup we made it all the way through to the final and as Sarri pointed out, we had to beat the two finalists in the Champions League, Liverpool, and Tottenham, along the way. At Wembley we bounced back from our heavy league defeat at Man City by performing well in a tight contest which was only decided in the domestic treble winners’ favour by a penalty shoot-out.
“Our FA Cup campaign under Sarri ended at the fifth-round stage at home to Man United but in the Europa League, he was not to be denied the first major trophy of his managerial career. Premier League opposition were overcome when Arsenal were swept aside in Baku to ensure that our return to the Champions League next season will be as one of the top-seeded sides.
“It also confirmed Sarri as just the fifth man to coach Chelsea to a European trophy. We wish him well for his time back in Italy.”
Conte Denies Axing Diego Costa Via Text Message
Thomas Muller Double helps Bayern sink Chelsea in Singapore
On Loan Chelsea Defender, Ola Aina Dazzles For Hull Against Benfica
I Am Under Pressure At Chelsea, Morata Laments
Chelsea Offer Arsenal £25m For Chamberlain
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich Divorces wife
Arsenal To Miss Ozil, Ramsey In Season Opener Against Leicester City
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3376
|
__label__wiki
| 0.603539
| 0.603539
|
Posted on August 6, 2003 March 24, 2012 by Fraser Cain
Astronomers Measure the Shape of a Supernova
Image credit: ESO
New data gathered by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) seems to indicate that supernovae might not be symmetrical when they explode – their brightness changes depending on how you look at them. This discovery is important, because astronomers use supernovae as an astronomical yardstick to measure distances to objects. If they’re brighter or dimmer depending on how you’re looking at them, it could cause errors in your distance calculations. But the new research indicates that they become more symmetrical over time, so astronomers just need to wait a little while before doing their calculations.
An international team of astronomers [2] has performed new and very detailed observations of a supernova in a distant galaxy with the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory (Chile). They show for the first time that a particular type of supernova, caused by the explosion of a “white dwarf”, a dense star with a mass around that of the Sun, is asymmetric during the initial phases of expansion.
The significance of this observation is much larger than may seem at a first glance. This particular kind of supernova, designated “Type Ia”, plays a very important role in the current attempts to map the Universe. It has for long been assumed that Type Ia supernovae all have the same intrinsic brightness, earning them a nickname as “standard candles”.
If so, differences in the observed brightness between individual supernovae of this type simply reflect their different distances. This, and the fact that the peak brightness of these supernovae rivals that of their parent galaxy, has allowed to measure distances of even very remote galaxies. Some apparent discrepancies that were recently found have led to the discovery of cosmic acceleration.
However, this first clearcut observation of explosion asymmetry in a Type Ia supernova means that the exact brightness of such an object will depend on the angle from which it is seen. Since this angle is unknown for any particular supernova, this obviously introduces an amount of uncertainty into this kind of basic distance measurements in the Universe which must be taken into account in the future.
Fortunately, the VLT data also show that if you wait a little – which in observational terms makes it possible to look deeper into the expanding fireball – then it becomes more spherical. Distance determinations of supernovae that are performed at this later stage will therefore be more accurate.
Supernova explosions and cosmic distances
During Type Ia supernova events, remnants of stars with an initial mass of up to a few times that of the Sun (so-called “white dwarf stars”) explode, leaving nothing behind but a rapidly expanding cloud of “stardust”.
Type Ia supernovae are apparently quite similar to one another. This provides them a very useful role as “standard candles” that can be used to measure cosmic distances. Their peak brightness rivals that of their parent galaxy, hence qualifying them as prime cosmic yardsticks.
Astronomers have exploited this fortunate circumstance to study the expansion history of our Universe. They recently arrived at the fundamental conclusion that the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, cf. ESO PR 21/98, December 1998 (see also the Supernova Acceleration Probe web page).
The explosion of a white dwarf star
In the most widely accepted models of Type Ia supernovae the pre-explosion white dwarf star orbits a solar-like companion star, completing a revolution every few hours. Due to the close interaction, the companion star continuously loses mass, part of which is picked up (in astronomical terminology: “accreted”) by the white dwarf.
A white dwarf represents the penultimate stage of a solar-type star. The nuclear reactor in its core has run out of fuel a long time ago and is now inactive. However, at some point the mounting weight of the accumulating material will have increased the pressure inside the white dwarf so much that the nuclear ashes in there will ignite and start burning into even heavier elements. This process very quickly becomes uncontrolled and the entire star is blown to pieces in a dramatic event. An extremely hot fireball is seen that often outshines the host galaxy.
The shape of the explosion
Although all supernovae of Type Ia have quite similar properties, it has never been clear until now how similar such an event would appear to observers who view it from different directions. All eggs look similar and indistinguishable from each other when viewed from the same angle, but the side view (oval) is obviously different from the end view (round).
And indeed, if Type Ia supernova explosions were asymmetric, they would shine with different brightness in different directions. Observations of different supernovae – seen under different angles – could therefore not be directly compared.
Not knowing these angles, however, the astronomers would then infer incorrect distances and the precision of this fundamental method for gauging the structure of the Universe would be in question.
Polarimetry to the rescue
A simple calculation shows that even to the eagle eyes of the VLT Interferometer (VLTI), all supernovae at cosmological distances will appear as unresolved points of light; they are simply too far. But there is another way to determine the angle at which a particular supernova is viewed: polarimetry is the name of the trick!
Polarimetry works as follows: light is composed of electromagnetic waves (or photons) which oscillate in certain directions (planes). Reflection or scattering of light favours certain orientations of the electric and magnetic fields over others. This is why polarising sunglasses can filter out the glint of sunlight reflecting off a pond.
When light scatters through the expanding debris of a supernova, it retains information about the orientation of the scattering layers. If the supernova is spherically symmetric, all orientations will be present equally and will average out, so there will be no net polarisation. If, however, the gas shell is not round, a slight net polarisation will be imprinted on the light.
“Even for quite noticable asymmetries, however, the polarisation is very small and barely exceeds the level of one percent”, says Dietrich Baade, ESO astronomer and a member of the team that performed the observations. “Measuring them requires an instrument that is very sensitive and very stable. ”
The measurement in faint and distant light sources of differences at a level of less than one percent is a considerable observational challenge. “However, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) offers the precision, the light collecting power, as well as the specialized instrumentation required for such a demanding polarimetric observation”, explains Dietrich Baade. “But this project would not have been possible without the VLT being operated in service mode. It is indeed impossible to predict when a supernova will explode and we need to be ready all the time. Only service mode allows observations at short notice. Some years ago, it was a farsighted and courageous decision by ESO’s directorate to put so much emphasis on Service Mode. And it was the team of competent and devoted ESO astronomers on Paranal who made this concept a practical success”, he adds.
The astronomers [1] used the VLT multi-mode FORS1 instrument to observe SN 2001el, a Type Ia supernova that was discovered in September 2001 in the galaxy NGC 1448, cf. PR Photo 24a/03 at a distance of 60 million light-years.
Observations obtained about a week before this supernova reached maximum brightness around October 2 revealed polarisation at levels of 0.2-0.3% (PR Photo 24b/03). Near maximum light and up to two weeks thereafter, the polarisation was still measurable. Six weeks after maximum, the polarisation had dropped below detectability.
This is the first time ever that a normal Type Ia supernova has been found to exhibit such clear-cut evidence of asymmetry.
Looking deeper into the supernova
Immediately following the supernova explosion, most of the expelled matter moves at velocities around 10,000 km/sec. During this expansion, the outermost layers become progressively more transparent. With time one can thus look deeper and deeper into the supernova.
The polarisation measured in SN 2001el therefore provides evidence that the outermost parts of the supernova (which are first seen) are significantly asymmetric. Later, when the VLT observations “penetrate” deeper towards the heart of the supernova, the explosion geometry is increasingly more symmetric.
If modeled in terms of a flattened spheroidal shape, the measured polarisation in SN 2001el implies a minor-to-major axis ratio of around 0.9 before maximum brightness is reached and a spherically symmetric geometry from about one week after this maximum and onward.
Cosmological implications
One of the key parameters on which Type Ia distance estimates are based is the optical brightness at maximum. The measured asphericity at this moment would introduce an absolute brightness uncertainty (dispersion) of about 10% if no correction were made for the viewing angle (which is not known).
While Type Ia supernovae are by far the best standard candles for measuring cosmological distances, and hence for investigating the so-called dark energy, a small measurement uncertainty persists.
“The asymmetry we have measured in SN 2001el is large enough to explain a large part of this intrinsic uncertainty”, says Lifan Wang, the leader of the team. “If all Type Ia supernovae are like this, it would account for a lot of the dispersion in brightness measurements. They may be even more uniform than we thought.”
Reducing the dispersion in brightness measurements could of course also be attained by increasing significantly the number of supernovae we observe, but given that these measurements demand the largest and most expensive telescopes in the world, like the VLT, this is not the most efficient method.
Thus, if the brightness measured a week or two after maximum was used instead, the sphericity would then have been restored and there would be no systematic errors from the unknown viewing angle. By this slight change in observational procedure, Type Ia supernovae could become even more reliable cosmic yardsticks.
Theoretical implications
The present detection of polarised spectral features strongly suggests that, to understand the underlying physics, the theoretical modelling of Type Ia supernovae events will have to be done in all three dimensions with more accuracy than is presently done. In fact, the available, highly complex hydrodynamic calculations have so far not been able to reproduce the structures exposed by SN 2001el.
The results presented in this press release have been been described in a research paper in “Astrophysical Journal” (“Spectropolarimetry of SN 2001el in NGC 1448: Asphericity of a Normal Type Ia Supernova” by Lifan Wang and co-authors, Volume 591, p. 1110).
[1]: This is a coordinated ESO/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/Univ. of Texas Press Release. The LBNL press release is available here.
[2]: The team consists of Lifan Wang, Dietrich Baade, Peter H?flich, Alexei Khokhlov, J. Craig Wheeler, Daniel Kasen, Peter E. Nugent, Saul Perlmutter, Claes Fransson, and Peter Lundqvist.
Original Source: ESO News Release
CategoriesAstronomy
Previous PostPrevious Perseid Meteor Shower Next Week
Next PostNext Planning a Mars Party?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line3380
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.