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__label__cc	0.714575	0.285425	Home \| About \| Membership \| Archives \| Awards \| Events Subscribe \| Archive \| Advertise CASE NEWS Do you know the significance of Dec. 7? When I was a little girl, my mother taught me to remember this date, probably not the way she intended me to learn it. My mother was the 11th child in a family of 12, which means, my oldest aunts were having babies when my grandmother was still having babies! One of my mother's oldest sisters went to the movie on Sunday, Dec. 7 — against her parents' wishes. When my aunt came out of the movie, she found out the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, effectively bringing the U.S. into WWII. The family always said Aunt Fannie caused the war by disobeying her parents! It was one of those family stories we all sometimes develop to keep our children in check — I was almost grown before I was willing to "sneak" around on my parents for fear I would be the cause of the next World War! Another one of my favorite stories also concerns Pearl Harbor, and is one of those moments we all share in time when we know there really is hope for mankind. On our 25th wedding anniversary, we traveled to Hawaii for two weeks, one week on Kaui and the other on Maui. But we arranged to stay one night on Oahu so we could get up and go to Pearl Harbor. If you have never been, it is something that should be on your bucket list, for sure! You start out with a movie and then you exit the theater and get in a boat and go out to the memorial. In the row right in front of us was a veteran survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack — we knew that because he wore a cap that said so. This elderly man ended up in the boat we were in. Without anyone on our boat communicating with each other, when we arrived and it was time to disembark at the platform, no one stood up until the veteran got up and went into to the memorial area. It was a spontaneous, unanimous group decision to give this man the respect and solitude he deserved. It was such a wonderful example of people doing the right thing without being told! I hope you reflect on the amazing sacrifice so many around the world made during the WWII era today. I also hope you have had an opportunity to experience as least part of the Honor Flights as a volunteer, observer or benefactor. I have had the opportunity to be at a staging hotel in IA and at the airport in D.C. when one of these flights occurred and it is one of the most moving experiences I have had. Again, the case of people doing the right thing! Speaking of December ... Can you believe it is almost time for Christmas/winter break? The news has been full of stories about the severity of the winter this year. For some of you this is no big deal but when they start talking about El Nino and snow in the south, well it becomes big news! When I was in the District office, the biggest decision was often whether to close school or not. Most of the time it had to do with whether we could get the buses up and running. But it always seemed you made half the people mad no matter what decision you made! Welcome to the world of education! And speaking of the world of education ... Don't miss out on the great opportunity to bring a team of educators, parents and community leaders together to learn more on one or both of the topics at our 5th annual CASE Hybrid conference. As a virtual site, you can invite different people for the different sessions and you can have quality discussion/planning time to make this professional development opportunity even more applicable to your district! Registration is up and running for the 5th annual Hybrid Conference to be held Feb. 11-12! Dr. George Batsche will be leading the Thursday session: Actualizing the Practice: Identification of Students with SLD within an RtI/MTSS Framework — Accurate Eligibility and Effective Instructional Practices. Dr. Batsche will be stressing the need for multiple team members from across varying roles so be sure to sign up for a Virtual site and bring lots of cross stakeholders to the Thursday session! Julie Weatherly, Esq. will be doing Legal Issues: Actualizing the Promise on Friday. Where could you get a full day of legal updates for your team — as many as you can get in as big of a room as you can find for the price of just one registration? This day is one you will definitely want your general education administrators to be present for and since you can do this virtually, you don't have to "send" them out of district! A good portion of her presentation will be on discipline so be sure to start planning now for all those Assistant Principals to be attending on that Friday! The Virtual option of our Hybrid is perfect for truly effecting sustainable change on a shoe string budget. Your team can get the same training from national experts without spending the travel dollars and the out of district travel time! We have listened to your assessment of the virtual portion and we will be building in some Think-Pair-Share time and other activities to help your team maximize the time spent together! Start building the excitement for this mid-winter professional development event. When you register as a Virtual site, we will send you customizable flyers and additional hints for getting the most out of your site! The HINTS for the virtual sites are provided for your assistance in planning but when you register, we will also be sending you a WORD document that you can customize for your own flyer! Of course we would also love to have you attend onsite at the lovely Beau Rivage hotel right on the water in Biloxi, Miss., at just $109/night! Go to the CASE website for more information and to register for either the Virtual or the onsite! I hope you are back in the swing of things now ... With the holiday time, we got a little out of sync with our polls. To catch up, we will be doing both polls in this issue! The poll for Nov. 23 asked which of the responses listed topped your "thankful for" list. The number one response at 63 percent of those answering the poll was being thankful for those with whom you live! Coming in at a distant 2nd at 25 percent was being thankful for what you have learned. There was a tie for third place or in this case, last place at 6 percent: being thankful for where you live and for who you are! These were all great responses and I hope you spent a little time making your own list! The poll for this past week, Nov. 30 dealt with the Federal special education child count day. We had a great turn out for this poll and as expected, Dec. 1 came in first at 67 percent of those answering the poll. Some other date in October came in second at 15 percent and Oct. 1 came in third at 12 percent. Nov. 1 came in a distant fourth at 6 percent. I hope you know you are appreciated for all the extra paper work you do and the effort you make to keep smiling as teachers complain about their paperwork. I also appreciate those of you who do read this article each week and those of you who go the step further and complete the poll! Have a great 2nd week in December! Wow…where did the time go! P.S. — CASE members should be receiving an email with the link to the October-November-December issue of the In CASE quarterly Newsletter this week. Watch for it! Luann Purcell Reinforcement — A Strategy Brief Reinforcement is an effective strategy that can be easily administered by teachers and school professionals at the individual, classroom and school-wide level in order to modify student behavior. With as much empirical support as the theory of gravity, reinforcement is considered to be an effective tool for behavior modification; however, it is significantly under-utilized in schools. Reinforcement can be either positive (e.g., granting access to something contingent upon the desired student behavior) or negative (e.g., removing something contingent upon the desired student behavior) so long as the result is an increase in the behavior of interest. Because it provides such flexibility and relatively little administration or preparation time, reinforcement is a critical tool for school personnel to utilize in order to decrease student misbehavior and improve school climate. Click on the following link for more information on Reinforcement: (http://k12engagement.unl.edu/reinforcement). Then click on the red button to download the .pdf and read more. Find Strategy Briefs on over forty other topics at: http://k12engagement.unl.edu. READ MORE Using Trauma-Sensitive Strategies to Support Family Engagement and Effective Collaboration There is a growing awareness that trauma is pervasive and that the impact of trauma is often deep and life-shaping. Whether or not it is fully recognized, educators work with survivors of trauma, including students, families and colleagues. This session will increase understanding of trauma and its impact into adulthood, as well as how a more trauma-informed approach will enhance work with families. Participants will be introduced to the essential elements of a trauma sensitive school and specific strategies for improving family engagement and effective collaboration. READ MORE Promoted by Presence Learning Free eBook \| 7 Myths About Online Speech Therapy: BUSTED! Get the facts. Webinar Resources \| Learn from experts Dr. Barry Prizant, Dr. Temple Grandin, Julie Weatherly, Esq. and more Infographic \| 5 Legal Dos and Don’ts for Staying Out of Due Process in Special Education Video \| Students Speak Their Very First Words with PresenceLearning Case Study \| Online Speech Therapy More Cost Effective than On-Site Options for a Georgia District Bridging the gap between educators and policy experts The Teacher Voice Project From NCLB to IDEA to FERPA, we see the impact of decisions by Congress on a daily basis in our schools. Too often, the voices of teachers and administrators are absent from the table when these momentous decisions are made, though their wisdom and experience are imperative to making them work. For those who are interested in joining the policy debate at the state or federal level, a new report (Teacher Voice: The Current Landscape of Education and Policy Expert Communication) may help. Through case studies and survey results, it explores how educators and policy experts currently communicate and offers tips for teachers and administrators hoping to get more involved in policy discussions. READ MORE IDEA changes lives: 40 years of parent training and support 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In the same year, the first center to help parents understand IDEA and how to advocate for their children with disabilities was born. READ MORE Special education shifts to results-driven framework (eSchool News) Decades of progress, challenges under federal special education law (Education Week) In swan song, Arne Duncan extols school progress under his tenure (The New York Times) Study finds more than 2 percent of children have autism (USA Today) Charters still serve fewer special education students, but are more inclusive (Education Week) CEC POLICY INSIDER CEC celebrates 40 years of IDEA: Share your reflections On the 40th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Council for Exceptional Children reflects on the efforts of children and youth with disabilities, their families, educators and policymakers who were instrumental in the passage of this legislation and remain committed to ensuring that individuals with disabilities attain a lifetime of success. READ MORE Applications now accepted for US Department of Education's Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Applications for the U.S. Department of Education's 2016-2017 Teaching and Principal Ambassador Fellowship is now open and will close on Dec. 14 at 11:59 p.m. EST. A complete application package includes 1) five short essay responses to the question prompts, 2) a current resume, and 3) a letter of recommendation from your employer for this program. READ MORE OSEP Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center releases Practice Guides for Practitioners and Families The OSEP funded Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center has launched a campaign to bring widespread awareness about the DEC Recommended Practices. The latest ECTA resources to support implementation of the RPs include Performance Checklists for practitioners as well as Practice Guides for Practitioners and Practice Guides for Families. These resources were highlighted on a recent national webinar which was recorded and can be accessed in aRPy's Corner of the ECTA website. READ MORE US Department of Education awards $20 million to increase access to information and communication technologies for individuals with disabilities The U.S. Department of Education recently announced a grant of $20 million to the University of Wisconsin for a pilot project through the Disability Innovation Fund- Automated Personalization Computing Project. The grant is designed to improve broadband infrastructure so that devices automatically adjust into a format based on the user's preferences and abilities. The project will help individual users find and specify the formats and accommodations that work best for them. READ MORE HOT TOPIC: SUBJECT LINE FEATURED STORY Civil rights, disability, education groups give lukewarm nod to ESEA rewrite Well, they've finally, finally spoken. After a couple weeks of silence, thirty-six disability, civil rights, education, and other organizations — including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights — offered a measured endorsement of the Every Student Succeeds Act, a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a day before the U.S. House of Representatives was expected to begin consideration of the legislation. And even though the statement isn't exactly a big warm bear hug for the bill, it suggests smooth sailing for the ESSA toward the president's desk, at least as far as most Democrats are concerned. READ MORE Every Student Succeeds Act shifts more power to states While a "new and improved" version of the hotly-debated No Child Left Behind Act would still require reading and math testing in grades 3-8 and once in high school, states would have much more leeway when it comes to defining teaching and learning objectives and outlining accountability measures. The Every Student Succeeds Act gives states the power to determine their own academic goals and measure progress toward those goals — a departure from NCLB, which aimed for 100 percent math and reading proficiency by 2014. READ MORE Google pledges funds for special education Disability Scoop Google is sharing the wealth this holiday season, with a plan to donate up to $1 million to benefit students in special education at schools across the country. The Internet giant said that it will donate $1 for every purchase made using Android Pay through Dec. 31. Google indicated it will give up to a million dollars total. The effort is part of Google's Global Impact Challenge: Disabilities, a broader initiative the company announced earlier this year that's offering up millions in funding to groups that are using technology to increase independence for those with disabilities. READ MORE Get outside for happier, better behaved ADHD kids According to Scott Sampson, Ph.D., the author of "How to Raise a Wild Child", "the average child in the U.S. and Canada spends about seven hours a day staring at screens and only minutes engaged in unstructured play outdoors. Yet recent research indicates that getting out in nature is essential for healthy growth. Regular exposure to nature can help relieve stress, depression, and attention deficits. It can reduce bullying, combat obesity, and boost academic scores. Most critical of all, abundant time in natural settings seems to yield long-term benefits in kids' cognitive, emotional, and social development." The benefits of spending time outdoors are undeniable. There is no substitute for fresh air, a dirt trail, the smell of the sea, or the warm feeling of the sun on your shoulders." READ MORE How children with disabilities came to be accepted in public schools Jean Crockett, a contributor for The Conversation, writes: "When Alan joined my class in September, I knew he needed help. So did I. Alan had lived in an orphanage ever since he was an infant and faced many challenges: he was older than the other kids and did not want to play with them. He didn't use words — although he could make sounds. He was very different from his classmates and stayed to himself. But then, every afternoon he was a bundle of energy, imitating the barking of a dog and crawling on the floor around his classmates at circle time. He also had a passion for shredding my teaching materials." READ MORE A school leader's guide to autism Scholastic Administration Magazine In the past two years, Dan Almeida has seen a steady climb in the number of students on the autism spectrum entering Newton Public Schools in Massachusetts, where he serves as district supervisor of applied behavior analysis services. In 2013, Newton served 250 students with ASD — as of last March, the number stood at 291 of the roughly 12,800 district students. "Newton follows a neighborhood inclusion model very closely," he says. "The goal is for students to walk to a school right near their home. The majority of children on the spectrum are served in their neighborhood schools. To meet the wide range of these students' needs, the district offers various supports — from preschool parent training to a middle school program that helps kids develop social skills." READ MORE Gifted education students are more than just really smart kids Recently, a teacher came to me to get advice about how to help a gifted student who is failing her class. Another teacher wanted suggestions about a behavioral plan for an out-of-control student who is gifted. "What do I do about a gifted student who won't write?" asked a coworker. True teacher concerns about meeting the needs of a special, but often misunderstood, group of students. Let's be honest. Most of the discussion about gifted education revolves around identification and under representation issues. While these concerns are discussed and debated over and over again, the needs of the 3 million gifted students right in front of us are put on the back-burner. It's time we started putting an added emphasis on meeting the unique needs of the current gifted population. READ MORE Children with pets have less stress and anxiety Childhood mental illness and obesity are significant public health concerns in the U.S. Since they start in childhood, preventive and early intervention approaches are needed. Pet dogs have been linked with health benefits for adults, as promoted by the U.S. Public Health Service. In Australia and the U.K., dog ownership has been linked with increased physical activity among children aged 5-12 years and healthier body mass index in those aged 5-6 years, due to walking and active play. Such data is lacking in the U.S., so more evidence is needed to support pet ownership as a health strategy. READ MORE Researchers conduct extensive examination of online learning for students with disabilities Across the nation, online education is becoming an increasingly important part of the school experience for many students. Yet close attention is not always paid to how this new educational horizon affects students with disabilities. Researchers at the Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities have issued "Equity Matters: Digital and Online Learning for Students with Disabilities." The expansive report analyzes the online education policies of all 50 states and five U.S. territories and combines those findings with other research projects in the center to support recommendations for how to improve online and blended learning for all students. READ MORE Experts pick the 21 best apps for autism Recently, we asked the experts at Common Sense Graphite, a national nonprofit, to curate their best apps for working with students on the autism spectrum. Here is what they came up with, which is also available on their website. According to Graphite, more app creators are turning their attention to the particular learning needs of kids on the autism spectrum. The apps on this list can help kids learn to better identify and regulate emotions, communicate and express themselves, manage time and routines and interact with others. READ MORE In Indiana, raising the bar raises questions about special education A generation ago, a high school diploma could open doors, especially to well-paying manufacturing jobs. But today, with technology radically reshaping the U.S. economy, many of those doors have closed. The high school diploma is as important as ever — but as a stepping stone to a higher degree, no longer as a destination. That's one reason Indiana lawmakers are rewriting their state's graduation requirements. They want to make the path to a diploma more challenging and the diploma itself more valuable. Changes could include requiring students to take more math credits and a broader range of electives. The requirements would also apply to all students, and that's raising concern that some kids simply wouldn't be able to meet them. READ MORE Study identifies amblyopia as key factor for poor reading in school-age children News-Medical.Net Children with amblyopia, commonly known as "lazy eye," may have impaired ocular motor function. This can result in difficulties in activities for which sequential eye movements are important, such as reading. A new study conducted at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest determined that children with amblyopia read more slowly than children with normal vision or with strabismus alone. Their findings are published in the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. READ MORE Common ADHD medications do indeed disturb children's sleep For a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, meeting the daily expectations of home and school life can be a struggle that extends to bedtime. The stimulant medications commonly used to treat ADHD can cause difficulty falling and staying asleep, a study finds. And that can make the next day that much harder. As parents are well aware, sleep affects a child's emotional and physical well-being, and it is no different for those with ADHD. "Poor sleep makes ADHD symptoms worse," says Katherine M. Kidwell, a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, who led the study. "When children with ADHD don't sleep well, they have problems paying attention the next day, and they are more impulsive and emotionally reactive." READ MORE CASE Weekly Update Connect with CASE Council of Administrators of Special Education 101 Katelyn Circle, Suite E \| Warner Robins, Georgia 31088 \| 478-333-6892 \| Contact Us	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2191
__label__cc	0.632137	0.367863	Cosplay Gallery Old Trenchy Designer, Cosplayer, Collector, General Idiot wordspew Gatekeeping and “Geek Mythology” No matter the positive progress and how far we’ve come, there’s always someone fighting against it. And the same shitty elements keep repeating, sometimes a little more aggressively, as a reaction to said progress. Take this little gem that was doing the rounds on Twitter a few weeks back: I’ll give you a moment to absorb just how amazingly cliche this tweet is, then hit you with the immediate follow up: It’s a sentiment we’ve heard over and over again. And while so many others have already addressed this in much more succinct ways, I want to take a moment to highlight a major flaw in these tweets as well as the sentiment in general: It’s based on something that isn’t completely true. Take the author of the original tweet for example. Looking through the swamp that is his Twitter feed, he is apparently 25 years old or thereabouts. That means “nerd culture” has been “popular” for pretty much all of his life. The “pop” in “pop-culture” Perspective is a wonderful thing. Once you stand back far enough from something you can get a better picture of the whole scene. The things that we all consider “nerdy” or “geeky” have always been popular to some extent. You can quibble all you want about the semantics of “popular” and “mainstream” but the reality is that if it wasn’t popular enough then it wouldn’t have lasted as long as it has. Star Trek has lasted over 50 years and is often celebrated for its influence on science and engineering and its hope for a better future. The Original Series was saved thanks to a letter-writing campaign. It was at its most popular during the entirety of the 1990’s with The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, and Voyager all airing during that decade, three feature films, an explosion in toys and merchandise as well as an interactive experience in Las Vegas. Speaking of the 90s, the world lost its fucking mind in the lead up to the release of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. It was the biggest thing on the planet for a time. Rewind to the original trilogy in the late 70’s and early 80’s, and fans were lining up around the block to see these films! Movie fans line up on Philadelphia’s Chestnut Street for the premiere of the Movie “Return of the Jedi” Wednesday May 23, 1983. Fans began lining up Tuesday night to see the Star Wars trilogy. (AP Photo/ George Widman) And you can’t talk Star Wars without mentioning how it helped to revolutionise tie-in merchandise for the last few decades to nearly obnoxious levels (way before Disney came along and bought Lucasfilm, might I add). Comic books as an industry might be running on fumes at the moment but it has endured for such a long time, which it couldn’t do if its characters and stories weren’t popular. Superhero films? We’ve always had them and we’ve always loved them. Christopher Reeve’s performance in Superman from 1978 is still beloved to this day. Tim Burton’s version of Batman revived the genre in the 90’s. The holy trinity of superheroes, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are household names thanks to their presence in TV shows and cartoons over the last 70 years (similar with Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man). The single most profitable entertainment property of all time just happens to be a video game, raking in US$6 billion dollars since its initial release in 2013. Although video games feel like a relatively new medium, we’ve pretty much grown up with them and seen them evolve from the arcade to the console to the mobile phone (yes, mobile games are still games, don’t give me this “casual” bullshit). I mean I could keep going: the enduring popularity of Dungeons & Dragons giving rise to other tabletop role-playing games, the prevalence of science fiction and fantasy literature over the centuries, as well as the long-lived fascination with toys and collectables… The reality is that these things lasted as long as they have because there is a big enough audience to sustain them over the decades. People confuse “niche” with “obscure” or “underground” when it really means “smaller or specific audience”. But even then that’s all relative because there needs to be a large enough audience to make enough money for these things to exist and endure in the first place. When you list all the things that are considered “geeky”, most of them were predominately aimed at younger audiences. In regards to Star Wars and Star Trek they were simply accessible to young audiences but everything else was more or less created specifically for children. As that audience gets older they become a demographic that now has their own money to spend. Realising this, companies (doing what they do best) found ways to cash in on that newfound audience and this is where we have the perception of things “suddenly becoming popular”. Revitalising old properties, taking advantage of/creating the nostalgia boom, adapting stories, marketing of high-end collectables. This supposed boom isn’t a sudden change, it was a slow growth brought about by a public throwing money at the things they love, which then resulted in these already popular things being accessible to a much wider audience. (SIDE NOTE: And technically it happened once before. This is almost the same audience that were around during the 80’s when Ronald Reagan’s government deregulated advertising to children and allowed the creation of many of our favourite properties.) Some of that audience was already there but weren’t necessarily vocal (or welcomed) predominantly women and minorities, others are only just discovering these things thanks to the aforementioned accessible media (not everyone reads comic books but they are falling in love with these stories thanks to movie adaptations and maybe want to learn more). And the more accessible media are keeping these characters and stories alive for a newer generation to appreciate and experience. And that’s where you have growth and that growth sustains the properties we all enjoy and even helps to develop more of what we love. But again, it comes down to there being a market for these things. They survived because there was a market for them in the first place, and in some cases they were revived because those fans grew up to have their own disposable incomes. It didn’t go from obscure to mainstream. It went from profitable to even moreprofitable. And that allowed for other things to come along for the ride. “Geek” mythology There is a narrative about “nerd culture” that has persisted for the last few decades, despite being based on half-truths and stereotypes that even I’ve had to un-learn over the years. It’s an over-simplification (I’m writing a rant not a thesis here) but once upon a time, movies depicted our heroes as square-jawed scientists ready to throw a punch at the drop of a hat. Over time we saw a gradual shift that turned intellectual characters into comic relief often exhibiting awkward, anti-social characteristics that are now often associated with being on the spectrum. Many stories often use stereotypes to quickly (and quite often lazily) convey character and story points when there isn’t enough time to develop or give background and of course this includes the “nerd” stereotype. It has persisted for decades in media mainly because the very people creating said media were the folks that fit the “nerd” archetype in school and are now most likely working out their frustrations through their art (they were the ones playing with the video equipment in the media room, volunteering their services to the drama production, or starting up radio clubs). One of the more positive examples: Verses one of the more horrible examples: And that media is what we learn from and absorb. While I’m not saying said media is being dishonest, those already singular perspectives and experiences are further filtered, further simplified, and distilled and then sent back into the cycle. I can only speak anecdotally but my own high school experiences over half a lifetime ago, while featuring some of the cliques, characters, and social structures often portrayed in media, they never had the clearly defined boundaries between one group and the next let alone the hierarchies. But then again I was in the “miscellaneous” group so perhaps that perspective is off? “You didn’t want us to begin with” Bullying is a major problem, there’s no denying that, and kids pick on others for the most trivial of reasons yet the impact can be cruel and life-altering. Having experienced this myself as a kid as well as later in life I know the impact it can have on one’s mental state. Young people who are LGBTQI, disabled, or those who aren’t white get picked on for being “different”, something they cannot change or do not have any choice in. Someone liking Star Wars however has a choice, a choice that is seen as “childish” by some. Perpetuated by the notion that we’re meant to “grow up” a certain way by a certain time and that is supposedly exhibited by our interests. When you examine what it is bullies are focussed on it’s not about a person’s interests. It’s the stereotypes and behaviours associated with these otherwise innocuous markers they are picking on, behaviours and stereotypes that are considered “different” and not “normal”. It’s a way to make themselves feel better and superior to others because they secretly fear they are lesser. That’s zero comfort to those that are on the receiving end of this bullying but there’s a real reason for this delineation: bullies are cowards (that’s important for later). Sadly, some of these cowards get older but they themselves never really “grew up” either. But maybe in some cases, the feeling of rejection can be as singular as being turned down by the opposite sex. So instead of actually looking at themselves and their behaviour they find other reasons for that rejection. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations It’s rather interesting that this experience of supposedly being ostracised for their interests and hobbies has not instilled any sense of empathy in such people that would make them more open to diversity, groups marginalised by society, or even welcoming more people to enjoy the things they love so much. Instead they cling to the idea of being victims and even use the same language of victimhood to maintain that underdog identity. Being an underdog, being ostracised, to them is what they think makes them special. They’ve wrapped their identity up in that narrative. It’s delusional and somewhat deranged. It’s also very limiting. The idea that “nerd culture” (which by the way is such a misnomer but we’re here now) thrived because it was “niche” is the height of delusion. If anything “nerd culture” became stagnant because it was deliberately directed at such a specific audience. Most of our popular media has almost always been catered to a certain demographic. The comic book industry almost went under in the 90’s for many reasons but it only survived as long as it has because of licensing out the properties and the adaptations that reached a wider audience. As I mentioned before, that media is where we learn and absorb other perspectives and this change (slow and gradual as it has been) has allowed for so many new voices to contribute to the popular culture and make themselves heard, offering new and interesting perspectives, keeping these things alive for another generation. But some sad dweebs keep fighting against this change. How the hell does someone watch Star Trek all their life but then complain about “forced diversity” when there is a black female lead or an openly gay couple on Discovery? How does one refer to their interests as “lady repellent” but now that girls and women are all over the scene (especially in cosplay) these terrified man-children respond by declaring them all to be “fake geeks”? The hilarious thing is that female fans (or as I like to call them: fans) have always been there but they haven’t always been welcomed, taken seriously, or let alone remembered. Why not allows others to enjoy what it is you feel so passionate about? Why not let in other marginalised people who also want to feel special and part of something? Have you achieved so little in your lives that you tie your identity to your hobbies just to feel accomplished? Git Gud! This is a quick one: there is yet another debate about accessibility in video games and whether or not some games need difficulty settings. Those who are vehemently against an “easy mode” or even accessibility for others seem to have a very out of touch, elitist attitude when it comes to other people enjoying games. Like it’s one thing to be challenged but it’s another altogether when that “challenge” is not fun and doesn’t help progress the experience. Thought I'd share the Crown Prince of Hardcore Gaming from this week's video on his own. pic.twitter.com/KGngMVxMyT — Jim Sterling (@JimSterling) April 18, 2019 It’s almost like this jerks want others to suffer through the same shit they may (or most likely have not) endured to be worthy of being called a “fan”. A bit like a war veteran complaining about “young people” having it too easy when the whole point of fighting in the war was to protect the freedoms they enjoy so they wouldn’t have to face that hardship at all. Again, the difference is the war veteran actually achieved something. Mainstream or Generic Being accessible to a wider and more varied audience is not a bad thing. The fear that it becomes “generic” is an odd fear to have. Either you love something because it was good and enjoyable or you don’t. If you got into a hobby because it was supposedly “obscure” then that says more about you than it does anyone else. Things survive, thrive, and evolve thanks to the many voices that partake, appreciate, and even have a hand in shaping it. Things die when they are left in the dark and left to rot (except for mushrooms but we’re not mushroom). When you examine what this whole gate keeping nonsense is about, it’s fear: It’s fear others, fear of change, the fear that they’re not as special a they thought they were because they tied up their identity into something that was not completely true. It comes from the same dark place that gives birth to racism, misogyny, and homophobia. From the same place that tells you different is wrong. You’re not like them, you’re just pretending so you’re not allowed into the club house. Oh the irony. Boom and growth One of the biggest and most enduring sentiments that has come out of this recent “boom” is fans meeting and hanging out with other fans. The communities that grew out of shared interests have gotten bigger over the years. Conventions are one of the main melting pots for such the world over and they do provide a wonderful insight into just how varied and diverse the fan bases can be. Also how fantastic it is to have a diversity of perspectives to help shape our understanding of one another. People have made lifelong friends because of these communities, they’ve met their partners, their children have been growing up loving these things. Our perspective on the world is expanding the more we open up to those varied experiences. Those who grew up pretending to be ostracised for their hobbies and then turning into bullies themselves are hopefully a dying breed. They are desperate to cling on to an outdated ideal that was built on half-truths because it made them feel special when they were afraid they weren’t. They ignore the plight of others, hold back the benefits to what they love, as well as close themselves off to a world of possibilities because they fear they will no longer be the top of this imaginary heap they’ve created in their own minds. There’s a sentiment that the popularity of “nerd culture” will one day die out but I’m not sure that is accurate. If anything the way we talk about pop culture and those things we once upon a time (and still do) refer to as “geeky” will perhaps quieten down or evolve in such a way that we don’t highlight them like that anymore. But the things themselves will continue to thrive as long as we continue to love them (and money can be made from them). In any case the world is changing and that change, that openness to others, can only make us better. If you enjoyed my ramblings then please consider contributing to my tip jar at ko-fi.com/oldtrenchy. REVIEW – Avengers: Endgame (NO SPOILERS) VIDEO – Free Comic Book Day 2019 Archives Select Month July 2019 (1) June 2019 (4) May 2019 (4) April 2019 (5) March 2019 (4) February 2019 (7) January 2019 (4) December 2018 (1) November 2018 (1) September 2018 (3) August 2018 (1) July 2018 (3) June 2018 (2) May 2018 (3) April 2018 (3) February 2018 (2) January 2018 (3)	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2193
__label__wiki	0.585576	0.585576	The 19th century was marked by great discoveries in technology and nature science. This led to the breakthrough of industrialization with great changes in production, infrastructure and life forms. The development was carried by romantic and national liberal currents, which expressed itself in a Scandinavian movement, which also left traces in art. At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century a movement towards Scandinavian unification and unity evolved. It sprung partly from the conceptions of the Romantic Movement, but it also had to do with the increased travel activity and the growing cultural exchange. At first it was the intellectual and literary circles, which headed this increased contact and exchange, but in the course of the 19th century the movement had gathered a certain popular and political support. The unification of the three Nordic kingdoms was seriously discussed, but it was not in line with the great powers of Europe. Denmark was alone when attacked by England in the beginning of the 19th century and the international events concerning the Schleswig wars in 1848 and 1864 put a stop to these deliberations. The Swedish-Danish rapprochements were a result of a joint development and culture for the liberally oriented middle classes. The development of the infrastructure around the Sound-region with steamships and railways partly diminished distances, also mentally. Differences, and especially similarities became more visible. Little by little contacts were made across the Sound and they became more frequent and included all social classes. Most visible were the products of the cultural exchange: Monuments, buildings and a mutual influence in literature and art. The development in North Zealand contained certain development traits, because the area also became a recreational area for the metropolitan region. What was earlier a prerogative for the royal family and the court, now also became available for the middle classes. From the year 1800 the Copenhagen area developed into a dynamic centre in the region with an explosive population increase, industrial development and a great increase in acreage in the time after 1857. Labour from the surrounding rural society, not only from Denmark, but also from South Sweden moved towards the Copenhagen area, where the wages were twice as high and the living conditions generally much better. The evolution on the Swedish side took place somewhat later, but in the course of the 1880´s it gathered momentum in Malmo, where the labour movement, with experiences from the Copenhagen area, soon had a foothold. In the latter part of the 19th century a large harbour was built in Helsingborg and this became the beginning of a rapid development. Helsingborg was in many ways leading the development in Scania and many leading individuals here had their roots in Denmark. Elsinore was with its attachment to the Sound Duty, which was not lifted until 1857, when also the freedom of trade law was carrie, but here the industrial evolution became apparent too, during the course of the 19th century. In this period Elsinore, with the abolishment of the Sound Duty in 1857 and the foundation of a shipyard in the 1880´s, went through a development, which made it the largest industrial city in Zealand, next to Copenhagen.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2194
__label__cc	0.507188	0.492812	Civil Society, Commerce, South-South cooperation, Sustainable Development BAPA+40: An Opportunity to Reenergize South-South Cooperation By Branislav Gosovic* GENEVA, Dec 21 2018 (IPS) – The upcoming conference on the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA+40), scheduled to take place in the Argentine capital on 20-22 March 2019, ought to be more than just another UN conference where the developing countries assemble to present their demands and seek support from the North. Also, it must not turn out to be a replay of the 2009 1st UN High-level Conference on South-South Cooperation, i.e. an anodyne event in terms of impact and follow-up, though such a scenario may be preferred by some, risk of which exists since the 2019 gathering is also scheduled to last only three days, not enough time for genuine deliberations and negotiations. Therefore, it is up to the developing countries to build up BAPA+40 into a major global event. South-South cooperation and the United Nations system One of the key objectives of the Global South at BAPA+40 should be to place South-South cooperation at the very centre of the UN system of multilateral cooperation. The UN system needs to recognize the diversity and broad spectrum that SSC subsumes, to resist the limits being imposed on SSC and it being distanced and cut off from its original institutional and political roots and aspirations. The United Nations ought to introduce clear and specific measures and programmes, necessary human and financial resources, and mandates by “mainstreaming” and “enhancing support” for SSC in every organization and agency of the UN system, to have them incorporate the needs and objectives of South-South cooperation. It needs also to be reiterated that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for North-South development cooperation, but a parallel and new sphere of multilateral cooperation that opens new and promising opportunities, stimulates North-South cooperation, and provides alternative and innovative approaches in development cooperation. In the fold of the UN, a significant, yet very limited step to mainstream South-South Cooperation has been taken by upgrading the UNDP Special Unit for TCDC first into a Special Unit for South-South Cooperation and then into the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). This cannot and should not be the end-station, but needs to be followed up ambitiously and seriously at the global level, by appointment of a UN Secretary-General’s high level representative who would provide political vision for South-South cooperation and the establishment of a UN specialized entity within the UNDP platform or in the UN Development System (UNDS) in the making, whose mission would be to promote South-South cooperation, as recommended by the Group of 77 Ministerial Meeting. Any such entity would need to have its own intergovernmental machinery, a major capital development fund for South-South projects, and fully staffed substantive secretariat equipped to perform a number of important functions, including initiating and funding projects, undertaking research, maintaining a data base on SSC and a directory of national actors involved in SSC, and publishing a regular, periodic UN report on South-South Cooperation called for by G77 Summits. A suggestion has been floated to consider entrusting this task to UNCTAD, given that its mandate concerning North-South issues has been eroded and its role marginalized. Such a central entity for SSC would need to be backed, at the regional level, by greatly strengthened and invigorated UN regional economic commissions in the South. These Commissions are the principal UN bodies based in and with a full knowledge of their respective regions. Their key mission should be the promotion of South-South cooperation or “horizontal cooperation”, as traditionally referred to in Latin America. The proposed structure, drawing also on UN specialized agencies in their areas of competence, would have as one of its tasks to support and energize sub-regional, regional and inter-regional South-South cooperation. Regular, high-level UN conferences on South-South cooperation would need to be convened, and a consolidated and regular substantive, analytical and statistical UN report on the state of South-South cooperation will need to be prepared. Global South and South-South cooperation Given the overall global context, the developing countries cannot rely solely on the United Nations, even if and when the suggested institutional improvements are approved and become operational. South-South cooperation is an opportunity for the Global South to contribute to achieving a number of outstanding goals and aspirations and be a vehicle for reshaping the global system. For this to happen, however, what is needed on the part of the developing countries is hard work, mobilization of resources and of collective power, major and sustained efforts and commitment/obligation to pursue and attain a series of objectives that need to be identified and agreed on. In their efforts to follow this advice, in addition to many practical obstacles and problems, the developing countries would also encounter opposition and doubts within their own ranks, not to mention a frontal or undercover resistance by actors of the North. This resistance would especially come from those who would consider every major move in that direction as a potential threat to their own interests and global designs, and would, very likely, take steps, including within individual developing countries, often with local support and even via ”inconvenient” regime and leadership change, to influence and embroil the collective efforts. What matters, however, is that today the Global South has the resources and collective power to move forward, and that this is not a “mission impossible”, as some who are familiar with problems and difficulties encountered in South-South cooperation efforts and undertakings and the building and management of joint institutions might point out. There is little that stands in the way of: Undertaking a critical, in-depth review and analysis of: South-South cooperation, important actions and proposals agreed on over the years and their implementation, experiences, public attitudes, performance of individual countries, functioning of joint institutions and mechanisms of cooperation and integration, main obstacles and shortcomings that call for action, including the all too frequent difficulties or failure to follow up on important decisions taken at the political level. Focussing on how to resolve the issue of lack of adequate financing for South-South cooperation, activities, projects and institutions, probably one of the most serious practical obstacles standing in the way of SSC being put into practice as desired and called for. Inspiring, informing about and involving in the South-South cooperation project the public and individuals; with this in mind, applying capacity-building and training to raise the awareness of the existing experiences and opportunities; using to this end also educational, marketing, media and public relations approaches, which are so common in contemporary society and are used not only to advertise and publicize goods and services, but also political and social goals and causes, in this case the common identity of the South as an entity. Setting up a South organization for South-South cooperation, and pooling together and networking intellectual and analytical resources available in the South and internationally to staff and support the work of that institution. Placing on the agenda the challenge of intellectual self-empowerment of the Global South and the harnessing of its intellectual resources and institutions into an interactive network for support of common goals and collective actions. Evolving, at the highest level, a representative system of political authority (e.g., heads of state or government, one delegated from each region) for regular and ad hoc communication, consultations and contacts, for meetings to assess progress in the implementation of agreed SSC goals, and for communication/interaction with all heads of state and/or government in the Global South. Based on the workings and experience of the South Commission, of the now defunct UN Committee on Development Planning and of the G77 High-Level Panel of Eminent Personalities of the South, to consider establishing a permanent South-South commission or committee to bring together, on a regular basis, high-stature personalities and thinkers from the South to reflect and deliberate on challenges faced by the developing countries and by the international community. Elaborating and agreeing on a blueprint for national self-empowerment for South-South cooperation, to guide and be used as a reference by the individual developing countries in line with their own characteristics and capacities, and transforming this blueprint into a legal instrument binding for all developing countries. Nurturing, training and educating future cadres and leaders for South-South cooperation, directly exposing them to and familiarizing them with different problems and different regions of the South, and, when they are ready, deploying them in national, sub-regional, regional and multilateral, including UN, settings. Focussing on the role of “digital South-South cooperation” in the promotion and energizing of all forms of South-South cooperation, including closer contacts, communication, information sharing and interaction, mutual understanding between and among the peoples and countries of the South, transfer of technology, and education and culture. Calling for closer cooperation between and joint initiatives of G77 and NAM, an important pending political and institutional topic on the agenda of the Global South. There is little new in the above suggestions, which draw on practical experiences and have been articulated over the years and in different contexts. What they propose is within reach, is doable, and would represent a major “leap forward” for South-South cooperation. What is needed today is firm political will, long-term vision and determined initiative for a group of the South’s countries and leaders to launch such a process on the desired track and, most importantly, sustain it with the necessary political commitment and financial and institutional support. The 2019 Buenos Aires Conference in March next year is an opportunity for the South to stand up and raise its collective voice, as at the very beginnings of South-South cooperation in Bandung (1955), Belgrade (1961), Geneva (1964) and Algiers (1967). This article is a shortened version of the concluding pages of an extensive essay “On the eve of BAPA+40 – South-South Cooperation in today’s geopolitical context”, which was published in VESTNIK RUDN. International Relations, 2018, Volume 18, Issue 03, October 2018, pp. 459-478, the international journal of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN), formerly Patrice Lumumba University, in a special volume to mark the 40th anniversary of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action. (See http://journals.rudn.ru/international-relations/article/view/20098/16398 ) Branislav Gosovic, worked in UNCTAD, UNEP, UNECLAC, World Commission on Environment and Development, South Commission, and South Centre (1991-2005), and is the author of the recently-published book ‘The South Shaping the Global Future, 6 Decades of the South-North Development Struggle in the UN.’ Journey to Earthland As Trump Rages, God Bless Us Every One	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2195
__label__cc	0.731939	0.268061	Selection of 7 buildings to invest in lisbon in 2019 NON-HABITUAL RESIDENT SELECTION INVESTMENTS FOR YOU WHY PORTUGAL?! come and meet portugal Rossio Station, Lisbon, IS THE 2nd MOST BEAUTIFUL WORLD Two Portuguese train stations are among the most beautiful in the world according to a list compiled by the US publication Flavorwire. The Rossio station in Lisbon, and São Bento in Porto, are the representatives of Portugal, the only European country to put the two names chosen. In total, there are ten stations chosen as the most beautiful of the entire globe. The Portuguese stations appear alongside other compelling railway structures as the Atocha station in Madrid, Paris Gare du Nord or Grand Central Terminal, an icon of New York City. According to Claire Cottrell, list the author, the decision to highlight the stations due to the fact that they are to regain a prominent position as has happened with many other things - such as vinyl records or the Polaroids - they were relegated to second place in favor of what is now considered more modern. However, the stations of the railways are back and better than ever, writes Cottrell, adding that, therefore, it is time to have a look at some of the best railway stations that still remains standing. PORTUGAL GOLD	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2198
__label__wiki	0.908423	0.908423	HomeThe Long Cycle: Where Silicon Valley and the tech revolution go from here The Long Cycle: Where Silicon Valley and the tech revolution go from here Michael S. Malone Lecture Theatre VI, West Wing Book online here Mike has covered Silicon Valley and high-tech for more than thirty years, and was twice nominated by the San Jose Mercury-News for the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He is the author or co-author of more than a dozen award-winning books, notably the bestselling 'The Virtual Corporation', 'The Future Arrived Yesterday' and most recently 'The Intel Corporation'. A regular editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal, Mike has hosted three nationally syndicated public television interview series and co-produced the Emmy-nominated primetime PBS miniseries The New Heroes. As an entrepreneur, Mike was a founding shareholder of eBay, Siebel Systems (sold to Oracle) and Qik (sold to Skype), and is currently vice-chairman of a new start-up, PatientKey Inc. Mike holds an MBA from Santa Clara University, where he is currently an adjunct professor. He is also an associate fellow of the Said Business School at Oxford University, and is a Distinguished Friend of Oxford. Mike will also be signing copies of his new book The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World’s Most Important Company during the drinks reception following his talk. Copies of the book will be available to buy for £20 (cash only). Claire Joubert claire.joubert@sbs.ox.ac.uk	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2201
__label__wiki	0.706972	0.706972	Isabelle Faust born on 19/3/1972 in Esslingen, Germany Links www.theguardian.com (English) www.munzinger.de (German) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Isabelle Faust (born 1972 in Esslingen, Germany) is a violinist who has won multiple awards. Faust received her first violin lessons at the age of five.[1] Her father, then a 31 year old secondary school teacher, decided to learn the violin.[1] He took his young daughter along: the father's talent was not especially stellar, but his infant daughter was able to learn the technical fundamentals of violin playing correctly and at an unusually early age, quickly herself becoming the star pupil. Shortly after that her brother also began to take lessons and when Isabelle was 11 the parents created a family string quartet for which several masterclasses were later organised with some of the leading string players of the time.[1] The early start was, for both the children, the basis for musical careers; Boris Faust has become a viola professional.[1] ...on Bach's six unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas: In a way, this repertoire is the most difficult ... I mean, the huge C major fugue! To enter this kind of music and not only understand it intellectually but also emotionally? It's sometimes almost strange to go on stage. It feels complete, what you do, the two of you. ... I've always wondered: did Bach really mean for them to be played in public? I have my doubts.[2] Isabelle Faust interviewed by Anna Picard in 2013 She trained with Christoph Poppen and Dénes Zsigmondy. After winning the Paganini Competition, and keen to broaden her experience, she moved in 1996 to Paris where she lived for the next nine years.[3] It was in France that her first CD appeared, featuring music by Bartok. She attracted plaudits as an interpreter of Fauré.[3] Faust later commented ruefully that it probably did no harm to her career that, because of her French first name, many French listeners assumed she was French.[3] It was also in France that she met her husband.[3] In 2004 she was appointed professor of violin at the Berlin University of the Arts. She lives in Berlin and is the mother of a teenage son.[1] Since 1996,[1] she has performed on the "Sleeping Beauty" Stradivarius violin of 1704, on loan from Landesbank Baden-Württemberg.[4] She has also performed with Baroque-style violins and bows.[3] Faust has performed as guest soloist with most of the world's major orchestras. In addition to the recordings listed under "Awards and Prizes," she has recorded works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Antonín Dvořák, Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms (including the Violin Concerto), Alban Berg, Bohuslav Martinů, André Jolivet and others. She is a proponent of new music and has given world premieres of works by, among others, Olivier Messiaen, Werner Egk, and Jörg Widmann.[4] James R. Oestreich from The New York Times counted her recording of Mozart's violin concertos among the best recordings of 2016.[5] 1987: International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart, (Augsburg), First Prize[6] 1990: Premio Quadrivio Competition (Rovigo, Italy), First Prize 1993: Paganini Competition in Genoa, Italy, First Prize [7] 1994: Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen für junge Künstlerinnen und Künstler 1997: Gramophone Award for "Young Artist of the Year" for her first CD, the Sonata for Solo Violin and the Violin Sonata No. 1 of Béla Bartók on Harmonia Mundi[8] 2002: Cannes Classical Award for her recording for ECM of the Concerto Funèbre of Karl Amadeus Hartmann 2010: Diapason d'Or de l'Année for her recording of the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin of Johann Sebastian Bach for Harmonia Mundi [9] 2012: Gramophone Award for Best Chamber Recording for her recording of the violin sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven with pianist Alexander Melnikov for Harmonia Mundi[10] 2012: Echo Klassik Award for her recording of the violin sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven with pianist Alexander Melnikov 2012: Diapason d'Orfor her recording of the violin sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven with pianist Alexander Melnikov 2017: Gramophone Award for Best Concerto Recording and Recording of the Year for her recording of the violin concertos of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini ^ a b c d e f Christiane Tewinkel (interviewer); Isabelle Faust (interviewee) (9 June 2012). ""Wie erziehen Sie Ihre Geige, Frau Faust?"". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 24 July 2017. Die Geigerin Isabelle Faust spricht über das Leben mit einer Stradivari, ihre Lehrer und die Arbeit an Alban Bergs Violinkonzert gemeinsam mit Claudio Abbado. ^ Anna Picard (15 September 2013). "Isabelle Faust: musical sleuth". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 July 2017. ^ a b c d e Volker Hagedorn (29 November 2012). "Klänge für den Weltraum". Die Zeit. Retrieved 24 July 2017. ^ a b "Arts Management Group". Artsmg.com. Retrieved 2013-06-15. ^ "The Best Classical Music Recordings of 2016" by Zachary Woolfe, Anthony Tommasini, David Allen, James R. Oestreich, The New York Times, 15 December 2016 ^ Preisträger 1987, Internationaler Violinwettbewerb Leopold Mozart ^ "Home – Premiopaganini". Paganini.comune.genova.it. Retrieved 25 September 2017. ^ "Isabelle Faust (violinist)". Gramophone.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-06-15. ^ "Impresariat Simmenauer – Violin – Isabelle Faust – Biography". Impresariat-simmenauer.de. Retrieved 2013-06-15. ^ "Gramophone Awards 2010 unveiled". Gramophone.co.uk. 2010-09-30. Retrieved 2013-06-15. This page was last modified 13.02.2018 15:49:46 This article uses material from the article Isabelle Faust from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2207
__label__cc	0.7301	0.2699	Cracks in the Pedestal (Trump’s Pedestal) Tuesday, September 8th, 2015 As Peter Vermilye, a sage of Wall Street, used to say to me, “Once you’re on the pedestal, you have no place to go but down.” Crack Number One in Trump’s Pedastal:The kerfuffle on August 28 regarding the signage at a rally for Donald Trump that read: “Please have checks made payable to: Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., or cash ready on entry. Thank you.” The event was being hosted by Ernie Boch, Jr. (purported to be worth $500 million), although both he and Trump (who says he is worth $10 billion, but has yet to prove it) claimed to be footing the bill. Regardless, either one of them most assuredly could have defrayed the cost of the event with a rich man’s equivalent of pocket change. So why were attendees being asked for money, even if it was for only $50? “I’m self-funding” is how Trump has described the financing of his campaign. Notice his use of the present tense. What he has never said is: “I will self-fund my entire presidential campaign.” Trump may be rich, but I’ll wager he doesn’t want to spend his personal fortune on what it will take to try to secure the Republican nomination. And when he capitulates, he’ll be just like all the other candidates — an ordinary person doing his best to raise sacks of money from the public, because that’s what it takes to try to become President of the United States. Crack Number Two: On September 3, Hugh Hewitt, the conservative radio talk show host, exposed Trump’s stunning lack of knowledge regarding the leadership of well-known political and terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Trump’s later diatribe against Hewitt, asserting he asked a “gotcha question,” and his retort that “I’m a delegator. I find great people…..” are sad defenses and will serve him ill, as future debates will inevitably focus on each candidate’s personal grip on foreign policy and global affairs. Crack Number Three: A day later on September 4, Donald Trump “took the pledge,” signing (in ink but not in blood) a piece of paper (not legally binding, mind you) promising to support the party’s eventual nominee, giving up the option to run as an Independent should another candidate get the Republican nomination. In response to questions on the matter, he stated that he “got absolutely nothing in response for signing the pledge.” But wait a minute. South Carolina was threatening to keep his name off its primary ballot if he didn’t sign such a pledge, and Virginia and North Carolina were considering requiring loyalty pledges, as well. Trump caved! It’s as simple as that. And the quid pro quo was huge: You take the pledge, and your name is on the ballot; You don’t take the pledge and your name is not on the ballot. Crack Number Four: Perhaps the lowest blow in Trump’s ad hominem attacks against fellow Republican contenders was his comment on September 2 regarding Doctor Ben Carson, whose genteel demeanor and thoughtful delivery are in sublime contrast to Trump’s own narcissistic style. In Trump’s own words, “I just think it’s a very difficult situation that he [Carson] puts himself into, to have a doctor who wasn’t creating jobs and would have a nurse or maybe two nurses…. I’ve created tens of thousands of jobs over the years.” So the only criterion for president is how many jobs you have created? That would imply that the only legitimate candidate for president is someone from a very large private sector organization. Unless you are winking past Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose New Deal created millions of government-funded jobs for the unemployed during the Great Depression. Well, there hasn’t been an elected president who hailed from the private sector in Trump’s lifetime. In fact, I believe George Washington may be the only president who had a long private sector career before becoming president. Without belaboring the point, Trump’s comment about Carson is both vile and absurd, and the litany of his vitriolic jabs against those in both the Republican and the Democratic race for president is losing its appeal as comic relief. Bombastic rhetoric may fire up the audience, boost television ratings and steal headlines. But it is at best an edifice built on a suspect foundation. In summary, the cracks in Trump’s pedestal are the harbingers of his day of reckoning. When grandiloquent edicts regarding issues of national, economic and social importance are not backed up by coherent and viable solutions, it can’t be long before the statue topples. That day is fast approaching for Donald Trump. Ravengate Partners LLC Patricia Chadwick, President 31 Hillcrest Park Road Ronnie Snow, Assistant Old Greenwich, CT 06870 203-698-0676 www.ravengate.com Tags: Donald Trump, Politics Posted in Article \| 1 Comment » You are currently browsing the Ravengate Partners – Global insight by Patricia Chadwick blog archives for September, 2015.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2208
__label__wiki	0.541093	0.541093	Interview with Glen Goei Copyright © 1999. A Miramax Films Release. By Ross Anthony Glen Goei (pronounced "Gwee") born and raised in Singapore, graduated from Cambridge in England and won the lead role opposite Anthony Hopkins in M. Butterfly. He's produced and directed several stage plays, "That's the Way I Like It" is his feature film directing debut. Despite a long day of talking with journalists, Glen welcomes me with a big smile and lots of energy. I start in with my most pressing question. RA: Did you make any attempts to contact John Travolta to play ... himself? GG: No, I didn't. I'm just this small time independent struggling filmmaker. It just never occurred to me. The reality is that I'd never even get to him. Besides I couldn't pay him even for one minute. On his salary I could make twenty films. He's probably never even heard of Singapore. Of course, it would have been wonderful. It would have been out of this world. RA: How about the actor who played John in your film ... was he a Singaporean local? GG: No, born and bred in New York ... in Brooklyn. Found him there ... he's Italian. RA: The Kung Fu scene is, well, slightly over edge. Why not just go all the way, but let Ah Hock wake up later in the street, Bluto's first punch having put him out? GG: So he wakes up and realizes it was all a dream? RA: No, not all a dream, just the fight with Bluto. GG: I mean the whole film is all tongue-in-cheek anyway. But in hindsight, I might have added another five seconds of fight. RA: Oh come on, there were plenty of emotional moments. GG: Well, comedy is more fun when you have heartfelt scenes and similarly, heartfelt scenes become more heartfelt because of the comedy. Life is a bittersweet comedy. RA: That's a good attitude, you should make movies. GG: (Laughs politely) RA: Now, let's talk about the gay brother... GG: Though of course, he's not gay. RA: He's not? GG: He's a transsexual. It's different ... very very different. But anyway, don't worry about it. Go ahead use gay as the short form. RA: Well, the film has the feeling of the golden oldie... GG: ...yeah, Hollywood formula. I literally picked up a how to write a Hollywood script book and followed it chapter by chapter. But I added in the social realism to add substance. So it wasn't just a comedy. That's why you get the edgier moments in the film. I also added the whole subtext, which was this whole thing with East and West cultures clashing. And I also used actors who weren't exactly good looking. I used a lead who wasn't a good looking lead. I wanted it to be a story of the working class underdog. But you know what? He's good looking by the end. He can act, he can dance, he's funny. You get drawn to him. Lot's of women love him because he makes you laugh. So, I used the formula, but started breaking all the rules. RA: Getting back to the gay brother ... the formula would have worked without this subject matter, though it worked well with it, but why did you choose it? GG: I was pushing the stakes up. I was trying to find a reason why the brother would want to commit suicide, then I worked backwards from there. The only reason he would do that is if he was kicked out of his family. If you're disowned by your father, you might want to kill yourself especially in 1977 in a traditional Asian family. And in Singapore, homosexuality is still illegal. So unconsciously I was trying to say, hey maybe you all should learn to accept other people's sexual identities. People have asked me if the father was a metaphor for the government. It wasn't meant to be, but it could be seen that way. RA: Ah Hock and brother rarely converse over this topic, why is that? GG: I see a lot of Hollywood films and a lot of things are overly spelled out. For me, I wanted to make a film that was representive of the culture. In the Asian culture very little is said. RA: How long did you have the script before putting it all together on film? GG: Ten days. I went into pre-production a week later. But that's 'cause I'm reckless. In hindsight, it was complete craziness. I had raised the money for a different project and I couldn't cast that film because it was about fourteen year old kids. So I was in deep ****. I thought I'm not going to compromise if I can't cast it. So I woke up the next morning and wrote this film. It's actually very personal for me. A lot of my own experiences are put in the film as any first time filmmaker does. And indeed that was my teenagehood. It was all about Bruce Lee and John Travolta. They are the two icons I celebrate in the film. The 70's were the best decade I ever had -- thanks to these two guys. RA: So what's next? GG: I have a three picture deal with Miramax. One to be shot in Manhattan. RA: But you live in London right? GG: That's right. Sixteen years. RA: So you went back to shoot the picture in Singapore? GG: Yeah that's right. RA: How long was the shooting? GG: Thirty days, and I did my entire post production in Sidney. RA: Why's that? GG: We don't have a film industry in Singapore and the closest city was Sidney. But more importantly, I've so enjoyed the Australian films of the past eight, nine years like "Priscilla," "Shine," you know, a lot of great films. People are very friendly. A stunning city. The quality of the film industry is as high as Hollywood. In fact all the top Directors of photography in Hollywood are Australian. [Review of That's The Way I Like It] [More interviews] Last Modified: Wednesday, 17-Mar-2004 15:36:34 PST	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2210
__label__wiki	0.641709	0.641709	Indians 10 Astros 9 - Final/14 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 1 1 10 Houston at Cleveland - Sun 27-May-2018 Astros Batters RBOE RF 6 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .167 .286 .333 .279 3B 6 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .167 .286 .333 .279 SS 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 .167 .167 .150 Yuli Gurriel DH 6 2 0 0 2 0 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 1.333 .667 Max Stassi C 6 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 .167 .667 .333 CF 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 PH,LF 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 Tony Kemp LF,CF 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 .167 .333 .208 Total 54 12 4 0 3 0 9 9 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .222 .250 .463 .302 Indians Batters Michael Brantley LF 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .400 .500 .400 .417 José Ramírez 3B 6 2 1 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 1.000 .542 Edwin Encarnación DH 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 .167 .167 .150 Rajai Davis Roberto Pérez Erik González PH 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 .900 CF,RF 5 2 1 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .400 .500 1.200 .658 Total 50 13 2 0 3 0 10 10 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 .260 .315 .480 .343 Astros Pitchers 7.00 4 1 8 2 0 1 3 0 0 0 0.857 3.86 3.96 0.00 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 inf inf 3.10 Will Harris 0.33 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.000 54.00 -2.90 Héctor Rondón Collin McHugh Brad Peacock 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 inf inf inf Total 13.00 13 3 15 3 0 1 10 0 1 0 1.231 6.92 4.72 Indians Pitchers 7.33 5 1 13 2 0 0 4 0 0 0 0.955 4.91 2.15 Evan Marshall 0.67 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1.500 13.50 16.60 Zach McAllister Total 14.00 12 3 18 2 0 0 9 1 0 0 1.000 5.79 3.74 Fielding Independent Pitching or FIP, was developed by Tom Tango based on DIPS work by Voros McCracken. Weighted On Base Average, or wOBA, was developed by Tom Tango. RotoValue uses Version 2, but ignoring reached base on error before 2015.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2211
__label__wiki	0.545596	0.545596	Accueil du site Doctorat Egypte The Suitability of the water resources for agricultural use in some regions of eljabal el-akhder in Libya Alexandria University (2013) The Suitability of the water resources for agricultural use in some regions of eljabal el-akhder in Libya Jaballah, Awad Mohamed Titre : The Suitability of the water resources for agricultural use in some regions of eljabal el-akhder in Libya Auteur : Jaballah, Awad Mohamed. Etablissement de soutenance : Alexandria University Grade : Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Agricultural Sciences 2013 Résumé partiel The country of Libya covers an area of about 1,759,540 square kilometers spanning three climatic zones : the Mediterranean, the semi-desert, and the vast desert zone of the northern Sahara with its sprinkling of oases. The present population in Libya is about 5.6 millions lives mainly in the Mediterranean coastal zone, with a large proportion in its principal Cities Tripoli and Benghazi. The fertile lands of the Jeffara Plain in the northwest of the country, Al Jabal Al-Akhder in the northeast, and the coastal plain east of Sirt, all support a flourishing agriculture, which is dependent upon rainfall. To the south, separated by a strip of semi-desert, the desert is encroaching ever nearer the Gulf of Sirt. Records of rainfall distribution show 500 millimeters falling annually on Al-Jabal Al-Akhder, falling to 150 millimeters in the coastal region around Benghazi and 200-250 millimeters fall annually along the Jebel Nefussa and the western coast. Along the coast of the Gulf of Sirt, the annual rainfall decreases rapidly with distance inland, and south of Jebel Nefussa and Al-Jabel Al- Akhder it similarly diminishes until only a few millimeters are recorded annually at Sarir in the southeast and Sabha in the southwest. In the north of Libya, the demand for water is rapidly increasing, forcing the intense exploitation of groundwater resources, particularly in the fertile lands of the Jeffara Plain in the northwest and Al-Jebel Al-Akhder in the northeast of the country. Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar area is an upland area along the northern coast of north eastern Libya. It is crescent shaped ridge culminating at more than 870 m a.m.s.l, in its central part. The northern flank consisting of step like plateaus bordered by escarpment. The southern flanks are gently dipping towards a depression marked by several large Sebkhas. To the east and mostly to the west, coastal plains are well developed between the foot of the first escarpment and the sea. The development of groundwater has increased rapidly during the past ten years. Most of the water in the Mediterranean coastal zone area in Libya is used for agricultural purposes, which on average accounts for 62% of the groundwater consumption. Domestic water use accounts for 33% of the water supplied, and industrial usage makes up the remaining 5%. However, the rapid increase in groundwater withdrawals has resulted in lowering the piezometric surface, particularly in the north regions of the country. There is suspicion that saline intrusion is occurring along the coast in the north, with upward leakage of poor quality water at points of heavy abstraction elsewhere. In Libya, the situation of water supply has become more problematic, as the population increases rapidly and low rainfall. As a result soon after the discovery of fresh groundwater in the deserts of southern Libya, the local authority adopted and implemented a plan of action to address its water deficit problems, mainly through the implementation of “The Great Manmade River Project” to sustain its economy. Présentation étendue (EULC) Page publiée le 14 mars 2019 The Phytochemical Study Of Some Plants Growing Widly In Egypt Belonging To The Family Euphorbiaceae The Use of Ionizing Radiation to Prepare Polymeric Agro-Waste Composite for Sandy Soil Application	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2220
__label__cc	0.563176	0.436824	Joomla TemplatesBest Web HostingBest Joomla Hosting Eritrea - Ministry of Information Asmara - Eritrea About Eritrea Art & Sport Eritrea at a Glance In Eritrea's calendar Local Magazines Men'esey Magazine Shebab Magazine AGIZO MAGAZINE China’s Further Opening heralds Broader Prospects For China-Eritrea common development Saturday, 28 April 2018 02:12 \| Written by shabait Administrator \| On 10 April 2018, H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, delivered a keynote speech at the opening of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2018 on the theme of ‘Openness for Greater Prosperity, Innovation for a Better Future’. With the presence of more than 2,000 distinguished guests including heads of state and government, heads of international organizations and ministers from BFA member countries, President Xi in his speech summarized the major achievements that China has registered over the past 40 years since adoption of the Reform and Opening-up policy, reflected upon the valuable inspirations that China acquired and the positive contribution China has made to the world peace and prosperity, explicitly pointed out the development trends of the current world and the core significance of building a shared future for the mankind, and announced four major measures that China would adopt to pursue further opening in the years to follow. On China’s major achievements, President Xi highlighted that the Chinese people have significantly unleashed and enhanced productivity in China through hard work with an unyielding spirit. The people’s focused endeavor on national development and unwavering commitment to reform and opening-up have brought enormous changes to the country. The current China has grown into the world’s second largest economy, the largest industrial producer, the largest trader of goods and the holder of the largest foreign exchange reserves. Over the past four decades, China’s GDP has averaged an annual growth rate of around 9.5% in comparable prices and its foreign trade has registered an annual growth of 14.5% in US dollar. According to the current UN standards, more than 700 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty, accounting for more than 70% of the global total over the same period. In the international arena, China has also actively contributed the Chinese share to the world. From WTO accession to the Belt and Road Initiative, China has made significant contribution to mitigating the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis. By contributing over 30% of global economic growth in recent years, China has become a key anchor and driver for the world economy and a positive force in advancing global peace and development. President Xi in his speech also elaborated on how China has made these development achievements. The first factor is that Chinese people, with a keen awareness of both national realities and a global vision, have blazed a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. China attaches great importance to independence and self-reliance while embracing openness and win-win cooperation. The second factor lies in China’s strength of being a truth-seeking nation with an open mind to ensure that our minds can evolve side by side with our endeavor of reform and opening-up. The third one rests with our great strength of institutional guarantee. China has courageously engaged in self-revolution and constantly made improvements to the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and kept overcoming institutional and systematic obstacles to better development. The fourth factor is rooted in 1.3 billion population with unprecedented motivation, initiative and creativity, which constitutes the most powerful driving force of China’s national development. Beyond the above listed factors, China’s reform and opening-up has given a most important inspiration, that is, for any country to achieve rejuvenation, they must follow the logic of history and the trend of the times in their pursuit of progress and prosperity. As a Chinese saying goes, people must have the courage to ‘dispel the clouds to see the sun’ so as to have a keen grasp of the law of history and the trend of the world. At this point, President Xi highlighted in his speech that we are living at a time with an overwhelming trend towards peace and cooperation, openness and connectivity, reform and innovation and economic globalization. We need to resort to peaceful development and cooperation to bring win-win results and promote common prosperity, embrace innovation and creativity to benefit social progress and the well-being of our people. This is also the reason for China’s pursuing further opening. One question that might follow is, how will China put its further opening-up policy into practice? President Xi announced that China would adopt four major measures, those are: First, China will significantly broaden market access on sectors of financial services and manufacturing and so on. Second, China will create a more attractive investment environment by increasingly enhancing alignment with international economic and trading rules, promoting transparency, strengthening property rights protection and so on. Third, China will strengthen protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). Fourth, China will take the initiative to expand imports. This November, China will hold the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai, which is a major policy initiative and commitment taken of our own accord to open up the Chinese market. Actions speak louder than words. China has every intention to translate the above measures into reality, to let the outcomes of our opening-up efforts deliver benefits to all enterprises and people in China and around the world as soon as possible. China will remain as determined as ever to build world peace, contribute to global prosperity and uphold the international order. President Xi in his speech finally said, ‘A mountain is formed by accumulation of earth and an ocean is formed by accumulation of water’, and success only favors those with courage and perseverance. He called for all the countries dedicating themselves to openness and win-win outcomes and embracing innovation, keeping striving for a community with a shared future for mankind and a better tomorrow for the world. China and Eritrea have always been good friends.In the process of respective nation building, China remains ready to keep exchanging development experience and learning from each other with Eritrea on an equal basis, so as to achieve better mutual understanding, solidifying friendship between the two peoples, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation. I am convinced that as China seeks further opening and implements the major measures announced by President Xi, it will heralds new opportunities for China- Eritrea pragmatic cooperation, and create broader prospects for China- Eritrea common development. This November, China sincerely expects and welcomes friends from different countries including Eritrea to participate in the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai; to share and enjoy more benefits of China’s opening-up efforts. Ambassador Yang Zigang, Chinese ambassador to the State of Eritrea Last Updated (Saturday, 28 April 2018 02:26)	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2222
__label__wiki	0.885802	0.885802	B.C. to lift foreign-buyer tax for those with work permits MIKE HAGER (GLOBE & MAIL) British Columbia will soon allow international citizens working and paying taxes in the province to bypass the 15-per-cent foreign home buyer’s tax in a bid to make the province more attractive to skilled professionals. Premier Christy Clark announced the coming move Sunday after being asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s highly controversial ban on certain Muslim immigrants. “We believe the best and the brightest should be able to come to British Columbia,” she told reporters during a short media scrum as Vancouver’s Chinese New Year parade was starting. “We’re going to lift the foreign owners’ tax on people who have work permits, who are paying taxes and living in British Columbia, as a way to encourage more people to come.” For subscribers: Foreign buyers a ‘scapegoat’ for high Vancouver prices, CMHC head says Investigation: Foreign investors avoid taxes through Canadian real estate Read more: New Chinese money rules threaten tide of foreign buyers in Canada Ben Chin, the Premier’s head of communications and issues management, said that Ms. Clark had asked British Columbia’s Finance Minister a little while ago to begin looking at lifting the levy for international buyers working. Mr. Chin said the exact details of the exemption have not yet been finalized, but the changes will soon be enacted through a provincial order in council. He added that there is no plan to extend the tax beyond the 22 communities it currently affects and into Greater Victoria, which Canada’s housing agency recently singled out as an area experiencing a dangerous surge in home prices. Tom Davidoff, an economist at the University of British Columbia, welcomed the province tying the tax exemption to someone’s work permit – a federal document that is hard to forge. But he worried there could be a massive loophole if foreign buyers were allowed to duck the tax by paying nominal amounts of provincial income tax on their global wealth. He added that the new exemption should not lead to a new spike in foreigners buying in Metro Vancouver’s lagging market because relatively few people are on work permits. The latest provincial government data showed that foreign citizens edged back into Metro Vancouver’s flagging real estate market months after the province introduced the 15-per-cent tax at the beginning of August, but the percentage of buyers who are not Canadians or permanent residents is still well below the double-digit rates seen before the new tax hit the sector. In and around Vancouver, foreign citizens were involved in 4.1 per cent of all homes bought in November, up from 3 per cent the month before and more than quadruple the near-zero rate recorded in the month after the province launched the levy. Mr. Chin said this new exemption – which is similar to alternative proposals from the Opposition New Democrats and a group of more than 40 other local economists led by Prof. Davidoff – is coming because the B.C. Liberal government is narrowing its focus after creating the much broader tax. “Now that we’ve had a pretty good half-year’s worth of data, we can make a move to encourage and continue to attract people that can add to our economy,” he said. Vancouver MLA David Eby, the NDP’s critic for housing, said in failing to make this exemption at the beginning, the province brought seven months of unnecessary hardship for employers trying to recruit foreign talent already weary of the region’s unaffordable housing. “The weird thing was we were taxing the workers who wanted to come and help build our province and we weren’t taxing all the speculators who got their money into the market before the foreign-buyer tax was proposed,” he said. By exempting foreign buyers who are working in and around Vancouver, the Premier has now implemented half of the NDP’s original proposal to zero in on foreign capital – not citizens, Mr. Eby said. “Now she needs to impose the additional property taxes on people who buy homes here, but who don’t pay provincial income tax here and haven’t been paying provincial income tax here.”	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2225
__label__cc	0.513433	0.486567	Overview for Fortunio Bonanova Fortunio Bonanova They Met in Argentina (1941) July 16 (ET) - REMINDER Black Swan, The (1942) July 24 (ET) - REMINDER Fugitive, The (1947) August 01 (ET) - REMINDER Nancy Goes To Rio (1950) August 12 (ET) - REMINDER Successful Calamity, A (1932) August 26 (ET) - REMINDER FOR Fortunio Bonanova YOU CAN Bad Men of... Caught holding up a claims office to pay off a gambling debt, gunman Tom Horn... more info $18.95was $21.99 Buy Now Citizen Kane... 1940. Alone at his fantastic estate known as Xanadu, 70-year-old Charles Foster... more info $10.95was $14.98 Buy Now Space Jam... Basketball superstar Michael Jordan and cartoon favorite Bugs Bunny team up with... more info $16.95was $19.98 Buy Now George Arliss... Academy Award-« winner George Arliss' career is marked by his powerful... more info $23.95was $29.99 Buy Now So This Is... 1953 musical bio-pic of Metropolitan opera soprano Grace Moore who died in a... more info $14.36was $17.99 Buy Now Mrs.... Story of a social-climbing woman who marries a wealthy-but-homespun man and... more info $15.95was $17.99 Buy Now Also Known As: Died: April 2, 1969 Born: January 13, 1893 Cause of Death: cerebral hemorrhage Birth Place: Spain Profession: Cast ... actor writer producer singer director Fortunio Bonanova was an actor who had a successful Hollywood career. Bonanova's career in acting began with his roles in various films like "Tropic Holiday" (1938) with Dorothy Lamour, the Don Ameche musical "Down Argentine Way" (1940) and the adventure "A Yank in the R.A.F." (1941) with Tyrone Power. He also appeared in the adaptation "Moon Over Miami" (1941) with Don Ameche, "Citizen Kane" (1941) and "Blood and Sand" (1941) with Tyrone Power. He kept working in film throughout the forties, starring in "Brazil" (1944), the crime flick "Double Indemnity" (1944) with Fred MacMurray and the Bing Crosby dramatic adaptation "Going My Way" (1944). He also appeared in "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (1944). Film continued to be his passion as he played roles in the Errol Flynn action picture "Adventures of Don Juan" (1949), the Gene Tierney crime feature "Whirlpool" (1950) and the Ann Sothern musical "Nancy Goes to Rio" (1950). He also appeared in "September Affair" (1951) with Joseph Cotten and the biopic "So This Is Love" (1953) with Kathryn Grayson. Bonanova more recently acted in "The Running Man" (1963). Bonanova passed away in April 1969 at the age of 76.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2226
__label__wiki	0.970229	0.970229	FOR Peter Green YOU CAN A titan of the British blues-rock scene in the 1960s, guitarist Peter Green founded the long-running Fleetwood Mac, penning some of their earliest hits, including "Black Magic Woman," before substance abuse and mental illness leveled his promising career. Though Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page were publically regarded as the reigning kings of British blues, both men were also ardent admirers of Green's stinging vibrato tone and soulful playing on such hits as "Albatross" and "Oh Well." He initially honed his talents in Clapton's shadow, replacing him briefly in John Mayall's legendary Bluesbreakers before launching his own group, Fleetwood Mac, with bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood. For much of the late '60s, Green led the group to success on the charts, but the pressures of performing and the music business led to copious drug usage that left Green mentally unmoored. By 1970, he had left Fleetwood Mac to disappear into a twilight state of constant hospitalization, broken only by sporadic and unfocused recording or performing. After a brief comeback in the early 1980s, Green appeared well enough to tour and record on a regular basis, his guitar talents still formidable. Green's return to the... A titan of the British blues-rock scene in the 1960s, guitarist Peter Green founded the long-running Fleetwood Mac, penning some of their earliest hits, including "Black Magic Woman," before substance abuse and mental illness leveled his promising career. Though Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page were publically regarded as the reigning kings of British blues, both men were also ardent admirers of Green's stinging vibrato tone and soulful playing on such hits as "Albatross" and "Oh Well." He initially honed his talents in Clapton's shadow, replacing him briefly in John Mayall's legendary Bluesbreakers before launching his own group, Fleetwood Mac, with bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood. For much of the late '60s, Green led the group to success on the charts, but the pressures of performing and the music business led to copious drug usage that left Green mentally unmoored. By 1970, he had left Fleetwood Mac to disappear into a twilight state of constant hospitalization, broken only by sporadic and unfocused recording or performing. After a brief comeback in the early 1980s, Green appeared well enough to tour and record on a regular basis, his guitar talents still formidable. Green's return to the public eye after his long period in absentia marked him as another '60s genius- turned-recluse, much like Brian Wilson or Roky Erickson, who emerged from personal turmoil to bring their music to the world again. Born Peter Allen Greenbaum on Oct. 29, 1946 in Bethnal Green, a working-class district in the East End of London, England, Peter Green was introduced to the guitar at the end of 10 by his older brother, Michael, who passed down a cheap Spanish model to him. A steady diet of American blues musicians like Muddy Waters and B.B. King, as well as local guitar hero Hank Marvin of the Shadows, inspired the teenaged Green to pursue his own musical career through a variety of rock and R&B bands, for which he was billed as "Peter Green." In May 1966, he was hired by keyboardist Peter Bardens, later of the progressive rock group Camel, to serve as lead guitarist for Peter B's Looners, a group that included drummer Mick Fleetwood. Green would make his recording debut with the band on an instrumental cover of the Jimmy Soul novelty song "If You Wanna Be Happy" before splitting from the band three months later to badger keyboardist John Mayall into letting him replace Eric Clapton as guitarist for his Bluesbreakers while the guitarist was on indefinite holiday in Greece. The union proved successful but short-lived; Mayall relieved Green of his duties upon Clapton's return in late 1966, but he was called back into action after Clapton departed again to form Cream. Green faced an uphill battle in winning over the legion of Clapton fans that had deemed the guitarist nothing short of God, but they were soon won over by his melancholy, economical style, especially on his instrumental composition "The Supernatural," from the 1966 Bluesbreakers album A Hard Road. Green soon struck up a potent creative collaboration with the band's bassist John McVie as well as Mick Fleetwood, who had served as drummer with the group for a month before being sacked for frequent inebriation. When Green decided to leave the Bluesbreakers in 1967, he took McVie and Fleetwood with him, and used their surnames as the handle for their new group: Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. The band, which also featured guitarist Jeremy Spencer and later Danny Kirwin as part of a three-guitar arrangement, made their debut in the summer of 1967 and quickly established themselves as the vanguard of the British blues scene, with such esteemed players as Jimmy Page and Clapton himself among Green's admirers. Their eponymous 1968 debut album was a Top 5 hit in the U.K., thanks to Green's supple handling of classic blues material by Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf and Elmore James, but by the time of their second release, 1968's Mr. Wonderful, he had begun to establish himself as a composer, blending blues influences with touches of the psychedelic as well as classical and experimental flourishes. These efforts paid off in spades for Fleetwood Mac, which scored a Top 40 U.K. hit with the Green original composition" Black Magic Woman" (1968), which later became a massive hit for Santana in 1970. The band earned its first No. 1 U.K. single with the ethereal instrumental "Albatross" (1969), which was soon followed by the lengthy and complex "Oh Well" (1969), which reached No. 2. But Fleetwood Mac's rise in popularity appeared to have a negative impact on Green's mindset. He was consuming vast quantities of LSD as a means of coping with the pressures of fame, which produced quasi-ecstatic hallucinations, prompting Green to adopt a stage wardrobe of flowing monastic robes and crucifixes. He also became obsessed with giving away the band's money, a notion that found little favor with the other members. Green's deteriorating mental stage had a profound effect on his music, which moved into murky waters with the mournful, semi-autobiographical "Man of the World" (1969) and the nightmarish single "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" (1970). After a three-day drug binge in 1970 at a commune in Germany, Green decided to leave Fleetwood Mac. He then released a solo album, The End of the Game (1970), a collection of studio jams built around his unfocused theories about wildlife extinction, as well as his own withdrawal from public life. For a period of several years, he recorded with a variety of musicians, including B.B. King and guitarist Nigel Watson. Green also reunited briefly with Fleetwood Mac after Jeremy Spencer left the group in 1971 after his own drug-fueled meltdown and conversion to the notorious Children of God cult. After contributing uncredited lead guitar on the song "Night Watch" from the band's 1973 album Penguin, Green's mental condition worsened. He was soon diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent much of the mid-1970s undergoing electroconvulsive therapy in several psychiatric hospitals. From time to time, rumors of his condition and whereabouts would surface in the press, including a much publicized account of a 1977 arrest for allegedly threatening Fleetwood Mac manager Clifford Davis with a gun after he attempted to give Green a royalty check, though the details of the incident were never fully verified. In 1979, Green began to emerge from his long seclusion. He was again uncredited for his contribution to the song "Brown Eyes" on Fleetwood Mac's 1979 album Tusk, and sang and performed on two tracks, including the vintage Mac song "Rattlesnake Shake," for Mick Fleetwood's solo album The Visitor (1981). A string of blues-based albums, largely written by his brother Michael, were released in the early 1980s, as well as 1984's A Case for the Blues, a group effort with Kathmandu, which featured ex-Mungo Jerry singer Ray Dorset, Vincent Crane from Atomic Rooster and Len Surtees of the Nashville Teens. While Green's guitar playing remained exceptionally strong, his mental state proved too fragile to mount any sort of substantial comeback, and he soon retired from view until 1997, when Nigel Watson and veteran rock drummer Cozy Powell helped him to form the Peter Green Splinter Group. The following year, Green performed "Black Magic Woman" with Carlos Santana at Fleetwood Mac's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A prolific period of recording and touring with the Splinter Group lasted until 2004, after which he relocated to Sweden for another lengthy hiatus. Green resurfaced again with a new group, Peter Green and Friends, in 2009, the same year the BBC aired the documentary "Peter Green: Man of the World" (BBC Four). By Paul Gaita VIEW THE FULL BIOGRAPHY Hellhounds on My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson (1999)	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2227
__label__wiki	0.838172	0.838172	Temple Hatikvah An engaged and dynamic Jewish community You are here: Home Rabbi Meet our Rabbi Rabbi's Blog B'Yachad Chazak Meet our Rabbi Rabbi Dr. Daniel M. Zucker Rabbi Daniel Zucker was born in Oakland, California and grew up in a liberal Jewish home where his Jewish identity was formed. His parents, pre-war rabbinical immigrants from Germany, instilled within him a love of learning—especially of Jewish and Biblical history and a scientific approach to one’s studies, as well as Jewish liturgical music. Schooled in the public schools of the East Bay, he went on to study Archeology at the University of California, Berkeley and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After completing his B.A. in Berkeley, he returned to Israel to join the staff of the ‘Ami Asaf School of Judaean Desert Studies in Ein Gedi where he served as a guide and as liaison to the archaeological excavations conducted by the Israel Exploration Society. Following his Ein Gedi work, Zucker moved to Jerusalem to pursue archaeological research at the HUJ’s School of Archaeology. While there he was involved in numerous excavations (Tell Lahav, Gezer, Bir-el-‘Abd, Roman Ein Gedi, Tell es-Sha’ariyah, Halutzah) and the archaeological survey of the NW Sinai, where in January 1973 he discovered the remains of the biblical site of Migdol, mentioned in the Book of Exodus. Returning to the United States in 1974 to begin rabbinical studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, Zucker chose to specialize in Rabbinics and Talmudics, receiving his M.A. in Hebrew Literature in 1976. Continuing on at HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, he wrote his rabbinic thesis under the guidance of the same individual who had ordained his father in Berlin in 1938. Rabbi Zucker was ordained a generation later, in 1978. Rabbi Zucker has served congregations in Oak Ridge, TN, the greater Los Angeles area, Fairfax, VA, the Chicago area, Long Island and greater NYC, as well as the greater Philadelphia area. He helped organize the American Rabbinic Network for Ethiopian Jewry, serving as its International President from 1988 to 1991. While functioning in that capacity, he traveled to Addis Ababa to negotiate successfully the release of 150 Jewish “Prisoners of Conscience” who were then permitted to leave for Israel. Rabbi Zucker was also involved in raising funds for the release of Jews from Syria in 1991 and 1992. Rabbi Zucker has raised funds for the anti-Slavery movement in the Sudan and spoken forcefully of the crisis in Darfur. Long interested in the problems of Jewish refugees from revolutionary Iran, Rabbi Zucker became very involved in support of the Iranian opposition movement. He has spoken at Human Rights conferences at the United Nations and lobbied elected officials on behalf of the Iranian resistance movement. In 2005, Rabbi Zucker founded Americans for Democracy in the Middle-East, of which he currently serves as Chairman of the Board. In that capacity, Rabbi Zucker has organized and led briefings at the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. He has been invited to the State Department for meetings on Iran in New York and Washington, DC. Rabbi Zucker was one of the featured speakers at the 2005 National Conference for a Democratic, Secular Iran, held in the historic DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, as well as at the 2006 Iranian National Convention held in Andrew Mellon Hall, also in Washington, DC. He has been invited annually to Paris to attend the International Convocations of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and to address their 2005 and 2006 sessions. Several of his speeches have been broadcast via satellite into Iraq and Iran. Rabbi Zucker also served as Adjunct Professor of Hebrew Language at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University in Brookville, NY, for four years. He received a Doctorate of Divinity from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2010. Rabbi is married to the love of his life, Elena Mustri Zucker, formerly of Mexico City. In addition to their daughter Rahel Miriam Mustri-Zucker, they share daughters Yehudit Zucker Ezra and Fortine Mustri-Saba Arce. Their fourth child is black, has four paws, whiskers, and a tail: Mamakita, the cat. They also are the proud grandparents of their shared six grandchildren. When not “on the clock”, Rabbi loves to hike, ski, cook and study history. He occasionally writes articles for http://thetorah.com or the Jewish Bible Society and has a blog at http://middle-eastanalysis-commentary.blogspot.com/. Temple Hatikvah Flanders, New Jersey 07836 Rabbi: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. General Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Webmaster: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2228
__label__wiki	0.739402	0.739402	The Campaign Builders' Guild > Forum > Campaign Creation > Homebrews > Great Lakes Earth Map Author Topic: Great Lakes Earth Map (Read 1485 times) JohnWDaileyGLE Great Lakes Earth Map In the event anyone asks--dark brown are the mountains, light brown are the resulting uplands and black are the original extent of flood basalt lava provinces visible today and with no consideration of erosion. Let us say that, in the future, some scientists have created satellites capable of something that seems science fiction for now — punching the walls of the universe to study an alternate reality. By that scenario, some hundreds of “alternate Earths” from hundreds of alternate universes would already have been discovered and meticulously studied. As much as half of them would still be ruled by humans, unfolded by events that turned out differently. One universe, for example, had an Earth where 9/11 never happened, or where the outcome of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars ended up differently. One of the most interesting to note was a planet that scientists call “Alternate Earth 111”, known to the public as “Great Lakes Earth”. Because at first glance, it seemed that almost every continent is dominated by lakes, even those larger than the Great Lakes that we have in North America. The Appalachian Range used to exist, but all that remains nowadays are their metamorphic bedrocks. Since then, the Atlantic Coast is a labyrinth of islands, straits, channels and sounds, making New England the eastern equivalent of the Inside Passage, caused by five million years of being repeatedly scraped and bulldozed by ice. The terrain is not quite dramatic, the tallest above sea level being only 122.2 feet (37.25 meters.) While our Rockies stand no taller than 14,440 feet above sea level, the tallest peak in a Great Lakes Rockies is measured to be 20,310 feet. Back home, our Rockies formed between 80 and 55 million years ago through the Laramide Orogeny, the subduction of the North American and Pacific plates at a shallow angle. Their Rockies first formed 55 million years ago as the result of a collision between eastern and western North America. They stopped becoming active as recently as nine million years ago. Since then, a series of faulting had shed off the mountains’ sedimentary skin and exposed the tougher granite-and-gneiss core. No wonder, then, that transdimensional explorer Mark Greene called the Great Lakes Earth Rockies “a single, continuous spine of breathtaking Tetons.” West of the Rockies stands an uplift varying in elevation above sea level between 2,000 and 13,000 feet (between 610 and 3962 meters.) Minor differences in geological history could create major differences in geographical shape. Without the Cascades or the Alaska Range, the distinctively whiplike Alaskan Peninsula simply does not exist. The area we’d recognize as San Andreas (Baja Peninsula and southwestern California) is fused into what we’d call southeastern Alaska. Evidence in the rocks beneath the soil shows that San Andreas did indeed collide with Alaska only 24 million years ago, but the mountain-building period did not last long, and the peaks were reduced into quarter-mile-tall hills. The Black Hills of South Dakota don’t exist on Great Lakes Earth. The Ozarks, larger in area and elevation than back home, are the closest analogy. The tallest stands 7242 feet (2207 meters) above sea level. They started life as a dome of granite that, over millions of years, had been replenished with fresh supplies of magma. This allowed the crystals that made the granite dramatically larger, making the rock itself a lot harder. After 2.2 billion years under the surface, the dome popped above sea level only as recently as 20 million years ago. Even though rain and river played a part in carving the dome into numerous spires, pillars and gorges, the real player in shaping the Ozarks is lower air pressure, exfoliating the surface into pieces like layers of onions. True to the spirit of the planet’s name, North America is full of large lakes. The largest of which is Agassiz. In fact, it is the cornerstone of all of Great Lakes Earth’s great lakes — enormous depressions, tectonic rifts or volcanic calderas reshaped and filled in by ice, rain and river. To have an idea on the shape, size and scope of Agassiz, we must look at the familiar faces of the Great Lakes — Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario — and then flood off the entire basin. This is Lake Agassiz, 95,000 square miles and 5500 feet at its deepest. Agassiz started out as an impact crater 600 miles wide by an iron asteroid approximating 75 miles in diameter which slammed on that spot 230 million years ago. The crater, quickly filled up by basaltic lava, wouldn’t become a lake until the ice bulldozed the flood basalt away during the Pleistocene glaciations. West of the Rockies, there are even more lakes—Bonneville, Carson, Olympia, Hamilton and Red Deer. All of them formed separately late during the Cenozoic as tectonic weaknesses sank the land, sometimes to the point below sea level. Further shaping the lakes were the last five million years of ice ages strengthening and weakening the freeze-thaw cycles. As a result, not only do they have their distinctive shapes, they are also deep. Bonneville, the deepest, is currently over a thousand feet deep. What we’d presume to be the Brooks Range in northern Alaska actually isn’t. The Murchison Mountains, as we call them, are actually volcanic peaks standing 14,411 feet (4392 meters) above sea level at the tallest. They stand at one of the points where the Arctic Plate sinks beneath the Laurasian Plate. The Yellowstone mantle plume is still present. Except that instead of Wyoming’s northwestern corner, it can be found in northeastern California. The upland itself covers an area of 5,000 square miles and stands almost like an island between the surrounding lakes and lowlands. Five million years ago, the oceanic Panamanian Plate had been invaded on both fronts—by the Caribbean Plate in the northeast and the Pacific Plate in the southwest. This uplifted the basaltic slab to above sea level and had volcanoes guarding the plateau. The Twins, as they are called, are still active. One twin is currently 6,684 feet above sea level, the other 9,698 feet. Curiously, the Twins make up the coastline of Central America on Great Lakes Earth, which makes sense considering their young age. What doesn’t make sense is how they could be so tall in so short a time. The same problem is said of the Andes, which also make up South America’s entire western coastline. But if we look at a bathymetrical map, we start to understand why—from Argentina to Guatemala, the Pacific Plate is paralleled by the younger, narrower Nazca Plate. It first formed only ten million years ago and uplifted the Andean coastline for five million years before reaching the Panamanian Plate. This double-subduction may explain why the Andes, 25,122 feet above sea level and still rising, as they have been for the last 45 million years, had such devastating eruptions in the last 10,000 years, with an average of one eruption measuring eight on the VEI every thousand years. Andean uplift notwithstanding, there is a transition between northern and southern South America—a transition separated by 2,891 feet of elevation. That is because from 250 to 200 million years ago, South America’s southern half was part of an uplifted plateau much like Tibet back home. The more recent uplift of the Andes nearly attempted to resurface that past. Questions follow: Are these changes enough to spare northeastern Nebraska from the onslaught of Tornado Alley without sacrificing the Midwest’s prairie fertility in the process? Will all these lakes and rivers (not pictured) turn the Wild West into a greener Eden? How much of the Amazon Basin will be contained within South America? What kind of landscapes should I expect to see in Argentina and Brazil? Physically absent in the supercontinent are Turkey, Iran, and the Low Countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg and Denmark). Back home, Scandinavia is one of Earth’s recognizable peninsulas. On Great Lakes Earth, the body we’d recognize as the Baltic Sea is actually known as the Baltic Plain. It is all that’s left of a mountain-building process from 250 to 200 million years ago that connected Scandinavia to the rest of Europe. Long ago, the British Isles used to be an extension of mainland Europe before splitting off 100 million years ago. Proof — the very shape of the sea that we back home would call the Low Countries. The dominating feature of Asia is a large region of basaltic rock, the Siberian Traps. It formed as a series of eruptions spewed out lava 60 to 43 million years ago. Since most of northern Asia was a receding series of shallow seas at the time, the eruptions resulted in only two types of lava—pillow lava (underwater lava that is low in both gas and viscosity) and block lava (what could happen when lava that is high in viscosity but low on gas erupts underwater.) In time, as sea levels kept on receding, the lava eruptions shifted to columnar (like the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland back home), lava-fountain and dome-building. Each eruption could last anywhere between 10,000 and 60,000 years, with breaks varying between 30,000 and 80,000 years. When the last eruption had finished, seven million square miles of Eurasia were buried under four million cubic miles of lava. Eurasia is subject to Great Lakes Earth’s largest sea, one that we used to have back home — the Tethys. Back home, the Mediterranean has an average depth of 1500 meters and a maximum of 5267. The Tethys’ depth is 1205 meters on average and 7,000 maximum. Even so, the ratio between deep and shallow water is remarkably similar to that of the Mediterranean — more or less than 45% of the sea is no deeper than 200 meters (the required maximum depth for a sea to be “shallow”). It’s also connected to two oceans with two different personalities — the Indian to the east and the Atlantic to the west. What we’d recognize as the Arabian Peninsula is, on Great Lakes Earth, an extension of northeastern Africa, erasing both the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden out of existence. This further widens the passage from the Indian Ocean to the Tethys. The island of Newfoundland is the southeastern extension of Iceland. It stands at a point where a stationary mantle plume, loaded with silicon, stands at a crossroads between the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the edge of the Arctic Plate. Unlike our Iceland, in which the Ridge has split it in east-west, the Iceland of Great Lakes Earth is split in a north-south division. In Asia, what looks to us like Borneo is a big extension of eastern India, erasing the Bay of Bengal from the map. Sumatra is an extension of India’s western coast. The rest of Indonesia, as well as the island chain of the Philippines and the Malay Peninsula, don’t exist. Back home, the Himalayan range in Asia is impressive enough. On Great Lakes Earth, they are even more so. The highest peak, Kailash, stands 33,500 feet (10,210.8 meters) above sea level and still rising. If the base of Mauna Kea in Hawaii were above sea level, this would have been its equal. Their Himalayas are older than ours, if the differences in height suggest anything. Ours first formed 50 million years ago. Theirs rose from the plains between 65 and 70 million years ago. 65 million years ago, sub-Himalayan Asia was subject to a series of lava eruptions lasting a total of 30,000 years. When it was all over, the lava covered a thickness exceeding one mile, an area of one-and-a-half million square miles and a volume greater than one million cubic miles. The islands of Japan on Great Lakes Earth are the result of subductive hot spots, stationary mantle plumes standing in the intersections of colliding plates, as well as a confusing labyrinth of fault lines. Japan, consisting of six large hotspots, stands three miles southeast of the Laurasian Plate and five northwest of the Pacific Plate. The fact that the mountains make up the coastlines suggest that Japan on Great Lakes Earth formed very recently—no longer, it’s been surmised, than 11 million years. Like the Andes, Japan was subject to massive, earth-destroying eruptions. The Alps remain tall, as they are back home. However, they are formed as the result of a piece of Africa, known to us as Balk, colliding with southeastern Europe 40 million years ago. Currently, the range’s highest peak, Olympus, stands 22,838 feet (6961 meters) above sea level and is still rising. Behind the Alps is a plateau that covers lands we’d recognize as Romania, Moldova, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. Also, Balk’s terrain on Great Lakes Earth consists of plains and hills rather than mountain ranges like back home. The Scandes, stretching the length of the northern Scandinavian coast, are the results of ocean/continent collisions — volcanoes. They are also taller than they are back home — 18,510 feet (5642 meters) above sea level and still rising. The Ural, Caucasus, Pyrenees and Apennine mountain chains used to exist on Great Lakes Earth, but not anymore. With open connections to both the Indian and the Atlantic, what would the Tethys’s personality be? Will a higher Himalayas — which means a higher Tibetan Plateau — pose any noticeable differences on India’s climate and precipitation, as well as Tibet's ecosystem? Would adding Borneo and Sumatra pose any difference to the climate and landscape of the Indian subcontinent? With the rest of Indonesia, the Philippines and the Malay Peninsula out of existence, how would this absence affect ocean currents? How would all this added water affect the Mediterranean Basin as well as the Indian monsoon? Concerning the Siberian Traps, 40 million years of erosion would mean an altogether different Russian landscape, no doubt, but to what extent? Would we still see vast, singular bands of boreal forests and steppes, or would we expect to see Russia hosting a wider variety of habitats? Would a larger Deccan Traps pose any difference to the 65 million years of erosion? How would the changes in mountain building and coastlining affect the climate and landscape of the rest of Europe? To the naked eye, you may not see any difference between our Africa and theirs. However, like some of the other continents, Africa has its share of great lakes — Chad, Congo and Makgadikgadi. Lake Makgadikgadi, the southernmost, is also the youngest—100 feet (30 meters) at the deepest and formed as water flowing from the Aden Bahçesi inundated a series of fault lines only three million years ago. The Atlas Mountains used to exist on Great Lakes Earth, but not anymore. The defining mountain range of Africa is the Aden Bahçesi, which first formed 45 million years ago as the Indian Plate sank beneath the African Plate. Currently, the tallest peak stands 21,810 feet (6647.7 meters) above sea level and still rising. Lakes Chad and Congo had a shared history. They originated less than 200 million years ago as a series of horsts and grabens that would quickly be inundated aftewards. It wasn’t until 80 million years ago, when the seafloor slowed down and sea levels began to recede, that perhaps the deepest points on Great Lakes Earth during the Cretaceous period, became surrounded by dry land. In time, freshwater diluted the lakes, pushing the salinity deeper and deeper. Today, Lake Congo to the south is 5387 feet at the deepest, the bottom 150 feet being brine. Lake Chad to the north has a maximum depth of 4820 feet, with the Pharaoh’s Brine taking up the bottom 67 feet. Are any of these changes enough to turn North and South Africa from desert to more verdant habitat, like savanna? Would having a tropical megalake be enough to pose a noticeable difference to the equatorial climate of the Congo rainforest? First and foremost, it’s not called “Australia” in Great Lakes Earth, but rather “Sahul”. The first major difference is the presence of Lake Eyre, a body of fresh water over 460,000 square miles in area and 49 meters at the deepest. The northern and eastern coasts of Sahul are worth noticing. To the northwest, it looks as though the two main islands of New Zealand are glued into the mainland. It’d also look as though someone were shoving the island of New Guinea down the throat of mainland Australia, known geographically as the Gulf of Carpentaria. The northern and eastern extremes of Sahul are defined by volcanic mountains, the tallest standing 18,500 feet above sea level. The final difference is that Sahul is much further south than Australia. So much so, in fact, that by comparison, the distance between it and Antarctica is cut by half. Will the Outback still be desert? In the same scenario, Indonesia and the Philippines don’t exist. What kind of ocean current(s) would one expect to see influencing Sahul? What kind of climatic and ecological influences would we expect Lake Eyre and the continent’s closer proximity to Antarctica to create? Pole to Pole Compared to our oceans, the Arctic Ocean of Great Lakes Earth seems to have a little elbow room. The reason — the Atlantic on Great Lakes Earth is wider than ours by over 1350 miles. Africa, Eurasia and Sahul have, compared to our Old World, moved that far eastward, creating a landbridge that connects Asia to North America, erasing the Bering Strait off the map and shrinking the Bering Sea. To that extent, it would be like turning the Russian urban locality of Egvekinot (66.3205 degrees North and 179.1184 degrees West) into the next-door neighbor of Teller, Alaska. But that is in our eyes only. On Great Lakes Earth, North America has always been a part of Laurasia for 250 million years. The island of Greenland looks, to us, rearranged to the extent that Mont Forel, the island’s highest peak, is located in 90 degrees North — the North Geographic Pole. There is a final difference, one that applies also to the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. The ratio between average depth and maximum depth is the same as back home, but the numbers are different. Back home, the Arctic’s average depth is only 1205 meters, almost 4,000 feet, whereas its deepest point is 5,625 meters, 18,456 feet. The Southern Ocean averages 4,000 meters deep and has a maximum depth of 7,235. On Great Lakes Earth, the averages for the Arctic and Antarctic oceans are 1652 and 5280 meters, respectively. Then, of course, there is the Arctic Plate, something that doesn’t exist back home. Horizontally cutting Iceland in half, we can find the border straddling the coasts of Baffin Island, Alaska, and Scandinavia, creating the Scandes and the Murchison mountains. How would these differences affect ocean currents and polar landscapes? Could any of these changes have influenced the global average temperature and precipitation? If so, to what extent? Ocean Deep Back home, the Pacific Ocean, the largest of the five, has an average depth of 4028 meters, 15,215 feet, and a maximum of 10,924 meters, 35,840 feet. On Great Lakes Earth, the Pacific’s depth averages 3854 meters — 12,644 feet — and the maximum is now 7455 meters, 24,459 feet. Back home, the Indian Ocean averages around 3963 meters deep with a maximum depth of 7258. That’s 13,002 and 23,812 feet, respectively. On Great Lakes Earth, the Indian Ocean averages around 3605 meters (11,827 feet) deep and has a maximum depth of 5625 meters (18,454 feet). The Atlantic Ocean back home has an average depth of 3926 meters, or 10,950 feet and a maximum of 8605 meters, 28,320 feet. On Great Lakes Earth, its average depth is now 4001 meters (13,126 feet), and the maximum is now 7455 meters, the same as the Pacific. Would the changes in depth affect ocean currents, therefore the global climate? « Last Edit: September 01, 2018, 10:00:36 PM by Hoers » Logged Re: Great Lakes Earth Map I've modified your post to put your map inside a spoiler, since it's too big and causes issues with viewing the thread. Anyone who wants to view the full map and still has trouble should open the spoiler button and then right click the image, followed by clicking "View Image". Please keep large images contained inside of a [ spoiler= imagename ] [/spoiler] (remove the spaces) tag combination or provide links instead of directly posting them if they won't fit the width of the post. Bradykinetic highly informative and appreciatable. such a valuable services you are providing	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2230
__label__cc	0.616624	0.383376	August 8, 1973 – Dean Corll is murdered by his accomplices By Loki 222 Content, Crime, Rock n Roll History of the World, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World Dean Corll was an American serial killer. Born in 1939 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he served in the military briefly, but was discharged after only ten months when his mother needed medical care. By 1970, Corll had started murdering young men around his home, mostly hitchhikers whom he hoped would not be missed. Along with two younger accomplices, David Brooks and Elmer Henley, he is known to have killed at least 27 teenaged boys and young men. Corll’s own death occurred when he lost an argument over possession of a handgun with Henley, who shot the older man six times. Henley then called the police, and confessed to his part in killing Corll, and participating in the murders of others. By US Military – US Military, Public Domain, Link Candyman (Dean Corll) — Church of Misery Castrated and Sodomized — Divine Pustulence Tagged 1973, Aug 8, Candyman (Dean Corll), Castrated and Sodomized, Church of Misery, David Brooks, Dean Corll, Divine Pustulence, Elmer Wayne Henley. « March 20, 1973 – Jim Croce releases “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” December 15, 1973 — Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl” reachs #1 in the US »	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2231
__label__wiki	0.919618	0.919618	Beavers can tell jury he tried to make amends, judge rules by Annie Sweeney A federal judge ruled Friday that Cook County Commissioner William Beavers can tell a jury that he amended his income tax returns and repaid a campaign fund after he learned of a federal investigation against him. The information is key to Beavers' defense as he goes on trial Monday on charges that from 2006 to 2008 he took more than $225,000 from three campaign funds he controlled, spent the money on personal expenses and then failed to pay income taxes on a portion. He is alleged to have taken almost $69,000 in campaign contributions and placed it in a city retirement fund to more than double his monthly pension in 2006 — all without paying taxes on the money. After federal agents approached Beavers in April 2009 about the tax probe, he filed amended tax returns for 2007 and 2008 just seven days later, declaring an additional $37,000 in income combined for those two years, authorities have said. Beavers maintained he inadvertently omitted the income on the original returns, according to prosecutors. Then five weeks later, he repaid the $69,000, saying it had been a loan. Federal prosecutors sought to bar the information at trial, arguing that it would be irrelevant and a "distraction" for jurors. In addition, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Getter said Friday in court that it was an attempt by Beavers' attorneys to earn sympathy from the jury by showing Beavers had "fixed the problem." But U.S. District James Zagel said Beavers has a right to explain to the jury his reasons for amending the tax returns and repaying the $69,000. "(His) state of mind is crucial to the (jurors)," Zagel said. The judge, though, instructed Beavers' attorney, Sheldon Sorosky, that the only way the jury would hear specifics about the amended tax returns and repaid money was if Beavers takes the witness stand. The defense has been noncommittal about that. Also Friday, prosecutors revealed that they intend to introduce evidence that Beavers often frequented the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, gambling with money that had been taken out of his campaign fund. He is alleged to have failed to pay taxes on that money. Zagel will allow the evidence but told prosecutors to moderate the "tone" of testimony on the gambling after Sorosky raised concern that it could reflect negatively on Beavers.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2236
__label__wiki	0.99573	0.99573	Video: 2019 BET Awards honor Mary J. Blige, Nipsey Hussle, Tyler Perry The 2019 BET Awards featured a number of contemporary pop and rap stars. But the show belonged to artists viewed as icons in the black community, including singer Mary J. Blige, filmmaker Tyler Perry and the late rapper Nipsey Hussle. Lifetime achievement award winner Mary J. Blige performs a medley at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Angelique Smith, mother of late rapper Nipsey Hussle, accepts the humanitarian award on behalf of his son at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Looking on from background left are Lauren London, Hussle’s partner, son Kross, sister Samantha Smith, and daughter Emani Asghedom. (Associated Press) Rapper YG wears a jacket in honor of Nipsey Hussle as he arrives at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Raymond Santana Jr, from left, Kevin Richardson, Korey Wise, Yusef Salaam, and Antron McCray, also known as The Exonerated Five, introduce a performance by H.E.R. and YBN Cordae at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Lil Nas X performs “Old Town Road” at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Rihanna presents the lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Tyler Perry accepts the ultimate icon award at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Cardi B performs at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Lizzo performs “Truth Hurts” at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Billy Ray Cyrus, left, and Lil Nas X perform “Old Town Road” at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Lifetime achievement award winner Mary J. Blige, left, performs a medley with Lil Kim at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) H.E.R. performs “Lord Is Coming” at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Anderson .Paak, left, presents the album of the year award to Cardi B at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Host Regina Hall speaks at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Ella Mai accepts the viewers’ choice award for “Trip” at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) DJ Khaled, left, and John Legend perform during a tribute to late rapper Nipsey Hussle at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) John Legend performs during a tribute to late rapper Nipsey Hussle at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) Lauren London accepts the humanitarian award on behalf of late rapper Nipsey Hussle at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Pictured from left are Hussle’s family, son Kross, sister Samantha Smith, daughter Emani Asghedom and mother Angelique Smith. (Associated Press) Nipsey Hussle’s partner Lauren London and son Kross appear on stage at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Associated Press) By MESFIN FEKADU Published June 24 Updated June 24 The 2019 BET Awards featured a number of contemporary pop and rap stars who are dominating the charts, from Cardi B to Lil Nas X. But the show belonged to artists viewed as icons in the black community, including singer Mary J. Blige, filmmaker Tyler Perry and the late rapper Nipsey Hussle. Hussle, a respected and beloved community activist in South Los Angeles who was shot to death on March 31, posthumously earned the Humanitarian Award on Sunday night. His family, including his mother, father, grandmother, children and fiancée, actress Lauren London, accepted the honor on his behalf. “I just want to thank you guys for all the love and support, and the marathon continues again,” London said onstage at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. John Legend, DJ Khaled, YG and Marsha Ambrosius celebrated Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom, with a performance. Hussle also won best male hip-hop artist, besting Drake, J. Cole, Travis Scott, Meek Mill and 21 Savage. Blige, who earned the Lifetime Achievement Award, ran through her hits during a lengthy performance, which featured Lil Kim and Method Man. The R&B star went from “My Life” to “No More Drama” to “Just Fine,” when audience members turned the aisles into “Soul Train” lines as they showed their best dance moves while the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul sang onstage. Rihanna presented Blige with the award, who earned a standing ovation as she walked to the stage. “Yeah, I know, a lot of hair,” she said in her curly blonde-do. “It’s a big day.” “Mommy, I love you and I want to thank you for your love and understanding,” Blige said as her mom teared up in the audience. The nine-time Grammy winner and two-time Oscar nominee went on to thank her father, saying she was happy their “relationship is healed.” She also thanked her siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends, including longtime collaborator Diddy. Another standing ovation during the nearly four-hour show came when The Exonerated Five — whose profiles were recently raised with the release of a Netflix series based on their lives — introduced a performance by R&B singer H.E.R. and rapper YBN Cordae. Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Antron McCray spoke onstage as audience members got out of their seats to cheer them on. Directed by Ava DuVernay, “When They See Us” tells of the wrongful conviction of five black and Latino teenagers for the 1989 assault on a white female jogger in Central Park. The audience also erupted in cheers for media mogul Tyler Perry, who earned the Ultimate Icon Award, presented to him by Taraji P. Henson. “When I built my studio, I built it in a neighborhood that is one of the poorest black neighborhoods in Atlanta so that young black kids could see that a black man did that, and they could do it too,” Perry said. “The studio was once a Confederate army base ... which meant that there were Confederate soldiers on that base plotting and planning on how to keep 3.9 million negroes enslaved. Now that land is owned by one negro.” Lil Nas X also got the loud applause from the crowd when he brought his global country-rap hit “Old Town Road” to life with a performance at a makeshift Western saloon alongside country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. In a yellow fringe jacket, yellow chaps and a black cowboy hat, Lil Nas X worked the stage as dancers in denim shorts, leather vests and cowboy hats performed behind him. Lizzo also had a fiery performance with “Truth Hurts,” which featured her playing the flute while twerking. Cardi B, the most nominated act with seven, kicked off the show with an explosive performance. She won two prizes — best female hip-hop artist and album of the year for her major-label debut, “Invasion of Privacy.” “I’m glad I made an album that your sister, your mother, your grandmother (likes),” she said of the project, which also won the Grammy for best rap album earlier this year. Childish Gambino, who didn’t attend the show, won the top prize — video of the year — for “This Is America.” Beyoncé was named best female R&B/pop artist, and Bruno Mars won best male R&B/pop artist. Actress Regina Hall, who hosted the show, told a number of jokes throughout the night. She was hilarious after Regina King — who won an Oscar this year for her role in “If Beale Street Could Talk” — was announced as the winner of best actress, an award Hall was also nominated for. “She said King? So I lost?” Hall asked when a producer followed with: “We need you to announce the next performance.” “Why am I announcing the next performance? That’s why I hosted (the awards show),” Hall said. “You tell them I said, ‘You can go to Beale Street and get the (girl) who won and you let her introduce it.’” Review: Slick treatment, first-rate cast elevate Freefall’s ‘Pippin’ The remake the 1972 hit calls for seduction, humor and heart. This production has all that and more. Top things to do in Tampa Bay for Wednesday, July 17 Preview the Tony-winning musical ‘Fun Home,’ groove to Summer Salt and meet ‘Dolphin Tale’ star Nathan Gamble. Whole wheat flour adds flavor and nutrition to this banana loaf It’s finished off with a Praline Toffee Crunch Topping. These homemade Nutty Coconut Granola Bars are a solid portable snack Homemade granola bars allow for lots of customization. Review: In Jobsite’s Constellations, big questions, little choices, infinite possibilities For a play about the grand concept of multiple dimensions, it’s the little decisions of its stars that prove most meaningful. Blueface cancels next week's concert at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg A promoter said the 'Thotiana' rapper's whole tour was canceled.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2237
__label__wiki	0.940487	0.940487	Same-sex wedding lands St. Petersburg Methodist pastor in hot water The Rev. Andy Oliver of Allendale United Methodist Church will appear before a Florida bishop for violating church rules Allendale United Methodist Church sign congratulating the couple the Rev. Andy Oliver married at the Carter G. Woodson Museum in St. Petersburg in March. [Allendale Methodist Church] The Rev. Andy Oliver, Allendale United Methodist Church The Rev. Pastor Brent Byerman, of Lake Magdalene United Methodist Church in Tampa, lodged a formal complaint against the Rev. Andy Oliver with the bishop of the denomination's Florida Conference. [Facebook] By Waveney Ann Moore Published May 3 Updated May 3 ST. PETERSBURG — The Rev. Andy Oliver of Allendale United Methodist Church has made no secret of the fact that he is willing to perform same-sex marriages. In February, when his denomination voted against a proposal to let regional church bodies decide whether to ordain gay and lesbian people in relationships, allow clergy to officiate at same-sex marriages and hold such ceremonies in a church, his congregation took out a full-page newspaper ad to apologize for the decision. His church website announces that it provides "an altar for all" and is committed "to support and celebrate same-sex marriages." Now Oliver may be in trouble for that stance. On March 16, wearing a rainbow-colored stole, the 39-year-old pastor officiated at the wedding of two women, both members of his church, at the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum. Ten days later, the Rev. Brent Byerman, of Lake Magdalene United Methodist Church in Tampa, lodged a formal complaint against Oliver with the bishop of the denomination's Florida Conference. A meeting to resolve the matter is scheduled for 3 p.m. on May 29 with Bishop Ken Carter at his Lakeland office. Violations of the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline can lead to the stripping of a pastor's credentials. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Tampa Bay United Methodist clergy vow to defy church’s LGBTQ bans Oliver said he and his congregation are "saddened that a pastor who is not even a part of our community felt the need to try to control the ministries" being offered to LGBTQ people. "I don't think of myself as a victim in this. The real victims are LGBTQ persons who are having their lives and their faith legislated,’’ he said. “This complaint system seeks to create a culture of fear that would try to prevent clergy from doing the same thing that we did, opening up their marriage altar to all people that are ready for marriage." About six people, including Byerman, will be permitted to attend the May 29 meeting, Oliver said. One of the brides from the March ceremony will accompany him. Byerman, a United Methodist pastor since 1980, declined to comment. "With all due respect, this is a confidential matter within the United Methodist Bishop's Office," he said in an email. The Rev. Alex Shanks, assistant to the bishop, confirmed that complaints are confidential. "We get a few complaints a year and they are more often related to sexual misconduct," he said, adding that at this time, the Florida Conference has only one complaint related to same-sex marriage. Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, who was a guest at the museum wedding, said she was disappointed to learn about the complaint against Oliver. "My reaction was, how could somebody who doesn't know this couple and has nothing to do with their lives just sort of insert themselves into this conversation in such an ugly way?’’ she said. “It's really appalling. "Our country has an ugly history of discrimination when it comes to marriage and of people dressing up that prejudice in religious garb. I am grateful that there are people of faith no longer willing to be silent when that happens. As someone who attended the wedding surrounded by the couple's family and friends, my greatest hope is this complaint filed in such an ugly manner will in no way mar what should be nothing but a beautiful memory." The Wesleyan Covenant Association is a conservative group that fought against changing the denomination's LGBTQ policy. The Rev. Keith Boyette, president of the group, said charges can be brought against pastors for a number of offenses outlined in the church's Book of Discipline. Offenses include interfering with the ministry of another pastor, financial improprieties and performing a same-sex ceremony, he said. "The goal of the complaint is to reach a 'just resolution,' Boyette said, using the denomination's language. "It goes to trial only as a last resort. ... It's a system internal to the church to preserve the order of the church and to uphold the discipline of the church." Boyette said trials include a trial court — or jury — of clergy, with a bishop as judge. Penalties can range from suspension to loss of credentials, he said. Asked whether Oliver's accuser violated the Book of Discipline by interfering with his ministry, Boyette emphasized that same-sex ceremonies are against church policy. If Oliver feels called to that ministry, he should do so outside the United Methodist Church, he said. "We are in a mutual covenant as pastors and we hold each other mutually accountable," he said.Oliver thinks it's unlikely that he will face a church trial. "In my opinion, the Florida Conference is not interested in prosecuting clergy for offering the ministries of the church to same-sex couples," he said. In 2015, the year same-sex marriage became legal in Florida, the United Methodist Florida Annual Conference passed a resolution to "strongly encourage" the bishop and cabinet to resolve complaints related to violations of the denomination's LGBTQ policies through "just resolution rather than through a church trial." Oliver said he has the full support of his congregation and others in the broader community. "Allendale has kind of become a refuge church for LGBTQ people and allies who have left other congregations where they weren't being welcomed and affirmed," he said. Contact Waveney Ann Moore at wmoore@tampabay.com or (727) 892–2283. Follow @wmooretimes. Waveney Ann Moore St. Petersburg General Assignment Reporter Whitman: Comedian Juanita Lolita does the same act in comedy clubs that she does in churches The St. Petersburg-based comic, a recent finalist in the World Series of Comedy in Las Vegas, travels the country performing at venues ranging from churches to city night spots. Sarah Whitman: Waters Avenue Church supports and celebrates creative arts with Zine Fest On July 6, the church will host Tampa’s 7th Annual Zine Fest, a gathering of local artists, writers and publishers. Lawsuit accuses Scientology, David Miscavige of child abuse, human trafficking, libel. Lawyers say more lawsuits will follow.The first, filed in Los Angeles for an unnamed Jane Doe, outlines her life of alleged abuse in the church, including at the international spiritual headquarters… St. Petersburg's Congregation B'nai Israel celebrates the LGBTQ community with its fourth annual Pride Shabbat Congregation B'nai Israel in St. Petersburg has ordered rainbow-colored head coverings for its annual Friday evening Pride service, which will be followed by a ‘fabulous’ cocktail party Fewer parishioners, less money has Tampa Bay churches selling off property Thousands of churches across the country are forced to sell their properties or even close each year. Some are in the Tampa Bay area	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2238
__label__wiki	0.881371	0.881371	Vindale Research - New York City, NY 10016 Vindale Research is a Business Services (Unclassified) business in New York City, NY. Business Name: Vindale Research Categorized In: Business Services (Unclassified) Address: 243 fifth avenue, New York City, NY 10016 Annual Revenue ($): Unknown Similar Businesses: Everythingbeautynyc - New York City, NY 10016 Ideas and Solutions - New York City, NY 10016 Top Rankings SEO - New York City, NY 10016 Sunrise real estate - New York City, NY 10016 North American Bancard - New York City, NY 10016 CRE Cases & Accessories - New York City, NY 10016 Florist in Brooklyn - New York City, NY 10016 Shape - New York City, NY 10016 Legal-Ease International Inc. - New York City, NY 10016 StampCard - New York City, NY 10016 JB Prince - New York City, NY 10016 MedPro Testing Services - New York City, NY 10016 David Eric & Associates Investments & Holdings - New York City, NY 10016 Geo Asset Management LLC - New York City, NY 10016 Steven Kamali Hospitality - New York City, NY 10016 Ozi Prinitng - New York City, NY 10016 http://www.myfastprint.com - New York City, NY 10016 Fashion Jobs - New York City, NY 10016 HF Solutions LLC - New York City, NY 10016 Thomas & Associates, Inc., artstaffing.com - New York City, NY 10016 Vindale Research, a stable growing company under Business Services (Unclassified), is being run by . Since , their sales have been favorable and consistent at Unknown. Company location coordinates are: 40.74437,-73.98752. It can be reached by dialing (888) 888-8888 Full Phone Report, and you could get in touch with their sales team in 243 fifth avenue, New York City, New York NY 10016. Visit their website at: to know more about the company’s history, products and services, as well as frequently asked questions and privacy policies. You can learn more by checking their classification codes: SIC – 7389 and NAIC – . Call the hotline stated above for faster transaction and queries. Vindale Research would like to hear from you. Business Services (Unclassified) in United StatesBusiness Services (Unclassified) in New York Business Services (Unclassified) in New York City, NYBusiness Services (Unclassified) in 10016 New York City, NY All businesses in New York StateAll businesses in New York City, NYAll businesses in 10016 New York City, NY	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2239
__label__cc	0.515556	0.484444	My work-in-progress 'Batman' comics reading order September 24, 2018 / Thomas Nassiff I started reading Batman comic books two years ago now. This post from 2016 outlines my thought process when I began reading, including my first attempt to figure out a Batman reading order by referencing guides from multiple websites, and my thoughts on that olde great debate of whether you should read physical or digital comics. Since that post, I've read a good amount of comic books, though perhaps not as many as I expected from myself. The reason behind that is largely due to my keeping up with reading non-comic books and listening to lots of podcasts, but that's neither here nor there. I'm making this post to serve as a permalink to my work-in-progress Batman reading order, as I’d like to stop linking to my previously mentioned post when I need to link to something. A surprising number of people have been interested in the order I’m following and the reasoning behind it. As I make changes, additions, or feel the need to tweak the order represented here, I'll just update this singular location. The list has already been tweaked quite a bit as I’ve made my way through about 20 books so far; the more I read, the more I get intrigued by certain pieces in these books and the more I want to explore where I can find more along those lines. September 24, 2018 / Thomas Nassiff/ batman, comic books Just read: 'The Vision: Little Worse Than A Man, Little Better Than A Beast' by Tom King Tom King's run writing The Vision for Marvel Comics lasted only 12 issues, collected into two trade paperbacks, but it made a mark in terms of critical and fan acclaim. After hearing enough about it online, I purchased both trade paperbacks -- the first six issues are collected in Little Worse Than A Man, while the back six are collected in Little Better Than A Beast -- during a big Marvel sale on comiXology last year, and I finally got around to reading them when it became a topic during a recent Do By Friday episode. King enjoyed such positive acclaim with The Vision, along with previous successes, that he ultimately parlayed it into an exclusive contract with DC, where he's currently roughly halfway through a 100-issue run as the writer of Batman. Not a bad gig to jump to following a project that nobody had particularly high expectations for; The Vision was announced right around the time the character was playing a large role on-screen in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, so King's run could have easily been a quick, heavy-hitting action story to expand a bit on the history of Marvel's best-known A.I. character. No one would have blamed King and Marvel for going that route, or for taking Vision on a short journey that followed the events of Ultron. just read, comic books, the vision, marvel Year-end 2017 stuff: A reminder that I'm not yet good at reading books Last year was the first I made an effort to start reading more, and I was semi-impressed with my ability to get through 14 books and 25 trade paperbacks. I know this isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things ... I know plenty of people who try to read a book a week. But this year provided a reminder that I'm kinda bad at reading stuff, and some reflection will prompt me to make some changes in the way I read next year. It wasn't an infrequent event for me to pick up a book, make good headway through it, then ignore it for a week or two in favor of listening to music or podcasts on my commute. This didn't have anything to do with how much I was enjoying the book, either -- and truthfully I don't have any good reasoning behind this other than I often didn't feel like having a book in my hands if I was standing up on the train? It's a lame excuse when it's typed out. In any case, I bought a Kindle toward the end of the year so that I could stop adding onto our already-very-full bookshelf with more books that I may or may not finish. Throughout 2017, I ultimately wound up getting through four books and four trade paperbacks -- awful numbers. I am happy to report that I already finished the last half of Stephen King's The Shining in the first four days of 2018, so maybe there will be improvement for me yet. Here's the full (behold! in its glory!) list of everything I read in 2017. This year, I'm really looking forward to continuing my way through Stephen King's works, taking the next step in the Batman trade paperbacks, and catching up on Marvel's run of Star Wars as well. books, comic books, recommendations books, comic books, just read, year end 2017, eoty Just read: 'Batman: Arkham Asylum' July 17, 2017 / Thomas Nassiff Following up The Cult, which is a weird book filled with weird art, with Arkham Asylum is not a good recipe for enjoying Arkham Asylum. I find myself now two books deep into a bunch of "weird art" here, so I'll return to Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth in the future, when my palette is a bit more "cleansed" or whatever. Just a note to get us started. Anyway, Arkham Asylum is considered one of the greatest Batman books of all time. It's the best-selling graphic novel that DC Comics has ever released, apparently. This is surprising is because you'd think DC's best-selling book would be something that feels a little more representative of Batman as a whole, while this book is decidedly abstract in its presentation of Batman as a being and standalone character, and filled with nuance that requires deep digging to fully understand -- to me, it doesn't seem like a casual "walk into the store and pick this bad boy up for a quick read" type of book. Let's dig into the plot of Arkham Asylum a bit first. July 17, 2017 / Thomas Nassiff/ batman, just read, comic books, arkham asylum Just read: 'Batman: The Cult' Since I've started reading more, I've quickly come to realize that I am a slow as heck reader. Even books that are engrossing me seem to take forever to get through. This is often due to the fact that I only read during my commute, and I sometimes interrupt several days in a row of reading in favor of listening to podcasts or digesting something else (perhaps my Instapaper backlog or pieces of an audiobook) in favor of sticking with the book on which I'm currently working my way through. That was the case with Kavalier & Clay, which I heavily enjoyed, but after finishing that I made my way back to my Batman list. (Side note: I've started a more colorful index of my Batman reading here, mainly for my own enjoyment -- I like seeing all the books I've read laid out this way.) It's much easier for me to keep focus when I'm reading a trade paperback, where I don't let the process drag on for days. The size of these books, which usually chime in under 200 pages, is the primary reason for that ... along with the fact that I simply love reading comics more than I do books right now. My list picked up again (kinda) with The Cult, after most recently making my way through A Death in the Family and A Lonely Place of Dying. batman, just read, comic books, the cult Just read: 'Batman: Blind Justice' This one was a bit of a wacky left turn. Blind Justice came about as DC was looking for a way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Batman -- the three issues that comprise this arc originally appeared in Detective Comics Nos. 598-600 in 1989. They turned to Sam Hamm, who wasn't a comic book writer at the time, but the man who had written the screenplay for the 1989 Batman film that was directed by Tim Burton and starred Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. That choice proved to be an interesting one, because while Hamm was a fan of Batman's, he wasn't a bonafide geek about the hero when he sat down to write the arc. He wrote in his intro to the story, which is featured in the trade paperback release, that he was intimidated by the size of the task -- a standard single issue bookended by two 80-page giant issues. He claimed it was about double the wordage of a standard screenplay, and that he had a much more difficult time writing the comic than he did the movie. Anyway, onto the subject at hand. I loved Blind Justice way more than I expected. I didn't really have much anticipation for this book, and pretty much viewed it as a side-step from my main Batman chronology, but I'm very happy I read it. Hamm's story focuses on Bruce Wayne more than it does Batman, and features the most Wayne action of any story I've read so far. I'm finding that multiple of my favorite Batman stories dig into the psychological relationship between Bruce Wayne and Batman, and that proves to be the bedrock of Blind Justice. just read, batman, blind justice, comic books Just read: ' Batman: A Death In the Family' & 'A Lonely Place of Dying' I'm really working my way through the classic Batman titles here! Not long after The Killing Joke, I read through a large trade paperback that collects A Death In the Family along with the follow-up-ish story A Lonely Place of Dying. The former is the more famous work, a four-issue run considered a classic for many reasons, so we'll start there. A Death In the Family is best known for featuring the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd. He took over the mantle of Robin after Batman caught him trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile -- an origin story which I read a version of in Nightwing: Year One -- filling the role after the first Robin, Dick Grayson, left Batman's side to lead the Teen Titans and eventually take on his new persona as Nightwing. The storyline was met with a fair amount of criticism due to an interactive aspect in its release. DC Comics allowed fans to vote on whether Robin would live or die by dialing a 900 number (this storyline was published in late 1988 and early 1989 ... so taking a vote via Twitter hashtags wasn't really an option). A total of 10,614 votes were cast, with fans voting for Todd to die by the slim margin of 5,343 to 5,271. This close margin was heavily impacted by one fan who rigged votes for Todd to die, with DC saying (over a decade later) that this one person voted enough times that he swung the vote. batman, robin, nightwing, a lonely place of dying, a death in the family, comic books, just read 2016 in Review: Lists of Stuff At the end of every year I make lists, and 2016 was no exception. This year I made even more lists than usual. music, comic books, books, movies, podcasts, recommendations movies, bossk, all get out, modern baseball, aoty contender series, comic books, against me, pup, books, music, kevin devine, pinegrove, chance the rapper, the hotelier, direct hit, every time i die, bon iver, podcasts, eoty Everything I read in 2016 December 28, 2016 / Thomas Nassiff At the beginning of the year I made a goal to read more than I had in the past. Since graduating college in December 2012, I had barely read any books at all -- choosing instead to spend my time listening to music, listening to podcasts or reading Twitter / articles / etc. So I used a conscious effort to seek out authors I had an interest in, and started down that road. Ultimately I wound up reading 14 books in 2016, which isn't a ton, but that number probably represents the most books I've read in a single year since high school. Amongst the books I read was work by Hunter S. Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut and Stephen King -- the top three authors I had on my list when I started this effort in January. I know I'll read more by them next year, even as I expand into different things. I also picked up reading comic books, which I couldn't leave out of this post. Focusing on trade paperbacks for the sake of collectability and ease of reading, I read titles mainly with the Batman and Star Wars realms, coming to a total of 25 trade paperbacks. A full list of all the books and trades I read this year is below. I made the effort of writing about everything I read this year as a way to keep myself engaged on my goal, so I've linked to all the blogs I wrote as well. And, if you're so inclined, tweet me the best things you read this year and I'll start compiling a list of titles to look into. December 28, 2016 / Thomas Nassiff/ just read, books, comic books, audible Just read: 'Batman: The Killing Joke' by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland The Killing Joke is one of the biggest names on the Batman reading list that I'm working my way through. It's a story that I read when I was younger, one whose details I've been familiar with for years. The one-off book has grown into a role of maximal importance and controversy within the Batman universe (especially this year, with the release of a DC animated film based on the story), all of which I plan to touch on in this blog. Author Alan Moore and illustrator Brian Bolland teamed up on the short story (it's only 48 pages long -- truly a one-shot that you can read in a single sitting) with the goal of providing an origin story for the Joker. The creative team implies, even in the actual dialogue of this book, that this is only one possible origin story for this character: The Joker says to Batman near the end of the book, "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another ... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"). Moore and Bolland succeed in the origin story aspect -- presented via flashbacks -- in the sense that their work gives the Joker's character more depth and makes him more sympathetic. While the Joker is often considered Batman's greatest nemesis, he's often painted as a lunatic with no goal in mind other than destruction or devastation; giving him a backbone serves a real purpose in the Batman continuity. The flashbacks in the version of the book that I read (a deluxe 2008 hardcover reissue) are black and white, which differs from the original publication of The Killing Joke. I chose to purchase the hardcover rather than a used copy of an out-of-print paperback after reading Bolland's thoughts on it: The deluxe hardcover is colored by Bolland himself, who regrets not being able to color the original release due to time constraints. He's said that he wasn't pleased with the original release, so I figured it made sense to purchase the version more heralded by the illustrator. just read, batman, comic books, the killing joke, alan moore, brian bolland Just read: Lee Bermejo's 'Batman: Noël' This is a holiday-themed edition of "Just read," where I dove into an unplanned Batman tale that doesn't appear on my original Batman reading order. Batman: Noël is a one-off story featuring an older-aged Caped Crusader; while its place in the overall Batman continuity probably can't be fully hammered down, it's certainly toward the later years and definitely, at the very least, takes place after Death in the Family as it features a reference to a past Robin. Noël is written and illustrated by Lee Bermejo, who is best known for his celebrated illustration of the graphic novel The Joker. Bermejo's style is gritty and ultra-realistic, to the point where shadows are super accentuated and play a large role in the overall aesthetic, and to the point where you can count the facial wrinkles on characters' faces. This story is based fully on Charles Dickons' A Christmas Carol, as we see a fever-ridden Batman receive visits from three "spirits" as he's out in Gotham on Christmas Eve. batman, noel, lee bermejo, comic books, recommendations, highly recommended, just read Just read: A few Robin / Teen Titans / Nightwing things Back to the Batman front! The last time I checked in along my Batman reading order was following the Birth of the Demon trilogy, which introduced Ra's al Ghul but kinda left me hanging with nowhere to go. That book was immediately preceded by the combined Batgirl/Robin Year One volume, so I was left without a particular storyline to follow; I had just learned about several new characters, but the ends of these stories were nicely tied up in a bow in terms of not having immediate follow-ups. I wound up taking a short break from Batman, and instead of coming back and diving right into stuff like The Killing Joke and Death In The Family, I decided to get into something with a fair amount of continuity first. Turns out, this mini-tangent had a somewhat complicated continuity to it. I decided I wanted to read more about Robin (Dick Grayson) and his arc as Batman's sidekick before joining the Teen Titans and becoming Nightwing. I mistakenly started this with Nightwing: Blüdhaven (the first full graphic novel from the Nightwing run that began in 1995/96), without realizing that I skipped a bunch of stuff in the Robin chronology by doing so. In that book, Dick Grayson -- the Robin I read about in Dark Victory and The Gauntlet -- is already somewhat established in his role as Nightwing, taking up a Batman-esque-but-not-Batman mantle in a neighboring town called Blüdhaven, while Tim Drake is in the role of Robin. That means I managed to miss out on an entire extra Robin -- Jason Todd -- but obviously I wasn't the most concerned about spoilers. So from there, I worked my way back and read Teen Titans: Year One, Teen Titans: Judas Contract and Nightwing: Year One. These arcs clash against each other at times, with two different "first appearances" of Nightwing. The proper one comes in "Tales of the Teen Titans #44," which is part of the Judas Contract series; meanwhile, Nightwing: Year One serves as a bit of a reimagining of that character's origin story. nightwing, teen titans, teen titans year one, teen titans judas contract, nightwing year one, nightwing bludhaven, comic books, just read, batman Just read: Both 'Star Wars: Kanan' trade paperbacks After checking out the Princess Leia, Lando and Chewbacca mini-series in Marvel's ongoing Star Wars universe, I moved onto the Kanan trade paperbacks. These two trades collect a total of 12 issues, which represent the full run for Kanan. It's worth noting that Kanan is a character in the TV series Rebels, which I haven't watched at all yet -- so I went into this needing something of an introduction to the character and not knowing anything about his backstory. just read, star wars, kanan, comic books Just read: Marvel's 'Star Wars' mini-series 'Princess Leia,' 'Chewbacca' and 'Lando' After taking a pretty decently long break from reading, with the exception of a couple novels that I'll write about soon, I returned to the land of trade paperbacks with a few more titles in the Star Wars universe from Marvel. The three trades I read recently include Princess Leia, Chewbacca and Lando. Each of these three trade paperbacks collect a full mini-series run, and each run consists of five issues. That makes these titles great short reads for those who are interested in going a bit deeper on specific characters. As I'll write, the timing and placement of these characters and the adventures they get into make for a very enjoyable ride. I'm still reading some more Star Wars stuff right now -- currently making my way through both trade paperbacks in the Kanan storyline, and I'll have a separate post for those. just read, comic books, star wars, princess leia, lando, chewbacca Just read: 'Batman: Birth of the Demon' Trilogy This portion of the trusty Batman reading list is extremely hard to place when it comes to the chronology of the Dark Knight's career. It's arguable that I read it too early, and I probably did -- but of all the mistakes I could make, this one doesn't seem to be damaging in any way. Birth of the Demon is a collection of the Demon trilogy: Son of the Demon, Bride of the Demon and Birth of the Demon. To put it as simply as possible, these stories provide an introduction to Ra's al Ghul and his daughter, Talia al Ghul; not only to we get to know them as characters, but we get Ra's' proper origin story as well. That quick explanation is hardly enough to describe these stories, though. While far from my favorite Batman tales so far, this trilogy is exceptionally written and drawn, and the three stories told within this trade paperback each function as well on their own as they do together. Son of the Demon sees Batman / Bruce Wayne already extremely familiar with Talia; you're going to have to read this one with the mindset that these two characters are very friendly, although you may not have seen Talia at all yet. Batman and Talia are in enough of a relationship for her to know his true identity, and for Ra's al Ghul, described even here as a dangerous enemy of Batman's, to know it as well. During this story, Talia and Batman get "married" and Talia becomes pregnant with a child. Meanwhile, Batman and Ra's al Ghul team up to destroy a common enemy. There are a couple of weird plot points in this one, but the action sequences are great and, most importantly, you get a strong feeling for the time/place/era/feel of these stories. It's pretty important to read this before Birth of the Demon for purposes of getting into the mindset that book is told in, though I would argue that Birth is the only part of this trilogy to be truly essential in the Batman chronology. You're introduced to the Lazarus Pit, a gaping hole in the ground filled with bad-smelling chemicals, which is the mechanism by which Ra's keeps himself youngish and effectively immortal. batman, ra's al ghul, talia al ghul, comic books, just read Just read: 'Robin Year One' & 'Batgirl Year One' We're not getting too far off the beaten path here, by any means -- I may have just read a few Star Wars books, but I'm super excited to continue on the Batman path I've laid out. The most recent trade paperback I picked up was a combined volume of Robin: Year One & Batgirl: Year One; the two stories together made for the longest trade I've read so far (though it's still not going to compare to the Knightfall trilogy when I get there!). These two collections, which outline the beginnings of their respective characters, are both wonderfully put together and a blast to read through. The characters are tied together by nature, perhaps Batman's two closest allies finding their way into the service of the Dark Knight, and the combined book treats it just right. Robin's story is farther along than Batgirl's by the time these volumes start; we saw him meet Batman and join forces with him for the first time in Dark Victory, then saw him earn his stripes a bit more in The Gauntlet. So Dick Grayson's Year One story is really all about him settling into his role as Batman's crime-fighting partner and balancing that with a normal life -- we see him in school, talking to girls, etc. It's real easy to otherwise forget that he's a teenager. just read, comic books, batman, batgirl, robin Just read: Marvel's 'Star Wars' & 'Darth Vader' Over the past few months, I've started chronicling my foray into comic books by blogging about the Batman trade paperbacks I've been reading. In an effort to keep myself from blowing through my Batman list too fast, though, I branched out and picked up a few other titles as a breather between Batstories. I picked up the first two volumes of Marvel's Star Wars title -- Skywalker Strikes and Showdown on Smuggler's Moon -- in addition to the first two volumes of their Darth Vader title -- VADER and Shadows & Secrets. Additionally, I bought Vader Down, which is a crossover event between these two titles and fits nicely at the end of each of the first two volumes. In total, these five trade paperbacks comprise about 15 issues from each of the runs. The decision to pick these up wasn't as easy as it might seem for a big fan of the movies. I love Star Wars more than just about every other media property, and I felt myself really, really taking a liking to comic books as well -- I've yet to be disappointed by any of the Batman volumes I've read, and I've been enjoying those much more than I anticipated -- but the Star Wars books seemed super iffy to me. Obviously, Marvel's got as good a track record as any other publisher, but the idea of putting the ginormousness of Star Wars onto a colored-and-inked page seemed potentially underwhelming (for reference, I've never read any of Marvel's past Star Wars work). I equate Star Wars with grandiose shots of star destroyers rumbling overhead, and just as much with booming soundtracks that make your seat shake. In fact, I just bought tickets to see a marathon of the original trilogy in a huge, fancy theatre mainly in search of the loudest viewing experience possible. On top of that, how would an artist depict a Han Solo smirk or Princess Leia scowl or Luke Skywalker shoulder shrug the way we'd seen Ford, Fisher and Hamill do it on the big screen? And how would the writers be able to come up with novel storylines that take place between the lines of the existing films and other canon publications? All in all, it seemed like a tall order and I wasn't sure any comic book would be able to live up to the huge expectations I will forever place on any official piece of Star Wars-related media. comic books, star wars, darth vader, marvel, just read Just read: 'Batman: The Long Halloween,' 'Batman: Dark Victory' & related stories This is why I wanted to start reading comic books. The Long Halloween and Dark Victory are widely regarded as two of the best Batman collections ever -- the former is considered by some to be the finest story you can buy in trade paperback format, and the latter is generally a consensus top-10-ish choice -- and I knew this going into these stories. But, given that I haven't been reading comics for very long at all, I wasn't sure if I'd grasp the gravity of these titles on first reading. I figured that maybe I'd enjoy them, but come to appreciate them more after reading several more Batman books down the road. I'm sure this is true; I'm sure I'll love The Long Halloween and Dark Victory even more when I read them over and over in the future. Because I'm already very sure that I'm going to keep these books for an extremely long time. Right after I watched Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, I had a relatively recurring itch to start reading Batman comics again; I wasn't sure why that happened, but after reading these two books, I understand it now. I was looking for Batman stories that would satisfy me in the same way Christopher Nolan's trilogy of movies did. Nolan puts you in the world of Batman in a way no other filmmaker ever has; you're not just rooting for the hero, but you're in the shoes of all his supporting characters, too. From Alfred to Lucius Fox to all the enemies Batman faces, to Catwoman, Ra's and Talia Al Ghul and Bane, the Dark Knight films leave everyone from the most casual to the most diehard Batman fans happy in the story they just experienced. comic books, recommendations comic books, just read, batman, robin, catwoman Just read: 'Batman: Year One' & 'Batman: The Man Who Laughs' May 12, 2016 / Thomas Nassiff As I wrote recently, I decided to get into comics by reading Batman stories in chronological order at first. I went the way of trade paperbacks, which are the heftier books that collect quite a few issues of one or multiple characters, rather than seeking out individual issues or going the route of a digital subscription and reading individual issues that way. The first trade I read was Frank Miller and David Mazucchelli's Batman: Year One, which is the definitive modern-day telling of Bruce Wayne's origin story; I moved from there to Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke's Batman: The Man Who Laughs, which introduces the Joker, who obviously has a rich history as Batman's most compelling and sinister villain. May 12, 2016 / Thomas Nassiff/ comic books, batman Starting out with comic books: Digital or physical? April 21, 2016 / Thomas Nassiff After seeing Batman vs. Superman, and despite not enjoying it all that much, I had the itch to take a proper dive into comic books. This is a format I'm largely unfamiliar with, but I've had desires to explore it many times since I started college. Starting relatively from scratch with comic books is a difficult proposition, though, for many reasons -- and chief among those reasons, in 2016, is whether to read digital or physical. There were other things to consider, too. I received a couple boxes of well-maintained comics from my uncle when I was young, so I was familiar with at least the origin stories of DC's most famous characters. (Included among those was the graphic novel A Death In The Family, which I remember reading and actively disliking; most likely, though, I was just confused about why Robin was getting killed. It seemed a little permanent to my teenage self, and I didn't have the attention span to learn about comic book death, or anything else for that matter.) In the present, though, I had no idea what those characters had been up to in the time between the origin stories and random issues I read, and today. The New 52 from DC didn't seem like the best way to start this process, and the prospect of starting with seminal crossover events like Flashpoint or Crisis on Infinite Earths was straight-up overwhelming. Truthfully, it's difficult enough just deciding where to begin with one title. Luckily, I knew for sure which character I wanted to read first. April 21, 2016 / Thomas Nassiff/ daredevil, batman, comic books	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2243
__label__cc	0.519296	0.480704	An Unforgettable Night in Asheville With Tame Impala As a stop on their 2019 tour, Tame Impala performed for a mesmerized crowd in Asheville, North Carolina. This United States tour features only a few stops, with lucky crowds in other cities such as Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, St. Augustine and Miami. After this, they will visit Europe and follow it with a few more stops in the United States on a summer tour. The Summer tour includes their first headlining gig at New York’s Madison Square Garden in August. Asheville is the perfect spot for a band as creative and genre-bending as Tame Impala. The group was created in 2007 by lead singer, Kevin Parker. Kevin Parker writes, produces, and arranges most of the groups songs himself. After releasing a few albums, going on tour, and performing at festivals, the band grew to be highly admired by fans all across the globe. Their music is a complete immersive experience, and many say that it is even better live. Before the set, fans all around were talking about the upcoming set. This was the first Tame Impala show for many, and lots of people said they have been waiting for the chance to see them for years. The immense anticipation was stopped as soon as the group hit the stage. The band opened with the song “Let It Happen.” This song opens their album Currents, and was a perfect way to kick off the show. From the confetti cannon to the immersive visuals, the crowd was completely entranced. They followed this explosive entrance with a performance of the new song, “Patience” followed by “The Moment.” They went on to perform their most beloved tracks like “Elephant,” “The Less I Know the Better,” and “Feels Like I Only Go Backwards.” The most entrancing performance was “Apocalypse Dreams.” At the original end of the song, Parker stood center stage with his guitar and played a solo of the melody to the song. Many were caught by surprise when the drums kicked in to transition to a elongated version of the song. Throughout the show, the common emotion displayed amongst the faces of fans was amazement. Tame Impala had a way of encapsulating the attention of the whole room and keeping it from start to finish. After the closing song “New Person, Same Old Mistakes,” the crowd was sad to see the band go. Many lingered, some even making snow angels in the leftover piles of confetti. Needless to say, Tame Impala gave Asheville an unforgettable experience. Coverage by Drayton Peterson Images may not be used, modified, or cropped without permission from Drayton Peterson or SoundBite Magazine. Please contact SoundBite Magazine for use of photography. For upcoming events and artists features, follow SoundBite Magazine on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. If you would like to be feature your event, art, music, or company on SoundBite Magazine, please contact soundbitemag@gmail.com for features and promotional inquiries. BandsSoundBite May 13, 2019 tame impala, band, show, live music, local live music, psychedelic, kevin parker, st augstine, tour, asheville nc Ben Folds and the Nashville Ballet perform together in Nashville SoundBite May 14, 2019 Moon Taxi Under The Moon At Greenfield Lake Amphitheatre BandsSoundBite May 10, 2019 moon taxi, luthi, music video, videos, music videos, music photography, male singer, music festival, musically, musical, music photographer, artists, artist, articles, art walk	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2244
__label__wiki	0.511536	0.511536	SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues respectively. . ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and then rotate it again. Travel News : July 2014 22 travel news July 2014 July 2014 travel news 23 The Church of Goodwill - Kekopy Kenya has been my home for forty years, my wife and daughter are Citizens, our Grandson Michael was born here and has made more safaris in his first year than many people will be privileged to do in a lifetime – and he has enjoyed a holiday at the coast. Right now Michael is on safari in Amboseli with his Mum and Dad and Grandmother who is visiting from England. He celebrates his first birthday in a week’s time. Four weeks ago this prompted me to write an article that appeared in the travel section of the Saturday Telegraph in the UK – the land of my birth – telling people just how much Kenya needed tourism – that it was vital to our economy and to conservation. Without substantial revenue from tourism our wildlife will be even more vulnerable to poachers; setting aside wilderness areas for animals even harder to justify to land hungry humans. The article was circulated widely by the Kenya Tourist Board to encourage overseas guests to visit this wonderful country in the face of a barrage of Travel Advisories that have cast a long shadow over our tourism industry. If you look on a map you will see just what a tiny part of Kenya is prompting security concerns – yet the repercussions of recent events and the impact of Travel Advisories has been devastating and on a scale that in no way reflects the situation in the country as a whole. What a difference a month can make on this fast paced planet of ours. The World Cup has kicked off and the reigning champions Spain are already on their way home – with England not far behind them. But however disappointing, that is not what is preoccupying my attention right now. It would be easy to feel despondent reading headlines telling the world of renewed loss of life on the Kenya coast not far from the ancient city of Lamu, together with the killing of Satao barely a month after the death of Mountain Bull, two mighty ‘tuskers’ slaughtered for their magnificent ivory tusks worth nearly US$2,000 a kilo in the Far East. The bulls were in their mid to late 40s and had lived through events both locally and internationally that have blighted Kenya’s tourism industry in the past. The bombing of the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi on New Years Eve 1980/81; the Gulf War of 1990/91; the bombing of the American Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 and the political violence that erupted at the time of Presidential elections in Kenya in 1997 and 2008. Despite these setbacks the tourism industry has always shown a resilience that has enabled it to dust itself down and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But make no mistake these are difficult times. All the more reason then to redouble our commitment to Kenya, put our fears in to perspective and to ‘light a candle rather than curse the darkness.’ Terrorism and poaching go hand in hand. They feed on fear and insecurity. The battle to save our planet’s increasingly endangered wildlife might appear to be a lost cause whether attempting to protect the last few thousand wild tigers in Asia or stemming the catastrophic epidemic of elephant and rhino poaching in Africa. Even the Masai Mara where Angie and I continue to follow the lives of its charismatic big cats has seen an alarming upsurge in poaching in recent months with reports of 117 elephant carcasses new and old discovered during a census of wildlife in the Reserve - minus their tusks. At times like these it is understandable to feel powerless and downhearted. But each individual can contribute in a meaningful way by simply holding up their hand and saying ‘NO’ to the killing. When I was working on a book on leopards in the 1970s it was estimated that 50,000 leopards were being trapped, shot and poisoned across Africa each year for their beautiful spotted coats. In the 1980s a brilliantly orchestrated advertising campaign writ large on billboards and in cinemas across Europe and America Why I Love Kenya - Part Two Big Cat Man Jonathan Scott speaks out on his Love Affair with Kenya. All images by kind permission of Angie Scott	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2249
__label__wiki	0.746454	0.746454	washingtonpost.com > Opinions Post's problems with anonymous-source rules get worse online By Andrew Alexander Post readers constantly complain about the excessive use of anonymous sources in the newspaper. But the problem is even worse online. Staff-written news blogs are replete with violations of The Post's long-established and laudable standards governing confidential sources. These unnamed sources often are cited without providing readers with even a hint of their reliability or why they were granted anonymity. In the first two weeks of December alone, Post news blogs included more than 20 unnamed sources without any explanation of their quality or why they warranted confidentiality. Many blogs referred only to "sources" or "those close to" a subject or situation. That's at odds with The Post's internal "Standards and Ethics" policies, which instruct reporters to tell readers "as much as we can about why our unnamed sources deserve our confidence." They forbid attribution solely to "sources." And they note that it "is nearly always possible to provide some useful information about a confidential source," such as whether the source has firsthand knowledge of the topic being written about. News blogs often are more conversational than news stories. Some serve select audiences, such as Washington Redskins fans or political junkies, and include information too granular for a broad newspaper audience. Should sourcing policies be the same for print and online? "Good journalism outlets should apply the same [sourcing] standards. . .regardless of media platform," said Stephen J.A. Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, in an e-mail. "To do otherwise is to not only violate central principles of responsible journalism but to further blur the already blurry distinction, in the public's mind, between rumor-mongering Web sites and credible journalism." The complaints I receive about anonymous sources tend to focus on stories in the newspaper. That raises the question of whether readers of blogs may be more tolerant of the use of unnamed sources. Kelly McBride, an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute in Florida, said via e-mail that readers "tend to trust information when they have a relationship with the provider," whether it's The Post or its bloggers. "To the extent that blogs, when well done, build relationships between the writer and the audience, there is probably greater trust and more of a willingness to say, 'Okay, I believe that.' " But, she noted, that's not necessarily true of the "doubters," the large number of readers who are persistently skeptical of information provided by the media. "The reason we source information is not for the people who are likely to already believe it," she said. "It's for the people who are going to say, 'No way, that can't be true.'" The Post has dozens of news blogs. Laxity on sourcing rules seems to occur most frequently in those covering sports and politics. Sports Editor Matthew Vita noted that rules on anonymous sourcing have sometimes been neglected as sports bloggers post updates eight or more times a day, occasionally even while news conferences are in progress. Regardless, he said, "we need to apply the same rules and standards for our blogs as we do for our printed copy."	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2254
__label__cc	0.696181	0.303819	Neuroethics Network The Age of Artificial Intelligence: Beneficial Advancement or Disastrous Uncertainty By Sang Xayasouk This post was written as part of a class assignment from students who took a neuroethics course with Dr. Rommelfanger in Paris of Summer 2016. Sang Xayasouk is entering her fourth year at Emory University where she is majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and minoring in Comparative Literature. She is currently a member of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority and a research assistant under Dr. Sampath Prahalad’s lab, which focuses on juvenile idiopathic arthritis and its risk factors. She plans to pursue a career in medicine after taking a gap year to gain experience in the healthcare and research fields. On the 30th of June, the students of Emory University attended the Neuroethics Network session held at the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière (ICM). The first lecture was given by John Harris, a bioethicist and professor emeritus at University of Manchester. His talk was entitled How Smart Do We Want Machines to Be? and Harris addressed several points concerning artificial intelligence (AI). An audience member asked a question regarding self-driving smart cars, also asked by Dr. Rommelfanger in a group exercise in class, “You are given a self-driving car and you have only two options: hitting and killing the ten pedestrians ahead or swerving into a wall and killing only yourself. What should the car be programmed to do and who would be at fault, possibly the programmer?” Harris said we should not have self-driving cars at all, but why should this concept be completely eliminated? At first, I did not know how to respond to the availability of this technology. After speaking to Dr. Guillaume Palacios, a former theoretical physics researcher currently working with AI technology, I began to understand the prospective benefits and consequences (Palacios 2016). I asked Dr. Palacios the same question and this was his reply: If you ask me [in the Tesla accident that cost the life of the driver] if the programmers of the self-driving car are to blame, I would say it’s a difficult question, both from the ethical and technical point of view. One thing for sure is the AI technology that powers the car’s capability to drive itself is no ordinary program. I do not know the exact details because, to the best of my knowledge the Tesla code is not openly available, but it certainly relies on machine learning techniques such as ‘deep learning’. Machine learning algorithms are not defined as a bunch of instructions telling the program to do this or this if that or that happens; the self-driving car program cannot and should not be programmed that way because that would be too complicated and inefficient. Rather, it is designed to optimize a certain goal (or cost) according to data it learned from. In the case we are interested in, the self-driving car is programmed to optimize its driving ability according to the data of past drives the Tesla collected. It’s impossible to think of all possible events that could happen during a drive. If a rabbit crosses while an elephant is standing in the middle of the road and my exit is in 2 miles, then what? For this very reason, instruction-based algorithms should be discarded and the AI techniques privileged. It should be encoded to optimize function—that the best way to drive is to go from point A to B while respecting the rules of traffic, minimizing errors, and avoiding accidents. But it is a learning process and it cannot be 100% accurate. With time, the AI technology will learn through a network of other ‘experiences’, minimize error, and become better. There is still much needed improvement but the Tesla project and other similar projects (i.e. Google self-driving car) are a step in the right direction. In conclusion, I would say that the amazing promise AI technology provides is its ability to learn not from a single driver’s experience but from hundreds of thousands, if not millions. We can therefore predict that soon, AI drivers will be far better and safer drivers than humans are (Palacios 2016). Self-driving cars. Image courtesy of sfgate.com As with any innovative concept, it takes time to work out the inconsistencies. In a MIT review article, Will Knight discussed the significance of a Tesla crash that occurred over a month ago. It brings those that considered this technology to be an immaculate development and an instantaneous driving solution back to reality; these people ought to bear in mind that the first car introduced by Henry Ford still had its imperfections (Dodge et al. 2016); the self-driving Tesla will be the same. Knight also gave a quote by Bosch that aptly describes the current automated vehicle technology. Bosch said, “Automated driving is coming—not overnight, but gradually.” Thus, the idea of a self-driving car should not be completely eradicated, rather, it should continue to progress and be allowed to improve its imperfections. Dr. Harris also stated two truths of the future: there will be no more human beings and there will be no planet Earth. He said we need to look towards AI to find or construct another place for us humans to relocate. This particular snippet of his talk raised a few concerns of my own. If humans are not to exist in the future, are we looking to replace our population with AI? Would we go as far as to integrate AI technology with human beings to extend our lives? Sergio Canavero gave a Ted Talk discussing the protocol, as well as the possibilities of head transplantation. He briefly mentioned attaining immortality by moving an able and intelligent head with an able and younger body. To elaborate on this controversial concern, could we potentially replace our aged bodies with AI bodies and maintain our heads? Human-to-human transplant is problematic because body rejection is a key issue (Editor’s note: Though Canavero is planning on conducting a human-to-human head transplant in December 2017). While resembling the original organic body, the new AI body would learn how to be like the original body the head and mind is used to; then a form of immortality could be achieved. Certainly, there are several reasons why head transplants—purely human or human/AI fusion—should not be carried out; the possible implications with head transplantations are outlined clearly by Ryan Purcell on The Neuroethics Blog. There are too many ethical concerns regarding individuality, autonomy, and cost to have this as a viable solution. Unless these complications were diminished, it would be difficult to move forward in this direction. Overall, I was grateful to have attended a conference with such a distinguished and esteemed panel. There were also ethical concerns and topics that I never considered before but have been made more aware of. It was certainly an enlightening experience and I hope to make an appearance sometime in my future career. Thank you Dr. Karen Rommelfanger and the Neuroethics Network Conference for allowing me and the students of Emory University the opportunity to participate in this conference. Dodge, Bob, Casey Dodge, John Dodge, and Horace Dodge. 2016. “Henry Ford: A Case Study of an Innovator.” PDF e-book. July 20. https://www.thehenryford.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/default-document-library/henryfordandinnovation.pdf?sfvrsn=0. Palacios, Guillaume. 2016. Self-driving Cars. Personal. Xayasouk, Sang. (2016). The Age of Artificial Intelligence: Beneficial Advancement or Disastrous Uncertainty. The Neuroethics Blog. Retrieved on , from http://www.theneuroethicsblog.com/2016/09/redefining-x-and-y-axes-of-cognitive.html Labels: artificial intelligence John Harris Neuroethics Network self-driving cars James Burkett said… It seems to me that those who wish to eradicate semi-autonomous self-guided vehicles that learn over time, should first eradicate the horse.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2258
__label__cc	0.746069	0.253931	Bagpipes and Theremin Together On Stage Fresh from TEDx Madrid, here are piper Cristina Pato & thereminist Javier Diez-Ena performing together. http:///www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiTFTBN3rZ8 I like the theremin (obviously) and I like the bagpipe (but still haven't started BagpipeWorld.com), but personally, having them together just didn't really work for me. RS Theremin From: 60 mi. N of San Diego CA That link took us to the "Day the Earth Stood Still" Let's try this Theremin Bagpipe I did not get any audio from the video? It seems to show up 45 seconds into the piece. Ok now the sound starts at the beginning. I enjoyed their expressions when I could not hear them, but I do like the attempt, it almost gets away from the standard theremin whistle or that washed up opera sound. I would enjoy more exploration in the direction they are going. They are having fun and that is what too often is sucked out of the theremin experience. From: Canada I had no trouble with the audio/video synchronization, but the volume is very low. Still, the performance by Cristina Pato on the Galician bagpipe is wonderful. Unfortunately the thereminist, Javier Diez-Ena, on his backwards E'Pro theremin, is not even close to the level of skill or musicianship of Senorita Pato. The guy can't play worth a damn! There was no rapport at all between the pipes and the theremin. Unimaginative and poorly executed FX. Rob Roy Meets The Thing. I cannot stand the noise of bagpipes (aka agony bags). In fact, I would support a law that says if you commit murder during bagpipe playing then you are excused on the grounds of temporary insanity owing to severe mental torture. I rather liked the bagpipes in the TedX Madrid performance, but would gladly have participated in a mob lynching of the theremin player. The bagpipes belong to a small group of instruments for which there is no volume control (I play the hurdy-gurdy which belongs to that group). These instruments are not intended to be played inside and are best enjoyed when they are played in the public square - or in the case of the bagpipes, in the next valley! RoyP From: Scotland As it happens I love the bagpipes. The Gaitas have a sweeter sound than the Great Highland Pipes but both are lovely so far as I'm concerned. As for this TED musical collaboration, I'm not really sure what they were trying to achieve musically: was it a duo, a 'follow my playing', an attempt to demonstrate that the theremin could make similar noises to the Gaitas or what? Personally I don't think that either player shined on their respective instrument. Christina Pato is a fine piper in the tradition of Galician musicians, and the style of music they play is quite different from the Great Highland pipes (which, like you, I LOVE). The fact is, if you are going to have a productive collaboration between musicians, you have to have two people who are equally accomplished on their respective instruments. The man who played the theremin in the video above is an FX avant-gardiste and experimental player, with little skill as a precision thereminist. I thought Christina was very generous with him. If he had been on stage with me, and I could play the Galician pipes as well as Christina can, I would have wiped the floor with the guy and sent him scurrying back to his loopers, computers and guitar FX pedals. From: Theremin Motherland " ...as a precision thereminist... " -- coalport Sounds like a "precision violinist", "precision organist", "precision trombonist" etc. How could it be otherwise? If a person has sufficient skills, he is a "precision musician", ok, else your fancy expression "FX avant-gardiste and experimental player" is a fig leaf to cover up (politely) the inability to play an instrument. From: In between the Pitch and Volume hand ~ New England ILYA ~ You are going to be sliding down this slippery slope if you start this argument here I am afraid... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Posted: 10/22/2013 12:34:26 AM 10 ILYA, Ever since the theremin was introduced, the community of musicians drawn to the instrument seems to have divided itself into two distinct groups: those interested primarily in aleatoric "Free Music" (like composer Percy Grainger) and traditional musicians (like the late Clara Rockmore) who devoted themselves to playing traditional melodies with accuracy and precision (hence the expression "precision thereminist"). The difference between aleatoric (= chance) theremin playing and precision playing, has to do with the ability of the thereminist to accurately repeat what he or she has just played so that for all intents and purposes it is identical to previous performances of the same composition. A third category of theremin playing introduced itself in the late 1940's when Samuel Hoffman began using his RCA theremin to create effects for SciFi, horror and suspense film soundtracks. Hoffman was a classically trained violinist and, like Clara Rockmore, he brought his skill as a professional violinist to his theremin playing. Although Hoffman played FX theremin for dozens of films, as far as I know he had no interest in aleatoric or Free Music. There are plenty of thereminists who play exclusively experimental music, and they do very well at it, but they are unable to play THE SWAN or the VOCALISE or any other theremin potboiler with consistent precision. I would not call them "bad" thereminists or "bad" musicians. They are simply not precision players. As one experimental thereminist said when he was asked if he could play THE SWAN, "Why would I want to?" As far as I know, there is no such thing as a "non-precision" or "aleatoric" organist, violinist or trombonist. The reason for this is that although you could play aleatoric music on any one of these instruments, in order to do it you would have to possess a level of technique that would permit it. With the theremin, as RCA pointed out back in 1929, no skill or musical training of any kind is needed and "a child...an elderly lady....a blind man" can do it without any practice, knowledge or musical instruction of any kind. Amey - "...it's nice to have you back where you belong!"	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2259
__label__wiki	0.786174	0.786174	The Star Wars Trilogy \| The history of Star Wars video games (Episode II) << Nintendo Power - Super Star Wars \| The history of Star Wars video games (Episode I) >> 16. September 2013 06:42 by jedi1 \| 0 Comments Today we explore the Star Wars videogames available for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super Nintendo. Back in the day, I had an NES and both the JVC Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back games. Both are extremely challenging, but Star Wars is the better of the two. I never completed either game, though I did get to the final Death Star Trench run on Star Wars, but only once, burning through my few remaining lives so quickly I never made the effort to get back there again. The game had some extremely challenging levels and offered very few clues on how best to complete them. For example, if you don't pick up any shields for the Millenium Falcon while you blunder around on Tatooine, then getting through the debris from Alderaan is almost impossible, but this is something have to figure out on your own (No internet back then, no quick cheat codes!). By the time you get to the Death Star, there are some insanely pixel perfect blind jumps you have to learn, particularly after those express up drafts from which you often have to time your exit just right to avoid hitting all the spikes. You can burn through a ton of your limited lives and continues very quickly as you reach every new level, until you learn the way through, and the further you get in the game, the less you want to go back and start again at the beginning when you run out of lives. TV Ad for Star Wars on the NES. The September 1991 issue of Nintendo Power featured a guide to the new JVC Star Wars game for the NES: Download this as a PDF [Copyright © 1991 by Nintendo of America Inc. All rights reserved.] Unless profanity really bothers you, I highly recommend you watch Nintendo Hard - Star Wars NES on Youtube. Not only does it clearly illustrate just how hard the game really is, but it is also very entertaining. Empire for the NES is more of the same, but if anything the levels are even more difficult. As I recall, I only made it as far as Dagobah once, and never had the patience to try it again. For me, the game was more frustrating than fun - it's just too damn hard!: Here is the Nintendo Power article on The Empire Strikes Back for NES, published in March 1992: Super Star Wars was slightly better, but the bad guys regenerate almost instantly - you can't stand still and catch your breath because right from the start the scorpions and bird like creatures just keep coming at you inflicting damage, and while killing them seems like a waste of time - since they just come right back - you need to kill them to collect the little hearts and replenish your life enough to keep moving forward. Fancy giving these games a try? You can play them all for free online at any time at NESbox.com, or offline on your own computer using an emulator and ROM. Here is what Retro Gamer magazine has to say about these games: Lucasarts Strikes Back Last issue we looked at the period we’ll call the Old Republic, back when 8-bit Jedi Knights kept the gaming world safe from scum and villainy. That brought us up to 1987, when Domark ported Atari’s wire-frame arcade classics to every home computer in the known galaxy. As Dan Whitehead discovers, 1987 also marked the beginning of a new era in Star Wars gaming. Although we didn’t know it at the time... While we were prodding away at rubber keys and trying to find the optimum cassette volume at which to load Sabre Wulf, over in Japan they were getting very excited about a new console from popular Game & Watch makers Nintendo - the Famicom. It was on this fledgling system that arcade stalwart Namco released its own take on George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away. As the game was never released outside Japan, it’s one of the few commercially available Star Wars games to have gone largely unseen by fans. Even today, the original cartridge is something of a rarity. The game itself is a mixed bag. As far as gameplay goes, it’s pretty cool and serves up side-scrolling platform action, the first ever use of this in a Star Wars game. Up until this point, the games always focussed on vehicular combat, so just being able to see and control recognisable characters like Luke Skywalker was something of a novelty. Very much in the Mario vein, you proceed from left to right, jumping over conveniently step-shaped rocky obstacles and using your lightsaber to kill the various baddies along the way. Each enemy only takes one hit to kill, but as the same is true of Luke you can’t really complain that it isn’t hard enough. In fact, as the game progresses it’s easy to run out of your meagre allocation of lives when confronted with a tricky jump or an awkwardly placed Tusken Raider. Graphically, it was certainly the most faithful adaptation of the time. Stormtroopers, R2-D2, and even Darth Vader himself are all instantly recognisable. The game also avoids the Japanese tendency towards the cute ‘super-deformed’ big head look, making its non-appearance on Western shores all the more mysterious. Where the game does stumble slightly is in its adherence (or lack thereof) to the Star Wars storyline. The action starts on Tatooine, understandably enough. You see some Jawas swipe R2 and Luke set off in pursuit. OK, so that’s not strictly true to the movie (and Luke’s wispy, blonde 70s barnet has been dyed black) but we’re still in the realms of artistic licence. Things start to go a bit bandy when you enter the Jawa Sandcrawler to find an unarmed Imperial stormtrooper marching up and down. When you climb into the attic of the craft and find Darth Vader waiting for you, alarm bells start to ring. And when he transforms into a huge scorpion with a human face. well, it’s safe to say that we’re through the looking glass. Despite its weirdness, the Japanese game was something of a template for the Star Wars games released well into the nineties. Up until Namco’s game, it had been all X-wings and snowspeeders, but for the next eight years the platformer was where it was at. Photo: Namco’s original Star Wars game for the NES - surprisingly good and highly sought after by fans Photo: Star Wars was a strong platformer for the NES, complete with basic RPG elements Easy as JVC Of course, Western gamers wouldn’t be aware of this change until several years later. In 1991, JVC finally published a Star Wars game for the US version of the Famicom, now rebranded with the less effeminate title of NES, or Nintendo Entertainment System. Superficially similar to the Namco release, the Western version of this game was developed by LucasArts (then Lucasfilm Games) and blends the predictable side-on jumping action with some role-playing adventure elements and a little bit of top-down exploration. Zipping around the sands of Tatooine in a landspeeder, you must explore various caves in order to find R2 and get the whole adventure rolling. So far, so familiar, but Luke isn’t the only playable character in this version. As the story goes on, you are able to control Han, Leia and Obi-Wan, while C-3PO and R2 can be used for hints and assistance. In fact, if you don’t rescue R2, you can’t get Obi-Wan to join your party. This sort of RPG element really helps the game feel true to the movie and the simplistic platform appearance conceals a rather clever little game. Of course, it’s not all good news. For one thing, Darth Vader doesn’t appear in the game at all. Nor does Chewbacca, but then he was a mere sidekick. Producing a game without a lead villain - one of the most iconic villains in movie history, no less - was a much bolder decision. The game is also skewed towards the tougher end of the play scale, with some annoying pixel-perfect jumps unfairly diminishing your stock of lives. Star Wars was a strong seller and was also rolled out across three other formats, including a version for the Sega Master System, which was almost identical to the NES original, to later handheld editions for both the GameBoy and GameGear. By the early 90s, Star Wars and the SNES had quite a cosy little alliance going in the Great Console War, but 1993 saw US Gold cross the battle lines to release a port of the NES Star Wars game on the Sega Master System. Only released in Europe, the adaptation (handled by Tiertex) actually improved on the original in several ways - it featured improved visuals, as the Master System offered a subtler colour palette and better digitised images of the characters in the films. With the SNES and Megadrive dragging gaming into the warm glow of 16-bit heaven though, the Master System was already a dying format - hence the Europe-only release for the title. So successful was the Star Wars game that The Empire Strikes Back swiftly followed the next year. This all but ditches the RPG elements of the previous game, slight though they were, and concentrates on delivering a stronger platform game with some nifty vehicle sections to boot. Opening on Hoth, the game follows the movie almost scene for scene (if you pretend that Mark Hamill does a lot of jumping up and down) - you ride your tauntaun, see Obi-Wan’s spirit, battle the wampa monster (several of them, actually) and make your way back to the rebel base. You don’t get to snooze in tauntaun guts, but hey, you can’t have everything. The game engine is much the same as the one used for Star Wars, but the levels are better designed and there’s a feeling of progress that isn’t as noticeable in the first game. Things switch to vehicle action for - you guessed it - the AT-AT attack. There are various ways to bring down these metal monsters (blast them from behind or fire your harpoons at their feet) and this was a logical improvement on the old Atari coin-op rendition of the same scene. As the NES graphics chip was being squeezed for all it was worth, the end result looks pretty spectacular too. The game then takes you to Dagobah (and even features the encounter with the phantom Vader) via a quick space battle with TIE Fighters. Then it’s on to Darth Vader’s ship (rather than Bespin), where you battle Boba Fett, enjoy a quick cameo from Lando and endure an epic fight with the real Darth Vader that traverses many screens and ends - in a franchise-destroying sort of way - with Vader being impaled on spikes. While there’s no denying that the game is fun and looks great for a NES title, it does suffer from the switch of focus to just Luke. The rest of the characters are reduced to little more than bit parts, and after the ensemble effort of the first JVC title, that’s a shame. You’d be forgiven for expecting Return of the Jedi to put in an appearance as well, but the 16-bit era was dawning and the decision was made to simply start afresh on the new technology. Once again, the final chapter of the story was dealt a bum hand as far as games were concerned. Photo: Empire was the last Star Wars game for the NES, as LucasArts turned its attention toward the new Super Nintendo Super powered In 1991, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System debuted in America, and it was clear that continuing the Star Wars saga on the clunky old NES while the Sega Genesis mopped up the 16-bit market was out of the question. As a result, Super Star Wars -once again developed by Lucasfilm and published by JVC -was one of the first SNES games to be released, debuting in early 1992. It was also one of the first to really show off the potential of Nintendo’s new wonder beast. As the name suggests, Super Star Wars was a remake of the NES original, but was substantially beefed up in every respect. From the stereo renditions of John Williams’ iconic themes (finally sounding like they are being played on actual instruments rather than digital watches) to the large colourful sprites, which leap and roll around parallax-scrolling levels with lifelike animation, this is about as glamorous as Star Wars games ever got. As in the NES version, the game starts out with Luke on Tatooine beating up Jawas and assorted desert beasts. As the game progresses you meet up with characters like Han and Chewie and can choose which character to use in each level as you plot your course to the Death Star. Apart from a slight increase in resilience for those opting to go Wookiee, the decision is purely cosmetic. The game also features an attempt at a 3D space section, which includes the final trench run -this made early use of the SNES Mode 7 chip to shift the graphics around. The game also inherits its ancestors’ fussy difficulty levels and it’s likely that most gamers never find the other characters or get to try the vehicle sections. One particular part of the game, in which Luke tries to scale the side of a sandcrawler by leaping from moving platforms, deserves to go down in history as one of the most joypad-smashing feats of programming. The game also hurls wave upon wave of respawning enemies at the player, making it more of a side-scrolling shooter than a pure platformer, so standing still for any length of time is suicidal. Apparently the developer realised that it may have tipped things a little too far towards ‘rock hard’ on the difficulty scale, as practically every enemy drops a health power-up when killed. The result is a game in which your health bar yo-yos up and down as you march relentlessly from left to right, finger firmly pressed on the fire button. Photo: While ambitious, Super Return of the Jedi is the weakest of the SNES Star Wars trilogy In 1993, the second instalment of JVC’s new trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, was released, which leapt towards full-on ‘Super’ mode. Perhaps wisely, this game didn't mess with the winning formula established by Super Star Wars -big colourful sprites and non-stop action are the key ingredients here. Deviating from the NES Empire game, this edition drops the Luke-centric gameplay, giving Han a look in on the action as well. If the game has one failing (apart from yet another ridiculously steep difficulty curve) it’s that the locations are dragged out over lengthy levels - Hoth alone takes you up to level 12. After that, you get to enjoy the good ol’AT-AT battle in glorious Mode 7, but you need to be a pretty stubborn gamer (or a cheater) to get that far. One important addition to Super Empire Strikes Back is the password system that lets you return to where you were up to. Considering the length and difficulty of the games, this is more than welcome. Third time unlucky The LucasArts/JVC trilogy was finally completed in 1995, with the release of the slightly disappointing Super Return of the Jedi. It wasn’t in the same lowly league as Atari’s clumsy isometric 1984 arcade machine, but even so, a sense of formula was creeping in and some unusual gameplay choices had been made that compounded the ‘been there, done that’ feeling. For one thing, the game starts with a scrolling Mode 7 vehicle level that doesn’t seem to bear any reference to the movie. Presumably meant to illustrate Luke’s journey to Jabba’s palace, this fussy race sequence in what looks like an upside-down satellite sees you leaping over mysterious black voids, collecting tokens and being bounced around by irritating little pillars of rock. Pointless and aggravating, the fact that it has no relevance to Star Wars means you start the game feeling peeved rather than excited or challenged. Once you’ve got past that irritation, the game’s technically a steady improvement on the previous two. Faster paced and with much smoother control, it’s an eyeball-searing experience. You can also choose from three characters to play as (Luke, Chewie and Leia in her bounty hunter disguise), as you make your way to Jabba’s palace. However, the hectic gameplay is also combined with sprawling level design in which missing a platform means you fall down to more platforms beneath. As you sprint from left to right, collecting tokens (another new addition), it’s hard to avoid the sensation that you’re playing Sonic the Jedi or something similar. Even the presence of some giant boss encounters - such as with the Rancor monster - and a Mode 7 speederbike chase on Endor can’t hide the fact that this is a pretty dumb game. Few of the enemies are taken from the films and generic creatures jump, roll and run into you constantly. Like the much-maligned movie, it feels like it’s pandering to an easily distracted audience at the expense of franchise continuity. As if to prove this thesis correct, Super Return of the Jedi allows you to play as an Ewok. A bloody Ewok. The game climaxes in a rather bizarre boss battle with the Emperor, who flies around the screen like the demon from Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins and blasts the walkway out from underneath you. If you defeat him - which is practically impossible, since your health’s dwindling and you’re running out of surfaces to stand on -you move on to one of the most ill-conceived final levels in a game. Ever. In one of the worst uses of Mode 7 in SNES history, the game attempts to recreate the Millenium Falcon’s journey into the heart of the second Death Star from a first-person perspective. In reality, this is just a series of blocky geometric shapes jerking towards you, while the occasional TIE fighter floats past. Hitting the sides damages your shields, but as you can’t really tell where the sides are, it’s a confusing challenge to say the least. Aiming for the black bit in the middle of the screen seems to work, but that gets smaller and smaller (presumably because the tunnel is getting narrower, though you’d be hard pushed to tell from the graphics) until you reach the reactor. Blow that up and you’ve finished one of the hardest and most annoying Star Wars games. Super Return of the Jedi’s flaws are made all the more noticeable because the ‘Super’ trilogy is still the most complete and graphically impressive rendition of the saga, even today. It also marks the last time companies used the classic movie trilogy as a basis for our videogame entertainment. From that point on, games makers would step outside the confines of what George Lucas had put on screen and explore the galaxy on their own. Although the Star Wars gaming franchise had radically evolved after spreading to home consoles, Sega realised that Atari’s wire-frame arcade titles were still extremely popular with fans of the movie. So, taking the licence right back to its X-wing-flying roots, Sega released Star Wars Arcade. Featuring fantastic 3D visuals and a huge sit-down cabinet, Star Wars Arcade put you in the seat of an X-wing (and a Y-wing) and featured missions taken from the original movie trilogy - most of these were simple ‘destroy all enemies’ affairs, while others took place on and around the Death Star, reproducing Luke’s epic trench run. On the home console front, the Megadrive wasn’t equipped to handle the power of Star Wars Arcade, so the game eventually arrived on the ill-advised Megadrive addon, the 32X. Along with only a couple of other 3D titles, like Virtua Racing and Doom, Star Wars Arcade was one of the few reasons to own a 32X. [source: Retro Gamer Volume 2, Issue 2, P.44-47 Copyright © 2005 Live Publishing Int Ltd.] Next Time: We still have some more Nintendo related material to share with you over the next few days, before we move on to Retro Gamer's "The History of Star Wars Videogames Episode III" which will explore X-Wing, Rebel Assault and Dark Forces games on the PC. For a quick look at all the games we've explored so far, check out Star Wars Games by the Angry Video Game Nerd on Youtube, though again, if profanity offends you, you might want to skip this one too... [NINTENDO IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC. TM & © for games and characters are owned by the companies who market or license those products.] 6a655ab1-b634-448a-93cf-facc51fe9c17\|1\|5.0\|96d5b379-7e1d-4dac-a6ba-1e50db561b04 Permalink \| Categories: Archives , magazines , Original Trilogy , Return of the Jedi , Star Wars , The Empire Strikes Back , Toys \| Tags: videogames, PC, computer, nintendo \| Comments Star Wars Insider Best Buy Exclusive Collector's IssueWhen the original Star Wars Trilogy (Special Editions) were finally released on DVD in September 200...The history of Star Wars video games (Episode I)The first two Star Wars prequels may have dipped below our expectations, but in early 2005 the upcom...The History of Star Wars videogames Episode IIILast week we followed the ups and downs of Star Wars gaming as it grew out of the 8-bit home compute...	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2260
__label__cc	0.683317	0.316683	Submitted by Dodgy Bob on 18 June, 2019 - 15:31 Sorry I am being a bit cheeky here as you alreay have C&C3 Tiberium Wars on your list but not C&C 3 Kane's Wrath. I assume it's a simple copy and paste job with a few name changes hopefully! Edit: tested this game not long after the initial post, game can be scaled to 32:9 but has issues such as the camera being too zoomed in, No flawless widescreen fix for this unlike Tiberium Wars :( Submitted by vekio on 26 May, 2019 - 18:36 Constantine is an action-adventure video game developed by Bits Studios and published by SCi Games in 2005 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Mobile phone. It is a movie tie-in license of the Warner Bros. film Constantine, in turn based on the Vertigo / DC Comics comic book series, Hellblazer. Submitted by TassieLagend on 19 May, 2019 - 13:43 Hugo, the TV troll from the Danish television series, is on his way to start his first day at the espionage agency R.I.S.K. (Risky Intelligent Spy Knights) when he is attacked by members of the sinister organization SUSPECTRA. Their plans are threatening the entire city, but Agent Hugo soon discovers there is even more at stake. EuroCops Submitted by vekio on 11 April, 2019 - 16:54 EuroCops is a third-person shooter where the player takes a task force of three people through six European countries including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Russia. The team needs to neutralize threads and can choose between six different agencies, such as GSG-9, NOCS, Team Alfa and the SAS. The player can only control one team member at a time, but issue general commands to the other two members such as "follow" or "hold". At any time, it is possible to directly take control of any of the other team members. Submitted by vekio on 6 April, 2019 - 15:49 Hour of Victory is a first-person shooter video game developed by American studio N-Fusion Interactive and published by Midway Games for Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. A playable game demo was released on Xbox Live Marketplace on June 1, 2007. It was the first World War II game to use the Unreal Engine 3. DMZ: North Korea Submitted by vekio on 24 March, 2019 - 10:37 You are a one-man commando with the code name "Loveless" sent into North Korea to discover whether they are secretly developing a nuclear weapons program. You are sent mission objectives through your laptop computer and must sneak around and get photos of key places and events. Use weapons like submachine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to shoot your way through ten maps. Also, drive one of six vehicles such as jeeps to pursue your enemy. There's an overhead radar map which will show position of any enemies. It uses the Unreal Engine 2 and rag-doll physics. Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters Submitted by Pixelise on 11 February, 2019 - 09:16 Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters is a Looney Tunes platform video game released for the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Windows in 2000, and is an indirect sequel to the 1999 game Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time. It also came on a Twin Pack CD bundled with Wacky Races in 2003. - Wikipedia Dead To Rights Submitted by vekio on 27 January, 2019 - 20:15 Dead to Rights is a video game series focusing on Jack Slate, a police officer in the fictional Grant City, and his K-9 partner Shadow. There are four games in the series. James Bond 007: Nightfire is a first-person shooter video game featuring the character of the British secret agent James Bond and a sequel to Agent Under Fire, published by Electronic Arts in 2002. Armed Forces Corp Submitted by vekio on 6 January, 2019 - 12:42 As a member of a highly trained and heavily armed mercenary group called The Armed Forces Corp, you are to recover precious information located in a skyscraper overrun by well organized terrorists. Just remember, when money is involved... no one can be trusted. -Use advanced warfare equipment, including night vision goggles, M84 flash bangs or S10 gas mask. -Experience astonishing graphics, dynamic lighting, breathtaking effects and outstanding AI. -Use modern firearms and special Ops techniques to quickly and efficiently locate and eliminate the enemy.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2261
__label__wiki	0.696515	0.696515	MUSIC, Music Features, Uncategorized GARY COX Bringing a Clapton classic to life Since a young age, Perth guitar virtuoso Gary Cox has been inspired by the music of Eric Clapton. In particular, Clapton’s 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard was always a personal favourite for its diverse styles, heartfelt delivery and elite musicianship. In the process of learning how to play the album with a full live band, he has got to know its songs and Clapton himself more intimately, which he is set to showcase for the Perth Blues Club this Tuesday, June 19 at The Charles Hotel as the Gary Cox Band. BRAYDEN EDWARDS caught up with Gary Cox to chat about the legacy of the album, Clapton’s influence on him as a musician, his most challenging riffs and assembling a group to bring the magic of the album to life onstage. So how did you personally become a fan of Eric Clapton and how did he influence you as a musician growing up? As a young child I had a very cool uncle who had a great car and a great collection of what has come to be known as ‘classic rock’. 461 Ocean Boulevard was an album that I just came to love as a kid. We drove around and listened to it a lot and it had a huge impact on my brain. It got to a point where I realised I could just imagine the whole album in my head and I didn’t even need to listen to it anymore. And how would you say it has influenced you as a musician and especially as a guitar player? The impact was enormous but it really happened before I was even a guitar player. The music just imprinted itself in my brain, so when I was learning I already knew what I wanted to sound like. It was an amazing time to be learning guitar because we had these incredible influences and Clapton had such a diverse band and played such a diverse amount of music. So the way he influenced me was that I didn’t just become a blues musician; I became a ‘musician’ in the broader sense of the word. I think that’s the biggest influence that he probably had on me. And how about this album 461 Ocean Boulevard? Why do you think this album in particular stands out across Clapton’s pretty amazing catalogue of music? Well I get a smile on my face even now with you even mentioning the album. It imprinted itself on my brain so heavily and it has such a diverse range of musical styles, not to mention the array of different musicians on it as well. It came at a pretty crazy time in Eric Clapton’s life. He had a lot friends around him trying to help him through some things and you can tell there’s a lot of love in the album. Plus it’s great fun to listen to. You don’t get bored. It’s not like listening to a straight-ahead blues album where you’ve got 45 minutes of the same thing going on. If you don’t know the album you don’t know what’s coming next, in fact you’ve got no idea. Whether it be reggae, improvisation, ska, straight blues, hard rock, slide guitar, country…there’s something for everybody in there. So in playing this album live as a band you’ve really had to absorb the material that makes up the record. What’s been the most fun and what’s been the most challenging part of doing that? I actually had the idea myself of doing this for quite some time but it really came out of a conversation I had one day working in a music shop. Me and a colleague had the idea of performing the album live and I just thought “Why not? Let’s just do it”. I went home that night and just picked up a guitar and just tried to play through it on my own and pretty much got through the album so actually thought it was something that could be done. The real challenge was finding other musicians who were going to get into it as well. With there being such diverse changes in musical styles it requires a pretty talented bunch of musicians. Being able to switch from style to style across every song isn’t something everyone can do, and some of the vocals, especially the female vocal parts, are incredible. So what can you tell me about the people that you have found that will be bringing this music to life onstage this Tuesday? Well I’ve got Malcolm Skinner who I’ve always called my left hand man. He’s one of Perth’s best bass players and all-round best guys, as well as being an awesome all-round musician and singer. I tend to like having him around me wherever it is possible and he knew the whole album pretty much anyway, so that was great. The drummer Mike is such a pro and he really, really learnt the album and in fact I learnt some things from him as a result as well. There’s also Simon Cox who (funnily enough!) is not a relation of mine; another amazing keyboard player and singer. We’ve also got Mishy Athif, who is an amazing vocalist and very charismatic, joining us for a lot of the songs. We’ve also got one Perth’s best and most beautiful guitarists Trevor Jalla playing with us. There’s also Geoff Eastman from The Resonators coming up and playing a few songs. There’s the legend “Mr Blues” Rick Steele himself getting up for a few songs as well, but who knows? There might be a couple more on the night as well. The problem really is about who we invite. If you do a Clapton night there’s bound to be 50 players upset with me for not being invited.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2267
__label__wiki	0.848543	0.848543	Catharine Parr Strickland Strickland, Catharine Parr, later Traill, 1802—1899 Catharine Strickland was born in London, the fifth daughter of Thomas Strickland (1758–1818) and Elizabeth Strickland, née Homer (1772–1864). From 1818, she built up a reputation as an author of children's fiction. In 1832, she married Thomas Traill of the 21st Scottish fusiliers, with whom she emigrated to Canada in July of that year, The Backwoods of Canada being her account of this journey. Catharine Traill continued to write. She later published Canadian Crusoes (1851), a self-help adventure story, and a guidebook, The Female Emigrant's Guide (1854), republished as The Canadian Settler's Guide. In later life, she published frequently on Canadian botany. Mitchell, Rosemary. ‘Traill, Catharine Parr (1802–1899)’. ODNB. The Backwoods of Canada 1836 © 2014–2019 Dr Benjamin Colbert, Centre for Transnational and Transcultural Research, University of Wolverhampton Developed by Movable Type Ltd	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2270
__label__wiki	0.965504	0.965504	By Staff reporter \| 13 May 2019 at 09:28hrs The recent launch of a new digital health application by the Zimbabwe Telemedicine Network (ZTN), that is expected to provide health education and other digital tools for use by health professionals, is a step in the right direction as the country moves to enhance health care service delivery and access to health for all. The mobile application called MyCpdZw was launched last week by the ZTN as part of efforts to promote the growth of information and communication technology in the country's health sector. Health experts define telemedicine as the provision of healthcare over a distance using information and communication technology (ICT), and includes the provision of health education over a distance. This, they say, involves monitoring the health of people in their homes or some remote rural healthcare centre by devices that send information back to a central site by telephone or through the internet. Telemedicine, experts further say, can also be conducted by live interactive video-conferencing, with the patient seeing the doctor face to face, over a distance, with special devices used to assist clinical examination. Health experts also say another form is store-and-forward telemedicine, where a photograph is taken of a skin lesion, for example, and attached to an email containing the relevant history, clinical findings and results of special investigations, and sent by a doctor or nurse to another doctor or specialist for diagnosis or a second opinion. Principal technical lead for the ZTN Dr Admore Jokwiro says the launch of MyCpdZw app will certainly ratchet up the modernisation of the health profession in the country which is facing numerous constraints in the healthcare sector. "We are quite excited about the launch of this app," he says. "We have developed this platform to help health workers especially those working in remote areas to be able to access standardised and up-to-date trends, guidelines and clinical tools which are relevant for their continuous professional development." With this MyCpdZw app, he says, healthcare professionals will easily share and disseminate information with those far-flung areas in the country. Dr Jokwiro says some of the key features of the application include continuous professional development activities (CPD), drug indices (EDLIZ), emergency protocols, a library, clinical support tools like TB, malaria and HIV guidelines. The telemedicine network has since launched a digital health pilot project in Manicaland which has been run successfully helping disadvantaged patients from remote areas to access health services in a cost effective way This project is the first in the country. The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) in partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has supported this initiative to address the issue of low doctor-to-patient ratio in rural clinics and hospitals. At least 12 sites in Nyanga district and others in Manicaland province have been identified by the Digital Health Department within the Ministry of Health and Child Care which were connected to major referral hospitals at Mutare General Hospital and the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals. Government digital health expert Mr Trymore Chawurura says his ministry is now mobilising resources to set up infrastructure, computers, network and broadband to roll out the telemedicine initiative to other parts of the country. Of course, budgetary constraints are a major problem and other experts at the launch say it's important for the Government to first set out policies and the regulatory framework for the telemedicine sector. E-health expert Dr Marlon-Ralph Nyakabawo says telemedicine must be accompanied by successful business models to ensure its sustainability. "Digital health was a subject that was on the fringes in the past but now it's in the mainstream. Governments on their own cannot roll out the initiatives and this requires the private sector to take this up to ensure sustainability. Even the World Health Organisation supports this," he says. Mr Chawurura and Dr Nyakabawo believe strongly that the private sector must complement Government efforts to promote the growth of telemedicine in the country. "Youth participation is very critical for the growth of telemedicine in the country," says Mr Chawurura. "We must involve our youths in the incubation of start-ups and conduct symposiums to empower youth in digital health." "We have to create the space for our innovative youth to participate in the digital space in Zimbabwe. This will make it possible to enhance efficiency and the effectiveness of digital health systems in the country." Dr Nyakabawo says the Government must create a conducive environment for digital health to thrive through the establishment of sound policies and regulatory frameworks. "A policy is critical. A policy can play a catalytical role in the development of digital health in the country," he says. "A policy brings sanity and guidance to the industry. Empowering the youth through start-ups and creating a conducive environment can attract investors into the country's digital health sector. Our regulators should have an open door policy and embrace innovation in the healthcare sector." Zimbabwe, like most other African countries, still faces numerous problems in the healthcare sector. Clinics and hospitals in rural areas lack resources, drugs, manpower and accessories, something that hinders the delivery of quality healthcare to people. Health professionals in remote parts of the country still lack opportunities for training and career advancement, up-to-date information and digital applications to help address challenges they face in their work. Africa carries 24 percent of the world's burden of disease and is served by only 3 percent of the world's health workers, who have access to 1 percent of global health expenditure, according to the WHO. Its population continues to grow rapidly and is expected to nearly double by 2050, something which makes telemedicine an urgent priority. Health experts say telemedicine holds great promise for Zimbabwe and most other African countries. They say it can provide rural health care in the most remote areas, a move which can help drive the access to health for all campaign forward. All that is needed is a good network and broadband for most rural clinics and hospitals. This will certainly reduce the long journeys that people have to make to access the nearest healthcare centre. Telemedicine also increases access to scarce medical specialists in bigger centres and academic institutions. A case in point is the Nyanga pilot project which has since linked up to specialist doctors in India, where most Zimbabweans spend millions of dollars to go and receive treatment. Such collaboration can help the country to save on foreign currency and share medical expertise. Through telemedicine, doctors in rural Zimbabwe can receive support from their peers in India, helping to overcome the shortage of experts and address the information gap. Ms Ronia Chitura, a midwife in charge at Nyanga District Hospital, says telemedicine provides a platform for the delivery of education by the leading experts in health and medicine to others far afield with minimum disruption to the delivery of healthcare services. Telemedicine, she also says, helps to provide a platform for effective sharing and dissemination of information among health professionals. "With telemedicine it's possible for us to bridge the information gap, build the confidence and offer clinical tools for the management of certain conditions at least cost in rural areas," she says. The Nurses' Council of Zimbabwe also says it will soon move to establish e-registration systems and modernise its logging systems to move with the times. All this, it says, will be done under efforts to embrace digital health systems and the Nursing Now campaign. Most experts say telemedicine will certainly help the Zimbabwean health sector which is reeling under the current economic difficulties and has resulted in the lack of adequate drugs, and specialist health personnel to serve the people. Despite the merits of this digital health system others, like Dr Edwin Muguti, fear that the adoption of telemedicine will raise some concerns over patient confidentiality. "Yes, IT is crucial, it's now a crucial part of our lives, but you cannot replace doctors," he says. "Issues involving the confidentiality and protection of a patient's need to be addressed if we are to full embrace telemedicine. It's a major worry. If you upload my personal details — who has access to them and this is where there is concern." Addressing confidentiality issues will certainly determine the success or failure of telemedicine. While telemedicine is an important tool for improving healthcare access, it requires adequate safeguards, policies and regulatory instruments to manage it successfully.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2271
__label__cc	0.538632	0.461368	Home/Uncategorized/Mentor of the Year 2019 – Michael Daniel Michael Daniel joined the 100 Black Men of Greater Charlotte in 2017. He is a mentor in the Movement of Youth (M.O.Y.) program where he currently has two mentees (Zander and Emmanuel). Community service has been a fundamental part of Michael’s fabric. He served as an after school mentor at Gideons Elementary every year during his matriculation at Morehouse College. Michael deems it his responsibility to help develop and mold M.O.Y. program participants into the next generation of African American leaders in Charlotte. Given the impact his mentors have had on his personal and professional development, the M.O.Y. program allows Michael to “pay it forward” in the same manner it was done for him. Michael is currently a Vice President at Wells Fargo Securities. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Michael worked for Goldman Sachs, both in London and New York, for six years. While at Goldman, Michael recruited for and was an alumnus of the City Fellowship program sponsored by the British Consulate. The City Fellowship program provides one year fellowships for professionals of color to gain international work experience in London’s financial services industry. Michael earned his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Morehouse College; and a Masters of Business Administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Michael is member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Beta Nu Lambda Chapter. He serves on the Beautillion Program committee which assists college bound seniors within Charlotte and surrounding areas in preparing them for college, securing scholarship funding and presenting them to their local community at a formal event. He is married to his lovely wife Lylah Holmes Daniel and is the proud father of two wonderful children: Madison (9) and Michael II (7).	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2276
__label__wiki	0.541204	0.541204	Nadiya Gerald De Palmas Aya Danioko, known as Aya Nakamura (born 10 May 1995), is a French pop singer of Malian origin. Coming from a family of griots (West African storytellers, praise singers / poets of oral tradition), she is the oldest of five siblings in her family. Immigrating to France with her family, she resided in Aulnay-sous-Bois. She followed fashion courses at La Courneuve. She later launched into music taking the name Nakamura, after the character Hiro Nakamura of the NBC Heroes science fiction drama series.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2278
__label__cc	0.746223	0.253777	Dog-Focused Coworking: A Q&A With Work & Woof Founder Jillian Dretzka Published on January 25, 2019 - By Cat Johnson Work & Woof founder Jillian Dretzka talks coworking, community, and doggy daycare. Based in Austin, Texas, Work & Woof is much more than a dog-friendly coworking space. With play areas and on-site grooming, the space is home to a variety of professionals, including dog entrepreneurs. Allwork.Space spoke with founder Jillian Dretzka about her vision for Work & Woof and how she’s tackling her biggest challenges. When Jillian Dretzka moved from Chicago to Austin, she knew she wanted to cowork. A former member, fill-in community manager and social media contributor to the former NextSpace River North in Chicago, she had already fallen in love with coworking. There was just one problem. Dretzka had recently adopted her dog, Lucca. Austin is a dog-friendly town, with lots of dog-friendly coworking spaces, but Dretzka needed more than just a place where Lucca could lay at her feet while she worked, because Lucca’s boundless energy made that virtually impossible. Dretzka didn’t find a space that worked for her, so in June of 2018, she opened one named Work & Woof. A 7,000 square foot space with offices, conference rooms and open coworking, Work & Woof also has large indoor and outdoor spaces for dogs to play in, staff to monitor the dogs, on-site grooming and more. Allwork.Space spoke with Dretzka about her vision for Work & Woof, the community that’s emerging in the space, and how she’s tackling her biggest challenges, including educating the market about her offerings. Here are the highlights of the conversation. Allwork.Space: Let’s start with the basics. Will you give me an overview of what Work & Woof is like? Jillian Dretzka: It’s a 7,000 square foot building; 4,000 of that is an interior play yard and 3,000 is coworking. We have an open area with couches and a TV, and we have hot desks in the open area. We have three private offices, two phone booths and two quiet rooms that line the perimeter. The quiet rooms consist of communal tables and desks where you can go in, shut the door, and it’s a lot quieter than if you were to take a desk in the open space. Today we have 20 dogs and they’re all outside, so the interior space is completely empty — it’s dead silent. One of the ways we are able to do both is we commit ourselves to a couple days a week of just being outside. In our marketing, we let people know that if they’re thinking of coming in to cowork, Tuesdays and Thursdays are good days for that because we’ll usually be outside. I saw that you also offer grooming and daycare. Is that all on-site or do you outsource it? The grooming is in a room we have in the back. We do everything but cutting on-site, so nail trim, baths, blowouts, brushing, we do in that back room. We also do daycare for the day, so you don’t have to cowork and leave your dog, you can just leave your dog. How many people do that? Right now, coworking is about 20 percent of our business and daycare is about 80 percent. So the need for daycare is there, and you’re still educating people about the coworking space. A lot of space operators work to educate people about coworking. You’re taking it a step further and educating them about coworking and the dog space. About one in five people will start with daycare. Then, once their circumstances change, or they get more familiar with us and realize their dog likes our facilities, they’ll come and use the coworking. We’ve been able to convert some of the daycare into coworking memberships, which has been great. What does a typical day at Work & Woof look like? We do intake in the morning, so people drop their dog off and we have one or two handlers in the yard at all times to monitor the dogs. Typically, I’m here in the mornings to greet people and give tours. We take the dogs right at the front door and walk them back to the yard. We don’t have any set drop-in times, so coworkers come at their leisure. Right now, because we’re not full, they can just drop-in. There will probably be a time later on when we’ll have reservations in place to make sure we’ll have enough space. Coworking spaces generally have a lot of digital creatives, freelancers, remote workers, independent professionals. Who makes up the community at Work & Woof? It’s a mix of everyone. I’ve made a ton of connections with other dog entrepreneurs in Austin. Our space hosts a dog entrepreneur meetup once a quarter. Of our coworkers, it’s a third remote workers, a third freelance, and a third dog entrepreneurs, but it’s a pretty mixed bag. When we first started, we had a lot of remote workers who were just looking for a way to get out of the house. Now we’re getting a lot more people who work for themselves. The fact that you have a lot of dog entrepreneurs is very meta. People working on their dog projects in the dog-friendly space. It seems like there’s a lot of potential for you there. Absolutely. A friend of mine owns Pupsicool, a company that makes venison bone broth treats for dogs. She was one of the first people I met here. She and her team have a weekly meeting in the space where they rent an entire room and meet for eight hours. She was looking at coworking spaces, but her team is all animal owners so they wanted to meet and also incorporate the animals. One of the biggest things we had to worry about was noise because we don’t separate the spaces. When you walk in the front door, you can see all the way to the back wall. But we’re finding that anyone who’s a dog owner anticipates that if they come to a space where there are dogs, there’s going to be noise. At the beginning, the noise turned people off. Now, they say it’s no big deal, that they expect it. That’s been really nice. We didn’t know if that was going to be a huge hurdle we had to overcome or something that wouldn’t matter that much. The tradeoff for them is to be able to go in and know their dog is in safe hands, running around having fun and not chained to their desk. So they can put up with some barking, I imagine. I tell people that, in a regular coworking space, if my dog was at my feet, I would end up looking down every 20 or 30 seconds to make sure she wasn’t eating anything. Until you sit here and work and know that your dog is outside having fun, you don’t even realize how much time you spent thinking about the dog and making sure they’re fine and safe. Now, I know that she’s outside, in a fenced-in area with people watching her. And, in addition to knowing she’s safe, I know she’ll be exhausted when we get home, which is every dog owner’s dream. How has the space been received? It’s been received extremely well. We’re tucked in the back of a business park because of the sheer amount of space we needed, so getting people in the door has been our biggest challenge. But, once people are here, we convert about 97 percent of them. People sit down, have one productive day, and go home with a tired dog. They’re like, “Where has this been my whole life?” How does Lucca like the space? She loves it. Because we’re new, we’re here almost seven days a week and she’s so much easier at home. She’s such a social dog and she loves people. She’ll lay at the feet of some of our members. She’s kind of the office dog. There are lots of dog-friendly spaces, but this is something else entirely. Have you attracted a lot of attention? The only other concept that comes close to this is in Columbus, Ohio called Tail Wags Playground. But, instead of traditional coworking, it’s just a lounge. They encourage people to work, but we took it a step further and made coworking official. I took everything I loved about NextSpace and brought it here, so it’s more than just a lounge. Do you plan to open more Work & Woof locations? The dream is to have as many as we can. We’re in the beginning of month seven, so we’re still trying to figure out how we’re doing and making sure our numbers are right. But I think anywhere that is dog-friendly and has inclement weather could really benefit from something like this. We haven’t actively sought out any VCs or done any pitching because we haven’t needed to, but that may change. What is the biggest challenge you’re working on? We’re trying to find the right marketing mix. We’ve done some print advertising and, being that social media is what I do in my other job, I like to put dollars behind social media. My parents are both extremely successful in their own right, and they’re a little bit more old school. We’ve been trying to mix their old school ideas of marketing with my millennial attitude and tools. We’re working on just getting the word out and finding different ways to get into the entrepreneurial community through hosting different workshops and things like that, versus relying solely on social media marketing. That’s been our biggest challenge because, like I said, once we get people through the door, they’re sold. It’s just about making sure we’re spending enough money, and the right kind of money, and putting it in the right place. What’s next for you and Work & Woof? We’re putting together more community events. We’re thinking about doing a big fundraising fun run this Fall and partnering with some of the local charities. We’re continuing to make our presence known in the community. Austin is very charitable, so partnering with local organizations is a good way to go for us, in terms of good exposure. We want to continue to bring people in, continue to grow, and hopefully have a stellar first year. Our one year anniversary will be in July. The goal for us is to be a one-stop shop for dogs and their owners. We want to bridge the gap. A lot of people don’t want to be gone for the day without their pets — we’re trying to make sure they don’t have to. Tags:community, coworking, dog-friendly ABOUT Cat Johnson Cat Johnson is a writer and content strategist focused on coworking and the shared workspace industry. She's been writing about coworking and the sharing economy since 2009 and now works with space operators and service providers to amplify their stories and brand. She publishes the Coworking Out Loud Newsletter to share resources and content marketing tips with workspace operators. View all posts by Cat Johnson	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2282
__label__cc	0.675315	0.324685	HomePosts tagged 'physchem' physchem Bernard L. Feringa, Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry October 5, 2016 December 6, 2016 Anna Rascouët-Paz Authors, Awards, News physchem Congratulations to Bernard “Ben” L. Feringa, of the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, who shared the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jean-Pierre Sauvage, of the University of Strasbourg in France, and Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, of Northwestern University in the U.S. They were rewarded “for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.” Dr. Sauvage was the first, in 1983, to create a catenane, a chain of mechanically interlocked molecular rings. Eight years later, Dr. Stoddart built upon this by creating a rotaxane, a molecular ring threaded through a molecular axle. Using these techniques, in 1999, Dr. Feringa was able to create the first molecular motor. This will allow for the development of new materials and sensors, and more. Read about possible applications of molecular motors in the 2011 Annual Review of Bioengineering. Read Dr. Feringa’s article about molecular motors and light switching of surfaces in the 2009 Annual Review of Physical Chemistry. MacArthur Fellows, Class of 2016 September 22, 2016 December 6, 2016 Anna Rascouët-Paz Authors, Awards, Committees, News earth, genet, micro, physchem Our warmest congratulations to the 23 people honored this year by the MacArthur Foundation for “breaking new ground in areas of public concern, in the arts, and in the sciences, often in unexpected ways.” Among them is Dianne K. Newman, a Microbiologist at the California Institute of Technology and of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is also an Editorial Committee Member of the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Dianne Newman, 2016 MacArthur Fellow, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, 09.08.2016. Dr. Newman’s research in microbiology spans across disciplines, from geobiology to biomedicine: she and her group study bacteria that thrive in low-oxygen environments, such as bacteria that “breathe” arsenic or iron, as was the case in Earth’s early atmosphere. This work has taken them to study the metabolism of Pseudonoma aeruginosa, an opportunistic bacterium that thrives in mucus-filled lungs where oxygen is limited, such as those of cystic fibrosis patients. This could open the door to more effective treatment of these infections. Browse the articles she wrote for Annual Reviews here. Another 2016 MacArthur Fellow is Bioengineer Rebecca Richards-Kortum, of Rice University. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, 2016 MacArthur Fellow, BioScience Research Collaborative at Rice University, Houston, August 31, 2016. Dr. Richards-Kortum and her students create cheap and effective solutions that seek to redress imbalances in access to health care across the world. Their products have helped overcome challenges in the diagnosis of various types of cancers, but also for the care of premature newborns or babies with jaundice. Read her article for the Annual Review of Physical Chemistry here. Photo credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2290
__label__cc	0.522247	0.477753	TWAS collaborates with hundreds of scientific institutions to give researchers from the developing world the chance to travel to other countries and pursue collaborative research for up to a year. These visiting researchers get an important opportunity to form international links with colleagues while raising the profile of their home country in their field. Both the host institutions and the Academy provide financial support. TWAS-DFG Cooperation Visits Programme Postdoctoral researchers from sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa, can go on a ‘Cooperation Visit’ lasting three months to an institute in Germany. German Research Foundation Eligible nationality Sub-Saharan African countries Minimum degree held All academic fields TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme In collaboration with UNESCO and a number of centres of excellence in the South, TWAS has instituted a Joint Associateship Scheme to enable competent researchers from the South to visit these centres regularly. An associate is appointed for three years during which he/she can visit a Centre twice for research collaboration. Almost 300 centres have been selected to participate in the Scheme. Associateship countries Developing countries in the South TWAS-ENEA Research Training Fellowships Programme Postdoctoral researchers from science- and technology-lagging countries can visit research centres of ENEA in Italy to carry out research work in physics and technological research. Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development Science- and technology-lagging countries ENEA research areas TWAS offers fellowships to young scientists in developing countries to enable them to spend three to 12 months at a research institution in a developing country other than their own. The purpose of these fellowships is to enhance the research capacity of promising scientists, especially those at the beginning of their research career, helping them to foster links for further collaboration.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2303
__label__wiki	0.884955	0.884955	Debris is everywhere after after a EF3 tornado struck Hattiesburg on Saturday, Jan. 21. Louisiana DR teams deploy to Oklahoma, Mississippi By Philip Timothy, Managing Editor ALEXANDRIA–Despite five confirmed tornadoes, Louisiana was not pummeled as badly as its neighbors over the weekend as a strong storm system swept across the south. In Texas and Oklahoma strong winds and a severe ice storm crippled the area while to the east a rash or tornadoes left a swath of multiple deaths – 18 fatalities with scores injured in Mississippi and Georgia – and destruction costing millions in its wake. The enormous storm system which blew through Louisiana Jan. 21, left trees uprooted, destroyed homes and trailers, toppled power lines, snapped trees in two, and injured several people. Gibbie McMillan, Disaster Relief director for the Louisiana Baptist Convention, said no teams were being dispatched to these areas in the state as local communities had already begun the clean-up process. However, five teams – three to Petal, Miss., and two more to Woodward, Okla., — were being dispatched. “We are sending chainsaw, blue tarp and debris removal crews to Mississippi,” he said. “Mike Shumock, who is from the Hattiesburg area and is helping us with the rebuild here in the state, is leading those volunteers to Mississippi.” McMillan said the devastation is significant, “More than 700 homes were either destroyed or sustained heavy damage in Petal. The tornado knocked down so many trees that it’s going to take some time to get them cut up and removed.” Caught in that same storm was William Carey University’s Hattiesburg’s campus. William Carey is affiliated with the Mississippi Baptist Convention and has campuses in Hattiesburg and Biloxi. The campus, which has approximately 4,400 students, 800 of whom live on the Hattiesburg campus, was slammed by an EF3 tornado. According to the school’s website nearly all of the school’s 30 buildings were damaged and seven students were injured. School officials are assessing whether several of those buildings may have to be demolished, according to the college’s website. “We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support we have received from friends and supporters, near and far. Our needs are great, but we are heartened by having so many to stand by us with their prayers, their gifts, and their help,” Garry Breland, WCU’s vice president of academic affairs was quoted on the school’s website. “As I understand it, there was a construction company already there working on several projects,” said McMillan. “Those workers, along with an outpouring of volunteers from the community and state, already are on the job, so we have no need to send any teams there.” The three Louisiana teams include a four-man crew from Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association; a six-man unit from Northshore Baptist Association, and an eight-man group from the Carey association. The two ice storm response teams – one from Eastern Louisiana and the other from the Washington Association – heading to Oklahoma will face some different challenges caused by the ice storm and winds according to McMillan. “The storm cut a path of destruction 40 miles wide and 60 miles long,” he said. “The ice snapped trees in half, knocked down power lines and toppled poles like dominoes. There are a lot of people without power and its pretty cold up there in the panhandle.” The National Weather Service said two of the five twisters were strong category F-2 tornadoes. One had winds that reached 125 mph just outside the town of Natchez and Point Place, near Natchitoches. The other F-2 cut a 990-yard wide path for more than 8 miles just outside Plain Dealing in Bossier Parish before finally dissipating. Elsewhere in the state, F-1 tornadoes set down near Colfax and Georgetown in Grant Parish, and Jena in LaSalle Parish. In all 50 homes were damaged, while only just a dozen people were injured in the outbreak. “It was “a miracle” no one was injured worse, given the tornado bowled over two mobile homes, both with people inside at the time. Those people had “barely a scratch,” Bossier Parish’s Paris Julian Whittington said in a video posted to Facebook. “The good news is no one was seriously injured or killed, by the grace of God,” Whittington said. “So we’re very thankful for that today. These people lost everything they own, but property can be replaced.” Though spared from the hard-hitting storms, the New Orleans area was kept under a tornado watch from Jan. 20 to Jan. 21, as a line of thunderstorms rolled through the state and into Mississippi. Portions of West Feliciana and Pointe Coupee parishes were put under a tornado warning briefly Jan. 20.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2304
__label__wiki	0.831503	0.831503	Jeanne d' Arc: The Maid of France by Kate Dickinson Sweetser Jeanne d' Arc: The Maid of France (better known in English as "Joan of Arc") was published in Sweetser's collection, Ten Girls from History (1912). Illustration from "Ten Girls from History" 1912 THE peaceful little French village of Domrémy lies in the valley of the river Meuse, at the south of the duchy of Bar, and there five hundred years ago was born the wonderful "Maid of France," as she was called; she who at an age when other girls were entirely occupied with simple diversions or matters of household importance was dreaming great dreams, planning that vast military campaign which was to enroll her among the idols of the French nation as well as among heroes of history. On the parish register of an old chapel in the village of her birth can still be seen the record of the baptism of Jeanette or Jeanne d'Arc, on the sixth of January, 1412, and although her father, Jacques d'Arc, was a man of considerable wealth and importance in the small community of Domrémy, yet even so neither he nor any of the nine god-parents of the child—a number befitting her father's social position—could forecast that the child, then being christened, was so to serve her country, her king, and her God, that through her heroic deeds alone the name of Jacques d'Arc and of little Domrémy were to attain a world-wide fame. At the time of Jeanne's birth the Hundred Years' War between England and France was nearing its end. Victorious England was in possession of practically all of France north of the river Loire, while France, defeated and broken in spirit, had completely lost confidence in her own power of conquest and Charles, the Dauphin, rightful heir to the throne of France, had been obliged to flee for his life to the provinces south of the Loire. This was the result of opposition to his claim on the part of his mother, Isabeau, who had always hated the Dauphin, and who, in her Treaty of Troyes, set aside her son's rights to the throne, and married his sister Catherine to the King of England, thus securing to their children that succession to the throne which was the lawful right of the Dauphin. France was indeed in the throes of a great crisis, and every remote duchy or tiny village heard rumours of the vast struggle going on in their well loved land, but still the party who were loyal to the Dauphin looked confidently for the day when he should be crowned at Rheims, where French kings for a thousand years had taken oath, although still the opposing party was growing in power and possessions. Quiet little Domrémy lying folded in the embrace of its peaceful valley was thrilled by the tales of chance pilgrims passing through the village, who, stopping for a drink of water or a bite of food, would recount to eager listeners the current saying that, "France, lost by a woman,—and that woman, Isabeau, mother of the Dauphin,—should be saved by a maid who would come with arms and armour from an ancient wood." Now, towering high above little Domrémy stretches a great forest called the Ancient Wood, and to the village folk there was in all France no other Ancient Wood than this, and so when they heard the travellers' tales they whispered to one another in hushed voices and with awe-stricken faces that the Wonderful Maid of Prophecy was to come from their own midst, but who was she, where was she, and to whom would she reveal herself? Many of these queries came to the ears of children busy near their elders, while they spun and talked, and as Jeanne d'Arc, now grown into a bright intelligent young girl, listened to the prophecy and the questions, all else became of no importance except the plight of France and the restoring of the Dauphin to his rightful inheritance. But to her elders or companions she gave no evidence of this absorption, seeming entirely occupied with her out of door tasks such as tending her father's sheep, helping to harvest grain, or to plough the fields, or at other times with her mother indoors, weaving and spinning,—for there was plenty of work in both house and field to keep all the children busy. In leisure hours Jeanne played and danced and sang as merrily as the other children, who gathered often around the big oak tree in the Ancient Wood, called the "Fairies' Tree," which was the subject of many a song and legend. But although she was as merry and light-hearted as her other friends, yet she was more truly pious, for she loved to go to mass and to hear the church bells echo through the quiet valley, and often when her comrades were frolicking around the "Fairies' Tree" she would steal off to place an offering on the altar of Our Lady of Domrémy. And too, her piety took a practical form as well, and when in later years every act of hers was treasured up and repeated, those who had known her in her early girlhood had many tales to tell of her sweet help in times of sickness. It is said she was so gentle that birds ate from her hand, and so brave that not the smallest animal was lost when she guarded the flock. "Her mother taught her all her store of learning; the Creed and Ave and Pater Noster, spinning and sewing and household craft, while wood and meadow, forest flowers and rushes by the river, bells summoning the soul to think of God and the beloved saints from their altars, all had a message for that responsive heart." She herself has said, "I learned well to believe, and have been brought up well and duly to do what a good child ought to do." And too, her spirit responded throbbingly to the beauty and the mystery and the wonder of that life which is unseen, as well as to all tales of heroic deeds, and as she brooded on the sorrows of the Dauphin and of her beloved France, her nature became more and more quick to receive impressions which had no place in her routine of life, even though at that time with great practical bravery she was helping the villagers resist the invasions of bands of marauders. Then came a day when her life was for ever set apart from her companions. With them she had been running races in the meadow on this side of the Ancient Wood. Fleet-footed and victorious, she flung herself down to rest a moment when a boy's voice whispered in her ear, "Go home. Your mother wants you." True to her habit of obedience, Jeanne rose at once, and leaving the merry company walked back through the valley to her home. But it was no command from her mother which had come to her, and no boy's voice that had spoken. In these simple words she tells the story: She says, "I was thirteen at that time. It was mid-day in the Summer, when I heard the Voice first. It was a Voice from God for my help and guidance and that first time I heard it I was much afraid. I heard it to the right toward the Church. It seemed to come from lips I should reverence." Then with solemn awe she told of the great Vision which suddenly shone before her while an unearthly light flamed all around her, and in its dazzling radiance she saw St. Michael, Captain of the Hosts of Heaven and many lesser angels. So overwhelming was the Vision and the radiance, that she stood transfixed, lifting adoring eyes. Having been taught that the true office of St. Michael was to bring holy counsel and revelations to men, she listened submissively to his words. She was to be good and obedient, to go often to Church, and to be guided in all her future acts by the advice of St. Margaret and St. Catherine who had been chosen to be her counsellors. Then before the Vision faded, came a message so tremendous in its command, of such vast responsibility that it is small wonder if the little peasant maid lifted imploring hands, crying out for deliverance from this duty, until at last, white and spent, she sank on her knees with clasped hands, praying that this might not come to be true—that it might not be she who had been chosen by God to go to the help of the Dauphin—to lead the armies of France to victory. And yet even as she prayed she knew that it was true,—that God had chosen her for a great work, that it was she, the peasant of Domrémy, who alone could restore her country and her king to their former greatness—and that she would carry out the divine command. For nearly four long years after Jeanne first saw her Vision, she remained at home, and was as lovable, helpful and more truly pious than ever. Often St. Margaret and St. Catherine appeared to her, and ever they commanded her to fulfil her great destiny as the Maid who was to save France, and ever her conviction that she was to carry out their commands grew within her, as she heard the voice more and more clearly, crying, "You must go, Jeanne the Maid; daughter of God, you must go!" At that time the enemy was closing in on all the French strongholds; even the inhabitants of little Domrémy, began to tremble at the repeated invasions of marauding soldiers, and the time had come to declare war against a foe which threatened to so completely wipe out France's heritage of honour. Jeanne had heard the Voice. She was now aflame with desire to obey its summons to duty, and to achieve this she knew that three things must be accomplished. First of all she must go to Robert de Baudricourt, a Captain of the King at Vaucouleurs, and ask him for an escort to take her to the Dauphin, then she must lead the Dauphin to his crowning at Rheims. A strange idea to be conceived by a young peasant girl, still in her early teens, and it is not to be wondered that in the fulfilment of such a destiny, Jeanne's sincerity of purpose was both sneered at and discredited by unbelievers in her heavenly vision. By the help of a cousin, Durand Laxart, she was able to obtain audience with Robert Baudricourt; in the presence of one of his knights, Bertrand de Poulengy, who was completely won by this girl, so tall and beautiful and stately in her youthful beauty, as, pale with emotion, she went swiftly up to Baudricourt, saying: "I have come to you in behalf of my Lord, in order that you shall bid the Dauphin stand firm and not risk battle with his enemies, for my Lord himself shall give him succour before Mid-Lent," and she added, "The Kingdom does not belong to the Dauphin, but to my Lord who wishes him to be made King. In spite of his enemies he must reign, and I shall lead him to his consecration." Strange words these, to fall from the lips of a young girl. For a moment Baudricourt sat staring at her, wide-eyed, then he asked: "Who is your Lord?" "He is the King of Heaven." This was too much for the rough, practical minded Captain. The walls of the castle rang with his shouts of laughter, and turning to Durand Laxart, who by this time was crimson with shame for his kinswoman, Baudricourt with a gesture of dismissal said, "The girl is foolish. Box her ears and take her home to her father," and there was nothing left for Jeanne to do but to go back to Domrémy until occasion should favour her destiny. In July the valley was again menaced by the Burgundians, and the people of Domrémy fled for a refuge to a neighbouring city, while in their own little town there was a veritable reign of terror, and news came that the English were also besieging the strong old town of Orléans, which had always been called the "key to the Loire." If this city should fall, only by a miracle could France be saved, and Jeanne's Voices became more and more insistent. She must go at once. She must raise the siege of Orléans, but how? Again through the aid of Durand Laxart she obtained a second interview with the rough Captain of Vaucouleurs. Her assertion was as preposterous as before, but this time Baudricourt did not laugh, there was something haunting, powerful, in the girl's mystical manner, and in her dignity of bearing, which puzzled the gruff Captain, and made him listen, but as he offered her no help, the interview was fruitless, and she was obliged to return again to the Laxarts' home, near Vaucouleurs, where while she waited she gave what help she could in the household, but also went often to church, and often partook of the Sacrament, praying for help in her mission. Whoever knew her loved her, and her popularity was so widespread that the people of Vaucouleurs, with a growing belief in her ability to accomplish what no one else could for their beloved country, decided to themselves fit her out for her expedition to the Dauphin, and two knights, De Metz and Poulengy, who had become deeply attached to Jeanne, vowed to go wherever she might lead them. It was not safe for her to travel in a woman's clothes, so she was provided by the people's gifts, with a close-fitting vest, trunk and hose of black, a short dark grey cloak and a black cap, and her hair was cut after the fashion of men's wearing. Sixteen francs bought a horse for her, and the only bit of her old life she carried with her was a gold ring which her mother and father had given her. Before starting, Baudricourt's permission had to be obtained, and again Jeanne went to him; this time crying out: "In God's name, you are too slow for me, for this day the gentle Dauphin has had near Orléans a great loss, and he will suffer greater if you do not send me soon!" As before, Baudricourt listened to her, and enjoyed watching the play of emotions on her changeful face, but he said nothing either to encourage or to hinder her, and Jeanne knew that without further consent from him she must now go on her journey. At once she wrote a letter of farewell to her parents asking their forgiveness for doing what she knew would be against their wishes, and telling of the reality of her divine mission as it was revealed to her. She received no answer to this, but there was no attempt made to hinder her, and all preparations having been made, on the evening of the twenty-third of February, before a great crowd of spectators who had gathered to see her leave Vaucouleurs, the slender, calm figure in the page's suit stood ready to leave behind all a young girl should have of loving protection, for the sake of what she conceived to be a sacred mission. With her men around her, she mounted her horse, and as she halted for a moment before starting,—seeing her dignity and graceful bearing, her men were filled with pride in her,—even Baudricourt himself came down from the castle, and made the men take an oath to guard her with their own lives, then gave her a sword and a letter to the Dauphin. While they stood there ready to start, a man asked Jeanne: "How can you hope to make such a journey, and escape the enemy?" Quick and clear Jeanne's answer rang out, "If the enemy are on my road, I have God with me, who knows how to prepare the way to the Lord Dauphin. I was born to do this." Then with a swift signal, the solemn little cavalcade rode out into the night, while eyes were strained to see the last of the brave Maid, who conceived it her consecrated duty to go to the aid of the Dauphin, and her well loved land. On their way towards Chinon where the weak little Dauphin was holding his court, rode Jeanne and her six men, and a dangerous way it was, lying through a country over-run with marauding English and Burgundian warriors, and Jeanne's men were uneasy at escorting so young and fair a maid under such dangerous conditions, but Jeanne herself was unconcerned and fearless as they rode on into the valley of the Loire, noting on every side the devastation done by war and pillage. For greater safety they rode mostly by night, often travelling thirty miles in twenty-four hours,—a pretty severe test of the endurance of a girl of seventeen, unaccustomed to riding or of leading men-at-arms, but her courage and enthusiasm never flagged. With their horses' feet wrapped in cloths to deaden the clatter of hoofs, they went on their way as swiftly as was possible, and day by day the men's devotion to this Maid who was their leader grew deeper, as they saw the purity of her character and the nobility of her purpose. When they drew near Chinon, Jeanne's men spoke to one another doubtfully of what kind of a reception they would have. Reaching Auxerre they rested for a while, then travelled on to Gien, and as they journeyed, a report went ahead of them, that a young peasant girl called "The Maid" was on her way, so she said, to raise the siege of Orléans and to lead the Dauphin to his crowning at Rheims. Even to Orléans the report spread, and the inhabitants of that besieged city, now despairing of deliverance, felt a thrill of hope on hearing the report. Meanwhile Jeanne and her escort of six valiant men had halted near Chinon, while Jeanne wrote and despatched a letter to the Dauphin, in which she said that they had ridden one hundred and fifty leagues to bring him good news, and begged permission to enter his province. Then the next morning they rode into "the little town of great renown," as Chinon was called, and Jeanne remained at the Inn until the Dauphin should decide to receive her. Now Yolande, the King's mother-in-law, was much interested in what she had heard of Jeanne, the Maid, and she so influenced the Dauphin, that De Metz and Poulengy were allowed to have audience with him, and told what a fine and noble character Jeanne was, and what a beautiful spirit animated her slender frame, and begged him to see and trust her, saying that she was surely sent to save France. Their plea made a great impression on the Dauphin, as was evident two hours later when he sent a number of clergymen to cross-question her on her so-called divine mission, and through all the tiresome examination Jeanne bore herself with proud dignity and answered so clearly and so well that they could only entertain a profound respect for the girl whom they had expected to scorn. The result of this examination was that by order of the King, Jeanne was moved from the Inn to a wing of the Castle, and there the girl-soldier was treated with every respect by the courtiers, who were all charmed by her frank simplicity and sweetness of manner. But the King had not yet consented to give her an audience, and two weary weeks dragged away in the most tedious of all things,—awaiting the Dauphin's pleasure,—and Jeanne chafed at the delay. At last one happy day she was led into the great vaulted audience chamber of the Castle, where torches flared, and the deep murmur of voices together with the sea of eager upturned faces, might have made a less self-contained person than the Maid confused and timid. But not so with Jeanne, for her thoughts were solely on that mission which she had travelled so far to accomplish. Her page's suit was in sharp contrast to the brilliant court costumes worn by the ladies of the Court, but of that she was unconscious, and advanced calmly through the long line of torch bearers to within a few feet of the throne,—gave a bewildered glance at the figure seated before her, in the velvet robes of royalty—then turned away, and with a cry of joy threw herself at the feet of a very quietly dressed young man who stood among the ranks of courtiers, exclaiming, "God of his grace give you long life, O dear and gentle Dauphin." Quickly the courtier answered, "You mistake, my child. I am not the King. There he is," pointing to the throne. There was a stir and murmur in the crowd, but the Maid did not rise. She simply looked into his face again, saying: "No, gracious liege, you are he, and no other," adding with a simple earnestness, "I am Jeanne, the Maid, sent to you from God to give succour to the kingdom, and to you. The King of Heaven sends you word by me that you shall be anointed and crowned in the town of Rheims, and you shall be lieutenant of the King of Heaven, who is the King of France." Charles the Dauphin, who in the disguise of a courtier, had attempted to outwit the peasant girl by placing another on his throne, stood dumb with wonder at this revelation of her clear vision, and with a touch of awe, he raised her, and drew her away from the crowd that he might confer with her alone, while all tendency to jest at the expense of the Maid and her mission died away, and the crowd were silent with wonder at the bearing of this peasant girl who said she had come to save France. No one ever knew what passed between Jeanne and the Dauphin during that interview, but it is said that he demanded a further proof of her inspired mission, and in reply she told him the substance of a prayer he had offered one morning—a prayer known to God alone—and so impressed by this proof of a more than mortal vision was he, that he at once led her again down the long audience hall, through the lines of torch bearers and courtiers, then bending low, kissed her hand, and with gracious words sent her away under a strong escort of his own guard of honour, having given his promise to further the cause to which Jeanne had dedicated her life. And just here let us glance for a moment at the character of Charles the Dauphin, for whom the girl of Domrémy was sacrificing so much. At best he was the poor imitation of a King. Being the son of a mad father and a weak mother he inherited such tendencies as made him utterly unfit to cope with the perils of the time, or to give to the Maid who had come to his relief such assistance as he should have given. "Never did a King lose his kingdom so gaily," said one of his soldiers, and although he was momentarily roused by the Maid's noble courage and purpose, yet he still found it far easier to loiter through days of ease in his château, than with prompt resolution to turn to the task in hand. Had Charles the Dauphin been the man that Jeanne d'Arc would have had him be, the history of the Maid of France would have been a different one. But even his thrill at being aided to claim his throne, was not strong enough to fire him with the proper spirit, and he continued to waste long days in idle ease, while Jeanne was fretting her heart out waiting for him to decide to let her start to raise the siege of Orléans. But delay she must, and she whiled away the tedious days by practising with crossbow and sword in the meadows near Chinon, and although she refused to wear a woman's dress until she had accomplished her mission, yet she was both graceful and beautiful in her knight's costume, which she now wore in place of the simple page's suit in which she had ridden to Chinon, and many admiring eyes watched her as she rode up and down in the green meadows, alert and graceful in every movement. And although he was wasting precious moments in deciding whether to allow her to raise the siege of Orléans or not, the Dauphin spoke often and intimately with her, as with a friend to whom he was deeply attached, and Jeanne was treated with all possible deference both by those of high and low degree. The young Duc d'Alençon, a noble and loyal courtier, was so deeply won by her sweetness and charm that his wife invited her to spend a few days at their home, the Abbey of St. Florent les-Saumur, while waiting for the decision of the Dauphin. That little visit was a bright spot in the long dark story of the Maid's fulfilment of her mission, for there, with those whose every word and act spoke of kindred ideals and lofty aims, the Maid unbent to the level of care-free normal girlhood, and ever after that there was a close comradeship between the Duc and Jeanne. At last the Dauphin came to a decision. To Poitiers, Jeanne must go, and there be examined by the French Parliament, and by the most learned men in the kingdom, to prove that she was capable of achieving that which she wished to attempt. When Jeanne heard this she cried out impatiently, "To Poitiers? In God's name I know I shall have my hands full, but the saints will aid me. Let us be off!" which showed that the Maid, for all her saintliness had also a very normal human degree of impatience to do as she had planned, and who can blame her? To Poitiers she went, and there as everywhere the people loved her for her goodness, her enthusiasm for the rescue of France, and for her unassuming piety. For long weary weeks, she was cross-examined by the cleverest men who could be found for the task, but ever her keen wit was able to bring her safely through the quagmires and pitfalls they laid for her to fall into; then at last it was announced that "in consideration of the great necessity and peril of Orléans, the King would make use of her help, and she should go in honourable fashion to the aid of Orléans." So back again to Chinon went Jeanne, overflowing with eagerness and hope, looking, it is said, like a handsome, enthusiastic boy in her page's suit, full of the joy of living, happy in the thought of hard work ahead, then on at last she went, with her escort of both soldiers and cavalry officers, to the accomplishing of her second duty. By the King's orders she was dressed this time in a suit of fine steel armour which was well suited to the lithe grace of her slim young figure, and over her armour she wore a "hûque" as the slashed coats worn by knights were called. She had her pick of a horse from the royal stables, and even he was decked with a steel headpiece and a high peaked saddle. Jeanne, de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy, her faithful followers, were also fitted with special armour, which was very costly and handsome. The sword Jeanne carried was one which had been found under the altar of the church of St. Catherine of Fierbois, around which many legends of miracles clustered, but to Jeanne it was at best only a weapon, and she said she should never make use of it. Her great white standard was the thing she loved, and even when she was in the thick of the battle, she always carried it, with its painted figure of God throned on clouds holding the world in his hands, while kneeling angels on either side presented lilies, and above were the words, "Jhesus, Maria." On the other side of the banner was a shield with the arms of France, supported by two angels. She had also a smaller banner with a white dove on azure ground, holding in his beak a scroll with the words, "In the name of the King of Heaven." With her great white banner floating high in the carrying wind, her sword scabbard of cloth-of-gold, glittering in the sunlight, and the armour of her men-at-arms gleaming in its new splendour, the Maid set out for Orléans, preceded by a company of priests singing the Veni Creator as they marched. Jeanne's plan of entry into Orléans was a very simple one. She desired to march right in under the great forts defending the besieged city, to flout the enemy, and cheer the desperate citizens by her daring. But the captains of her army, although they had sworn to obey her every command, were seasoned veterans in the art of war, and had no intention of carrying out any plan of campaign laid out by a girl of seventeen, so they wilfully disregarded her plan, and by so doing delayed their entry into the city for weary hours, and in the end were obliged to enter in the very way planned by their young Commander. When at last, at night, attended by troops of torch bearers, Jeanne went into Orléans sitting proudly erect on her great white horse, and the people of the city saw first the Maid who had come to their relief, they could but wonder at sight of her girlish figure, in its shining armour, and the radiant young face carried inspiration and comfort to their wearied hearts. So eager were they to touch her or her horse that in crowding near, a torch touched her banner, and set it on fire, but wheeling around lightly, she crushed out the flame, as though she had long been an expert in such deeds. Then she and her company went to the Cathedral of St. Croix to return thanks for having entered the city, and afterwards were lodged for the night at the house of the Duc's treasurer, where Jeanne shared the room of her host's nine-year-old daughter and slept as sweetly and soundly as the child herself. Then followed fifteen days of hard fighting, for the enemy manfully resisted the onslaught of Jeanne's army, but at last, the English, vanquished, were obliged to retreat, telling marvellous tales of the Maid who was less than an angel, more than a soldier, and only a girl who had done this thing. The attack on the city had begun at six in the morning and lasted for thirteen hours, and was indeed a marvellous assault on both sides. A hundred times the English mounted the walls, and a hundred times were thrown back into the moat, and the Maid with her floating banner, was everywhere at once, encouraging her men with the ringing cry, "Fear not. The place is yours!" Then she received a wound in her shoulder above the breast, and at the first flash of severe pain, like any other girl, she shivered with fear, and hot tears came, while they carried her off the field and dressed the wound. After that she was obliged to entrust her standard to a faithful man, but she still inspired and comforted her army from the position to which she had been carried, and as the sounds of battle deepened, above the tumult rang out her clear voice of ringing command,—then came victory and the retreat of the enemy. Orléans was delivered from the hands of the English. France still held "the key to the Loire," and the Maid of France had gained one of the fifteen battles of the world. The bells of Orléans rang out victoriously, while all the citizens in all the churches chanted Te Deums and sang praises of the wonderful Maid who had saved France. In all the records of history no other girl ever reached such a height of glory as did Jeanne that day, and yet instead of revelling in the praise showered on her, and in her popularity, when the battle was over, she went to bed and to sleep like a tired child, and when the people saw how exhausted she was, they stood guard over the house where she slept, and would allow no traffic to disturb her rest. And from that day to this, the eighth of May has ever been "Jeanne d'Arc's Day" in Orléans. Jeanne had now fulfilled her second task. She had raised the siege of Orléans. Now for the third. Forward to the Dauphin's crowning at Rheims,—forward to the anointing of the rightful Sovereign of France!—that was her one thought and cry. But the Dauphin himself was in no such hurry to save his kingdom, now that the distress of the moment had been allayed. However, he met the Maid at Tours soon afterwards, and not only sang her praises for what she had done, but also acting on an impulse, his eyes lit with sudden fire, suddenly rose, and raising his sword aloft, brought it down slowly on Jeanne's shoulder, saying, that in so doing he joined her, her family, her kin and her descendants to the nobility of France, adding "Rise, Jeanne d'Arc, now and henceforth surnamed du lis, in grateful acknowledgment of the good blow you have struck for the lilies of France, and they and the royal crown and your own victorious sword shall be grouped in your escutcheon, and be and remain the symbol of your high nobility for ever." Great indeed was this honour, with all that it meant to the family of Jeanne, and she received it with fitting appreciation, but it was not what she craved; yet still the King loitered and lingered in his château, giving heed to the arguments of his counsellors,—who for reasons of their own, desired to thwart the plans of the Maid—rather than to her whose Voices told her that the Dauphin should set out at once for Rheims, while the French army was still hot with the enthusiasm of victory. At last seeing it was useless to wait any longer, Jeanne and her men were obliged to press on without any definite news of when or where they would be joined by the Dauphin, and three days later, after raising the siege of Orléans, her army took Jargeau, a town twelve miles from Orléans, and then marched back to Orléans to be received as conquering heroes. D'Alençon was given six casks of wine, the Maid four, and the town council ordered a robe and hûque for Jeanne of green and crimson, the Orléans colours. Her hûque was of green satin, and embroidered with the Orléans emblem,—the nettle,—and doubtless this offering was acceptable to the girl who with all her qualities of generalship never lost her feminine liking for pretty clothes. By the taking of Jargeau the southern sweep of the Loire for fifty miles was wiped clear of English fortresses, but the enemy still held Beaugency and Meung, a few miles downstream, and to their capture Jeanne and her forces now set out. Then with a still greater prize in view, they marched on towards Pâtay, a town between Meung and Rouvray, where they found the forces of the English massed, in consequence of which Jeanne called together her men for a council of war. "What is to be done now?" asked d'Alençon, with deep concern. "Have all of you good spurs?" she cried. "How is that? Shall we run away?" "Nay, in the name of God—after them! It is the English who will not defend themselves and shall be beaten. You must have good spurs to follow them. Our victory is certain," she exclaimed and added with that quick vision which was always the inspiration of her forces, "The gentle King shall have to-day the greatest victory he has ever had!" And true indeed was her prediction, for the battle of Pâtay was a great victory, and set the seal of assurance on the work commenced at Orléans. The English rout was complete. Their leaders fled and four thousand men were either killed or captured, and as in every battle, Jeanne's flaming courage and enthusiasm spurred her men on to victory, even though because of a wound in her foot she was not able to lead her forces, with her great white banner floating before them as usual. But she was none the less the inspiration of the day, and was also able to show a woman's tender pity and care for those of the enemy who were wounded and in their need of loving ministration turned to the gentle girl as to an angel sent from heaven. News of the French victories flew like wildfire over all the country. Three fortified towns taken, a great army of the enemy disorganised and put to flight, the whole country almost to the gates of Paris cleared of the enemy in a single brilliant week's campaign, and all through the commands, the inspiration, the invincible courage, the Vision of a slender slip of a girl! It seemed incredible except to those who had been with her through so many crucial tests, who had proved the fibre of her mental, physical and spiritual force, and reverenced her as one truly inspired by God's own voice. After the capture of Pâtay back again to Orléans went the victorious army, and there were no bounds now to the enthusiasm expressed for the Maid who had done such marvellous things. It was supposed that the Dauphin would surely meet the victors at Orléans, but he was enjoying himself elsewhere, and Jeanne, cruelly impatient, set off to meet him at St. Bênoit, on the Loire, where again she begged him to help in the great work on hand, and again was met with cold inaction, but notwithstanding this, the Maid with her dauntless purpose left the Court, still repeating, "By my staff, I will lead the gentle King Charles and his company safely, and he shall be consecrated at Rheims!" showing that all the human weakness, which she could not have failed to see in the Dauphin, did not deter her in the accomplishing of a purpose which she felt she owed to France. Across the Loire went the Maid and her men, and then as if impelled by some impulse, on the twenty-ninth of June, the Dauphin suddenly followed her on to Champagne. To Trôyes went the army now, headed by no less formidable personage than the King-to-be and the Maid, and to one homage was paid because of his royal lineage, and to the other honour because of her marvellous achievements and gracious personality. Never once did Jeanne's martial spirit fail, or her belief in her vision weaken: even the Dauphin was a better and stronger man while under the spell of her wonder-working personality, and ever his reverence for her grew, seeing her exquisite personal purity, although surrounded by men and under circumstances which made purity difficult; and her great piety, her more than human achievement and her flaming spirit, gave him food for as much serious thought as he ever devoted to anything. "Work, and God will work," was Jeanne's motto, and faithfully did she live it out, working for the King as he never would have done either for himself or for anyone else, and on the morning of Saturday, July sixteenth, the Maid and the Dauphin together rode into the city of Jeanne's vision. At nine o'clock in the morning, on Sunday, July seventeenth, the great cathedral of Rheims was filled to its doors for the crowning of the King. The deep-toned organ and a great choir filled the Cathedral with music as the Abbot entered, carrying a vial of sacred oil for the anointing; then came the Archbishop and his canons, followed by five great lords, stately figures indeed, each carrying his banner, and each riding a richly caparisoned horse. Down the length of the aisle made for them, to the choir they rode, then as the Archbishop dismissed them, each made a deep bow till the plumes of his hat touched his horse's neck, and then each wheeling his steed around, they passed out as they had come. There was a deep hush through all the vast Cathedral, one could have heard a dropped pin in all that surging mass of people, then came the peals of four silver trumpets. Jeanne, the Maid of France, and Charles the Dauphin, stood framed in the pointed archway of the great west door. Slowly they advanced up the long aisle, the organ pealing its welcome, the people shouting their applause, and behind the two figures came a stately array of royal personages and church dignitaries, and then, standing before the altar, the solemn Coronation ceremony began, while beside the King, during the long prayers and anthems and sermons, stood Jeanne, with her beloved standard in her hand. The King took the oath, was anointed with the sacred oil, then came the bearer of the crown, and kneeling, offered it. For one moment the King hesitated,—was it because of a thought of his unworthiness, or because of the great responsibilities wearing it would impose? At all events, hesitate he did, then he caught Jeanne's eyes, beaming with all the pride and joy of her inspired nature, and Charles took up the crown and placed it on his head, while choir and organ and people made the vast building resound and echo with music and with shouts. Jeanne alone stood as though transfixed, then sinking on her knees she said: "Now, oh, gentle King, now, is accomplished the will of God, who decreed that I should raise the siege of Orléans, and bring you to the city of Rheims for your consecration, thereby showing that you are the true King, and that to you the realm of France should belong." And at sight of her, so young and human in her beauty, so inspired in that which she had done, many wept for very enthusiasm, and all hearts honoured her. With gracious words the King lifted her up, and there before that vast assemblage of nobles he made her the equal of a count in rank, appointed a household and officers for her according to her dignity, and begged her to name some wish which he could fulfil. Jeanne was on her knees again in a moment at his words, "You have saved the throne, ask what you will." With sweet simplicity she pleaded, "Oh, gentle King, I ask only that the taxes of Domrémy, now so impoverished by war, be remitted." On hearing her request, the King seemed momentarily bewildered by so great unselfishness, then he exclaimed: "She has won a kingdom, and crowned a King, and all she asks and all she will take, is this poor grace, and even this is for others. And it is well. Her act being proportioned to the dignity of one who carries in her head and heart riches which outvalue any King could give and though he gave his all. She shall have her way. Now therefore it is decreed that from this day, Domrémy, natal village of Jeanne d'Arc, Deliverer of France, called the Maid of Orléans, is freed from all taxation for ever." At this the silver horns blew a long blast, and from that day, for three hundred and sixty years was the little village of Jeanne's birth without taxation, because of her deeds of valour. On went the ceremony to an imposing finish, when the procession with Jeanne and the King at its head marched out of the Cathedral with all possible pomp and solemnity, and the great day on which Jeanne had fulfilled the third and greatest of those achievements to which her voices had called her, was over. She had led the King to his crowning,—and as the people of Rheims gazed on her in her silver mail, glittering as if in a more than earthly light, carrying the white standard embellished with the emblems of her belief, it seemed as though the Maid in her purity, and her consecration to France was set apart from all other human beings, not less for what she was, than for what she had done—and never was warrior or woman more fitly reverenced. Jeanne, the peasant maid of Domrémy, led by her vision, had marshalled her forces like a seasoned veteran, and with them had raised the siege of Orléans,—had led the King to his crowning, and yet instead of longing for more conquests, still further glory, in a later conversation with a faithful friend, she only exclaimed: "Ah, if it might but please God to let me put off this steel raiment, and go back to my father and my mother, and tend my sheep again with my sisters and brothers who would be so glad to see me!" Only that, poor child, but it could not be. Never again was she to go back to her simple life, but it is said that old Jacques d'Arc and Durand Laxart came to Rheims to gladden the Maid's heart with a sight of their familiar faces, and to see for themselves this child of Jacques's who had won so great renown. And at that time also, two of her brothers are known to have been in the army, of which she must needs be still the head, as the King gave a shameful example of never commanding it in person. Seeing that she must still be Commander-in-chief; immediately after the Coronation, Jeanne called a council of war, and made a stirring appeal for an immediate march on Paris. This was resisted with most strenuous and wily arguments for delay, to all of which the Maid cried impatiently, "We have but to march—on the instant—and the English strongholds, as you call them, along the way are ours. Paris is ours. France is ours. Give the word, Oh, my King, command your servant!" Even in the face of her ringing appeal there was more arguing and more resisting, but finally, thrilled by Jeanne's final plea the King rose and drawing his sword, took it by the blade and strode up to Jeanne, delivering the hilt into her hand, saying: "There, the King surrenders. Carry it to Paris!" And to Paris Jeanne might go, but the tide of success had turned, and although on the fourteenth day of August the French army marched into Compiègne and hauled down the English flag, and on the twenty-sixth camped under the very walls of Paris, yet now the King hung back and was afraid to give his consent to storming the city. Seven long days were wasted, giving the enemy time to make ready to defend their strongholds, and to plan their campaign. Then the French army was allowed to attack, and Jeanne and her men worked and fought like heroes, and Jeanne was everywhere at once, in the lead, as usual with her standard floating high, even while smoke enveloped the army in dense clouds, and missiles fell like rain. She was hurt, but refused to retire, and the battle-light flamed in her eyes as her warrior-spirit thrilled to the deeds of the moment. "I will take Paris now or never!" she cried, and at last she had to be carried away by force, still insisting that the city would be theirs in the morning, which would have been so, but for the treachery of him for whom Jeanne had given her young strength in such consecrated service. The Maid was defeated by her own King, who because of political reasons declared the campaign ended, and made a truce with the English in which he agreed to leave Paris unmolested and go back again to the Loire. History offers no more pathetic and yet inspiring sight than Jeanne, broken by the terrible news, still sure that victory would be hers if but allowed to follow her voices—yet checkmated by the royal pawn whose pleasure it was to disband the noble army of heroes who had fought so nobly for the cause of France. When Jeanne saw the strength of the Dauphin's purpose, she hung up her armour and begged the King to now dismiss her from the army, and allow her to go home, but this he refused to do. The truce he had made did not embrace all France, and he would have need of her inspiring presence and her valuable counsel—in truth it seemed that he and his chief counsellors were afraid of allowing her out of their sight, for fear of what she might achieve without their knowledge. For some eight months longer, in accord with his desire, Jeanne, still sure of her divine mission to work for France, loyally drifted from place to place with the King and his counsellors, heart-sick and homesick, occupying her many leisure hours with planning vast imaginary sieges and campaigns. At last, on the twenty-fourth of May, 1430, with a handful of men, she was allowed to throw herself into Compiègne, which was being besieged by the Burgundians, and there after bravely fighting and rallying her men for a third attack, the English came up behind and fell upon their rear, and the fleeing men streamed into the boulevard, while last of all came the Maid, doing deeds of valour beyond the nature of woman, so it is said, and for the last time, as never again should Jeanne bear arms. Her men had fled. She was separated from her people; and surrounded, but still defiant, was seized by her cape, dragged from her horse, and borne away a prisoner, while after her followed the victors, roaring their mad joy over the capture of such a prize. Like wildfire the awful tidings spread. The Maid of Orléans taken by the English? Jeanne a prisoner? Could such things be? Alas, yes. The Maid who had delivered France was in the hands of the enemy, because, at the climax of her victory, when all France was in her grip, the chance had been lost by the folly of that King whom she had led to his crowning. After six months of captivity she was sold, yes sold, for ten thousand crowns, that royal Maid—sold to John of Luxembourg, the only bidder for her noble self. Truth which is sometimes stranger than fiction, offers no parallel to this. Not a single effort was put forth by the King, or his counsellors, or by any loyal Frenchman to rescue or to ransom Jeanne. No trouble was taken to redeem the girl who, foe and friend alike agreed, had saved the day for France, and who was the greatest soldier of them all, when she was allowed to have her way. Ten thousand crowns was the price of Jeanne's brave spirit, and her purchaser doubtless meant to hold on to her until he could make money on his prisoner, but, oh the shame, the infamy of it, Charles, the King of France,—led to his crowning day by a Maid's own hand,—offered not one sou for her ransoming! To linger on this part of Jeanne's life is torture to others, as it was to her. In December she was carried to Rouen, the headquarters of the English army, heavily fettered; was flung into a gloomy prison, from which she attempted escape, but vainly, and finally was tried as a sorceress and a heretic, and never a sound of help or deliverance from the King or the nation. Her trial was long, and she was exposed to every form of brutality, thinly veiled under the guise of justice. Day after day her simple heart was tortured by the questions of learned men, whose aim was to make her condemn herself, but this they could never do, for every probing resulted in the same calm statements. Finally one was sent to draw from her under the seal of the confessional, her sacred confidences, which were then rudely desecrated. She was found guilty of sacrilege, profanation, disobedience to the church, pride and idolatry, and her heavenly visions were said to be illusions of the devil. She was then tortured by a series of ignominies, insults, threats, and promises until, bewildered and half crazed by confinement, in agony of mind and body, she blindly assented to everything they asked her, was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, and forced to put on a woman's dress which she had repeatedly declared she would never do so long as she was thrown entirely in the company of men. But she was forced to obey the bidding of her persecutors, and then followed such degradation and insults as are almost beyond belief, and then, oh the shame of it, she was condemned to die by burning, on the tenth of May, 1431! Though worn with suffering and sorrow, she faced this crowning injustice with the dauntless courage which had ever been hers on the field of battle, and died with the Cross held high before her eyes and the name of Jesus on her lips. The peasant girl of Domrémy, the warrior of Orléans, the King's saviour at Rheims, the martyr whose death left a great ineffaceable stain on the honour both of France and of England, twenty-five years later was cleared of all the charges under which she was put to death, and in our own time has been canonised by a tardy act of the church of Rome, and to-day Jeanne d'Arc, Maid of France, nay, Maid of the World stands out on the pages of history as one inspired by God, and God alone. To her remains, as Kossuth has said, "the unique distinction of having been the only person of either sex who ever held supreme command of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen." You may enjoy reading our stories about important figures and authors in American Biographies for Kids Add Jeanne d' Arc: The Maid of France to your own personal library. Return to the Kate Dickinson Sweetser Home Page, or . . . Read the next short story; Joan of Arc	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2307
__label__wiki	0.952162	0.952162	Employees of an organisation dedicated to ending poverty, hunger and social injustice hosted sex parties amid Haiti’s humanitarian catastrophe. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images The Guardian view on Oxfam: time to learn, not destroy The debauchery of the Haiti sex parties is outrageous. But it must not be allowed to overshadow the courage and compassion of thousands of aid workers, nor the value of aid itself Mon 12 Feb 2018 13.22 EST On 12 January 2010, a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti. One of the poorest countries in the world, it was utterly unprepared. Roads and bridges, hospitals and government buildings as well as thousands of homes collapsed or were severely damaged. At least 220,000 died – including more than 100 aid workers already in the country – and as many again were injured. Scores of aid agencies with hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of relief raced to bring help, each agency hastily recruiting hundreds of extra workers. Among these men and women of goodwill who were dispatched to organise medical help, to inoculate, feed and protect the thousands of vulnerable people were seven Oxfam employees who, it has now emerged, spent their time off procuring young, possibly underage, girls and women for sex. It is likely that some of their victims were reliant on the aid Oxfam provided, with donations collected on street corners and jumble sales in Britain. The enormity of employees of an organisation dedicated to ending poverty, hunger and social injustice hosting sex parties said to be of Caligulan proportions amid the wreckage of a humanitarian catastrophe is what turns a scandal into a crisis that could damage the whole UK charitable sector. How the Oxfam-Haiti controversy unfolded Oxfam GB has been accused of covering up an inquiry into whether its staff used sex workers in Haiti in 2011 during a relief effort following the previous year’s earthquake. It is alleged those who were paid by the aid workers may have been underage. An investigation by the Times found that Oxfam had allowed three men to resign and sacked four others for gross misconduct after an inquiry into sexual exploitation, the downloading of pornography, bullying and intimidation. The UK government has threatened to cut funds to Oxfam unless it shows “moral leadership”. In 2016-17, Oxfam’s income was £408.6m, according to its annual report, including £31.7m from the DfID. Aidan Warner of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations said: “They will be concerned not just about the money but the endorsement that the relationship with DfID represents, and they are clearly working hard to regain the confidence of the government as well as the public.” Last year the UK government dedicated £13.3bn to international aid. About £1.2bn of UK aid is spent annually through NGOs. In 2016, the UK was one of only six countries to spend 0.7% of gross national income on aid, a target set by the UN for all developed countries. Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, has said the UK remains committed to this target, despite some Tory MPs calling for it to be dropped. A number have now been implicated. Some of the employees involved in the Haiti case went on to work for other NGOs. Over the weekend, the Sunday Times also reported that more than 120 workers from Britain’s leading charities have been accused of sexual abuse in the past year. Save the Children, which in 2016 secured multi-year contracts worth £91m with the government, had 31 cases, 10 of which were referred to the police. The British Red Cross, which admitted a “small number of cases of harassment reported in the UK”, received £16.3m in DfID funding. A year after the earthquake, in 2011, Oxfam’s head office was alerted by a whistleblower to the allegations. The charity then made two more serious errors of judgment. First, it played down the seriousness of the offences. The Charity Commission was told only that “serious misconduct” relating to abuse of power and bullying was being investigated. Later the Department for International Development was misled in the same way. As a result neither treated the report with the seriousness it required – and both are now rightly furious at the way they feel they were deliberately misled. DfID’s secretary of state, Penny Mordaunt, will want hard evidence of a transformed culture at the charity if it is to justify its £32m worth of contracts. The resignation of Penny Lawrence, Oxfam’s deputy chief executive and international project manager at the time of Haiti, is only a start. The second mistake was to fail to prevent the four men who were sacked and the three required to resign from working in the sector again. As the Observer reported at the weekend, allegations about sex parties in Chad in 2006, four years before the Haiti earthquake, led to the sacking of one senior employee. Roland van Hauwermeiren, who resigned after the Haiti scandal emerged, was head of Oxfam in Chad at the time. Ms Lawrence cited the failure to act properly on the earlier allegations as a reason for her decision to leave. Reputational harm is an existential threat to charities. It is not an accident that Oxfam has been caught out; it is the same mix of negligence and complacency that has exposed the Catholic and Anglican churches to similar disaster. After Haiti, Oxfam tightened its safeguarding processes. But this may well be the tip of the iceberg. One challenge for organisations working with children and vulnerable people is the acknowledged risk posed by sexual predators seeking out respectable cover for contact with their potential victims. Oxfam denies giving references to the employees sacked or allowed to resign after the Haiti allegations, but Mr Van Hauwermeiren went on to another senior job in Bangladesh working for a French charity, and another man involved is reported to have gone on to work with the Catholic aid charity Cafod. A central register of all aid workers employed by UK charities would at least stop employees who had been sacked or disciplined in earlier jobs faking references to get another. What this crisis must not be allowed to do is undermine the case for generous aid spending as both a moral obligation and as pragmatic policy. The Oxfam case involves fewer men than can be counted on two hands. The courageous and dedicated efforts of thousands of its employees have saved millions of lives in the most gruelling and dangerous circumstances. They and their peers in other charities deserve the best defence. That means honesty and transparency, and a conspicuous determination to root out anyone who threatens their reputation for it.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2308
__label__wiki	0.940472	0.940472	Viktor Orbán at the European parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, where he said Hungary was being singled out for choosing not to be ‘a country of migrants’. Photograph: Patrick Seeger/EPA MEPs vote to pursue action against Hungary over Orbán crackdown Parliament votes for first time to trigger article 7 procedure against a member state Jennifer Rankin Wed 12 Sep 2018 10.40 EDT The European parliament has voted to trigger the EU’s most serious disciplinary procedure against Hungary, saying the country’s government poses a “systematic threat” to democracy and the rule of law. The vote was carried with the support of 448 MEPs, narrowly clearing the required two-thirds majority, after Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, was abandoned by many of his allies in the centre-right European People’s party (EPP). The outcome heightens the prospect of a split in the EU’s dominant centre-right bloc – to which the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, also belongs – that has been riven by divisions over migration and the future of Europe. It also reveals the isolation of British Conservative MEPs, who sit in a rival centre-right group and voted with Orbán’s Fidesz party. Tory MEPs had said triggering the disciplinary procedure for member states seen as at risk of breaching basic democratic values would be counterproductive and would set a dangerous precedent. It is the first time the legislature has triggered an article 7 procedure against an EU member state. The most severe punishment under article 7 is stripping a country of its voting rights in the EU. The Dutch MEP who led the process, Judith Sargentini, was given a standing ovation as the result was announced. “The Hungarian people deserve better,” she said. “They deserve freedom of speech, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice and equality, all of which are enshrined in the European treaties.” The Hungarian foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, called the vote “petty revenge” against his country’s tough anti-migration policies. The vote involved “massive fraud”, he claimed, since abstentions weren’t counted into the final tally, which made it easier to reach the needed majority. Sargentini said the parliament’s legal service had authorised the counting method, saying such arguments reflected “a very sore loser”. The Hungarian government’s response was prefigured in a forceful speech by Orbán on the eve of the vote, where he told MEPs that his country was being targeted for choosing not to be “a country of migrants”, and dismissed charges of corruption. Since Orbán returned to power in 2010 his government has introduced measures to curb judicial independence and increase control over the media, and imposed restrictions that could lead to the closure of the Central European University (CEU). Charges detailed by a slew of international observers, from the United Nations to the Council of Europe, formed the basis of the report by the European parliament. The European parliament also raised concerns about corruption, as well as alleged misuse of EU funds by Orbán’s son-in-law. In a sign of his anger towards the EPP leader, Manfred Weber, Orbán accused his European allies of a double standard on the CEU, claiming academic restrictions were stricter in Weber’s native Bavaria. He claimed the EPP was “dancing to the tune” of socialists and liberals. “We have a different view on Christianity in Europe, the role of nations and national culture. Even differences on the essence of the family, and we do have radically different views on immigration,” he said. “These differences cannot be a reason to brand any country and be excluded from joint decisions.” The parliament’s report called on EU member states to come up with “appropriate measures to restore inclusive democracy, the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights in Hungary”. The vote is only the start of a long, drawn out process where the outcome is unclear. Under the article 7 procedure, the assent of four-fifths of EU member states is needed to issue the first formal warning. The next step requires unanimity, and a mutual defence pact between Hungary and Poland could scupper further action, diminishing the chances of the so-called “nuclear option” – the loss of voting rights. Europe’s future hangs in balance, says head of a Budapest university Hours before the vote, the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, swung his weight behind the EU’s sanction process. “We continue to be very concerned by the developments in some of our member states,” Juncker said in his annual state of the union speech, which was partly overshadowed by the vote. “Article 7 must be applied whenever the rule of law is threatened.” Critics of the process in Hungary and abroad have argued that the EU was handing Orbán a propaganda victory by feeding his narrative that Hungary’s way of life was under attack. Daniel Dalton, a British Conservative MEP, accused the parliament of overstepping its powers with the report. “MEPs have no role to play in the process and their involvement leaves any subsequent legal action open to the accusation that it is politically motivated,” he said.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2309
__label__wiki	0.654176	0.654176	New cars to be launched in September 2018 The onset of the festive season witnesses most major car manufacturers gearing up for new product launches. This September, we expect to see three new car launches in the country that will be followed by a few other launches in the months to come. Read below to find out more about the upcoming three new car launches slated for the month of September in the country. Mahindra Marazzo Mahindra’s much-awaited MPV, the Marazzo, based on a distinctive shark-inspired design philosophy is slated for launch on 3 September. The company claims that the vehicle will offer a unique balance of smooth ride, agile handling, space and a quiet cabin. The MPV gets an intimidating front look with shark-teeth like chrome grille inserts. The rear section, on the other hand, is highlighted by the shark-tail like tail lamps. The vehicle also features a shark-fin antenna to complete its overall aesthetics. Although Mahindra has revealed that the Marazzo will be offered with a new engine option, the company has not spoken in detail about it yet. We believe that it might be a 1.6-litre diesel engine from the Falcon series that the company has been working on for quite some time now. Datsun Go The updated Datsun Go had been recently spotted on test in Tamil Nadu. In terms of changes, we expect to see new bumpers and other cosmetic upgrades. The top spec variant will be offered with alloy wheels and a touchscreen infotainment system. Under the hood, it continues to be powered by a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine that is capable of churning out 78bhp of power and 104Nm of peak torque. It will continue to be mated to a five-speed manual transmission. Datsun Go Plus The extended version of the Go, the Go Plus, will be offered in a seven-seat layout. This time around, the MPV is expected to get similar upgrades as the hatchback variant. The new model is expected to revive sales for the company during the festive season. The vehicle will get fresh upgrades in the form of an updated front grille, a new bumper, restyled headlamps with LED DRL and LED tail lamps. Mechanically, it will continue to be powered by a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine that generates 78bhp of power and 104Nm of peak torque. The vehicle will get similar upgrades as its hatchback sibling. [“Source-carwale”] 2018 Be cars in launched new September to 2018-08-30 Loknath Das	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2310
__label__cc	0.642164	0.357836	Syria raid Syria’s poison gas Posted by TowerGuard Much yelling by Kerry about the use of toxic gas in Syria on Damascus’ suburbs and towns. Calling the act “morally reprehensible” Kerry gets up on his high horse and talks of retribution. He should be very careful of what he says in public. We, the US have no high horse to stand on having used cluster bombs, depleted uranium and phosphorous in Iraq. Since the rest of the “international community” (western Europe) said nothing at the time officially about our sins, we got away with murder. I can imagine the ironic laughter burbling up in Iran and Iraq. The drums are rolling for a military response, which, if Obama lets himself be so persuaded, will either do nothing or lead to a disastrous involvement in the internecine strife going on all over the Middle East. The US really has no dog in the fight now going on in Syria. Weakening Assad will only strengthen the islamists among whom are jihadis with long memories of American atrocities in Iraq. Americans may have forgotten the killings in Fallujah, the abuses of Abu Ghraib, the drone bombings of villages in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen, the abuses of Guantanamo, but the jihadis have not. Matthew Schrier, the photographer who was captured by a jihadi group in Syria and escaped tells how the gunmen who tortured him reminded him of Guantanamo to justify their treatment of him. What more will they do if the US takes military action against Assad? How much blowback can we expect to see, regardless of our vaunted “security”? What possible good can firing a few missiles at Assad do? Obama has really put himself in an impossible position. There never should have been any talk of “red lines”. However that may be, why doesn’t anyone seem to consider that in the chaos that now reigns in much of Syria, some sort of an accidental release could have happened? The military could have hit one of its own supply dumps. Rebels might equally have set off the gas inadvertently. Are we not looking for an excuse for war as in Iraq? And why is it always war? There are other ways of solving problems besides reaching for a gun, though in this case it would be difficult. We would be better off if there were no choice to be made. We can’t solve the problems in Syria. We probably can’t solve the problems in the Middle East/ North Africa in general. By our own behavior towards others, not our words, but our actions, over the last 10 years we have dug ourselves into a deep pit of hypocritical ineffectualness. So we attack Syria militarily in some fashion. What does it accomplish? More death and destruction on top of what has already happened? What does that prove? Big Brave United States bombs a small country in the middle of a civil war. Kills hundreds of innocent civilians from the air. What a marvelous headline that would make! And how on earth would such action “help” anything? And how would it “punish” Assad? There is talk of “proof” that Assad’s forces let loose the poison gas that sounds all too much like the “proof” of WMD the Bush regime put forth to justify the invasion of Iraq. We know what a disaster that turned out to be. There is no proof this time either, but we should have learned from bitter experience that once the engine of war has been started it’s impossible to stop. Escalation or mission creep will inevitably follow any brief attack that we might make. Think Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and how all those fights began as “small wars”. Are we going to wait for the UN to finish its job this time, or are we going to thoughtlessly rush in again? Obama is going to have to be particularly stubborn if he is to resist all the pressure being put on him to lead us into another foreign disaster. It bothers me that he has a tendency to yield to so-called experts in an attempt to keep the peace in his administration. It won’t work this time. Some people bring up a comparison to Kosovo. The former Yugoslavia was a much smaller country, and much less well defended than Syria. It was also not home, however temporarily, to Islamic extremists and jihadis. The “moderates” in the Middle East and North Africa have been fading into the background while the struggle goes on between military and islamic authoritarianism. It is not a struggle that the West should be poking its nose into except in the most subtle and hidden ways to promote what remains of our interests. And for heaven’s sake let’s stop gasping in horror over what has happened in Syria! Think Napalm, cluster bombs, and phosphorous and where those poisons were used and by whom. Think poison gasses given/sold to countries by our own CIA. Above all, think of the possible consequences of any military action we might take. Learn something from the chaos produced by the invasions of Iraq and Libya. The arm chair warriors will always be there to trumpet their calls to arms far from the dirt, the blood, the dismemberment, the killing and the destruction they wish on those weaker than themselves. Don’t listen for they are the true spreaders of evil in the world. Note: A tiny item in the NYT today notes that an Iraqi court has ruled unconstitutional the term limits of the President, the Premier and the Speaker of Parliament. So these worthy gentlemen can keep running for office as long as they wish while edging further and further away from George Bush’s model of “democracy”. Surprise, surprise! Stephen Walt in today’s Foreign Policy: “Yet we now appear to be getting ready to drop a lot of ordnance on Syria — and for a pretty flimsy reason. John Kerry is outraged that Assad’s forces have used chemical weapons — or so he believes — but as I’ve noted before, that fact (if true) is not dispositive. Assad’s forces have already killed tens of thousands with good old-fashioned high explosive, which is much more effective than sarin in most cases. Yes, chemical weapons are illegal and yes, there’s a taboo against their use, but going to war solely to reinforce a rather unimportant norm is a poor reason. The fact that Assad is killing innocent people with this particular tool and not some other equally nasty tool is not by itself a reason to get involved. “What is most striking about this affair is how Obama seems to have been dragged, reluctantly, into doing something that he clearly didn’t want to do. He probably knows bombing Syria won’t solve anything or move us closer to a political settlement. But he’s been facing a constant drumbeat of pressure from liberal interventionists and other hawks, as well as the disjointed Syrian opposition and some of our allies in the region. He foolishly drew a “red line” a few months back, so now he’s getting taunted with the old canard about the need to “restore U.S. credibility.” This last argument is especially silly: If being willing to use force was the litmus test of a president’s credibility, Obama is in no danger whatsoever. Or has everyone just forgotten about his decision to escalate in Afghanistan, the bombing of Libya, and all those drone strikes? “More than anything else, Obama reminds me here of George Orwell in his famous essay “Shooting an Elephant.” Orwell recounts how, while serving as a colonial officer in Burma, he was forced to shoot a rogue elephant simply because the local residents expected an official of the British Empire to act this way, even when the animal appeared to pose no further danger. If he didn’t go ahead and dispatch the poor beast, he feared that his prestige and credibility might be diminished. Like Orwell, Obama seems to be sliding toward “doing something” because he feels he simply can’t afford not to. “Sad, but also revealing.”: Posted in Society Secrecy and Fear I’ve just finished reading Peter Maass’ fine piece in the New York Times on Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Edward Snowden. It is at once terrifying and awe inspiring. It is also a fairly accurate diagnosis of what the fear mongering of the Bush era and since has done to whatever was left of American civil liberties. Government suppression of information about its questionable true activities have reached some kind of a nadir in a long history of secrecy and coverups beginning with Vietnam, and perhaps long before then. That American citizens should be forced to go to such extreme lengths to provide the public exposure of government wrongdoing is very scary indeed. It makes me feel as though I should be investigating ways of securing myself against the kinds of intrusion that Poitras and Greenwald have been subjected to, as well as the much more severe retaliation against Snowden and Manning and who knows how many others. The brutality of war has infected all the security branches of our government, to the point at which the government itself becomes the enemy of every citizen who wishes to live in a democratic country that values the freedoms of speech, assembly, and of the press that it brags about to the world but does not practice. And as an aside, the embassy shut downs have been called off, except for Yemen, and not one thing has happened to any of our embassies or foreign service personnel. How strange! Posted in media, Politics Tags: government retaliation, Greenwald, Poitras, Snowden Thoughts on surveillance and Senator McCain In the last couple of days I’ve read posts by Englehart, Van Buren, and now Juan Cole (whose post I can’t find). On the NSA etc they seem to agree with what I’ve been saying, and it occurs to me in the light of all the hoopla over the embassy shut downs that the government is desperately trying to distract us from its egregious flouting of the Constitution. Juan Cole wonders if we are waking up to the Soviet Union of America. I suspect we’ve been there since 9/11, and it’s only going to get worse unless more people start to make a great deal of noise. Senators McCain and Graham went to Egypt to try to “save” the situation. All they did was insult the military and the interim government and destroy the quiet diplomacy Undersecretary Burns was attempting. How, you say? Well, at their press conference, these oh-so-smart and all-knowing Senators said outright that what had happened in Egypt was a coup, and that the Muslim Brotherhood should be let out of prison and house arrest and allowed to participate in the senators’ idea of Democracy. How to start a civil war in one easy lesson! The last thing Egypt needs right now is the return of the Muslim Brotherhood. All the Senators did was undermine the people who actually believe in democracy which the Muslim brotherhood showed under Morsi’s rule that it does not. It’s quite possible that if the US hadn’t meddled in the first place in 2011 that the Muslim brotherhood never would have been elected. But no, we must rush everyone who’s never had it to instant Democracy! Egypt needs time – time to come together as a country, time to develop the institutions that underlie something like democratic rule. Elections by themselves won’t achieve anything in the winner-take-all minds of recent victims of dictatorship. If Obama sent those two idiots to Egypt, he’s getting worse advice than I thought he was, or he’s beginning to lose his mind. The drone wars have to stop. All they do is make more terrorists. Blanket electronic surveillance has to stop. It’s time we admitted that we have been ruled by fear and get over it. Abuse of detainees, no matter where they are held, has to stop, and that includes Manning as well as the Guantanamo detainees. Government secrecy and duplicity must return to the status quo ante 9/11. Whistleblowers should be tolerated, especially when all they do is expose government stupidity. Embarrassment is no excuse to prosecute people for espionage. Where’s our Harry Truman of the 21st Century? John McCain seems to think he has superior knowledge and ability in foreign affairs than the President or anyone else. He believes in the shoot-from-the hip style that was in vogue during the Bush administration. He’s all for bombing people and forcing them to do what he thinks is right. The only problem with that is, that it didn’t work in Vietnam, it didn’t work in Iraq, and its not working in Afghanistan, so why would it work in Egypt? Someone should cancel his travel budget! Posted in Politics, Society Tags: Cole, Egypt, Englehardt, Graham, McCain, surveillance, VanBuren Embassy closures – really? There’s been a lot of uproar about the NSA surveillance of phone and internet usage of practically everyone in the world. It began to look like the argument in favor of limiting those secret powers and providing for greater transparency and legality was winning the day. Then comes this announcement on Thursday that 21 American embassies around the globe will be closed for the immediate future because of some “credible” but unspecified “threat”. Now there are worries about prison breaks: “Prison breaks took place in Pakistan on July 31 in a Taliban-led operation, and in Iraq at the Abu Ghraib prison overnight on July 22. Some 500 convicts, among them senior al Qaeda operatives, escaped from Abu Ghraib. More than 1,100 inmates broke out of a prison on the outskirts of Benghazi on July 27. Interpol also noted that August was the anniversary of several violent attacks over the past years, including in Mumbai and Nairobi.” We are also coming to the end of Ramadan (August 7), a time when some attacks in the past have happened, and the beginning of Eid-al-Fitr, a time for Muslims of charity giving and family celebration lasting 3 days. Is any of this stuff related, or are we seeing something to justify the previous actions of our intelligence agencies? Cynical? Yes! It’s happened so many times before. Someone on NPR last night even mentioned code Orange and code Red in connection with airports, the infamous codes to frighten everyone introduced during the Bush administration that brought us the TSA, its searches, its scan machines, etc. It just smells like a change-the-subject operation to makes us forget about losing our privacy rights. These are are the countries so far where Embassies and/or consulates will be closed (they are all Muslim countries, except Israel): “Algiers, Algeria, Sana’a, Yemen; Tel Aviv, Israel; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Ankara, Turkey; Muscat, Oman; Doha, Qatar; Cairo, Egypt; Kabul, Afghanistan; Baghdad, Iraq; Amman, Jordan; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Manama, Bahrain; Tripoli, Libya; Nouakchott, Mauritania.” That’s just 18 different countries from a list that supposedly came from an NBC report. You have to watch the news clip to see the list of countries. It certainly sounds a bit scary, but how do we know for sure? Our intelligence folks have cried wolf so many times before. And, in light of the NSA fiasco, how do we know the government is telling us or the world the truth? It’s a stretch. Here’s the entire list of travel warnings from the State Department: U.S. Embassy Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates U.S. Embassy Algiers, Algeria U.S. Embassy Amman, Jordan U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq U.S. Consulate Basrah, Iraq U.S. Embassy Cairo, Egypt U.S. Consulate Dhahran, Saudi Arabia U.S. Embassy Djibouti, Djibouti U.S. Embassy Dhaka, Bangladesh U.S. Embassy Doha, Qatar U.S. Consulate Dubai, United Arab Emirates U.S. Consulate Erbil, Iraq U.S. Consulate Jeddah, Saudi Arabia U.S. Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan U.S. Embassy Khartoum, Sudan U.S. Embassy Kuwait City, Kuwait U.S. Embassy Manama, Bahrain U.S. Embassy Muscat, Oman U.S. Embassy Nouakchott, Mauritania U.S. Embassy Riyadh, Saudi Arabia U.S. Embassy Sana’a, Yemen U.S. Embassy Tripoli, Libya It includes the consulates and also Jordan, Algeria and Sudan. That just looks like over wrought self-justification for the “security” agencies to me. Tags: embassy closures, intelligence, NSA surveillance, prison breaks, scare tactics, security Trust in government Syria in ruins. These are Reuters photos that make me wonder why people still believe that there’s something heroic in fighting each other. When it’s all over, as it will, eventually, be over, won’t they say, “What was it all for?” They will have nothing. Will anyone help rebuild such self-destruction? What if the old city of Damascus gets destroyed along with everything else? Was one man’s life (Assad), worth the destruction of thousands of years of culture? August 1: Tim Wiener of Enemies: A History of the FBI and Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, has an editorial in today’s Cincinnati Enquirer that appears generally sympathetic to Pfc Bradley Manning. I have admired Mr. Weiner’s writing, especially his history of the CIA, but he has some phrases in his column today that I find deeply disturbing. Perhaps I misinterpret, but read the piece for yourself and decide what you think. Speaking of the files leaked to Wikileaks that had to do with the Iraq war, Weiner says this: “What the files reveal is a slice of what life during wartime was like under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. And understanding what war is, and what it does to people, is dangerous knowledge.” (Italics are mine) Why does Weiner say this is dangerous knowledge? Understanding what war is may well make us less willing to go off on similar disastrous adventures in the future. Understanding the depths of brutality and depravity war causes in people should make us wary of ever engaging in it except for the defense of our nation on our own soil. He goes on: When the Pentagon Papers were first leaked to the New York Times, White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman shared a fascinating insight with President Richard Nixon. Haldeman had been talking about the papers with another Nixon aide – Donald Rumsfeld – who had said that “to the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledygook.” But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing,” Haldeman told Nixon. “You can’t trust the government. You can’t believe what they say. And you can’t rely on their judgment“. (Italics are mine) Well…? Relying on “their” judgement is exactly what we should not have done in 2003. Is that lack of trust in government what’s “dangerous”? Frankly, I’m not ready to put away my critical faculties or the ability to see what’s real in favor of some higher power that calls itself my government. As Americans, we need to treasure the skepticism our nation was born with, not relinquish it to some Washington DC power that tries to tell us what to think. That’s what the Germans did before and during WWII to their sorrow. That’s what many of the citizens of Communist countries did during the Cold War, and that’s what we did during the long fight for Vietnam that turned out not to be the “domino” we were sold. Unquestioning trust in any authority usually leads to some sort of disaster after which we live with the dead, the maimed and impaired, the suicides and substance abusers, the broken and scattered families, the homeless former warriors who walk our neighborhoods as pariahs, and the fanatics with murderous intentions. Seems to me Life is more precious than that. Think about those Reuters photos of Syria and think about the people who did the destruction and what it has done to them and those whose lives were destroyed. Total trust in government is what gets us to the point where we don’t mind that our government can mine everything we say and do on the Internet or other electronic device, where something we believe to be safety leads us to relinquish our rights as citizens. I think it could well be a slippery slide to authoritarianism. Posted in Society, US Foreign Policy Tags: danger, destruction, trust in authority, war American Amnesia Jim Lobe's lobelog	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2311
__label__wiki	0.811444	0.811444	Visit the Army.ca Photo Gallery. The Newsroom » Current Operations » Topic: The Cost of an Afghan ‘Victory‘ Author Topic: The Cost of an Afghan ‘Victory‘ (Read 6339 times) Mike Bobbitt Army.ca Owner The Cost of an Afghan ‘Victory‘ « on: September 17, 2001, 13:27:00 » by DILIP HIRO From the February 15, 1999 issue of The Nation. (Click here for original article) Ten years ago, on February 15, 1989, as the last of the 115,000 Soviet soldiers crossed over from Afghanistan into Soviet Tajikistan, there was quiet celebration in Washington as well as Riyadh and Islamabad. Officials in these capitals visualized Moscow‘s retreat as the first, crucial step in the re-emergence of an independent Afghanistan ready to ally with the United States. The US-Saudi-Pakistani alliance had played the central role in training, arming and financing the Afghan mujahedeen to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan. With the Soviet withdrawal accomplished--a severe blow to Moscow in the cold war--Washington put Afghanistan on the back burner. But the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991 gave a second wind to the mujahedeen movement, which acquired a momentum of its own. Its seizure of power in Kabul in April 1992, following the fall of the leftist regime of Muhammad Najibullah, paved the way for the rise of the Taliban Islamic movement two years later and its capture of Kabul in September 1996. Today the Taliban controls 90 percent of Afghanistan and rules the country according to its interpretation of the Sharia, Islamic law--an interpretation that even the mullahs of Iran find repulsive. Unique in the world, the Taliban regime deprives women of education and jobs. It has allowed the training camps near the Pakistani border--originally established by the CIA and Pakistan‘s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI)--to be reopened to give guerrilla training to fundamentalist volunteers from Xinjiang, China; Bosnia; Algeria; and elsewhere to further their Islamist agenda through armed actions in their respective countries. The Taliban has rebuffed Washington‘s demands that it hand over Osama bin Laden, a Saudi veteran of the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan and a fugitive extremist accused of masterminding the US Embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam last August, which killed 257 people, including twelve Americans. The US government has offered a $5 million reward for his capture. Did the founders of US policy in Afghanistan during the Carter Administration (1977-1981) realized that in spawning Islamic militancy with the primary aim of defeating the Soviet Union they were risking sowing the seeds of a phenomenon that was likely to acquire a life of its own, spread throughout the Muslim world and threaten US interests? Perhaps not, but it was not as if they had no choice. When Moscow intervened militarily in Afghanistan in December 1979, there were several secular and nationalist Afghan groups opposed to the Moscow-backed Communists, who had seized power twenty months earlier in a military coup. Washington had the option of bolstering these groups and encouraging them to form an alliance with three traditionalist Islamic factions, two of them monarchist. Instead, Washington beefed up the three fundamentalist organizations then in existence. This left moderate Islamic leaders no choice but to ally with hard-liners and form the radical-dominated Islamic Alliance of Afghan Mujahedeen (IAAM) in 1983. The main architect of US Policy was Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter‘s National Security Advisor. A virulent anti-Communist of Polish origin, he saw his chance in Moscow‘s Afghanistan intervention to rival Henry Kissinger as a heavyweight strategic thinker. It was not enough to expel the Soviet tanks, he reasoned. This was a great opportunity to export a composite ideology of nationalism and Islam to the Muslim-majority Central Asian states and Soviet republics with a view to destroying the Soviet order. Brzezinski also fell in easily with the domestic considerations of Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, the military dictator of Pakistan. After having overthrown the elected prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in 1977, Zia was keen to create a popular base for his regime by inducting Islam into politics. One way of doing this was to give aid to the exiled Afghan fundamentalist leaders in Pakistan. As for Saudi Arabia, the remaining member of the troika, it had long been a bulwark of anti-Communism, its rulers lavish in their funding of antileftist forces around the globe--be it in Angola, Mozambique, Portugal or Italy. The fact that the population of Afghanistan was 99 percent Muslim was an additional incentive to Riyadh. The US-Saudi-Pakistani alliance‘s financing, training and arming of the mujahedeen--recruited from among the 3 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan--was coordinated and supervised by the CIA. The day-to-day management rested with Pakistan‘s ISI. All donations in weapons and cash to the campaign by various sources--chiefly Washington and Riyadh--were handled by the CIA. These amounted to about $40 billion, with the bulk coming from the United States and Saudi Arabia, which contributed equally. The volunteers underwent military training and political education. Both were imparted by the ISI. In the political classes the mujahedeen were given a strong dose of nationalism and Islam. The fact that the Soviets were foreign and atheistic made them doubly despicable. The intention was to fire up militant Muslims to fight Soviet imperialism. Armed with CIA-supplied Stinger missiles in the later stages of the jihad, the mujahedeen made a hash of Soviet helicopter gunships, a critical tool of the USSR‘s counterinsurgency campaign. From the start the ranks of the Afghan mujahedeen were complemented by non-Afghan volunteers eager to join the anti-Soviet jihad. The very first to do so was Osama bin Laden, then a young civil engineering graduate from an affluent family of construction contractors in Jidda, Saudi Arabia. He devised a scheme encouraging non-Afghan Muslims to enroll in the jihad. The 30,000 who did so in the eighties consisted of an almost equal number of Arabs and non-Arabs. Bin Laden, who attracted 4,000 volunteers from Saudi Arabia, became the nominal leader of the Afghan-Arabs. He developed cordial relations with the heads of the more radical constituents of the IAAM, including Mullah Mohammed Omar of the Hizb-e-Islami (Khalis group), who was later to emerge as the Taliban‘s supreme leader. Besides participating in guerrilla actions, bin Laden constructed roads in mujahedeen-controlled areas and refurbished caves as storage places for arms and ammunition. Working closely with the CIA, he also collected funds for the anti-Soviet jihad from affluent Saudi citizens. On the wider propaganda front, Brzezinski‘s successors continued his intensive radio campaign (through Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe) to arouse and heighten Islamic consciousness and ethnic nationalism in Central Asia in order to undermine the Moscow-directed Soviet system. The glaring contradiction of the US policy of bolstering Islamic zealots in Afghanistan while opposing them in neighboring Iran seemed to escape both Brzezinski and his successors. In the end, the Soviet Union collapsed, but for reasons that had nothing to do with the interreligious or interethnic tensions among its citizens, which the US policy-makers had tried to engender in Muslim-majority Central Asia and Azerbaijian. Following the 1989 Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Afghan-Arabs, including bin Laden, began drifting back to their homes in the Arab world. Their heightened political consciousness made them realize that countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt were just as much client regimes of the United States as the Najibullah regime had been of Moscow. In their home countries they built a formidable constituency--popularly known as "Afghanis"--who combined strong ideological convictions with the guerrilla skills they had acquired in Pakistan and Afghanistan under CIA supervision. Having defeated Soviet imperialism in Afghanistan, they felt, naively, that they could do the same to US imperialism in say, Saudi Arabia, with its strong links to Washington since its inception in 1932. During the 1990 Kuwait crisis, the stationing of more than 540,000 non-Muslim US troops on the soil of Saudi Arabia--considered sacred as the realm containing Mecca and Medina, the birth and death places of the Prophet Muhammad--angered many pious Saudis, especially the ulema (religious scholars). They argued that under the Sharia it is forbidden for foreign forces to be based in Saudi Arabia under their own flag. Their discontent rose when, having liberated Kuwait in March 1991, the Pentagon failed to carry out full withdrawal from the kingdom. Among those who protested vocally was bin Laden, who established a formal committee that advocated religious-political reform. In 1993 King Fahd created a Consultative Council, all of whose members were appointed by him and served in a merely advisory capacity; this step failed to pacify bin Laden. During the Yemeni civil war of April-July 1994, when Riyadh backed the Marxist former South Yemeni leaders against the government in Sana, bin Laden condemned the official policy. The authorities stripped him of his Saudi citizenship and expelled him from the country. But bin Laden‘s banishment (to Sudan) did not deter other Islamic radicals from pursuing their agenda. In November 1995 they detonated a bomb at a Saudi National Guard base in Riyadh, killing five US service personnel stationed there. Of the four Saudis arrested as suspects, three turned out to be "Afghanis." They were found guilty and executed. However, what put the US military presence in Saudi Arabia in the limelight was the truck bombing on June 25, 1996, outside the Al Khobar complex near the Dhahran air base. The explosion killed nineteen American servicemen and injured more than 400. This occurred a few weeks after bin Laden had arrived in Afghanistan from Sudan, which he was forced to leave when its government came under pressure from Washington and Riyadh. Bin Laden then called for a jihad against the Americans in Saudi Arabia. "The presence of American crusader forces in Muslim Gulf states...is the greatest danger and [poses] the most serious harm, threatening the world‘s largest oil reserves," he said. "Pushing out this American occupying enemy is the most important duty after the duty of belief in God." After the Al Khobar bombing the Saudi authorities grudgingly admitted the presence of some 5,000 American troops on Saudi soil. They were part of the force in charge of 170 US fighters, bombers and tank-killers parked in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Well-informed Saudi watchers, however, put the number of American servicemen in the kingdom at 15,000-20,000, including several thousand in civilian dress, based in Dhahran, Jedda and the defense ministry in Riyadh. What is the basis of the US military presence in Saudi Arabia, and what are its aims? When on August 6, 1990, King Fahd invited US troops to his kingdom, it was to bolster Saudi defenses against the threat of an Iraqi invasion following Baghdad‘s occupation of Kuwait. Once the US-led coalition had expelled the Iraqis from Kuwait, this mission was accomplished. So there was no more need for foreign troops, nor was there any official explanation for their presence. The unofficial explanation is that the purpose of the US warplanes stationed in Saudi Arabia is to enforce the no-fly zone in southern Iraq. This rationale is flawed in at least three respects. First, since Washington has publicly acknowledged defense agreements with Kuwait and Bahrain, why not limit the stationing of warplanes to those countries and exclude Saudi Arabia because of its special religious significance to Muslims worldwide? Second, the southern no-fly zone was not imposed until August 1992, seventeen months after the end of the Gulf War, ostensibly to prevent Saddam Hussein‘s regime from persecuting the Shiite population of southern Iraq--so this could not have been the reason American aircraft were stationed there before that time. Finally, with one or two aircraft carriers of the US Fifth Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, permanently plying the Persian Gulf, is there really a need to station US warplanes on Saudi soil--and thus provide fuel to the likes of bin Laden, who claims that the kingdom is "occupied" by US troops in the same way Afghanistan was by Soviet soldiers? This leads one to take seriously the explanation offered by those defense experts--such as former Middle East specialist at the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies--who claim inside knowledge of joint Washington-Riyadh strategy devised and implemented after the armed uprising in Mecca in November 1979. In case there‘s an antiroyalist coup, they say, the United States would need seventy-two hours to marshal its full military might to reverse the coup. For many years the Saudi defense ministry has been purchasing sophisticated weapons systems, chiefly from the United States. But the Pentagon was reportedly alarmed by the account of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of the US-led coalition in the Gulf War, that suggested the Saudi military, especially the air force, was incapable of operating the sophisticated weaponry it possessed. Thus the presence of US military officials at key Saudi military facilities is considered indispensable in order to insure swift coordination and secure communications in case of an emergency. It was against this background that bin Laden and his acolytes articulated the thesis that their country was occupied. Since then the events in the Persian Gulf, centered around relations between Iraq and the United States, have strengthened the views of Islamic militants. In the midst of the deepening Baghdad-Washington crisis of February 1998, which resulted in the build-up of a US armada in the Gulf, they published an assessment that applied to the entire Middle East. On February 23,1998, under the aegis of the International Islamic Front (IIF), Shaikh bin Laden, Aiman al Zawhiri (of jihad al Islami, Egypt), Abu Yasser Ahmad Taha (of Gamaat al Islamiya, Egypt), Shaikh Mir Hamzah (of Jamiat al Ulema, Pakistan) and Fazl ul Rahman (of Harkat al jihad, Bangladesh) issued a communique laced with the kind of language used earlier against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. "For more than seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples," it stated. "Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the Crusader-Zionist alliance, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres...Third, if the Americans‘ aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews‘ petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there." Then came the fatwa (religious decree): "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem] and the Holy Mosque [in Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim [again]. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God, ‘And fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,‘ and ‘fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God.‘" This was open season on Americans to all those who agreed with the IIF‘s stance. Following the Washington-London airstrikes against Iraq in mid-December, bin Laden called on Muslims worldwide to "confront, fight and kill" Americans and Britons for "their support for their leaders‘ decision to attack Iraq." Earlier, spurning the US demands to hand bin Laden over to Washington, the Taliban government had proposed that the evidence against him be passed on to it so that he could be tried in Afghanistan under Islamic law. The United States refused to cooperate. So in late November, the Taliban supreme judge declared bin Laden innocent. A decade after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the mood among US and Saudi decision makers has turned from quiet satisfaction to perplexed handwringing. In the words of Richard Murphy, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and South Asia during the two Reagan administrations, "We did spawn a monster in Afghanistan." The "monster" of violent Islamic fundamentalism has now grown tentacles that extend from western China to Algeria to the east coast of America, and its reach is not likely to diminish without a great deal of the United States‘ money, time and patience, along with the full cooperation of foreign governments. Bratok Re: The Cost of an Afghan ‘Victory‘ « Reply #1 on: September 19, 2001, 01:04:00 » Just a couple of links for those seeking more info about the Afghan-Soviet cnflict, first hand from the people who fought there: Afgan.Ru Master Blaster I have intentionally remained quite regarding the events of the 11th of September because most of my personal thaoughts on the subject may incite more than retaliation. I am somewhat suprised that the muhajdeen did not mange to transport a nuclear device to DC as was expected a few years ago nor did they poison the vast waters of the north eastern sectors of this continent as was (again) expected by the intelligence communities throughout NATO. Without being (apparently) crass or unfeeling, the fact that ONLY 5500 people died during the first wave of the assault is to be praised and thanked. As the Russians learned in Afghanistan and the Americans learned in the South East Asia war games, it is virtually impossible to defeat a well organised, well financed group that is willing to let millions die for their own edification and immortality. I pray that we have the resolve to do what must be done in order to fumigate the world of a pestilence that will not give up, no matter the cost in lives. So far, our government has demonstrated that it does not and I fear for our young men and women that will be sacrified at the whim of political expediancy. Dileas Gu Brath What‘s scary that a small nuclear device could have been on one of those planes and levelled all of New York. All it takes is 20 pounds of Plutonium in a lead-shielded briefcase with a detonator. It would easily pass through any airport security system. Now tell me....... do you feel safe?!!!! -the patriot-	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2312
__label__wiki	0.819577	0.819577	← Hertzberg Versus Althouse On Limbaugh: The Vortex Yes, We’re Having This Argument Again → Drink Me! Eat Me! Review Me! Dana Stevens at Slate: Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (Disney) represents the confluence of a number of depressing cinematic trends: the need to ransack classic children’s literature for ideas, the unimaginative layering of 3-D technology onto a visual universe that would look just fine without it, and the belief that slathering familiar storylines with a superficial gloss of Gothic “darkness” constitutes a substantial reinterpretation. Lewis Carroll’s eminently sensible British schoolchild has been taken on a shopping spree at Hot Topic (an experience that viewers are invited to share by donning the line of tie-in merchandise available for purchase at that teen-Goth chain), and the resulting makeover doesn’t do her any favors. I guess it’s too much to have hoped that Burton would do justice to the language of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, to Carroll’s intricate logic puzzles and plays on the literal and figurative meaning of words. A film adaptation should, of course, treat its source material as inspiration rather than dogma. But did Burton have to get the books so entirely wrong? An Alice filtered through the lens of young-adult fantasy fiction, complete with villains in eye patches, post-traumatic stress flashbacks, and CGI dragons in need of Joseph Campbell-style slaying, ceases to be Alice at all. Burton’s Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is 19 years old, a freethinking young woman about to be betrothed to a dull aristocratic prig. Since childhood, she’s been haunted by recurring dreams of a fall down a rabbit hole and conversations with a hookah-smoking caterpillar. (Though we initially approach him through wreaths of curling smoke, I’m not sure we ever actually see the caterpillar, voiced by Alan Rickman, inhaling—perhaps for fear of unwholesome influence.) At her engagement party, Alice escapes her importuning suitor to follow a white rabbit, and soon finds herself falling down just such a hole, giving Burton plenty of chances to test out the 3-D button on his dashboard. The scene that takes place immediately after she lands—the glass table, the hall of locked doors, the “Drink Me” bottle and “Eat Me” cake—may be the movie’s best moment, one in which Burton makes clever use of computer animation to create vertiginous effects of scale as Alice shrinks and grows. This scene also employs a limited color palette and stark backgrounds that evoke the book’s spooky original illustrations by John Tenniel. Carl Kozlowski at Big Hollywood: The comparisons between “Avatar” and “Alice” are ripe for exploration not only because of their similar themes, but because this weekend “Alice” is poised to finally knock “Avatar” out of the weekly box office stratosphere due to the fact it’s the first major 3D film to come along since James Cameron’s epic invention entered theaters more than 10 weeks ago and became the highest-grossing film of all time. The major difference between the films is in their tone and casting – “Alice” maintains a fun if somewhat confusing tone of apolitical wonder, while “Avatar” jams a series of anti-military, pro-environment messages under its awe-inspiring visuals. “Alice” also centers on a couple of star performances to work its magic, as opposed to “Avatar’s” cast of mostly unknown leads. Most people still wouldn’t know “Avatar” star Sam Worthington’s name enough to rush out for his next film, but the first thing people seem to ask about “Alice” is, “What’s Johnny Depp like?” As the Mad Hatter, he looks like Elijah Wood if Wood had become an honorary member of KISS – wearing a mountain of white makeup under a red-orange fright wig. He also takes the “mad” part a bit too literally at first, speaking in gibberish and sporting a frankly creepy grin throughout his first scenes before settling into a more nuanced and even kind tone after a flashback reveals what drove him into insanity. Meanwhile, Helena Bonham Carter steals the show as the bulbous-headed Red Queen – an evil, shrieking harpy who loves to humorously use animals (a pig serves as her footstool) and shriek “Off with their head!” She makes a one-note freak into a vibrant, humorously frightening monarch that should draw even more public acclaim than Depp. And Crispin Glover as her evil assistant, the Knave of Hearts, surprisingly proves that he’s able to be more than a freak or a geek and becomes an effective badass villain, second only to the monstrous Jabberwock. Ultimately, this “Alice” is destined to make a pile of money, but once viewers emerge from the dark theater and into the real world, the fantasy won’t maintain a long-lasting pull on their hearts and minds. Sonny Bunch at The Weekly Standard: This isn’t to say that there’s nothing to admire in this movie; as with most Burton features, it looks fantastic. He has a real eye for set design and a visual panache that is almost unmatched by other fantasy filmmakers. The creature design – from the Jabberwocky to the Bandersnatch to the Red Queens playing card soldiers – is all quite impressive – menacing and lifelike yet still clearly rooted in fantasy. And Burton, working with regulars like Johnny Depp (as the Mad Hatter) and Carter, wrings excellent (if odd) performances out of his stars. Depp’s Hatter is mad, all right, veering wildly between a lisping tea partier and a raving lunatic with a deep Scottish brogue. It’s an oddly convincing turn (though one that is occasionally difficult to comprehend). Still, the movie never quite gels into a convincing narrative. By trying to tame the underlying anarchy in Carroll’s original work and stuff it into a more conventional narrative, much of the joy is lost. It is an interesting failure. Burton’s body of work is dotted with interesting failures. Mars Attacks, for example, had many of the same strengths and flaws of Alice in Wonderland: There were great performances from several actors (including Jack Nicholson, playing a multitude of roles) and some stunning set/creature design — who could forget the attempted seduction of an alien dressed as a bombshell blonde by a smarmy presidential aide? – but the overall narrative, which was derived from a set of trading cards from the 1960s, never came together: It was simply too episodic to make a convincing feature with a conventional three act structure. Then there are his remakes of Planet of the Apes and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The less said about Apes, the better – “interesting” failure, snorted sarcastically, might be a better way to describe it – but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had some real charm: Another strong, mad performance from Depp as candy maker Willy Wonka; more brilliantly designed sets complemented by excellent use of color; a real sense of love for the source material. But it all fell apart when Burton tried to force a Freudian back story filled with repression and evil father-dentists on Depp’s Wonka. Perhaps the cleanest, most direct, way to enjoy Mr. Burton’s work is to head up to New York City and check out the exhibit of the director’s work at the Museum of Modern Art. Running through April 26, the exhibit showcases his sketches and paintings divorced from the need to fit them into a story or narrative structure. Adam Charles at Film School Rejects: Alice is not the Alice we remember from the story, nor the same Alice she was from the many film adaptations – only she is. Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland is to “Alice In Wonderland” what Spielberg’s Hook was to the story of “Peter Pan”. It’s Alice about fifteen years older than we remember her being from her first plunge down the rabbit hole. She recollects certain snippets of her first go-round, but in the form of odd dreams she remembered having as a child. Now, Alice is all grown up and faced with the responsibilities of choosing her path for her adult future when she again follows a well-tailored rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds herself back in Wonderland. Upon arrival a debate is carried amongst the inhabitants as to whether or not Alice is the real Alice, and Alice not able to recall any of her doings from the last adventure doesn’t know if she’s the prophesized Alice to slay the Jabberwocky and release the grip the evil Red Queen has over Wonderland. I’d imagine that on new eyes the film is visually imaginative and a little hypnotic. This new Wonderland is more desolate and drained of a very prevalent history of vibrancy and life due to the actions of the air balloon-headed Red Queen (played with real pizazz by Helena Bonham Carter). Burton’s world of Wonderland looks like the despair of Miss Havisham’s mansion from “Great Expectations” had escaped and infected someone’s dream and everyone in it. It’s very bleak, but wondrous as it’s meant to be, meaning that it’s very “Burton.” However, with nearly twenty years worth of similar visuals from Burton it’s the first time I lacked the feeling of wonder. Part of this may, unfortunately, be Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter who is occasionally distracting. Depp, like Burton (which is probably why this is their seventh film together) can express a certain intriguing oddness that not many actors can. However, Depp’s Mad Hatter feels like an amalgamation of other Depp/Burton personalities. He’s sometimes quiet and sincere with a puppy-dog face like Edward Scissorhands and other times he’s a little bug-nuts happy like Willy Wonka, and when he’s not them he’s dancing a dance that the Hatter hadn’t danced in years and should never, ever have danced in the first place. However, if you’re not familiar with Johnny Depp already you’ll see why he’s a fan favorite and why Tim Burton doesn’t seem to want to make movies without him. Stephanie Zacharek at Salon: Foreseeing the ending of a story isn’t necessarily a problem; particularly in fairy tales, getting there is supposed to be most of the fun. But the problem with Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” is that it’s all production design and no storytelling. There’s no compelling thread to follow here. Burton doesn’t build a universe in which we have any real reason to fear some characters and to feel protective of others. There’s nothing at stake in this Wonderland/Underland: When the action gets droopy, Burton cuts back to the Red Queen’s castle, where we get to watch her toddling about and spewing her highly amusing self-important twaddle. (Her silliest riffs are spun from the fact that she herself knows her head is enormous, and so what of it?) The Red Queen, as Carter plays her — her head has been enlarged and glued, via CGI, onto a twig-size body — is the most entertaining character here, and her makeup alone is both fascinating and repellent: Her lips have been painted into a tiny heart-shaped pout; her eyelids are coated with a magnificent color I can describe only as old-lady Maybelline blue. But this tiny prima donna isn’t enough to carry a movie, and so Burton has to come up with activities to occupy the other characters. Depp, in particular, gets lost in the shuffle. The Mad Hatter, as Burton has reimagined him here, with a matted puff of red hair and perpetually dilated crazy-ass eyes, is something of a lost soul, the very type of character that Depp is generally so wonderful at playing. But it’s hard to see anything genuinely moving behind his tics and mannerisms. Even though Burton and Depp have done some wonderful work together — in movies like “Edward Scissorhands” and “Sleepy Hollow” — it’s gotten to the point where I prefer to see Depp in performances where he’s not hidden under “Look at me!” makeup. There’s a point at which perpetual collaboration between a filmmaker and an actor becomes a liability, and Depp and Burton may have reached it, at least for now. “Alice in Wonderland” does offer its share of slender pleasures: Wasikowska plays Alice as bright and unassuming, and watching her is never a chore, even when the story devolves into a “Girls can do cool stuff, too!” empowerment tale. And the sequence in which she takes her first swig from that little bottle marked “Drink me!” — followed by her nibbling on that adorable “Eat me!” petit four — is ingeniously designed and staged, taking place in a warped-perspective room that appears to be all corners. Alice’s costuming here is particularly clever: She’s dressed in a billowy, translucent blue gown that she can both shrink out of and grow into. I also loved looking at, and listening to, the Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry), a creature whose iridescent teal-blue stripes have been carefully coordinated with his enormous, glowing eyes. But as lavish-looking as this “Alice in Wonderland” is, it still feels cobbled together, albeit painstakingly. It’s not at all shallow to care about the look of a film. Visual seduction is part of the reason we go to the movies. But maybe Burton is working too hard at being visually impressive: In the end, “Alice in Wonderland” comes off as manufactured instead of dreamy. Burton delivers all the wonder money can buy; what’s missing is the wonder it can’t. Filed under Movies Tagged as Adam Charles, Big Hollywood, Carl Kozlowski, Dana Stevens, Film School Rejects, Movies, Salon, Slate, Sonny Bunch, Stephanie Zacharek, The Weekly Standard	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2313
__label__cc	0.605005	0.394995	New study links problematic smartphone use to poor academic grades, alcohol misuse and mental health problems New research has found that university students who describe their smartphone use as "problematic" are also more likely to experience mental health problems, have a higher number of sexual partners, and receive lower grades. ... Problematic smartphone use linked to poor academic grades, alcohol misuse, mental health problems New research has found that university students who describe their smartphone use as "problematic" are also more likely to experience mental health problems, have a higher... Problematic smartphone use linked to poorer grades, alcohol misuse, more sexual partners A survey of more than 3,400 university students in the US has found that one in five respondents reported problematic smartphone use. Female students were more likely be... Science Daily 2019-07-09 'Excessive' student mobile phone use linked to more sexual partners The study found that the proportion of students reporting two or more sexual partners in the past 12 months was significantly higher among those also reporting overuse of... BBC News 2019-07-04 Phone-obsessed students have sex with MORE people than those who avoid using apps — but ... Phone-obsessed students have sex with more people than their less device-dependant peers, a study claims, but it might not be making them happier. An international team of... The Daily Mail 2019-07-05 Study of sexual orientation and mental health Thursday 27 June 2019 3:40pm Dr Janet Spittlehouse. Gay, lesbian and bisexual New Zealanders are on average more than twice as likely to experience depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts as heterosexuals, new research shows. A new University of Otago, Christchurch study confirmed the belief that members of sexual minority groups generally experience more mental health... Impact of child mental health problems is worse than 40 years ago – our new ... smolaw/Shutterstock In England, rates of childhood mental health disorders have increased in the past 20 years. The proportion of five to 15-year-olds with a mental health disorder rose from 9.7% in 1999 to 11.2% in 2017 , with emotional disorders (such as depression and anxiety) becoming more common in particular. Now, on average, three children in a class of 30 will have a... Party whips add to MPs’ mental health problems, study shows MPs who have mental health problems are left to suffer in silence because of an absence of proper support services and a lack of trust in party whips, a major report to be published in the British Medical Journal will say this week. The study carried out by researchers at the institute of psychiatry, part of King’s College London, is expected to find that MPs often feel they... Facebook IMPROVES the mental health of adults over 30 and fends off depression and anxiety, study claims Adults who use social media are 63 per cent less likely to suffer from mental health issues like anxiety or depression compared to those who don't, a study claims Researchers suggest that using sites like Facebook can actually improve your mental health by helping to maintain relationships, like those with distant family members. The study also says that it might be easier for... As graduating students look forward to the future, should we be doing more for their mental health? This is a happy time at universities around the world. The end of summer term, the end of exams and for many students, the end of university life as they prepare for graduation ceremonies. But for some families, it's not such a pleasant time. Suicide is the leading cause of death for young adults in the UK. According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, at least 95... As Mental Health Issues and Suicide Rates Climb, EVERFI Launches New Courses to Help Colleges ... WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 9, 2019-- EVERFI, Inc., the leading social impact education innovator, today announced that it has furthered its commitment to the emotional and physical health and safety of college students nationwide with the launch of a new course focused on mental health and the release of a fully redesigned version of its widely-used alcohol misuse... The Marshall News Messenger	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2314
__label__wiki	0.651839	0.651839	By Ian Hardy Canadian Startup News June 10, 2015 ACCEO Solutions acquires Toronto-based Multipost Montreal-based ACCEO Solutions, a company that was started by Gilles Létourneau in 1988 under the original name of Conceptum, now offers specialized e-business solutions that range from design, implementation, integration, and support of management software. In an effort to expand its operations, ACCEO announced it has acquired Toronto-based Multipost. SmartVendor, Multipost’s point-of-sale terminal software, is used by over 2,700 businesses in Canada and the United States and offers a dashboard that reveals inventory levels, customer management tools, and detailed reporting for multiple retail locations. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but ACCEO will continue leverage its new software into new opportunities and continue Multipost’s mission “to provide retailers with reliable, user-friendly, and cost-effective software solutions.” Gilles Létourneau, president and CEO of ACCEO Solutions, said, “we are very happy to be welcoming Multipost to ACCEO Solutions; it brings more than 30 years’ worth of experience in solutions which are highly complementary to those already offered by ACCEO. The addition of Multipost’s solutions allows us to increase our retail-sector expertise.” “We are very enthusiastic about combining our expertise with that of a company of the calibre of ACCEO Solutions, and thus allowing our loyal clientele to benefit from new opportunities, in terms of the quality of both the products and the services they need to grow,” explains Harry Magerman, president and general manager of Multipost. acquireMontrealtoronto Ian Hardy Ian is publisher at MobileSyrup. He's been quietly creating and building things for years and is completely addicted to Tim Hortons. DraftingSPACE has been acquired by Vancouver’s BuildDirect It’s a Tech Bubble. Or is it? Indiegogo raises $40 million, plans to hire staff and expand globally Crowdfunding site Indiegogo has been around since 2008 and has seen several rounds of funding themselves. The first was a $1.5 million investment in…	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2317
__label__wiki	0.552811	0.552811	On October 16, 2011, Kenyan sent several hundred troops into battle against the Shabab militant group. Armored trucks, tanks and helicopters were also sent. Helicopters bombed Shabab bases. More Kenyan troops were sent in later with the goal to clear the Shabab out. It was a rare aggressive act by a country known for its laidback foreign policy. The act came as a surprise to the United States, an ally of Kenya. The U.S. had no advance knowledge of the invasion. The Shabab, an insurgent group, has killed scores of civilians, carried out numerous suicide bomb missions and sworn their allegiance to Al-Qaeda. The Kenyan government justified its invasion, blaming the Shabab for a series of recent kidnappings in Kenya. Source: Fact Monster - Black History This Black Fact was brought to you by Eastern Bank V. Bozeman: Written Atmospheric Movements Chronicler of The Underground Railroad Records, William Still was born, 1821 First issue of Emerge magazine goes on sale. Slater, Rodney (1955- ) Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Watson, Barbara Mae (1918-1983) - Death Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, dies. United States Facts (2017) President Barack Obama's Farewell Address African-American History Timeline: 1980 to 1989 Harriet Beecher Stowe Shooting of Renisha McBride General William T. Sherman's Special Field Order No. 15 (1865) (2014) Rita Bender, "Thoughts for the People of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church" I've been to the Moutain top - MLK (Short)	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2320
__label__cc	0.748171	0.251829	” I HAVE – I HAD – A DREAM . . . “ "Les Misérables", Charles Dickens, Cosette, Fantine, Frank Capra, Jean Valjean, Martin Luther King, Victor Hugo Martin Luther King’s passionate proclamation of optimism and Fantine’s wrenching dirge of despair are similar in their intensity but different in their outcomes. King’s dream is still unfulfilled, but Fantine’s had a happy ending in Jean Valjean’s rescuing her daughter Cosette from the plight that robbed her mother of hope. The former is historical, the latter fictional. Together they highlight the racial injustice which is the on-going sequel to slavery and the on-going misery of the dregs of society whom Victor Hugo called “Les Misérables”., The Broadway musical, seen by sixty million people in forty-two countries in twenty-one languages, has been immortalized in the movie starring Australians Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman, both in fine voice . . . God is the other star of the show, incarnated in the saintly Bishop with the silver candlesticks, ready at the end to welcome Valjean into the Paradise his courage and goodness have deserved. Javert, the blind cop, obsessed by the letter of the law and allergic to the milk of human kindness, imposed his own punishment by sky-diving on to a Paris pavement. Cosette and Marius live happily ever after, and everyone leaves the theatre, the cinema or the TV screen consoled that goodness is rewarded, evil is punished and authors and actors get the praise and the cachet they deserve. It is fine entertainment and an uplifting , for some tear-jerking, story. It inspires generosity, honesty and even religiosity far more effectively than many other efforts to edify, including literature that is supposed to be divinely inspired. It is Dickens rewritten by Frank Capra. It reminds us, as Jesus sadly said, that we shall always have the poor with us, but leaves us with the warm feeling that goodness is rewarded, if not here then hereafter. Even if you don’t agree with the second part of that last sentence, dreams can come true. If they do, we should thank good people like Jean Valjean, not the God he believed in. He/She/It is a dream and No Thing else.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2321
__label__cc	0.664409	0.335591	Cryptocurrency Guides What Are Smart Contracts: The Complete Guide for Beginners Nick Lindsey August 24, 2018 0 Comments Though blockchain is best known as the technology behind cryptocurrency, many see smart contracts as its most promising innovation. But what are smart contracts and how do they work? What are some of the benefits and risks of using smart contracts? One thing we know for certain: They have the potential to impact countless industries and individuals. This user-friendly guide will teach you everything you need to know about smart contracts, and how they could change our world. What Are Smart Contracts? They first surfaced in 1994 when a computer scientist named Nick Szabo wrote an essay titled “Smart Contracts.” Szabo wrote: “A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions […], minimize exceptions both malicious and accidental, and minimize the need for trusted intermediaries.” Like your typical contract, a smart contract is a signed agreement between parties based on a set of conditions. If either party fails to meet the terms or breaches the agreed upon conditions, the contract is invalidated and the entire agreement can be terminated. The main difference between a smart contract and a contract as we know it is that the former carries out these operations through a code that exists on a decentralized blockchain. Instead of relying on complicated legal systems, paperwork or third-party intermediaries, here’s how a smart contract enforces an agreement. Smart Contracts and Blockchain Put simply, a smart contract is a piece of code that contains a contract’s terms. That code is then integrated into a blockchain. From there, the code automatically executes the terms of the contract as soon as all parties consent to its conditions and satisfy all qualifications. The network of computers (nodes) running the blockchain is automatically recruited for this process. In other words, the vast decentralized network of computers that make blockchain secure, transparent and efficient ensures that everyone involved upholds the contract. In this way, blockchain nodes become the guardians and executors of the contract, eliminating the possibility of error or fraud. Blockchain’s ledger also serves as a built-in, unchangeable history. This record provides objective proof of all details related to the smart contract. This includes when the contract began, its terms and whether the parties involved satisfied their ends of the agreement. Why Use Smart Contracts? Smart contracts are fully automated. This means that they never require a third-party’s oversight. Once it’s written into the code, which is then added to a blockchain, the terms of a contract are either satisfied or they are not. If they are satisfied, the code instantly executes the transaction. Conversely, if the terms are not met, the code takes no action. For example, one party has agreed to give the other party a sum of money for completing a task. Once that task is complete, the smart contract is notified and the funds are automatically released. Smart contracts’ terms are clear, objective and ready to be executed at the appropriate time. This leaves no room for debate. Furthermore, they are much cheaper than your average contract. You don’t need to hire anyone to create, execute and oversee a transaction, which leads to big savings. Automated agreements also save a lot of time. You can access the blockchain on which your contract exists anywhere. Additionally, you no longer need to spend time on paperwork or communicating with a negotiator. Take the shipping giant Maersk which recently inaugurated its blockchain platform for international shipping. By using smart contracts, Maersk saves on the cost of scheduling shipments, which involves different distributors, freight companies and customs offices. They estimate that they 1/5 on total shipping costs. Building a More Secure Contract In addition to cutting down costs and time, a smart contract makes fraud almost impossible. For starters, it requires fewer people and transactions. This means that there is less potential for error, purposeful or otherwise. Additionally, there isn’t any physical paperwork that someone could forge or alter. Most importantly, security against fraud or manipulation is built into the mechanism of a smart contract. Since it exists on the blockchain, there is no person or single server to influence. At its core, a smart contract is a simple piece of code that knows two things: the terms of the contract and whether or not they have been met. To defraud a smart contract, a person would have to somehow slip past the entire decentralized network of computers which made up the blockchain. To do that, one would need more computing power than is realistically possible. How to Use Smart Contract It can be difficult to understand how something works or why it may benefit us until we understand how to implement it. Smart contracts have countless use cases across varied industries. Here are some of the ways that we can leverage smart contract technology: Governance and Voting Imagine if all voting were secure, transparent and digital. When we say transparent, we don’t mean that your name will be attached to your vote. Rather, you and everyone else will be able to see and track the results of an election in real-time. We wouldn’t have to rely on humans to count physical votes and news sources to report them. Instead, we could just see for ourselves. If a business is looking to raise money to meet a specific goal, they can create a smart contract. In this case, the smart contract would take the place of the third-party website, like Kickstarter or Indiegogo, and carry out the campaign involving only investors and the business. If the goal were met, the funds would automatically be released. If the company did not meet their goal, the investors would automatically be refunded their funds. The Share Economy Take Uber, for example. The passenger takes a car to a destination, at which point they transfer money from their account to the rideshare company. With a smart contract, a rideshare wouldn’t necessitate a middleman—Uber, in this case. Instead, the passenger could transfer funds directly from their account to the driver. No need for a third-party to profit off the transaction. Examples abound in supply chain management, real estate, automotive, healthcare and other sectors. Put simply, automated agreements can replace all contractual transactions. In fact, they can cover some we don’t even consider to be contractual. As more people adopt smart contracts, the scope of what they can accomplish widens. In essence, the more people use them, the more steps within an agreement you can automate. A Work-in-Progress Though we are already seeing the benefits of smart contracts, the technology behind them is new—and far from perfect. Although using code to carry out contracts allows for never-before-seen amounts of objectivity and security, it also presents a few problems. Most obviously, bugs. Even if nobody hacks the code, errors or bugs can still exist within the code itself. Problems could also arise from the fact that many smart contracts monitor physical products and services. Essentially, there is room for error in the interface between digital and physical. Take Maersk as an example. What happens if one customs office decides to seize an international shipment? What if a shipment arrives at the destination but some of the pieces are broken or damaged? These issues will be rectified once this technology become the norm. Eliminating Subjectivity With this said, these sorts of problems aren’t unique. When it comes to damaged goods, it can be difficult to pinpoint who is accountable, especially if the supply chain is long. However, smart contracts could potentially eliminate subjectivity once more individuals and industries adopt them. A piece of code dictates whether the parties satisfy the conditions or not. In shipping, one of these conditions is, undoubtedly, that goods remain undamaged. If this is not the case, then the last step in the supply chain is accountable. Therefore, there is little room for fraud or interpretation—if the code is comprehensive. In this way, a smart contract’s code resembles a regular contract: The language, or code, has to be extensive and all-encompassing. How Governments Handle Smart Contracts Smart contracts’ strengths can also be weaknesses. For example, they function beyond government oversight, at least in most places. A regular contact relies on the legal system to back it up, which validates government authority. By comparison, automated agreements do not need lawyers or judges, which makes them more efficient and impartial. Though the benefits of this outweigh their costs from an individual or company’s standpoint, this poses a problem for governments. For example, how can countries collect taxes on a product sold and shipped using a smart contract? Similarly, what if there is some sort of dispute? A smart contract makes it virtually impossible to trick the other party, but disagreements can always arise. With blockchain enforcement, these agreements essentially exist outside government authority. But who will solve a legal battle? As of this week, California now recognizes smart contracts as legally binding agreements. Hopefully, other states and nations will follow suit. Benefits of Smart Contracts Individuals and businesses alike are beginning to adopt these agreements in their procedures—and for good reason. Some of the benefits of using a smart contract include: Control – With a smart contract, you don’t need to rely on third-party lawyers and brokers. Security – Your code is automatically encrypted and added to a blockchain ledger. It exists on countless computers around the world rather than on one server. This provides an automatic backup. Immutable History – Since your smart contract is on a blockchain, it has a built-in history of all steps of the transaction that cannot be deleted or altered. Everybody involved in the agreement can see it and review it at any point. Efficiency – A smart contract lets you cut out middlemen. Not needing an intermediating party isn’t just more efficient in terms of process and logistics; It’s also more cost-efficient. You don’t have to pay for all those middlemen and ancillary actors. Transactions become faster and cheaper with smart contracts. And the bigger your supply chain, the most you save. Objective, Accurate and Efficient Once your smart contract is on a blockchain there is little room for confusion or inaccuracy. There is no need to compose, negotiate and complete forms, thus eliminating human error and fraud. And once you initiate the agreement, you cannot disrupt it. Smart contracts open the door for endless possibilities, both personal and professional. Furthermore, they make contractual procedures autonomous. Take a moment to reflect upon the many transactions you conduct daily. From start to finish, there are so many hands in each. Why is a third-party required for transactions that only involve two parties? Instead, smart contracts return ownership to the individual. Beginner Cyber Security Smart Contracts Terminology The SEC Rejected 9 Bitcoin ETFs, But Not This Last One 7 Industries That Blockchain Will Change Forever What Is Crypto What Is Bitcoin What Is Blockchain	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2322
__label__wiki	0.802554	0.802554	Henderson joins the club > Coming into this road trip, I thought the Brewers were going to win six straight games against the National League’s two worst teams. Unfortunately, I once again underestimated the ways of the Brewers’ bullpen. The Brewers lost to the Rockies today, 7-6, and were swept by the NL’s second worst team. That comes off the heels of a series loss to the worst NL team, the Astros. The Brewers finished 1-5 on this road trip, and you can say this is the new low point of the season. That is, if you’ve already gotten over the thousand other previous low points. The Rox jumped on Mark Rogers right away in the first inning, getting three runs on RBI hits from Ramon Hernandez and Chris Nelson. They added another in the second inning on a solo shot from the hot-hitting Eric Young Jr. Guillermo Moscoso, spot-starting in place of Drew Pomeranz, danced around danger through the first few innings, stranding seven runners through the first four. But the Brewers finally solved him in the fifth. Moscoso walked Carlos Gomez to lead off the inning, then gave up three straight hits to Rickie Weeks, Aramis Ramirez, and Corey Hart. Moscoso’s 75-pitch limit then came into play, so Jim Tracy brought in Carlos Torres, who only continued the trouble. Torres started his outing by hitting Jonathan Lucroy to load the bases, then gave up a game-tying single to Nyjer Morgan to make the score 4-4. Jean Segura hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly, and that was all the Brewers would get. Rogers gave up a game-tying single in the bottom of the inning to Nelson, but the Brewers answered back with another g0-ahead hit in the sixth, this one from Morgan. Up until the ninth inning, the bullpen was doing fine. Jim Henderson came on for the ninth, and struck out the first batter he faced. But, he proceeded to give up back-to-back singles to Wilin Rosario and Young. Then, as if on cue, Tyler Colvin hit a walk-off two-run double. Make that three closers in the ‘pen who can’t get the job done. Oh well, nothing here we haven’t seen before. Useless to try and explain it. Again. MELKY’S OUT > In very surprising news today, Melky Cabrera was hit with a 50-game suspension for testing positive for testosterone. That means he’s out for the rest of the season, and potentially the National League Division Series, should the Giants somehow make it there without his presence. Cabrera was hitting .346 while leading the Majors in hits with 159. He was on pace to have a career year and was igniting an otherwise weak Giants offense. He was also the MVP of the All-Star Game. Now, I’m not going to come down on Cabrera here, because I know I’m going to get nothing but hate as a Brewers fan. People on Twitter were actually directly addressing Brewers fans not to get cocky during this situation, for some reason. Don’t know why you’d call out fans of a team whose MVP was exonerated before even getting on Cabrera- who admitted to taking an alleged substance- for what he did. Oh well. Hopefully this humbles any Giants fans who were mocking Ryan Braun earlier this season (I’m pretty sure he was booed in San Francisco). > Melky was banned for 50 games, but hopefully you already know that. > In the midst of the slump I wrote about last night, Braun received an off-day. > The Brewers are planning for Shaun Marcum to return sometime next week. He’ll make his second- and hopefully last- rehab start tomorrow for the Timber Rattlers. > Felix Hernandez threw the 23rd perfect game in history today against the Rays. I watched the last three innings, and I don’t know what he looked like early in the game, but he was utterly nasty those last three innings. Rays hitters weren’t even remotely close to making solid contact, or any contact at all, for that matter: King Felix struck out 12. > The Brewers haven’t won a series at Coors Field since 2005. It all makes sense now. > This was Henderson’s first career blown save, so maybe it’s not worth throwing him in the trash yet. I still trust him more than John Axford or Francisco Rodriguez. > The probables for the upcoming series against the Phillies (at home, thankfully): Cliff Lee (2-7, 3.85 ERA) vs. Marco Estrada (0-5, 4.36 ERA) ??? vs. ??? 2 Comments \| Uncategorized \| Tagged: aramis ramirez, carlos gomez, carlos torres, chris nelson, cliff lee, colorado rockies, corey hart, drew pomeranz, eric young jr., felix hernandez, francisco rodriguez, houston astros, jean segura, jim henderson, john axford, jonathan lucroy, marco estrada, mark rogers, melky cabrera, milwaukee brewers, nyjer morgan, ramon hernandez, rickie weeks, ryan braun, san francisco giants, shaun marcum, tyler colvin, wilin rosario, wisconsin timber rattlers \| Permalink Brewers avoid utter embarrassment > A sweep at the hands of the Astros would have made the Brewers truly hit rock bottom. But, they were able to avoid a sweep by the worst team in baseball, defeating the Astros 5-3. Yovani Gallardo was able to go deep into the game, throwing 7 2/3 solid innings while giving up three runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out eight. It was his longest outing of the year, and the second most pitches he’d thrown (114). Jose Veras came in to get the last out of what could have been a rocky eighth inning, then Kameron Loe recorded the save in the ninth (which was also pretty shaky). Gallardo had a rough first inning, giving up back-t0-back doubles to Tyler Greene and Marwin Gonzalez to start the game. But, Gallardo himself tied the game with an RBI single in the second inning. Rickie Weeks gave the Brewers the lead with an RBI fielder’s choice in the fifth inning, and Ryan Braun followed that up with an RBI groundout to make the score 3-1. Gonzalez’s RBI groundout in the bottom of the inning cut into the Brewers’ lead, but Corey Hart added an insurance run in the sixth on 22nd home run of the year. The Brewers added another important run in the eighth on Martin Maldonado’s RBI double. The last Astros run came on Scott Moore’s RBI single in the eighth. THE ROTATION SITUATION > The other day, Ron Roenicke announced that the Brewers might start monitoring pitch count and the number of innings that pitchers throw, also mentioning that a few could even be shut down. If you don’t already know, I’m strongly against pitch count and the emphasis it has on today’s game of baseball, so naturally I’m opposed to this idea. But let me explain why I think it’s useless. The only name Roenicke mentioned as to who would probably shut down is Mike Fiers, who is by far the best pitcher in the Brewers’ rotation right now. His 1.80 ERA makes him a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate. So why even think about shutting him down? According to Roenicke, the Brewers want to “protect his arm.” After an eight-inning performance his last time out, Fiers is at 80 innings on the year (excluding 55 innings in the Minors). If you add those together, he’s at a total of 135 innings, and Fiers has never thrown more than 135 innings, which is RRR’s excuse to possibly shut him down. And that’s what I don’t understand. Not letting a young a guy throw more innings than he has before isn’t going to help him develop. He has to get out of his comfort zone and throw more innings; he’s in the Majors now. I do understand trying to protect his arm, but that’s pretty pointless, considering Fiers doesn’t have much injury history. For a guy like Mark Rogers, who has a ton of injuries on his ledger, sure, I can cope with not letting him throw as many innings until we know he’s back to 100%. But Fiers is at 100% right now, and is doing some of the best pitching the Brewers have seen in quite some time. So why take that away? Roenicke has also suggested going to a six-man rotation, which would also hold back the innings of each pitcher. I’m not for that, either, but at least the guys would continue to pitch, instead of being shut down for the year. If I had to choose between the two, I’d go with the six-man rotation. RRR also tried to compare this to what the Rockies are doing. Please, our pitching staff isn’t that bad. (Unless we’re talking about the bullpen, which we aren’t.) > Weeks was tried again at the top of the order, a role he lost earlier this year after his awful start. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, so I doubt we’ll see him there tomorrow. > Two former Brewers took the mound today. Chris Capuano took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning against the Marlins before it was broken up by Jose Reyes. Ben Sheets will try to continue his astounding comeback tonight against the Mets, which will be broadcasted on ESPN. > The Cubs picked up former Brewers starter Seth McClung today, signing him to a Minor League deal. The Brewers tried McClung again this year in the Minors, but just couldn’t control the damage, so he was released two weeks ago. The Cubs have already tried something similar to this. Last year, they signed former Brewer Doug Davis to a Minor League deal, and he eventually reached the Majors. But that experiment didn’t work out too well, and I doubt McClung will either. > One of the Brewers’ first round picks in this year’s draft, Victor Roache, was cleared to take dry swings today. He’d been out for over four months due to major arm surgery. > Jean Segura continues to improve at the plate, as he went 2-for-4 today. His average is up to .250. > Hart’s home run today snapped him out of an o-for-11 slump. > This was Gallardo’s third consecutive start in which he himself picked up an RBI. > Loe’s save was just the third of his career. > Probables for the upcoming series in Colorado: Mike Fiers (6-4, 1.80 ERA) vs. Jeff Francis (3-4, 6.06 ERA) Randy Wolf (3-8, 5.46 ERA) vs. Tyler Chatwood (2-2, 5.06 ERA) Mark Rogers (0-1, 4.08 ERA) vs. Drew Pomeranz (1-7, 5.07 ERA) > This play may have been the Brewers’ play of the year, and sparks some excitement for the Segura/Weeks double play tandem. > Hart technically had the only Brewers home run this series, but Mike Vassallo might disagree with that. 2 Comments \| Uncategorized \| Tagged: ben sheets, chicago cubs, chris capuano, colorado rockies, corey hart, doug davis, drew pomeranz, houston astros, jean segura, jeff francis, jose reyes, jose veras, kameron loe, mark rogers, martin maldonado, marwin gonzalez, miami marlins, mike fiers, mike vassallo, milwaukee brewers, new york mets, randy wolf, rickie weeks, ron roenicke, ryan braun, scott moore, seth mcclung, tyler chatwood, tyler greene, victor roache, yovani gallardo \| Permalink After slow start, Brewers storm back to crush Rox > The Brewers’ offense has lookedextremely shabby early on this season, as three of their regulars came into today hitting below .200. For the first four innings of the game today, it looked like that trend was going to continue. But, from the fifth inning on, the Brewers put on one of their best offensive runs of the season, and showed they weren’t screwing around. > The Brewers took down the Rockies today, 9-4. By that blowout score, you wouldn’t have thought that the offense struggled at all. But it did- especially during the first four innings, like I said before. But, after managing to put up a few runs in the middle innings, the bats broke out in the seventh inning, unlike they ever had prior to this game. Marco Estrada got the start today in place of the injured Chris Narveson (more on that later). The news had just come to him yesterday, so no one knew how he would react. But, like he always does when he’s thrown into the fire that is the starting rotation, Estrada had a stellar start. He went five innings while giving up a run on two hits. He struck out nine and walked none. The reason he only went five innings is because Ron Roenicke put a pitch limit of around 80 pitches on Estrada, but he definitely could have gone longer with the way he was throwing the ball. Onto the offense. For the first four innings, Rockies starter Drew Pomeranz was perfect, and it looked like he was going to throw the second perfecto of the day (also more on that later). He was finally given a run to work with in the fourth on Troy Tulowitzki’s solo home run. But, in the fifth, I don’t know what happened, but Pomeranz just lost it. He started the inning by walking Aramis Ramirez- who is hitting .151 now- on four pitches. Corey Hart followed that up with a ground-rule double to put runners on second and third with no outs. After that, Pomeranz gifted the Brewers a tie game on a wild pitch. Alex Gonzalez then hit an RBI double to make the score 2-1. Despite the fact Pomeranz would go on to walk two more batters and his defense would make a few errors behind him, he didn’t give up another run that inning. In the sixth inning, Roenicke made yet another idiotic bullpen move: he put in Manny Parra in a 2-1 game. He naturally struggled and gave up a run, then Mike McClendon, who came in after Parra got two outs, gave up the lead, making it 3-2. But, in the bottom of the sixth, Ryan Braun tied the game with a solo homer, which broke him out of a huge slump- he didn’t have a hit the entire homestand prior to that at-bat. But the seventh inning is when the Brewers broke loose. Rickie Weeks hit an RBI triple to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead, followed by a Carlos Gomez RBI single. Braun then hit the second RBI triple of the inning to make the score 5-3. Then, after an intentional walk to Hart, Gonzalez murdered a line drive blast into the Brewers’ bullpen to pretty much put the icing on the cake for the Brewers. The Brewers definitely needed a game like this, though. Despite the fact they have the highest team ERA in the NL, their pitching has been pretty good lately; the bats just haven’t quite heated up yet. After today, it looks the offense will start to pick it up. > The reason Estrada was starting today was because of an injury to Narveson. Apparently, the morning after he got shell-shocked by the Braves, Narveson said his shoulder was sore. He got an MRI, which revealed at least one significant tear on his rotator cuff, a vital part of the shoulder. If this holds true, Narveson will more than likely have season-ending surgery, which is too bad, since he just had surgery at the end of last season. But I wonder if the MRI got it wrong for once. I’m pretty sure if you tore your rotator cuff, your shoulder would be a little more than just “sore.” So maybe it’s just a pulled muscle or something. But I guess I wouldn’t know; I’ve never torn my rotator cuff, and hopefully never will. Anyway, McClendon was recalled from Triple-A because of this (which is why I question Roenicke’s decision to throw him into a pressure situation like that right away). The Brewers also called up prospect Wily Peralta because Kameron Loe is taking a bereavement leave, and will be gone at least three days. So that’s probably just a temporary move, but I’d like to see Peralta get some action in the Majors for once. > This doesn’t have to do with the Brewers, but Philip Humber of the White Sox threw the 21st perfect game in MLB history today. It came against the Mariners, who can’t score runs to save their lives anyway, but it’s a historic feat nonetheless. The 27th out of the game was ex-Cardinal Brendan Ryan, who struck out swinging (sort of) on an awful 3-2 pitch. Had he not swung, Ryan would have walked, and broken up the perfect game. He check-swung, though, and we may never know if he swung or not, but it was called that he broke the plane. It was an awful pitch, though, so I don’t even see how he could have even moved that bat at a pitch like that. > And that’s about it. The Brewers will play the rubber game of this series tomorrow at 1:10 PM CT. Yovani Gallardo (1-1, 4.58 ERA) will go for the Brewers, coming off a decent start against the Dodgers. But he’s been awful in his career against the Rockies, going 0-4 with a 6.69 ERA against them. Most of those bad numbers have come at Coors Field, though, where Gallardo’s career ERA is miles over 10.00. The Rox will counter with Jeremy Guthrie (1-1, 7.79 ERA), whom they acquired from the Orioles during the offseason. Guthrie has never faced the Brewers in his career. Anyway, thanks for reading, and feel free to leave your thoughts. Leave a Comment » \| Uncategorized \| Tagged: alex gonzalez, aramis ramirez, baltimore orioles, brendan ryan, carlos gomez, chicago white sox, chris narveson, colorado rockies, corey hart, drew pomeranz, jeremy guthrie, kameron loe, manny parra, marco estrada, mike mcclendon, milwaukee brewers, philip humber, rickie weeks, ron roenicke, ryan braun, seattle mariners, st. louis cardinals, troy tulowitzki, wily peralta, yovani gallardo \| Permalink	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2326
__label__wiki	0.81483	0.81483	Brewers would like to retain Hart > I’m pretty sure we all saw this coming, but the negotiations between the Brewers and Corey Hart regarding an extension for the potential first baseman are now official. Hart has already come out and said multiple times that he’d like to remain in Milwaukee for the rest of his career, so it was likely these talks would happen eventually. Hart, who is a free agent after 2013, is looking for a three-year deal for an undisclosed amount of cash. However, it’s been reported that the Brewers “might prefer” a two-year extension, and an increase to Hart’s scheduled $10 million salary in 2013. Hart signed a three-year extension with the Brewers back in late 2010. After Mat Gamel went down with a season-ending injury early in 2012, Hart stepped in at first base and filled in admirably. He’s always put up solid power numbers in the middle of the lineup, but he appears to be a well above-average defensive first baseman, as opposed to his deteriorating range in right field. Some are speculating that the Brewers will trade Hart or let him walk after 2013 because ultra-prospect Hunter Morris, who is also a first baseman, appears to be big league ready. However, it’s always a bit of a risk just letting a prospect- no matter his status- walk into a starting role in the Majors, so I think the safe play would be retaining Hart for at least a few more years. Plus, Hart is still relatively versatile, seeing as he could still play right field if needed (though, as mentioned earlier, his defense is certainly declining at that position). The Brewers and Hart will probably get a deal done before long, especially if Hart does indeed want to stay in Milwaukee. > The Brewers are reportedly expressing interest in Ryan Dempster, one of the few decent starter options on the market. Between the Cubs and Rangers, Dempster went 12-8 with a 3.38 ERA, but had a 2.25 ERA in the NL with the Cubs. Dempster has had a lot of success at Miller Park, a venue which he’s familliar with, in his career: he has a 2.66 ERA in 14 starts and 12 relief appearances (he used to be a closer) at the Brewers’ home. But Dempster has also owned the Brewers in general in his career, as he owns a 16-6 record with a 2.65 REA against them (three of those losses have come over the past two years). So that’s another positive of signing Dempster: if he’s on the Brewers, he can’t destroy their lineup. Blue Jays: Signed Justin Germano to a minor league deal. Royals: Signed Ian Gac and Luis Durango to minor league deals. Mets: Re-signed Mike Nickeas to a minor league deal. Red Sox: Signed Terry Doyle to a minor league deal. Orioles: Re-signed Lew Ford to a minor league deal. Leave a Comment » \| Uncategorized \| Tagged: baltimore orioles, boston red sox, chicago cubs, corey hart, hunter morris, ian gac, justin germano, kansas city royals, lew ford, luis durango, mat gamel, mike nickeas, milwaukee brewers, new york mets, ryan dempster, terry doyle, texas rangers, toronto blue jays \| Permalink Brewers sign Asencio > The Brewers signed reliever Jairo Asencio to a minor league deal on Monday. The deal includes an invite to Spring Training. It’s probably unfair for me to judge him based on just parts of three seasons in the Majors, but I’ve never been a huge fan of the guy. His numbers in the Majors, though they are a small sample size, are unimpressive: he has a 5.23 ERA over 58 1/3 innings. In 2012, he threw a career-high 40 1/3 innings between the Indians and Cubs. Asencio had a 4.91 ERA overall in 2012, but was significantly better with the Cubs, posting a 3.07 ERA in 12 games with them. The Brewers are doing exactly what I expected them to do: attempt to rebuild the bullpen from scratch. Not saying that’s a bad thing; sometimes it works. I think Michael Olmsted, if he stays healthy, could be a huge contributor at the big league level. I don’t feel quite as strongly about Asencio, but you never know. > Apparently Doug Melvin and Zack Greinke recently had a conversation, but it was “just about baseball.” Of course, the media has tried to blow this into a “the Brewers are extremely interested in Greinke” situation, but they didn’t take into consideration that Melvin and Greinke became very good friends outside the game during Greinke’s time in Milwaukee. Not saying that I don’t want the Brewers to bring Greinke back, but it’s extremely unlikely. The Angels and Dodgers seem to be his most likely suitors at this point. > Melvin also continues to preach that the Brewers are a “long shot” for Josh Hamilton, who recently announced he’s seeking $175 million years over seven years (not like he’s actually going to get that kind of deal with his injury/drug history, though). One thing I’ve forgotten to take into consideration this offseason is that Melvin has probably been turned off of mega-deals because of his history with them. In 2001, when Melvin was the general manager of the Rangers, he was the man who signed Alex Rodriguez to the infamous 10-year deal. Of course, the Rangers wound up not being able to afford it and had to send A-Rod to the Yankees. But perhaps that’s why Melvin is being so hesitant with these big-name free agents. > The finalists for each major award were announced tonight. I’m really not a big fan of this “finalist” concept that has been introduced this year for awards, but here they are: AL Rookie of the Year: Yoenis Cespedes, Yu Darvish, Mike Trout NL Rookie of the Year: Todd Frazier, Bryce Harper, Wade Miley AL Manager of the Year: Bob Melvin, Buck Showalter, Robin Ventura NL Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker, Bruce Bochy, Davey Johnson AL Cy Young Award: David Price, Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver NL Cy Young Award: R.A. Dickey, Gio Gonzalez, Clayton Kershaw AL MVP: Adrian Beltre, Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano Hamilton, Trout NL MVP: Ryan Braun, Chase Headley, Andrew McCutchen, Yadier Molina, Buster Posey I’ll reveal my own picks for each award sometime before next week. (By the way, all of my picks were correct last year.) > Juan Nieves, who threw the only no-hitter in Brewers history back in 1987, was hired as Boston’s hitting coach today. > Brooks Conrad signed with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. Maybe he’ll hit higher than .000 over there. Twins: Re-signed Sam Deduno and Esmerling Vasquez to minor league deals. Braves: Signed Wirfin Obispo to a minor league contract. Orioles: Outrighted Steve Tolleson, who elected free agency. Mariners: Claimed Scott Cousins off waivers from the Blue Jays. Yankees: Claimed David Herndon off waivers from the Blue Jays; claimed Josh Spence off waivers from the Padres. Mets: Outrighted Mike Nickeas and Fred Lewis, both of whom elected free agency; released Jason Bay (that’s probably more than a minor move, but he was so hilariously bad for them that I can’t consider it major). Diamondbacks: Signed Eddie Bonine to a split contract. White Sox: Acquired Blake Tekotte from the Padres. Padres: Acquired Brandon Kloess from the White Sox. 4 Comments \| Uncategorized \| Tagged: adrian beltre, alex rodriguez, andrew mccutchen, arizona diamondbacks, atlanta braves, baltimore orioles, blake tekotte, bob melvin, brandon kloess, brooks conrad, bruce bochy, bryce harper, buck showalter, buster posey, chase headley, chicago cubs, chicago white sox, clayton kershaw, cleveland indians, davey johnson, david herndon, david price, doug melvin, dusty baker, eddie bonine, esmerling vasquez, fred lewis, gio gonzalez, jairo asencio, jason bay, jered weaver, josh hamilton, josh spence, juan nieves, justin verlander, los angeles angels of anaheim, los angeles dodgers, michael olmsted, miguel cabrera, mike nickeas, mike trout, milwaukee brewers, minnesota twins, new york mets, new york yankees, r.a. dickey, robin ventura, robinson cano, ryan braun, sam deduno, san diego padres, scott cousins, seattle mariners, steve tolleson, texas rangers, todd frazier, toronto blue jays, wade miley, wirfin obispo, yadier molina, yoenis cespedes, yu darvish, zack greinke \| Permalink The Gold Glove continues to be a screwy award > If there’s going to be an award called a “Gold Glove” handed out to a player at each position every year, it should go to the best defensive player at that position for that given year, no? Apparently not. Before I get into my point, here are the 2012 GG winners for each position: American League: C: Matt Wieters, Orioles 1B: Mark Teixera, Yankees 2B: Robinson Cano, Yankees SS: J.J. Hardy, Orioles 3B: Adrian Beltre, Rangers LF: Alex Gordon, Royals CF: Adam Jones, Orioles RF: Josh Reddick, Athletics P: Jeremy Hellickson, Rays/Jake Peavy, White Sox National League: C: Yadier Molina, Cardinals 1B: Adam LaRoche, Nationals 2B: Darwin Barney, Cubs SS: Jimmy Rollins, Phillies 3B: Chase Headley, Padres LF: Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies CF: Andrew McCutchen, Pirates RF: Jason Heyward, Braves P: Mark Buehrle, Marlins Plenty of guys were considered “snubbed” at their respective positions because of their reputation for making spectacular defensive plays. Take Mike Trout, for instance. He robbed home runs (literally going up the wall and bringing the ball back into the park) on three occasions this year as the center fielder for the Angels. But why did Jones win? Statistically, Jones actually had a better defensive season than Trout; Jones had the better defensive WAR. Denard Span of the Twins also had a better defensive WAR than Trout. In my opinion, that’s the way it should be- the guy who is statistically the best defender at each position should win. That happened in a few cases this year: Rollins had the best fielding percentage among NL shortstops, Barney committed just two errors at second base (which led NL second baseman, obviously), Teixera had just one error all year, Cano was tied for first in fielding percentage at second base, and so on. But, of course, when it came to the possibility of a Brewer getting a Gold Glove, he got screwed. Aramis Ramirez led the NL in fielding percentage and had the fewest errors among qualifying third basemen. So who obviously wins the award at third base? Headley, duh. But why? If one player has better defensive statistics than another player at a certain position, that player should win the Gold Glove. This is the one award I think should be strongly influenced by statistics, because there’s always going to be one player who is definitively better than another (statistically) at each position. Most of the defensive statistics go hand-in-hand, so it’s unlikely there’s going to be two players who each have one better defensive statistic than the other. This is a far different award than something like the MVP or Cy Young Award, in which there are a series of different statistics that don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand with each other. That makes for more of an argument for who should win those award, which is why it’s okay for there to be voters. But there shouldn’t be a vote for the Gold Glove. There’s a best defensive player at each position, and that’s that. > The Brewers signed free agent righty Michael Olmsted to a minor league contract. > Travis Ishikawa officially elected free agency. > Two Brewers were selected to play in the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars game- Hunter Morris and Johnny Hellweg. Morris hit clean-up and went 1-for-1 with an infield single and a sacrifice fly. > The Cubs nearly sent Carlos Marmol to the Angels in exchange for Dan Haren last night, but the deal wound up not going through. The Angels were looking for anything they could get before they had to decline Haren’s option for 2013, but, since the trade didn’t come to fruition, they were forced to decline the option. Haren is now a free agent and could be a possible fit for the Brewers. > 10 teams are reportedly interested in lefty free agent Mike Gonzalez. I’d take him, seeing as the Brewers will be very thin on lefty relievers once again next year (if they have any). Manny Parra, the only lefty in the Brewers’ bullpen in 2012, is probably going to be one of the next guys to go. Rockies: Outrighted Carlos Torres to Triple-A; reinstated Josh Sullivan, Todd Helton, Juan Nicasio, and Christian Friedrich from the 60-day DL. Orioles: Outrighted Lew Ford, Zach Phillips, and Steven Tolleson to Triple-A. Mets: Outrighted Mike Nickeas to Triple-A. Twins: Outrighted Sam Deduno to Triple-A. Royals: Outrighted Manny Pina to Triple-A; reinstated Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino from the 60-day DL. Mariners: Signed Hisashi Iwakuma to a two-year extension; re-signed Oliver Perez. Blue Jays: Acquired Esmil Rogers from the Indians. Indians: Acquired Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes from the Jays. Cardinals: Outrighted Steven Hill, Bryan Anderson, and Adam Reifer to Triple-A. Pirates: Outrighted Ali Solis to Triple-A. Astros: Outrighted Chuckie Fick to Triple-A; outrighted Brian Bogusevic, Jorge De Leon, and J.B. Shuck, all of whom elected free agency. Athletics: Re-signed Bartolo Colon to a one-year deal. Marlins: Signed Kevin Kouzmanoff and Jordan Smith to minor league deals. Leave a Comment » \| Uncategorized \| Tagged: adam jones, adam laroche, adam reifer, adrian beltre, alex gordon, ali solis, andrew mccutchen, aramis ramirez, atlanta braves, baltimore orioles, bartolo colon, brian bogusevic, bryan anderson, carlos gonzalez, carlos marmol, carlos torres, chase headley, chicago cubs, chicago white sox, christian friedrich, chuckie fick, cleveland indians, colorado rockies, dan haren, danny duffy, darwin barney, denard span, esmil rogers, felipe paulino, hisashi iwakuma, houston astros, hunter morris, j.b. shuck, j.j. hardy, jake peavy, jason heyward, jeremy hellickson, jimmy rollins, johnny hellweg, jordan smith, jorge de leon, josh reddick, josh sullivan, juan nicasio, kansas city royals, kevin kouzmanoff, lew ford, los angeles angels of anaheim, manny parra, manny pina, mark buehrle, mark teixera, matt wieters, miami marlins, michael olmsted, mike aviles, mike gonzalez, mike nickeas, mike trout, milwaukee brewers, minnesota twins, new york mets, new york yankees, oakland athletics, oliver perez, philadelphia phillies, pittsburgh pirates, robinson cano, sam deduno, san diego padres, seattle mariners, st. louis cardinals, steven hill, steven tolleson, tampa bay rays, texas rangers, todd helton, toronto blue jays, travis ishikawa, washington nationals, yadier molina, yan gomes, zach phillips \| Permalink	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2327
__label__wiki	0.720874	0.720874	COLCHIS: Armenia is a Russian ally and EEU member, so how did it pull off a democratic revolution? If Armenia is a member of the Russian dominated Eurasia Economic Union, then how did it pull off a democratic revolution? By Dr. Karena Avedissian of the Eurasia Democratic Security Network April 3, 2019 For Armenia, a Russian ally, a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), and once regarded as increasingly autocratic, the 2018 Velvet Revolution was a remarkable achievement. Despite protest leader turned Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s framing of the protests as an internal issue – not a geopolitical one, and certainly not anti-Russian – many feared Russia would treat the transition as a Western-fomented “colour revolution,” and would lead to direct Russian interference. This however did not happen. This fact supports work done elsewhere about how, contrary to popular belief, Russia does not go around destroying democracy as a foreign policy objective, but rather works according to another logic – maintaining Putin’s regime. It also may be that Armenia’s settled status as an EEU member blunted criticism that the new government was inherently anti-Moscow. At the same time, membership in the EEU was expected to present obstacles to democratization for member states that would be all but impossible to overcome. The EEU, established in January 2015 to create a shared economic space with a single customs union, was a more advanced iteration of the Eurasian Customs Union founded in 2010 with Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. With Armenia and Kyrgyzstan joining in January and August 2015, respectively, the union began to fulfil its implicit role as a Eurasian alternative to the European Union. For Russia, the EEU served as a framework for providing, often coercively, states of the former Soviet Union a geopolitical choice between the West and Russia. This geopolitical choice is also one between two very different value systems. EU accession frameworks provide broad democratizing incentives, while the EEU has no such requirements. Joining the EEU can be done much more quickly and simply than the long-term process required to maybe someday accede to the EU. Thus, the EEU is a convenient way for many authoritarian and semi-authoritarian elites in the region looking to sell short-term geopolitical successes through regionalization to their constituents without being forced to dilute their power through democratic reforms. Indeed, the EEU can be described as a network of autocrats, and membership is often seen as reinforcing corrupt and opaque political tendencies among member states – many of which already have low standards of legal culture, and poor ratings for democracy, human rights, and governance. This negative synergism created by greater reliance between members within the organization has been anticipated to further isolate these countries geopolitically from potentially democratizing external influence. How then was Armenia, a three-year member of the EEU, able to pull off a democratic revolution? Of course, Armenia was unique in the EEU in that it was neither fully autocratic nor fully democratic, in contrast to other member states that are more solidly authoritarian. Armenia’s social media space was exceptionally free for the region; and Armenian civil society was robust and active, with strong networks of young activists. At the same time, Armenia as an EEU member state was being increasingly isolated geopolitically from the West and its democratizing incentives. The EEU ties Armenia even more closely to Russia economically and in terms of security. Armenia cannot pursue its own trade policies with other states without the approval of the other EEU member states. However, none of these factors seemed to present insurmountable obstacles to democratization for Armenia. This adds more evidence to support Kateryna Wolczuk and Rilke Dragneva’s research on the EEU and in particular their assertion that “satisfied with having created a union, Russia is not preoccupied with making it work.” Their analysis of the common institutions of the organization reveal that they are made deliberately weak in order to minimize disturbances to domestic institutions and policies of the member states. To put it another way, the EEU, and the security-oriented Collective Security Treaty Organisation, are institutional extensions of Russian power, and are purposefully kept weak to ensure Russian leadership. It may be that the surprise regarding Armenia’s ability to manage a democratic revolution was based on popular assumptions among observers and analysts that democratization in the former Soviet space is only possible through a sort of EU democratizing playbook, with direct support from European institutions. In this analysis, membership in the EEU would preclude that. Armenia’s case, however, shows that if the domestic ingredients for a revolution are there, in particular media freedoms and civil society strength, the authoritarian incentive structures within the EEU do not have the capacity to necessarily prevent democratization or related reforms. Dr. Karena Avedissian is an EDSN fellow and a political scientist focusing on social movements, new media, civil society, and security in the former Soviet Union, with an area focus on Russia and the Caucasus. EDSN is an international research fellowship project of the Center of Social Sciences, Tbilisi, and made possible with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy. The core message for bankers and investors active in the CEE region should be: close to old records, potential for more but watch out for late cycle phenomena. In Europe’s youngest country, media freedom is flourishing — yet a controversial story published by a leading broadsheet has turned the spotlight on the serious risks to press freedom and gender equality that remain. Ukraine heads to the polls again for parliamentary elections on July 21, and expectations are building of another pro-reform vote to follow Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s landslide victory in the run off of the presidential election in April. COMMENT: Sberbank’s chief economist says Russian inflation could come in below 4% in 2019 Sberbank’s chief economist says Russian inflation could come in below 4% in 2019 ING: Hungary’s budget is looking extremely good The Hungarian year-to-date general government deficit came in at HUF 390bn - only 39.1% of the full-year target, but we can't really say if this good performance is here to stay	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2329
__label__cc	0.637324	0.362676	calciofanblogs Calcio is life Category: Soccer The Top 5 Managers Heading Into the 2019-2020 Serie A Season Original Image Courtesy: dailystar.co.uk If there’s anything that’ll improve in this upcoming Serie A campaign, it will be the quality of the managers. This season will see the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte , and many others battle it out for the coveted Serie A trophy. I can’t wait for it! So, here is what I believe are the top 5 Serie A managers heading into this upcoming season. 5. Maurizio Sarri Many Juve fans will probably not agree with this. However, us bianconeri fans need to be realistic. Sarri does bring an exciting brand of football to Juventus, as it’s very focused on attacking and pressing the opposition’s defence. However, as a manager he does not beat these other men. He only has won one trophy as a manager and that was last season with Chelsea. He doesn’t seem as though he is good at changing or adjusting his tactics against other clubs. This is why he’s at the bottom of this list. 4. Eusebio Di Francesco If you told me coming into this off-season that Eusebio Di Francesco would be managing Sampdoria, I would’ve thought you were nuts. With all due respect, he should be managing a club with a better squad. Di Francesco not only shocked the football world and led Roma to a Champions League semifinal, but he also led Sassuolo from Serie B to the Europa League within a couple seasons. He is truly a manager that can get the best out of a group of players. Under him, watch out for Sampdoria, as they could shock many Serie A fans. 3. Paulo Fonseca Paulo Fonseca is a manager that has not been talked about too much coming into this upcoming season. He has won silverware in both Portugal and Ukraine as a manager. Also, when he was the manager of Shakhtar Donetsk, he led them into being a formidable force in the Champions League. They became difficult to beat for heavyweights in the competition. His counter-attacking style is also very lethal towards opposing players. Paulo Fonseca is one manager to watch for Roma heading into this season. 2. Antonio Conte Some would argue that Antonio Conte should at the very top of this list. However, either way he is a top manager. He is infamous for being animated on the touchline during matches. But, that must work because he has won three Serie A titles with Juve as well as a league title with Chelsea. He definitely possesses the merit to manage a club such as Inter. Inter may not win the Serie A next season, but Conte will definitely make other clubs work to their fullest extent to beat them. Conte is able to get every ounce out of a club’s squad and I won’t expect any different from him at the helm of Inter. 1. Carlo Ancelotti The top manager in this list has definitely won his fair share of silverware around Europe. He has been doing it for many years, as well. Carlo Ancelotti has won multiple Champions League trophies as well as having won league titles in 4 different countries. Many managers have a specific style of play they tend to implement. However, Ancelotti is unique because his style of play is based on whichever one suits the squad of players at his disposal. He is able to be successful by implementing various styles, which makes him the top Serie A manager heading into this season. As for Napoli, I’d say they could win the Serie A title, as they recently bought Kostas Manolas and are in the hunt to either buy James Rodriguez or Mauro Icardi. So, I’d say to Juventus to get ready for a tight title race against Ancelotti’s Napoli. Thank you for reading this blog post! If you have any inquiries, my email is calciofanblogs@gmail.com. Be sure to follow my website as well! Also, follow me on Instagram @calciofanblogs, on Twitter @calciofanblogs1, and on my Facebook Page, Calcio Fan Blogs. Calcio Fan Blogs calcio, italy, Serie A, Soccer, Sports Leave a comment July 10, 2019 July 10, 2019 3 Minutes Why Will The 2019 Copa America Be More Exciting Than Usual? Also, What Country Should Serie A Fans Be Rooting For in This Tournament? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6630407/Copa-America-2019-draw-Brazil-face-Bolivia-Venezuela-Peru.html For many fans of the beautiful game like me, the Copa America is just as exciting as the European Cup. Although, Italy is not in the Copa America, it is still exciting to watch. It’ll the most exciting one yet for a couple of reasons, which I will explain below. REASON#1: It’ll Be More Competitive Than Ever The last two Copa America tournaments have been very competitive, as Uruguay won it in 2011 and Chile won it in 2015. However, expect this tournament to be even more competitive. I know that many will peg both Brazil and Argentina as the two favorites heading into this tournament. However, like the last two Copa America tournaments, other countries will be prepared to challenge them. But, unlike the previous two tournaments, this one will be more competitive. This was highlighted in the South American 2018 World Cup Qualifiers. The notorious Argentina team were about to not qualify for the 2019 World Cup, but the alien, Lionel Messi came through for them . Also, Peru qualified over a highly talented Chile team, which highlights just how competitive it is. Other than two out of the 12 countries in the tournament, this one seems like it is very open for the taking. Teams with the best talent may very easily lose or get eliminated, which makes this year’s Copa America stand out. Reason#2: The Depth of Talent Will be Unique There will be world-class talent on display in this year’s tournament. There is no doubt in my mind about that. But, the depth of talent will leave fans hungry for more. Of course, the likes of Argentina will boast elite talent. However, other countries such as Uruguay, Chile, and Colombia will boast some mouth-watering talent as well. The fact that Uruguay has two unreal strikers in Luis Suarez and Cavani or the fact that Colombia possesses the likes of James Rodriguez, Duvan Zapata, and Radamel Falcao, will make this tournament even more enjoyable to watch. This tournament will be one for the ages and I hope the people reading this will watch it. The Country Serie A Fans Should Be Rooting For in This Year’s Tournament If Argentina could have Mauro Icardi, Papu Gomez, and Paulo Dybala on their squad for this year’s Copa America, I’d consider rooting for them. However, the country I would recommend that Serie A fans root for is Colombia. This Colombia squad has a good chance of containing some exciting Serie A talent. If Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel don’t thrill you, then how about Juan Cuadrado or even Christian Zapata. While Argentina boasts way more current players in Italy, this Colombia squad should feature a couple of the most exciting and prominent players within the league. No matter how you size it up, Serie A fans will love this tournament because of all the prominent players from the league that will take part in it. Thanks for reading this blog post! If you want to see more of my soccer content, follow me on Instagram @calciofanblogs, follow my Twitter account @calciofanblogs1 as well as making sure to like and follow my Facebook Page called Calcio Fan Blogs. Calcio Fan Blogs calcio, Serie A, Soccer, Sports Leave a comment May 6, 2019 May 6, 2019 2 Minutes 3 Reasons Why Juventus Has a Good Chance of Winning the Champions League This Season Juventus beat Atletico Madrid and got through to the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Tuesday, just in case you live under a rock. Of course, Cristiano Ronaldo got a hat trick and the whole squad was on point. Heading into this season, I believed that Juve were one of the top 3 favorites to win the Champions League. This belief has become more apparent, at least for me, after Tuesday’s amazing match. I will discuss 3 reasons why I believe Juve’s odds of winning the Champions League has increased ever since yesterday’s match. 1. Cristiano Ronaldo Image Credit: https://www.marca.com/en/football/international-football/2019/03/13/5c883ea1ca47417e108b463a.html I know this is obvious to many fans of footy, but the fact that Juve not only bought CR7 in the summer as well as him having had such a great match on Tuesday, demonstrates that this generational talent gives Juventus a greater chance than ever to win the Champions League this season. Cristiano Ronaldo at 34 years of age is still a defender’s worst nightmare, which helps Juve. Cristiano Ronaldo also possesses the right mentality to win this competition, as he has won it 5 times in his career. Don’t get me wrong, without Ronaldo, the bianconeri (Juventus) still possesses a squad that is very capable of winning the Champions League, but having someone like CR7 at your disposal adds that extra oomph to the squad. 2. Juventus’ Squad Depth Image Credit: https://www.skysports.com/football/juventus-vs-a-madrid/403928 Generally, in any winning squad, there is always one player that stands out above the rest. But, in order for that star to be at his/her best they need teammates that can support them. As we have seen in this match and in many others over the past few seasons, Juventus has boasted tremendous squad depth. Even yesterday, both Juan Cuadrado and Douglas Costa could not play in the match because of injuries. However, Juve has so much squad depth that replacing them with Bernardeschi on the right-wing was no big deal and actually, some would argue that Federico Bernadeschi was Juve’s best player on Tuesday. It’s not just upfront, though. At the left-back position, Leonardo Spinazzola played over their regular starter Alex Sandro and played stellar too. This squad depth, as was shown on Tuesday, will give Juventus a good chance of winning the Champions League this season. 3. Juventus’ Heart and Determination Maybe, it’s Juve’s manager Massimiliano Allegri or the players themselves, but in the Champions League, this club seems to show heart and determination even if they get eliminated in the competition. It’s like the heart and determination lives in the bloodstreams of players who wear the white and black jersey. We’ve seen countless examples of how this club demonstrates plenty of heart and determination and this season is no different. Juventus seem to be the type of club that can bend easily, but is very difficult to break. This is as a result of the club’s mentality. This will definitely help guide Juventus to winning their first Champions League title since 1996. I am hoping, as are many other fans, that Juventus pulls it off this season. Let’s hope it happens! Thank you reading my blog posts! Be sure to follow, like, comment, or share my content if you like it. Instagram: @calciofanblogs ‘ Twitter: @calciofanblogs1 Facebook: Calcio Fan Blogs Calcio Fan Blogs Atletico Madrid, calcio, Champions League, italy, juventus, La Liga, Serie A, Soccer, Sports Leave a comment March 13, 2019 March 13, 2019 2 Minutes Will Allegri Leave Juventus After This Season Ends? If So, What Would Be His Ideal Destination? Image Credit: dailymail.co.uk- Getty Images There has been many rumors swirling around the football world that Juventus’ Current Manager, Massimiliano Allegri, will leave Juventus at the end of the season. However, these rumors have been circulating for a couple of seasons now. As a Juventus fan, I’m pretty content with him staying as their manager. WILL ALLEGRI ACTUALLY LEAVE JUVENTUS AT THE END OF THE SEASON? For the past couple of seasons, I have doubted any claims that Massimiliano Allegri is leaving Juventus. I don’t know if that’s because I don’t mind him as being Juve’s manager or not. His trophy count for Juventus definitely helps his case, in my view. However, one competition that Juve has not won in a while is the dreaded Champions League. Whatever the reasons are for that, it will be interesting to see if that trophy will dictate whether Allegri leaves Juve or not. We all know that the Drake curse is the main reason. He shouldn’t have worn Juve’s pink shirt. But, in all seriousness, I believe that if Allegri leaves Juventus at end of this season it will be because he won the Champions League with the club. Other than that, I do not see what is holding him back from leaving Juve, as he has won everything else in Turin. If Juventus wins the Champions League trophy, look for Allegri at the airport in Turin a few days later. WHICH CLUB WOULD BE IDEAL FOR ALLEGRI, IF HE LEAVES JUVE? There is still a good possibility that Allegri remains at Juventus until the end of his contract in 2020. But, it is fun to think of which club he would be best suited for, if he were to leave Turin. My answer for this is Real Madrid. I know many people may think that right now Real Madrid is a manager’s graveyard currently, but it would be a perfect fit for Allegri. The main reason that I believe this is because while Real Madrid does not possess CR7 anymore, Allegri would be great at working with the talent that Real Madrid has at their disposal. Allegri is very good at scouting out other club’s weaknesses and getting players to buy in to his tactics for any match. Also, one thing Allegri would bring to Real Madrid is discipline. He has shown at Juventus that no matter who you are, you are no bigger than the club which could work for Real Madrid. Thank you for reading my blog posts! Be sure to follow my Instagram: @calciofanblogs as well as my Twitter: @calciofanblogs1. Calcio Fan Blogs calcio, italy, Serie A, Soccer Leave a comment January 9, 2019 January 9, 2019 2 Minutes Italy’s Performance Under Mancini So Far Image Credit: https://forzaitalianfootball.com/2018/09/mancini-keeps-faith-in-youth-as-italy-overhaul-continues/ As the Italian National Squad ends their matches for 2018, it is worth analyzing how far they’ve come and what they still need to improve on. Their Style of Play For many years, the Italian style of play has been the Catenaccio system of play, which until recently, has worked for them. Legendary defenders and attackers have assisted them in playing this style over the years. However, under Mancini that has changed. The Italian National Squad plays a more attacking style of play under Mancini because he has realized that Italy is not good enough to sit on 1-0 leads anymore. The more offensive style of play also allows midfielders such as Verratti or Jorginho to play to their strengths, as opposed to being forced to drop back and defend for long periods of time. Which, is not their nest attributes on the field. Italy’s Midfield is Flourishing Again It has been a few years, six years to be exact. But, Italy’s midfield looks like they’ve found their creativity again. The midfield trio that Mancini has set up, has looked awe inspiring. Of course, when your midfield possesses the likes of Jorginho and Verratti, it’ll look sensational. However, under Mancini, Italy’s midfield has been on another level. A big part of that is the fact that Mancini is allowing the central midfielders to be more free and creative. That’s attributed to Italy’s new style of play. Of course, midfielders will always have to be good at running back and helping to defend, but under Mancini these magicians are also able to show their true strengths, which has benefited them greatly. Italy’s Lack of Goal Scoring Italy has improved immensely under Mancini so far. However, one area that is still haunting Italy is the lack of goals. Mancini has tried many different players at the striker position. However, there is still no winning formula to solve Italy’s goal scoring woes. However, what I would suggest is that Mancini should continue to test out different players at that position. Even, try putting Insigne as Italy’s number 9. It has been working at Napoli this season. Insigne is naturally more of play-maker, but based on the amount of goals he has scored for Napoli this season at that position, why not try it? However, Italy seems to be improving under Mancini, let’s hope it continues. Calcio Fan Blogs calcio, italy, Soccer Leave a comment November 22, 2018 November 22, 2018 2 Minutes	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2336
__label__wiki	0.717539	0.717539	EU and China Forge Climate Accord as Trump Pulls Plug on Paris Agreement President Donald Trump has decided to exit the Paris Agreement, the set of voluntary emissions reductions to which all but two countries are signatories—a win for 22 Republican Senators and a small group of advisers and a disappointment to those who lobbied for remaining in the agreement, including executives of the biggest global corporations and energy majors, national security officials, many top White House officials, and many heads of state. The United States now joins Syria and Nicaragua as the only holdouts to the accord. “To fulfill my solemn duty to protect America,” said Trump, “the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord.” He added, “But begin negotiations to reenter either the Paris accord or an entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States . . . So we’re getting out but we’ll start to negotiate and we’ll see if we can make a deal that’s fair.” Trump said he is keeping his campaign promise to “put American workers first” and claimed that the accord was poorly negotiated by the Obama administration. He offered no details about how he plans to disentangle the United States from the Paris Agreement (subscription). The nonbinding Paris Agreement was designed to allow countries to tailor their climate plans to their domestic circumstances and to alter them as circumstances changed. But the hope was that peer pressure and diplomacy would lead to increased ambition and action to curb global-warming emissions. Nonetheless, Trump advisers like the chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon made the argument that staying in the Paris accord could entail a series of legal obligations—an argument rejected by some legal scholars. Reaction to a likely withdrawal prompted world leaders to reiterate their commitment to the global pact and drew the ire of some. European Commission President Jean Claude-Juncker said Trump doesn’t “comprehensively understand” the terms of the accord, though European leaders tried to explain the process for withdrawing to him “in clear, simple sentences” during summit meetings last week. “It looks like that attempt failed,” Juncker said. “This notion, ‘I am Trump, I am American, America first and I am getting out,’ that is not going to happen.” Juncker also warned that it would take years to extricate the United States from the Paris Agreement. This week, an administration official laid out three ways the United States could leave the accord. First, Trump could announce he is pulling the United States from the deal, which would trigger a three-year withdrawal process that wouldn’t conclude until November 2020 under the deal’s terms—actual withdrawal would take perhaps another year. Second, Trump could declare that the Paris Agreement is actually a legal treaty that requires Senate approval, which it is unlikely to get. Third, Trump could withdraw the United States from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—the treaty that underpins the Paris Agreement. Although this process would take just one year, it would remove the United States from all global climate diplomacy. Yesterday, as media outlets reported the likely decision by Trump on the Paris Agreement, came word of the first-ever bilateral agreement on climate change (subscription) between the European Union (EU) and China. According to a statement being prepared before an EU-China summit in Brussels starting today, members of the new alliance will say they are determined to “lead the energy transition” toward a low-carbon economy. The new pact calls for the EU to support the rollout of China’s national emissions trading system, likely hastening linkage of that system with the EU carbon market, the world’s largest. It also calls for the two partners to help poor countries develop green economies. A draft called the Paris Agreement an “historic achievement” and “proof that with shared political will and mutual trust, multilateralism can succeed in building fair and effective solutions to the most critical global problems of our time.” The new pact may help to fill the void left by China’s former partnership with the Obama administration, a partnership instrumental in persuading nearly 200 countries to support the Paris Agreement in 2015. Economists Say Carbon Tax Is Needed to Avert Climate Catastrophe On Monday, 13 leading economists, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern, said carbon dioxide should be taxed at $40 to $80 per metric ton by 2020 and at as much as $100 per metric ton by 2030 to stop catastrophic global warming. The idea is to give businesses and governments an incentive to lower emissions even when fossil fuels are cheap—an idea rejected by the Trump administration and embraced by the world’s largest emissions trading coalition, the European Union, albeit at a carbon price—$6.70 per ton—well below that recommended by the report released by the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices. The report, which is backed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, concluded that a “well-designed” carbon price is an “indispensable” element of any strategy to reduce carbon emissions while maintaining economic growth. “The world’s transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy is the story of growth for this century,” Stiglitz and Stern said in a joint statement. “We’re already seeing the potential that this transformation represents in terms of more innovation, greater resilience, more livable cities, improved air quality and better health. Our report builds on the growing understanding of the opportunities for carbon pricing, together with other policies, to drive the sustainable growth and poverty reduction which can deliver on the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.” Among the report’s findings: Meeting objectives set out in the Paris Agreement will require all countries to implement policies that complement carbon pricing and address market and government failures—policies promoting renewable-based power generation, high efficiency standards, relevant R&D investment, and financial devices that lower the risk-weighted capital costs of low-carbon technologies. Although carbon taxes can raise revenues that can be used to increase green growth, low-income countries might need to start pricing carbon at low and gradually increasing levels to protect people particularly vulnerable to initial price increases. The report explicitly acknowledges that challenge, suggesting that “The revenue can be used to foster growth in an equitable way, by returning the revenue as household rebates, supporting poorer sections of the population, managing transitional changes, investing in low-carbon infrastructure, and fostering technological change.” The report highlights the difference between a carbon tax and an emissions trading system (ETS), which in the European Union has resulted in few, if any, carbon emissions reductions due to a far-too-high emissions cap, resulting in an oversupply of emissions permits that have kept carbon prices low. A carbon tax is administratively far less complex than an ETS. Although any particular carbon tax level could result in a higher- or lower-than-desired emissions reductions, it can be adjusted to achieve desired reductions, especially if it levied in an administratively efficient way, which in the energy sector would involve an “upstream” levy on bulk coal, oil, or gas. Study Refutes EPA Head’s Claim of a “Leveling Off” of Global Warming A new study in the journal Nature Scientific Reports directly refutes the claim made by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt during his Senate confirmation hearing that satellite data show a “leveling off” of global warming. “Mr. Pruitt claimed that ‘over the past two decades satellite data indicates there has been a leveling off of warming.’ We test this claim here,” wrote Benjamin Santer and three of his Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory colleagues, along with scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Washington in Seattle, and science research company Remote Sensing Systems. After comparing all possible 20-year periods of satellite records to larger trends in the climate system, the paper concludes Pruitt was wrong (subscription). It also points to multiple peer-reviewed studies that have undercut the theory of a “pause” in global warming between 1998 and 2012 and that have shown increased evidence of a “human fingerprint” on climate. “In my opinion, when incorrect science is elevated to the level of formal congressional testimony and makes its way into the official congressional record, climate scientists have some responsibility to test specific claims that were made, determine whether those claims are correct or not, and publish their results,” Santer told the Washington Post. He emphasized the importance of continuing scientific research into climate change, telling ThinkProgress that the budget that covers the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where his work is housed, faces a proposed 70 percent cut in the budget released last week by the White House. The Climate Post offers a rundown of the week in climate and energy news. It is produced each Thursday by Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and cross-posted on the Huffington Post and National Geographic NewsWatch. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or subscribe to our YouTube channel for more updates. To subscribe, send an e-mail to theclimatepost@duke.edu with “add to Climate Post mailing” in the subject line. To be removed from this list, please send an e-mail to the climatepost@duke.edu with “take off mailing list” in the subject line. Tags Tim Profeta Tim Profeta is the founding director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. The Nicholas Institute is part of Duke University and focuses on improving environmental policy making worldwide through objective, fact-based research in the areas of climate change, the economics of limiting carbon pollution, oceans governance and coastal management, emerging environmental markets and freshwater concerns at home and abroad. In his role at the Nicholas Institute, Profeta has continued to use his experience on Capitol Hill to engage in climate change debates. His research has focused, specifically, on market-based approaches to environmental regulations—particularly energy and climate change policy. Other projects engage his expertise in environmental law and air pollution regulation under the Clean Air Act. Seamounts: The “Serengeti” of the Ocean Two Days at the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2341
__label__wiki	0.690246	0.690246	Mumford and Sons parody sports familiar faces By srolens@sfgate.com (Sam Rolens) on August 5, 2013 at 1:53 PM Update: Original post referred to the video as a “parody,” but it could more accurately be called a parody of itself. It’s an official release by Mumford & Sons, made by the band to mock the band. Looking deceptively like any other Mumford and Sons video, a new clip full of sunlight, strumming, barns, suspenders and old timey chic has gone viral, rising to the top throughout social media. But it’s not Mumford and Sons. It’s a lampooning at the drum-beating, vaguely Amish hands of Jason Bateman, Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis and Ed Helms. The comedians fill in for the band in the video for “Hopeless Wanderer,” which includes a host of gags that fit almost too well in the actual band’s aesthetic: A whole lot of weeping, a little do-si-do-ing, and some banjo-plucking fingers so hot they’re smoking—literally. srolens@sfgate.com (Sam Rolens) Hot Topics Search	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2344
__label__cc	0.646009	0.353991	Zombies of Marx By voyou, November 29, 2009 Derrida’s Spectres of Marx is a frustrating book. For someone capable of such careful readings, Derrida’s references to Marx are remarkably sloppy, and, as with a lot of his later work, the obsessively spiraling style appears hollow rather than beguiling (it’s not as bad as The Politics of Friendship, but what is). But the central theme of the text is undeniably interesting. Derrida identifies in Marx an uneasiness with his (Marx’s) own analysis, with Marx constantly discovering the spectral nature of capitalism, which he continuously seeks to deny or deflect with a focus on life as a material positivity. It would be pointless to deny that Marx is sometimes vitalist, although this is not a simple organicist praise of life as vital spirit. Rather, Marx connects life with productive potential, first of all in the figure of “living labor,” but in more depth in Marx’s description of the fundamentally excessive nature of the proletariat, the surplus population necessarily produced by capitalism. In Capital, the descriptions of overpopulation evoke compression and pressure, a pressure that the capitalist authorities quoted inevitably figure in terms of a danger that is equally biological, moral, and political. However, although Marx does, as Derrida writes, sometimes oppose and seek to exorcise the spectral, he doesn’t do so in the name of this vitalism. On the contrary, Marx rejects spectrality because the specter is too alive, a remnant of life that remains after material death. Marx’s rejection of spectrality occurs in the context of a more general rejection of this vitalism, direct or deferred, and an embrace of a certain sort of unlife, an anti-organicism. Derrida almost sees this in his discussion of commodity fetishism which “is the contradiction of automatic autonomy, mechanical freedom, technical life.” (153) Derrida, however, doesn’t pursue this theme of automaticity, but instead immediately proceeds to assimilate the commodity to the specter, not without some difficulty, because the commodity is the opposite of the specter – not dead matter inhabited by an ineffable remnant of life, spirit or pneuma, but dead matter animated by an eerily unliving automaticity: not a specter, that is, but a zombie. While Marx’s famous distinction between living labor (the proletariat) and dead labor (commodities) suggests that this zombie character of the commodity is in opposition to the revolutionary character of the proletariat, the difference is not so clear, because the proletariat’s particular role in capitalism comes from the fact that labour-power is a commodity. Benjamin develops in some detail the revolutionary possibilities that might follow from the proletariat sharing this inorganic, unliving, zombie quality with the commodity. In the Arcades, Benjamin traces the founding of the revolutionary Internationals to the world exhibitions, where “the masses, barred from consuming, learned empathy with exchange value,” by realizing that they, like the commodities they produce, are infinitely exchangible and communicable. Benjamin locates this revolutionary communicability in the catacombs of Paris (used by the revolutionaries of the Commune), the city of the dead that overdetermines the city of those who are supposedly living. That the city is always the city of the dead is, Benjamin writes, “an essential moment in the image of modernity,” because modern capitalism, rather than containing and constraining life as it appeared to in Marx’s image of overpopulation, recreates life as unlife. Marx describes this process in his discussion of factory labor (as opposed to small-scale manufacture) in Capital, but Benjamin goes on to connect this process to advertising and fashion, both of which construct an inorganic body for the proletariat. This inorganic body is what allows the proletariat to engage in political struggle, as with the example Benjamin gives of the anonymous horde of pamphleteer during the 1848, who were referred to as “Monsieur Everyone.” Monsieur Everyone is a swarm of artificial, unliving commodity-proletarians—a zombie horde, in other words. This post was inspired in part by Resident Evil: Extinction and Lady GaGa’s video for “Bad Romance.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5VQrd4bi-g Marx vs mathematical economics It’s unfortunate Marx was so bad at maths. Well, bad isn’t quite the right word, as he often expends a great deal of effort and creativity establishing the various mathematical conclusions he needs to establish, even when the conclusions are obvious. It’s rather wearing slogging through a whole chapter to finally get to the conclusion […] Commodity fetishism and object liberation On of the criticisms of object-oriented ontology which has some currency is the suggestion that it is a form of, or a philosophized alibi for, commodity fetishism. And this has a superficial plausibility; doesn’t the focus on objects enact the kind of reification that Marx criticizes. I don’t think this plausibility is more than superficial, […] Think global, act global Why is localism such a big part of the green movement? I was made particularly aware of how odd this is at a meeting at the American Political Science Association recently, where the speaker argued that a critique of political economy was insufficient if it failed to critique the anthropocentric assumptions of modernity (which seems […] ← The neoliberalism of Walter Benn Michaels Steal something for baby Jesus →	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2346
__label__wiki	0.912289	0.912289	Home / Music / Reviews music / Album Reviews / Music Review: Judas Priest – ‘Defenders of the Faith’ [Special 30th Anniversary Edition] 'Defenders of the Faith' was, in essence, a love letter to Judas Priest's legions of fans around the world. Over 30 years later, it remains one of their heaviest and best albums. Music Review: Judas Priest – ‘Defenders of the Faith’ [Special 30th Anniversary Edition] Charlie Doherty March 16, 2015 5 Comments 195 Views No one would’ve blamed Judas Priest if by 1984, the pioneering heavy metal band decided to take a long break from recording and enjoy the success of their breakthrough, best-selling 1982 classic Screaming for Vengeance. It was the British band’s eighth album, and their American fan base, in large part due to big exposure on a then-new medium called MTV, finally rewarded them with sales in the millions – double platinum there, five million copies sold worldwide. But resting was not in Rob Halford and company’s plans. Not even for a second. Even with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal carrying the torch that Priest, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and other British metal innovators first lit in the early-to-mid-’70s, with thrash metal being in its early years – a movement JP heavily influenced – and hair “metal” bands springing up all over the place, JP wasn’t about to let anyone forget about them anytime soon. Defenders of the Faith was JP’s ninth full-length and fourth one in five years. Released early in 1984, it was a big hit but was seen in some corners of the Priest fandom as a bit of a letdown compared to SFV. Over time, however, it became seen for what it is, another classic Priest album. Over 30 years later, Sony Music is reissuing it as a three-CD package, with the original 10-track set (remastered by longtime producer Tom Allom) on one disc, and two bonus discs of an epic 21-song concert from Long Beach Arena in California from May 5 of that year. As for the main portion of Defenders, if you just play the first seven tracks and listen to nothing more, the album would still rank amongst their very best – but of course, short of the groundbreaking 1978 Stained Class record, which will always be #1 in most Priest fans’ minds. But just the opening number alone is legendary. “Freewheel Burning,” with its speed metal firepower, has become the concert staple that Halford rides his motorcycle on stage to at every JP concert (alternating with “Hell Bent for Leather”). Other singles and fan favorites include “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll,” “The Sentinel,” and “Jawbreaker.” There’s also the controversially sexual “Eat Me Alive” and (super bass-heavy) “Love Bites,” as well as the melancholic semi-ballad of loneliness, “Night Comes Down.” It may not be everyone’s favorite, but after all the headbanging and fist-pumping of those first seven songs, “Night” fits as a well-placed come-down moment as the eighth track. The last two, “Heavy Duty” and the title track, are linked together and like “Rock Hard, Ride Free,” stadium-ready, fan-friendly numbers. Unlike “Rock Hard,” however, they are pretty much forgettable after one or two listens. And therein lies my only small issue with DOTF, a weak ending – wishing it had one final blistering, high-octane track to close it out. As for the live show on the bonus discs, almost one-third of the setlist is DOTF-based (nine tracks), while the rest of the discs contain many of the classic speed and anthemic metal cuts you’d expect (“Breaking the Law,” “Victim of Changes,” “Living After Midnight,” “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,” etc.). A JP show is even more intense live than on record – that is one big reason they are such an iconic and influential group. And at Long Beach, the raw power of Halford’s insanely versatile vocals, mixed with the fiery dual guitar attack of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing, really brings to life then-newbies like “The Sentinel” and “Jawbreaker” just as much as they do to oldies like “Victim.” Like you’d expect anything less. Defenders of the Faith was, in essence, a love letter to Judas Priest’s legions of fans around the world. Over 30 years later, it remains one of their best albums. You can experience the whole new three-CD version of it now, as it hit stores earlier this week. A digital-only version is available as well. Hit up judaspriest.com for more info, current tour dates, and other band-related updates. Tags Defenders of the Faith: Special 30th Anniversary Edition Judas Priest Music Review Rob Halford Screaming for Vengeance Tom Allom About Charlie Doherty Senior Music Editor and Culture & Society (Sports) Editor at Blogcritics Magazine; Prior writing/freelancing ventures: copy editor/content writer for Penn Multimedia; Boston Examiner, EMSI, Demand Media, Brookline TAB, Suite 101 and Helium.com; Media Nation independent newspaper staff writer, printed/published by the Boston Globe at 2004 DNC (Boston, MA); Featured in Guitar World May 2014. Keep up with me on twitter.com/chucko33 @Chucko33 Music Review: Team Dresch – ‘Choices, Chance, Changes’, ‘Captain My Captain’ & ‘Personal Best’ Team Dresch have re-released and remastered, 'Choices, Chances, Changes', Captain My Captain', and 'Personal Best', three great examples of Queercore It’s too bad the remastering job is horrid. brickwalled to shit. the original sounds far better. mallon Halford rides his motorcycle on stage when they play “Hell Bent For Leather” not “Freewheel Burning” as this article states.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2348
__label__wiki	0.753573	0.753573	Asian and African studies blog 36 posts categorized "East Asia" Jesuit Mission Press ‘Feiqe monogatari’ now online One of the most important items in the British Library’s Japanese collections is a small, rather ordinary-looking, leather-bound volume, generally known as Feiqe monogatari (BL shelfmark Or.59.aa.1). Despite its appearance, it is, in fact, a remarkable work in a number of ways. Firstly, it was one of the earliest books printed in Japan using movable type rather than the traditional woodblocks, secondly, it is the first non-religious text printed in colloquial Japanese transcribed into the Roman alphabet, offering valuable insights into the phonology of the Japanese language in the 16th century, and thirdly, it is the world’s only extant copy. Now, thanks to a collaborative project between the British Library and the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL), Tokyo, a fully digitised version of this unique work is available online along with transcriptions, as part of NINJAL’s Corpus of Historical Japanese, Muromachi Period Series II : Christian Materials. In addition to a full set of images, NINJAL has also provided transcriptions of the Romanised text and in mixed Japanese kanji/kana script. The book contains three different texts bound together: Feiqe monogatari a version of the Heike monogatari 平家物語 or Tale of the Heike, a famous medieval epic about the rivalry between the Taira and Minamoto clans, Esopo no fabulas the first Japanese translation of Aesop's Fables, and an anthology of maxims, drawn from Chinese classics, called the Qincvxv (Kinkūshū 金句集). First page of Feiqe monogatari (Or 59.aa.1, p.3) First page of Esopo no fabulas (Or 59.aa.1, p.408d) First page of Qinquxu (Or 59.aa.1, p.507) All three were printed on the Japanese island of Amakusa by Jesuit missionaries using a movable-type printing press in late 1592/early 1593. Feiqe monogatari has a preface dated 10 December 1592, the title page of Esopo no fabulas is dated 1593 and a general preface added at the front of the volume was completed on 23 February 1593. The three texts are accompanied by a printed glossary of ‘words difficult to determine’ (funbetsv xinicuqi cotoba) found in Feiqe monogatari and Esopo no fabulas. At the end of the book is a handwritten Japanese-Portuguese vocabulary. Handwritten Japanese-Portuguese dictionary (Or.59.aa.1, p.597) From the preface of Feiqe monogatari we know that it was the work of the Christian convert - and later apostate - Fabian Fucan (Fukansai 不干斎, c. 1565–1621). Fabian was baptised in 1583 and joined the Jesuits in 1586, teaching Japanese to missionaries in the Jesuit College in Amakusa. He later rejected Christianity and in 1620 published the anti-Christian tract Deus Destroyed (Ha-Daiusu 破提宇子). When the first Christian missionaries arrived in Japan in the 1540s they immediately set themselves to learning the Japanese language. Their aim, of course, was to convert the population to Christianity and to do this they needed to be able to communicate its teachings in the local language. They made rapid progress and with the help of Japanese converts, soon began translating Christian texts into Japanese. To assist with their work, Alessandro Valignano, head of the Jesuit Mission in East Asia, had a movable-type printing press brought from Portugal. It reached Japan via Goa in July 1590 and was set up at the Jesuit College in Kazusa 加津佐, on the Shimabara Peninsula, where the first work, a life of the apostles and saints entitled Sanctos no gosagyveono vchi nvqigaqi (Sanctos no go-sagyō no unchi nukigaki サントスの御作業の内抜書), was printed in 1591. Shortly afterwards, in the face of official persecution, the College and press were moved to the more remote and safer location of Amakusa 天草 where printing resumed in 1592. The College on Amakusa was suppressed by the Japanese authorities in 1597 so the Jesuits moved again, this time to Nagasaki, taking the press with them and books continued to be printed there from 1598 to 1611. The books produced by the Jesuit Mission Press in Japan between 1591 and 1611, almost exclusively religious in content, are known collectively in Japanese as Kirishitan-ban or “Christian publications”. The majority were translations of Christian texts widely read in Europe such as Doctrina Christaã, Guía de pecadores and parts of Introducción del símbolo de la fe, in some cases adapted to the Japanese context with additional explanations or omission of doctrines which might have provoked controversy. The Japanese authorities increasingly came to regard Christianity as subversive and, following a series of repressive measures, it was eventually suppressed and all remaining missionaries expelled from Japan in 1639. The precise number of Kirishitan-ban titles printed in Japan is not certain. With the suppression of Christianity and the destruction of images and artefacts connected with it, most of the Jesuit printings were lost. In his pioneering work The Jesuit Mission Press in Japan, 1591–1610 published in 1888, Sir Ernest Satow identified 14 titles. Kirishitan Bunko: A Manual of Books and Documents on the Early Christian Mission in Japan (1940) by Johannes Laures, identifies 30 books published by the Jesuit Mission Press but this includes 5 printed in Macao, Goa or Manila. A more recent publication, Kirishitan to Shuppan (2013), lists a total of 41 Kirishitan-ban (including 5 fragmentary texts) with 92 extant copies identified worldwide, 7 of them in the British Library. For the 35 works published in Japan, it lists a total of 72 known copies. Besides its rarity, Feiqe monogatari is important in that it is a literary rather than a religious text.. It was not intended for the education of Japanese Christians but for the missionaries themselves as an aid to learning the language and to understanding the history and values of the Japanese for whom the warrior code (bushidō), reflected in Heike monogatari, and the Chinese classics represented by Kinkūshū had great significance. First page of preface to Feiqe monogatari ((Or 59.aa.1, ftpr) The spelling conventions of Portuguese, together with differences in pronunciation of the time, mean that the Romanised texts appear unfamiliar to those used to Hepburn, Kunrei-shiki and other later systems. For example, comparing spellings to the Modified Hepburn transliteration system most widely used today: ‘c’ and ‘q’ are used instead of ‘k’ depending on the following vowel (‘c’ before ‘a,’ ‘o’ or ‘u’, ‘q’ before ‘e’ and ‘i’), while ‘x’ represents ‘sh’ before ‘’i’ and, unlike modern standard Japanese, also before ‘e’. The letter ‘v’ can represent either the vowel ‘u’ or the semivowel ‘w’. The bilabial fricative sound now Romanised as ‘h’ (or ‘f’ before a ‘u’) is written as ’f’ in all positions, presumably reflecting the pronunciation of the time. ‘tçu’ is the equivalent of ‘ts’. As in Portuguese spelling, ‘u’ is inserted after ‘g’ to maintain a hard sound before ‘e’ or ‘i’. The opening sentence on the first page reads: Nifon no cotoba to historia uo narai xiran to fossvrv fito to tameni xeva ni yavaragvetarv Feiqe no monogatari [The Tale of the Heike made easy to help those wishing to learn the language and history of Japan] which would be written in Modified Hepburn as Nihon no kotoba to historia o naraishiran to hossuru hito no tame ni sewa ni yawaragetaru Heike no monogari, or in Japanese script as 日本の言葉とhistoria [歴史]を習い知らんと欲する人の為に世話に和らげたる平家の物語. Another interesting aspect of Feiqe monogatari is that while not the oldest, it was the first book in the British Museum/British Library’s Japanese collections. The preliminary pages of the volume bear a succession of shelfmarks and annotations from which it appears that the book was acquired by the eminent collector Sir Hans Sloane (1662-1753) in the first years of the 18th century. The earliest number is R3594, one of many sequences used by Sloane. Research published by Amy Blakeway in The Library Catalogues of Sir Hans Sloane: Their Authors, Organization, and Functions (http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2011articles/pdf/ebljarticle162011.pdf), suggests that the R-sequence was used for a rather random can be dated to between 1712 and 1723. Sloane has also added the erroneous description in his own hand “Fables in the Language of Tonquin” (i.e. Vietnam). After Sloane’s death his vast collections became the foundation of the British Museum and its library and were installed in Montagu House. The number on the titlepage (3Ib) is a Montagu House location, showing that the book was stored in room 3, press I, and on shelf b with other works on Mythology. The book was given the general shelfmark 1075.e. but was later considered to be important/valuable enough to be moved to a case pressmark C.24.e.4. A subsequent reorganisation of the British Museum Library saw it being transferred to the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books (OMPB) where shelfmarks beginning “Or.” were assigned - Or.59.d.6 and, later, its current number Or.59.aa.1. As part of OMPB Feiqe monogatari passed to the custodianship of the British Library in 1973. Its role as a teaching tool for non-Japanese missionaries gives Feiqe monogatari is greatest significance today - that it is written in colloquial, rather than literary Japanese and is printed in the Latin alphabet, not in Japanese script. The Japanese written language was, and is, extremely complicated combining many thousands of Chinese characters and two different syllabaries. Using the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet made the task of writing and printing much simpler and meant that the text was easier for the Jesuits to read. Since at that time there was no standard way of transcribing Japanese, the missionaries simply wrote down what they heard often using the spelling conventions of their native Portuguese. For the study of Japanese historical linguistics, therefore, Feiqe monogatari is a very valuable source of information for how the language was actually spoken and pronounced in the late 16th century. In a way that will be familiar to all who have ever tried to learn a foreign language, whenever they were unable to find the correct Japanese translation of a word the missionaries and their Japanese helpers seem to have simply used the Portuguese word instead. So "Aesop's Fables" becomes "Esopo no fabulas” and “history” is “historia” rather than the expected Japanese words gūwa 寓話 and rekishi 歴史respectively. Successive shelfmarks used for Feiqe monogatari (Or.59.aa.1, preliminary pages) Sadly, no record has been found of how Sloane acquired the book or from whom. Between 1723 and 1725, Sloane purchased a substantial collection of Japanese books, manuscripts, natural history specimens and other material from the family of the German physician Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716) who had lived in Japan from 1690-92 as physician in the Dutch East India Company’s trading base in Nagasaki. However, as noted above, a study of the shelfmarks and other annotations suggest that Feiqe monogatari was acquired by Sloane before the Kaempfer collection. It is known that the Jesuits sent some of their publications back to Europe – either to Rome or to their influential benefactors. Recent research by Peter Kornicki has shown that Japanese books reached England during the 1620s, sent to wealthy patrons by the East India Company through its trading factory in Hirado. Dutch traders also continued a supply of books back to Europe, some of which would have circulated among collectors like Sloane. One final mystery is the illustration on the front page of the volume which depicts a crowned classical figure in a chariot pulled by lions. Neither the image nor the Latin inscription have no obvious connection to the content of any of the contained works. Perhaps this was an etching or woodcut that had been used in another work and was simply inserted here as decoration. If any readers of this blog recognise it, I would be delighted to hear from them. Hamish Todd, Head of East Asian Collections With thanks to Dr Karen Limper-Herz, Lead Curator for Incunabula and 16th Century Books, British Library. Blakeway, Amy, “The library catalogues of Sir Hans Sloane: their authors, organization, and functions”. eBLJ (2011). http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2011articles/pdf/ebljarticle162011.pdf Elison, George, Deus Destroyed: The Image of Christianity in Early Modern Japan, Harvard University Press, 1973. Kornicki, Peter, Umi o watatta Nihon shoseki : Yōroppa e, soshite Bakumatsu, Meiji no Rondon de 海を渡った日本書籍 : ヨーロッパへ、そして幕末・明治のロンドンで. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 2018. Laures, Johannes, Kirishitan Bunko: A manual of books and documents on the early Christian mission in Japan. Tokyo: Sophia University, 1940. Orii, Yoshimi, “The dispersion of Jesuit books printed in Japan: Trends in bibliographical research and in intellectual history”. Journal of Jesuit Studies 2 ; 2 (2015). https://brill.com/view/journals/jjs/2/2/article-p189_2.xml?lang=en Satow, Ernest., The Jesuit Mission Press in Japan, Privately printed, 1888. Toyoshima, Masayuki 豊島正之 (ed.), Kirishitan to Shuppan キリシタンと出版. Tokyo: Yagi Shoten, Posted by Malini Roy at 10:00 AM Classics, Digitisation, East Asia, Japan, Japanese, Literature, Manuscripts, Printing, Rare books, Religion, Writing A Jesuit Atlas of Asia in Eighteenth-Century China Today's post is by guest blogger Xue Zhang, PhD candidate, Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University. Xue Zhang is working on Qing China’s geographical knowledge of Xinjiang in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with a special interest in cartography. Here she writes about an important discovery in the British Library India Office Records Map collection In 1735, Jean-Baptiste Du Halde (1674–1743) thrilled European readers with the news that the Jesuits had made impressive progress in China. His colleagues used a map of Peking to impress the Kangxi emperor (r. 1661-1772) with the accuracy of the European methods and successfully persuaded him to commission the Jesuits to complete a national map of which was to be of vast importance to the empire. In the eighteenth century, a considerable number of Jesuit cartographers worked for the Qing court, and their most important works included the three atlases they presented to the Kangxi, Yongzheng (r. 1722-1735), and Qianlong (r. 1735-1796) emperors. Noosy Hada off the Coast of the Arctic Ocean (BL IOR/X/3265) The Jesuit atlas (IOR/X/3265) initially catalogued by the British Library as “Chinese roll maps” is a revision of the Yongzheng Atlas (henceforth the BL edition). A Catalogue of Manuscript and Printed Reports, Field Books, Memoirs, Maps, etc. of the Indian Surveys Deposited in the Map Room of the India Office refers to it as “A Chinese map of the greater part of Asia and part of European Russia,” and includes a detailed entry. As with the Kangxi and Qianlong Atlases, the scope of the Yongzheng Atlas reaches beyond the territories under Qing rule. The northernmost toponym of the BL edition is Noosy Hada off the Russian coast of the Arctic Ocean, and the southmost toponym is the Great Tortoise Shell Shoal ( Da daimao zhou) at the tip of today’s Hainan Island. The atlas extends west to the Red Sea, and east to Gioi Ri li Omo in Russia. Therefore, it is more accurate to regard it as a map of Asia than of the Qing empire. The Great Tortoise Shell Shoal in the Pacific Ocean (BL IOR/X/3265) In 1708-1718, under the patronage of the Kangxi emperor, the Jesuits conducted comprehensive surveys of Qing territories, measuring the longitudes and latitudes of 641 sites. Synthesizing their own data and other sources, the Jesuits produced the Kangxi Atlas. In 1756, 1759, and 1772, the Qianlong emperor, Kangxi’s grandson, had the Jesuits map Xinjiang, the former territory of the Zunghars that the Qing had newly acquired. The earliest edition of the Yongzheng Atlas was completed no later than 1726, while the BL edition reflects the territorial changes up through 1760. For most Qing territories, the BL edition consults the results of the land surveys conducted in 1708-1718, 1756, and 1759. For a few borderlands, such as Tibet, and the areas beyond Qing control, the Jesuit cartographers referred to Qing envoys’ records and other materials. The BL edition of the Yongzheng Atlas is prefaced by two Qianlong’s poems in Chinese and Manchu, which are dated 1756 and 1760. The same poems preface the Qianlong Atlas (BL IOR/X/3265) The Yongzheng Atlas is characterized by its hybrid style, which distinguishes it from the Kangxi and Qianlong Atlases, which use latitude-longitude coordinates. The BL edition is composed of ten rows of various lengths, and each row is divided into squares of 2.5 inches, by equidistant horizontal and vertical lines. The vertical lines represent meridians with indicators, such as “east one” and “west one,” on the bottom. The prime meridian is based at the Shuntian prefecture, the capital area of the empire. The horizontal lines resemble latitudes but do not note any degree. The coordinates of the Yongzheng Atlas are a hybrid of the latitude-longitude system and the conventional Chinese method of indicating the distance by a network of square grids. The Kangxi and Qianlong Atlases adopt curves, and thus are known as “curved-grid maps” (xiege ditu) in the Qing documents, while the Yongzheng Atlas, featuring straight lines, is referred to as a “rectangular-grid map” (fangge ditu). The meridian crosses the Shuntian prefecture (In red) Imperial cartographers updated the Yongzheng Atlas throughout the eighteenth century to make sure that it reflected the latest territorial changes and cartographical practices, and thus left multiple versions. The currently known nine editions of the Yongzheng Atlas are preserved in five institutions. The xylographic edition in the Chinese Academy of Sciences was printed no later than 1728. The xylographic print and manuscript in the First Historical Archives can be dated to 1729. The two colored xylographic editions in the Palace Museum in Beijing were printed respectively around 1725 and 1729. One manuscript edition in the museum was drawn before 1727, while the other was after 1730. The editions in the National Library of China and the British Library were produced between 1759 and 1761. In 1825, John Reeves (1774-1865), a British tea merchant in Canton, presented the BL edition of the Yongzheng Atlas to the library of the East India Company in London. During his stay in Canton from 1812 to 1831, Reeves acquired an extensive collection of the specimens and drawings of exotic flora and fauna and his collection ended up in the British Museum’s natural history department. William Huttmann’s report to the Council of the Royal Geographical Society in 1844 briefly described the BL edition. Nevertheless, he mistook the revision of the Yongzheng Atlas for the Qianlong Atlas, which also included depictions of Inner Asian territories gained by the Qing in the 1750. Huttmann claimed that he had translated all the Manchu toponyms and a considerable portion of the Chinese ones in this atlas on behalf of the East India Company. The marginalia in the lower left corner of the third row. In his magnum opus Science and Civilisation in China, Joseph Needham argued that the Chinese grid tradition was another form of quantitative cartography, which continued to prosper when the European tradition of quantitative mapmaking suffered a great degeneration in the medieval millennium. The Yongzheng Atlas integrates two traditions, pioneering a series of nineteenth-century maps, in which the Chinese rectangular grid system and the latitude-longitude coordinates coexisted. A Catalogue of Manuscript and Printed Reports, Field Books, Memoirs, Maps, etc. of the Indian Surveys Deposited in the Map Room of the India Office. London: W. H. Allen & Co, 1878. Cams, Mario. Companions in Geography: East-West Collaboration in the Mapping of Qing China (c.1685-1735). Leiden: Brill, 2017. Hostetler, Laura. Qing Colonial Enterprise: Ethnography and Cartography in Early Modern China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. Millward, James. “Coming onto the Map: ‘Western Regions’ Geography and Cartographic Nomenclature in the Making of Chinese Empire in Xinjiang.” Late Imperial China 20 (1999): 61-98. Needham, Joseph. Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and Earth, vol. 3 of Science and Civilisation in China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959. Perdue, Peter, “Boundaries, Maps, and Movement: Chinese, Russian, and Mongolian Empires in Early Modern Central Eurasia.” The International History Review 20 (1998): 263-86. Xue Zhang, PhD candidate, Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University Posted by Ursula Sims-Williams at 1:00 AM China, East Asia, Maps Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Pig 2019 Horoscope for the year of the pig, from a Thai manuscript dated 1885, containing drawings based on the Chinese Zodiac and its animals (BL Or.13650, f.6v ) In East Asian and South East Asian countries, as well as among overseas communities of Asian origin, traditional celebrations for the start of a New Year are approaching. On the 5th of February, we will leave the year of the Dog , and welcome the year of the Pig. Dog and Pig are part of a series of twelve zodiac animals associated with the Chinese lunisolar calendar. The Pig is the last animal of the twelve-year cycle, and in the Japanese and Tibetan traditions is replaced by the Boar. Illustration of a boar from Seihō gahakuhitsu junishi-jō by Takeuchi Seihō (c. 1900) (BL ORB.40/71) The lunisolar calendar developed in China from the solar one, and was first introduced during the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046 to 256 BC). Years, months and days are calculated taking into account both the phases of the moon and the position of the sun which determines the seasons. Lunisolar calendars require a “leap month” or an “intercalary month” every one or two years. People born during the Year of the Pig, are thought to be clever, calm, mature and well-mannered, but sometimes naïve and insecure. Illustration from the Japanese album of toys Omochabako (BL ORB 40/950) Zhu Baijie (豬八戒, where the first character means “pig”) is probably the most famous pig in Chinese literature. He is one of the main characters of the novel Journey to the West (西遊記Xi you ji) by Wu Cheng’en, published in 1592. The novel narrates the pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang to India and Central Asia along the Silk Road to gather and take to China Buddhist texts. During his journey, he meets three creatures who become his disciples to atone for their past sins: Sun Wukong (the Monkey), Zhu Bajie (the Pig) and Sha Wujing (a water monster or “Monk Sha”). Page 494 from the 18th century woodblock printed edition of the Xiyouji depicting four characters of the novel travelling: Tang Sanzang on horseback, Zhu Bajie and Sun Wukong with martial arts sticks, and Sha Wujing bringing up the rear (BL 15271.c.13, page 494) The Chinese New Year is welcomed with fireworks, whose sound, together with the sound of drums and music, is meant to scare away the demon Nian (written 年, like the character for year). Delicious food is put on the table and chun lian (written春聯: good wishes for the new year in form of poems, usually on red paper) are pasted on the entrance doors. Calligrapher preparing chun lian (BL Or. 11539, folio 34) Our Curator Han-lin Hsieh wrote a chun lian to wish all our readers a very Happy Chinese New Year! Happy New Year from us to you, May your triumphs be big, In the year of the Pig, And success come with all that you do. Sara Chiesura, Han-lin Hsieh, Hamish Todd (East Asian Collections) With thanks to Emma Harrison China, East Asia, Japan, South East Asia Technorati Tags: Chinese New Year, Year of the Pig Researching the Asian and African Collections at the British Library The Asian and African department at the British Library began 2019 with one of the most important annual events in our calendar: a training day for students beginning their doctoral dissertations. Approximately fifty students from across the UK were introduced to the collections and the best ways to research them. It was a ‘really fantastic’ experience, according to one participant, who explained that ‘the collections of the BL can be wonderful but overwhelming so it was incredibly helpful being introduced to what there is and how to use them’. Items on display at the ‘Meet the Curators session’ So, what were the top tips from the day? Where should researchers begin when confronted with the enormous collections at the British Library? If you haven’t used our collections yet – or if you have, but aren’t too sure how it all works – then this blog will get you started. The first place to look is our subject hub pages. (You can also get there from the front page of our website by going to the ‘Catalogues and Collections’ menu, then selecting ‘Overview of the Collections’.) These pages give you a quick overview of what’s in the BL’s collections, how you can access it, and what you can get elsewhere. It’s an essential place to start, so that you know the sort of things you can search for in our catalogues and what we’re likely to have (as well as what we don’t have). Relevant subject hubs for Asian and African Studies via https://www.bl.uk/subjects Understanding our collections The British Library’s collections are huge. They are: from all over the world in all major world languages, and many others in all disciplines, and historical and contemporary. We hold material in a very wide range of formats. If, so far, you’ve only thought about using books and manuscripts or archives, it could be worth asking how other items (perhaps sound recordings, or maps) could bring new dimensions to your research. Different collection formats in the British Library Searching the collections There are two main catalogues: Explore the British Library, for (mainly) published material: Books and serials Audio-visual material Archived websites Explore Archives and Manuscripts, for (mainly) unpublished material: Visual collections Both catalogues indicate hard-copy and digital material. Additional catalogues are also available via our website, and these may give more detail on particular collections. For example, the Sound and Moving Image catalogue is recommended for audio-visual collections. Hebrew and Christian Orient curator Ilana Tahan showing some BL collection items at the doctoral training day Using the collections: in the Reading Rooms For physical/hard-copy items, you’ll need to come into our Reading Rooms (having first obtained a Reader Pass). Our full collections are available for research at our main building in St Pancras, London. You can also see many items (but not everything) in our Reading Room at Boston Spa, Wetherby, Yorkshire. For licensing reasons, some electronic material is only available on-site in our Reading Rooms. The most important thing to be aware of in this respect is our collection of subscription e-resources. These are electronic packages which the British Library buys and/or subscribes to. They include: bibliographies and other reference tools journals and e-books, and collections of primary sources. University libraries also offer these packages, but we have many things which individual libraries may not hold, so it’s always worth checking. The best way to find out what we have is to go to our electronic resources page. Remote access to a few of these resources is available to Reader Pass holders, and may increase in future. Where this service is offered, it’s indicated on the electronic resources page. Sample search for electronic resources on Japan The British Library is given one free copy of every book published or distributed in the UK. This is called legal deposit, and these days about half of this material come to us as e-books. These electronic publications are also only available in the Reading Rooms. These can be identified through Explore the British Library and read on the Reading Room computers. Using the collections: online We are digitising more and more of our collections, which means that some of the material you’ll find in our catalogues is available free online. Manuscripts from our collections are available through the Digitised Manuscripts portal, which includes (but is not limited to) Ethiopic, Hebrew, Malay, Persian and Thai manuscripts. See the Asian and African Studies blog for more on these digitised manuscripts. The Endangered Archives Programme offers large collections of archives and manuscripts from many African and Asian countries online. (The originals remain in the country of origin.) Doctoral theses (dissertations) from most UK universities can be downloaded or requested via our EThOS service. In many cases, it’s free. The Qatar Digital Library has digitised many India Office Records and Arabic manuscripts held by the British Library. These are of particular relevance to the history of the Middle East, but also relate to East Africa and the Horn, as well as other regions. Many older books in our collections have been digitised and are available through Explore the British Library. When you find records for these items, you can click through to the full text, which is also available in Google Books. Catalogue record and digitised full text of a work by the Rev. Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Bishop on the Niger For more information on what’s available online, see our Digital Collections page as well as the subject hub pages for your area. And finally…talk to us! We know that the BL is complicated and staff in Asian and African Collections are happy to point you in the right direction. You can reach us online, or by talking to the staff on the enquiry desk in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room. Enquiries are handled by a specialist reference team, and referred to curators if necessary. And don’t forget our blog, a mine of information on our collections. Discussions at the doctoral training day Marion Wallace, Lead Curator, Africa Posted by Ursula Sims-Williams at 5:17 PM Africa, East Asia, Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, Visual arts History from Between: Global Circulations of the Past in East Asia and Europe The East Asian Uses of the European Past project, funded by the Humanities in the European Research Area, in collaboration with the British Library, is proud to announce a one-day conference on 1 April 2019 to discuss the creation of historical knowledge between East Asia and Europe from 1600-1950. In two thematic panels and two keynote talks, we will explore how ideas about the past circulated and were repurposed within East Asian networks of exchange. Some of the questions we will consider include: how did East Asian actors use their understanding of European expansion to burnish their own colonial aspirations? What does it mean to say the Chinese had a ‘Middle Ages’—originally a way of talking about the history of and for Europeans? How might the maritime narratives of East Asians challenge how the past of cultural others is viewed? The event will run from 10am-5pm in the British Library Knowledge Centre, with a smaller reception from 5pm-7.30pm. You can register for the day event (10am -5pm) at our Eventbrite page. There are also a smaller number of tickets available to our evening keynote and drinks reception from 5pm-7.30pm. You can register for this through our separate Eventbrite page. Nagasaki ezu ‘An illustrated map of Nagasaki’. Printed c.1680 (British Library Or.75.g.25) The first panel, Oceans, Islands, and Imperial Expansion in East Asia, will explore how maritime expansion of the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries was understood by Chinese and Japanese actors. Professor Leigh Jenco of the LSE will examine the earliest first-hand account of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, written by the seventeenth-century military advisor Chen Di. In contrast to both European and Chinese contemporaries, Chen showed how the lives of these people might be understood on their own terms rather than in contrast to an established yardstick of civilization. Professor Martin Dusinberre of the University of Zurich considers the late-nineteenth century intellectual dialogue between the Cambridge professor J.R. Seeley and his young Japanese student Inagaki Manjirō (1861-1908). The result of this encounter was Inagaki’s articulation of a future ‘Pacific Age’ of Japanese expansion, modelled on the past expansion of the British Empire. Finally, Dr Birgit Tremml-Werner, also of the University of Zurich, examines how the late-nineteenth century Japanese translator and historian Murakami Naojirō used European sources to reconsider Japan’s history of maritime engagement in Southeast Asia as a model for its future expansion. Jesuit-designed Chinese terrestrial globe, early 17th century (British Library Maps G.35) Our first keynote speaker, Timothy Brook, of the University of British Columbia, will discuss Picturing the World: Chinese Uses of European Cartography. Sailing the oceans in the sixteenth century obliged Europeans to come up with new models to visualize the world. As these models reached China toward the end of the century, Chinese cartographers reacted not by abandoning their model of the world, but by importing features of European maps and adjusting their image of the world accordingly. The impact is not always obvious, and the results can be surprising, as we watch both cultures make their way along separate paths toward seeing the world in common. Our second panel on Entangled Histories will explore how European ideas about the past were repurposed by East Asian actors to understand or reinterpret their own histories. Dr David Mervart of the University of Madrid will discuss how Japanese translations from the Dutch work History of Japan by Engelbert Kaempfer shaped understandings of Japan’s time as a ‘closed country,’ as well as of the merits and demerits of opening the country to outside trade. Professor Joachim Kurtz of the University of Heidelberg reviews attempts by twentieth-century Chinese historians to use the concept of the “middle ages,” derived from European history, as a meaningful way of partitioning Chinese history. Finally, Dr Lorenzo Andolfatto of the University of Heidelberg will examine historical conditions which give rise to utopian thinking, through a comparison of the sixteenth-century England of Thomas More and the late nineteenth-century China of the novelist Wu Jianren. He suggests that a fundamental rethinking of the world and England and China’s place in it helped to stimulate both authors’ works. The day will close with a smaller keynote from Professor Megan Thomas of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Professor Thomas will explore European Pasts in the Margins of Filipino History Making. In the late nineteenth century, when the Philippines was subject to Spanish sovereignty, young Filipino intellectuals imagining their country’s future turned to history. In writings now part of the British Library’s collections, these young men treated what they called the “pre-history” of the Philippine islands as well as the history of Spanish occupation, seeking to glean from the past what could illuminate the present and future. Their subject was the Philippines, yet in the margins of their accounts were sometimes references to European history—not only the history of Spanish presence in the Philippine islands, but also references to the folklore, customary law, and political history of Europe. They did not look to Europe’s past for models, however; instead they thought that comparing elements of Europe’s past with the Philippines showed dynamic possibilities in the Philippine past, present, and future. The one-day conference History from Between: Global Circulations of the Past in East Asia and Europe will run from 10am-5pm on 1 April 2019 at the British Library Knowledge Centre. For more information about the research underpinning this conference you can listen to our East Asian Uses of the European Past podcast series here. Jon Chappell, London School of Economics East Asia, Events, International The Arrival of the Black Ships 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration, a pivotal event in Japanese history which heralded an era of dramatic political, social and cultural change as Japan emerged from centuries of self-imposed isolation and sought to take its place on the international stage. During the Meiji Period (1868-1912), Japan was transformed from a feudal society where power lay in the hands of the Tokugawa Shoguns and hundreds of local lords or Daimyo controlling a patchwork of fiefdoms, to a centralised, constitutional state under the nominal leadership of Emperor Mutsuhito (1852-1912). This transition was marked by the inauguration of the new reign name of Meiji or ‘Enlightened Rule’ on 23rd October 1868. To commemorate this major anniversary the British Library has digitised a manuscript handscroll Or.16453 depicting the arrival in Japanese waters in July 1853 of the American Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794-1858) and his squadron of four warships. Perry’s arrival triggered a long chain of events that led ultimately to the revolution of 1868. Fig.1. One of Perry’s steam-driven Black Ships. Detail from British Library manuscript Or.16453 In November 1852 Perry had been dispatched by US President Millard Fillmore to establish diplomatic relations and ensure the opening of Japan’s ports to trade. On 8th July 1853 the squadron of four ships –steam-driven paddlewheel frigates Susquehanna and Mississippi and sailing sloops Plymouth and Saratoga – appeared off Uraga heading towards the city of Edo, seat of the Shogun’s government. The sight of these smoke-belching, black-hulled vessels, which dwarfed any ship the Japanese had seen before, must have been awe-inspiring and they were quickly nicknamed the Kurofune or ‘Black Ships’. Following their arrival there was intense activity on shore as local officials sent desperate requests for help to the government in Edo. Over the next few days, in an attempt to stonewall Perry while they waited instructions, a succession of unfortunate junior officials were sent out to the Susquehanna, Perry’s flagship, in an attempt to persuade Perry and his fleet to leave for Nagasaki, the only port designated for foreign trade. The Americans refused and fired off blank shots from their cannon, supposedly to celebrate Independence Day but also as an unsubtle hint of their superior firepower. Fig.2. Perry and his crew march to the official reception at Kurihama. Detail from British Library manuscript Or.16453 Eventually on 14th July Perry was allowed to land at Kurihama for a meeting with local dignitaries. He marched in considerable pomp with a large contingent of marines and sailors, accompanied by a military band playing ‘Hail Columbia’ while the Susquehanna fired a 13-gun salute. The scroll gives a vivid impression of the scene with the procession of Americans snaking into the distance[1]. They are preceded by the musicians and the US flag while in the centre walks Commodore Perry accompanied by two cabin boys bearing boxes, probably bearing official gifts or the President’s letter. Fig.3. Site of the official reception at Kurihama. Detail from British Library manuscript Or.16453 The official reception took place in a hastily constructed camp where Perry, accompanied by three of his commanders, presented the letter from President Fillmore to the two Bugyō (Magistrates) of Uraga, Toda Ujiyoshi 戸田氏栄 (1799-1858) and Ido Hiromichi 井戸弘道 (died 1855). With the first stage of their mission accomplished, Perry and his fleet sailed away on 17th July promising to return the following year. As the ships disappeared over the horizon, the watching officials no doubt breathed a sigh of relief but the respite was only temporary and Japan was already on the path to upheaval and civil war. The British Library scroll Or.16453 is untitled, anonymous and undated but must have been produced shortly after the events it depicts, possibly as an official record. It measures 3.2 metres in length, composed of 8 sections, and the text consists of short captions accompanying the illustrations. A note at the beginning states that the American ships entered Edo Bay on the 3rd Day of the 6th Month of the 6th Year of the Kaei Era (8th July 1853) and they remained until the 14th Day of the 6th Month (19th July) [actually they left on the 17th July]. The first panel depicts some of the US crew - two slightly bored-looking marines resting on their rifles and two luxuriously whiskered officers brandishing swords. They are described as being from the American ship ‘Washington’, although no vessel by that name accompanied Perry. Fig.4. Crew of the Black Ships. Detail from British Library manuscript Or.16453 The artist may have been allowed on board one of the vessels or at least been an eye witness to events since the scroll depicts events and people in considerable detail. For example the second panel shows an array of headgear and musical instruments and the third has pictures of a rowing boat both empty and crewed by sailors and marines. Fig.5. Headgear, musical instruments and rowing boat. Detail from British Library manuscript Or.16453 The fourth section is a magnificent picture (Fig.1) of one of the steam warships with its massive paddlewheel on the side and a huge ‘Stars and Strips’ fluttering from a flagpole. Next is the illustration of the American procession, followed by a detailed diagram representing the Japanese procession of over 1,000. Unlike the Americans, the members of the Japanese delegation are not shown in person but indicated by dots and banners with descriptions of who was who. Fig.6. Diagram of the Japanese delegation’s procession. Detail from British Library manuscript Or.16453 The penultimate section shows the specially constructed camp at Kurihama (Fig.3), where the official meeting took place between the representatives of the two sides – the Magistrates Toda and Ido for the Japanese, and Perry and three of his commanders for the Americans. The route taken by the US contingent is carefully indicated by a line of dots leading up from the shore. The scrolls ends with a view of Edo Bay with four enormous Black Ships, the two steamships flying oversized flags, moored ominously off Kurihama. Fig.7. The Black Ships at anchor off Kurihama. Detail from British Library manuscript Or.16453 When the Black Ships departed, they left in their wake a nation in profound disagreement as it faced the challenge of dealing with the advent of the western powers and their demands the opening of Japanese ports to international trade. The existential threat posed by the Black Ships and the world they represented led to deep divisions with the Japanese ruling elite and the population at large. Traditionalists sought to maintain the status quo and keep the foreign ‘barbarians’ out at all costs while reformists believed that change was inevitable and that Japan could benefit from interaction with western nations. The ensuing 15 years of internal disagreement, political machination, diplomatic skulduggery, intimidation and violence on all sides ultimately led to the collapse of the Tokugawa regime and the emergence of a new political and social order. Hamish Todd, Head of East Asian Collections [1] The procession numbered some 250 individuals but the scroll exaggerates this to 500. Digitisation, East Asia, Japan Tales of cats and dogs The new exhibition in the British Library’s Entrance Hall, Cats on the Page (until Sunday 17th March 2019), provides a fascinating glimpse of how cats come to life in books. One of several items from the Japanese collections in the exhibition is The Boy who drew cats, rendered into English by Lafcadio Hearn. This story was issued in the Japanese fairy tale series published by Hasegawa Takejirō from 1885, which also included another cat-related tale, Schippeitaro, by Mrs T.H. James, published in 1888. Although the cover illustration of Schippeitaro showing cats dancing in a circle is rather light-hearted, these cats are not simply cute creatures. The cover of Schippeitaro, showing a dog in the basket and cats dancing around him in a circle. Mrs T.H. James, Schippeitaro. Tokyo: Kōbunsha, 1888. British Library, ORB.30/4013 Interestingly, the preface of the tale has nothing to do with cats, but concerns a dog and his image on an Ofuda. Ofuda are paper or wooden amulets issued by Japanese religious institutions to protect their owners from various evils. This image is described as “The picture of the dog, a copy of one now issued from Mitsumine or Mitakesan to the faithful who reverence it as Okuchishinjin, the large mouthed god”. Close up of the first page of the tale, showing a fictional Ofuda of Shippeitarō Daimyōjin. Schippeitaro, 1889. British Library, ORB.30/4013 'Okuchishinjin' must have been a mis-transliteration of the characters 大口真神, which should have been read either as Ōkuchi no magami or Ōguchimagami, a Japanese wolf who plays the role of a divine servant in Shintō belief. Traditionally people affectionately call him Oinu-sama (お犬様), meaning a holy dog. He is strongly associated with Yamato Takeru (日本武尊), a legendary prince of ancient Japan, who is believed to have established Mitsumine Shrine (三峰神社) on his way to the East Country, where the power of the emperor of Japan had yet not been accepted. There is a well-known story of the wolf who guided Yamato Takeru, when he lost his way in the deep mountains of Musashi province. Latterly Yamato Takeru entrusts the protection of the Musashi mountain area to the wolf, so this is why both Mitsumine Shrine and Musashi Mitake Shrine (武蔵御嶽神社) worship Oinu-sama, and his Ofuda is believed to ward off devils and thieves. This Ofuda (far right) is possibly from the Mitake Shrine. [The original place of worship in Musashi province was believed to have been founded in 91 BC. Later it joined the Grand Head temple of the Kinpusen Zaō Gongendō (金峰山寺蔵王権現堂) in Yoshino (吉野) and became well known as Mitake Zaō Gongen (御嶽蔵王権現). In the late 19th century, the Meiji government ordered religious institutions to follow the policy of the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, and the name was changed to Mitake Shrine (御嶽神社) in 1874.] The Ofuda shown is from a collection of c. 330 Japanese amulets printed up to the 1880s, mounted in 5 albums. Ofuda harikomichō : Daiei Toshokanzō お札貼込帳 : 大英図書館蔵. British Library, 16007.d.1(1) 60-63 The legend of Yamato Takeru and the wolf may be an early example of a theme familiar in Japanese tales, of the hero’s journey with a faithful dog. However, in Schippeitaro (竹篦太郎) the true hero is probably not the warrior, but the eponymous dog of the story. A young travelling samurai warrior gets lost in a thick forest on a wild mountainside, with no human inhabitants in sight. Fortunately, he comes upon an empty and half-ruined temple, to serve as his shelter for the night. In the middle of the night, he hears a strange noise and witnesses an extraordinary scene, of a troop of cats dancing in a circle under a beautiful full moon, singing “Tell it not to Schippeitaro! Keep it close and dark!” All the cats are depicted standing on two legs, chanting and dancing under the moonlight, with one on the left page with a Tenugui, Japanese traditional towel, on his head. Schippeitaro, 1889. British Library, ORB.30/4013 The mysterious night passes and by the time dawn arrives, the cats have gone and the samurai manages to discover a path to reach a village. The villagers are overcome by grief because they have to send a fine maiden to a mountain spirit as his sacrifice. The villagers have no choice but to put the victim into a bamboo trunk and leave her in the ruined temple where the samurai warrior had just spent the night. He wants to help the girl and the villagers, so he tells them what he saw the previous night, and asks who Schippeitaro is. He finds out that Schippeitaro is actually a strong and beautiful dog, belonging to the master of the area. The master agrees to send the brave Schippeitaro to the village, and it is Schippeitaro instead of the maiden who is put into the bamboo trunk, and then waits quietly in the ruined temple. Schippeitaro, the dog of whom the troop of cats are so afraid, in the bamboo trunk while on his mission to save the maiden and the village. Schippeitaro, 1889. British Library, ORB.30/4013 At midnight, the troop of cats arrives, led by a huge black boss cat. The fearless Schippeitaro attacks the boss, seizes him with his teeth and holds him fast, so that the young samurai can finish the monster off with one stroke of his trusty sword. The village no longer has to provide a sacrifice and Schippeitaro returns to his master, showered with gratitude by all. The boss black cat approaching the sacrifice with his troop, while Schippeitaro patiently hides inside, waiting for the best moment to attack. Schippeitaro, 1889. British Library, ORB.30/4013 Superstitious Japanese used to believe that if Japanese cats lived too long, they would turn into monster cats Nekomata (猫又) by practising a mysterious ceremony, dancing in a circle in the middle of the night, ideally covering their head with a Tenugui towel. Shown on the right is a Nekomata 猫又, cat monster, standing on two legs, wearing a Kimono and putting a Tenugui on her head. Hashimoto Sadahide 橋本貞秀. Nekomata baba keshō yashiki 金花貓婆化生鋪. Edo : Tsuruya Kichiemon 江戸 : 鶴屋喜右衛門, 1893. Woodblock-printed book. National Diet Library Although the mountain spirits are depicted as cats in this particular tale, they are usually baboons or monkeys in variations of the original Japanese legend. It was thought that when Mrs. T.H. (Kate) James was working on the English text of Schippeitaro, she probably replaced baboons, which were not familiar to 19th century English readers, with cats. Close up of a Nekomata pretending to be an ordinary cat, but her forked tail clearly indicates she is not just a cat. Hashimoto Sadahide 橋本貞秀. Nekomata baba keshō yashiki 金花貓婆化生鋪. Edo : Tsuruya Kichiemon 江戸 : 鶴屋喜右衛門, 1893. Woodblock-printed book. National Diet Library We don’t know the exact reason for Mrs James' choice of cats instead of the other options available to her; perhaps, she was inspired by the legend of the mysterious dancing cats. All we know is that the motif of the dancing cats added a somewhat more humorous flavour to the story than savage baboons would have done. The Boy who drew cats (Japanese fairy tale series,no.23). Tokyo, 1905. British Library, 11095.a.20. ちりめん本『竹篦太郎』に表れる「踊る猫」 Chichibu Mitsumine shrine (秩父三峰神社) Murashi Mitake shrine (武蔵御嶽神社) Blog post: Ofuda: in with the good, out with the bad (Part 1) and (Part 2) Yasuyo Ohtsuka, Curator, Japanese Collections Posted by Annabel Gallop at 9:04 AM East Asia, Japan, Japanese The Star Lovers The 7th day of the 7th lunar month has long been the date of the Star Festival 七夕 in East Asia, traditionally known as Tanabata in Japan, and as Qixi - or more recently as the ‘Chinese Valentine’s Day’ - in China. It has always been a very popular festival celebrating the summer evening, and evoking the romantic legend of the star lovers who meet each other once a year by crossing the Magpie Bridge over the Milky Way. Above left is the Dunhuang Star Atlas, the oldest known manuscript of a star chart dating to around AD 700. On the right-hand image the Magpie Bridge, which corresponds to the constellation of Cygnus (= Celestial Ford 天津), has been indicated by a green dotted line, and the Milky Way is indicated by two parallel dotted lines in blue (neither feature is marked on the original Star Atlas). The boy lover, known as Niulang (牛郎) in the Chinese folktale, was identified in his original position as Niu su yi (牛宿一), also known as β Capricorni or Dabih Major in Western astronomy. The girl, Zhinü (織女) has always been and still is associated with Vega since the creation of the Dunhuang Atlas. British Library, Stein Collection Or.8210/S.3326. International Dunhuang Project http://idp.bl.uk/ However, the Star Festival is not only for celebrating romance. We first explored the origins of this festival and related astronomical subjects in two previous blog posts in August 2014: ‘Tanabata (七夕) Star Festival’ - is it 7 July or 2 August 2014? (1) and (2). This year we concentrate on how the night of the 7th day of the 7th lunar month has had a dramatic impact on both the Chinese and Japanese literary traditions. A young woman crossing the Magpie Bridge over the Milky Way. Grace James, Green Willow and other Japanese Fairy Tales (London: Macmillan, 1910). British Library, L.R.26.d.7 One of the most notable references to the night of the 7th day of the 7th lunar month in Chinese classical poetry is probably ‘The Song of Everlasting Regret (長恨歌)’ by Bai Juyi (白居易 772–846). The inspiration for Bai Juyi’s poem was the doomed love between Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (唐玄宗帝 685-762) and his imperial consort Yang Guifei (楊貴妃 719-756). On the night of the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, they vowed to be together forever. However, there was to be no happy ending, as Yang Guifei was assassinated. Front cover (left) and illustration (centre and right) of the Daoist master meeting with Yang Guifei in the afterworld (right). Chōgonka Zushō 長恨歌圖抄. Published in Japan, Enpō 5 [1677]. British Library, Or.74.cc.7 Despite the passage of many years, Emperor Xuanzong still pines for his dead lover, Yang Guifei. Although he cannot cross the border into the afterlife, he commissions his Daoist master to seek out Yang Guifei, for whom he is still longing but can no longer see, even in his dreams. Eventually the Daoist master manages to meet Yang Guifei in the afterlife, and she asks him to pass her message to Emperor Xuanzong, calling her Imperial lover to a romantic reunion in the stars. Even though there is no explicit mention of the star lovers in the lines below, the 7th day of the 7th lunar month indubitably references the love of the celestial couple. “On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, in the Hall of Longevity, At midnight, when nobody is around, this is when we will make our secret pact. In the heavens, we vow to be as two birds flying wingtip to wingtip, On earth, we vow to be as two intertwined branches of a tree.” “On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month”. Chinese text with Japanese annotations. Chōgonka Zushō 長恨歌圖抄. Published in Japan for Japanese readers, Enpō 5 [1677]. British Library, Or.74.cc.7 ‘The Song of Everlasting Regret’ was already very well known among the Japanese when Murasaki Shikibu (紫式部), who was a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Empress Shōshi in the 11th century, wrote ‘The Tale of Genji (源氏物語)’, and it is clear that she consciously included many direct or indirect references to Bai Juyi’s poetry. At the opening of the story, the relationship of Genji's parents mirrors that of the Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei, as Genji's father is the Emperor Kiritsubo and his mother is the most beloved one in his court. Genji’s mother dies young, leaving the Emperor in deep sorrow. While they were together, their favourite saying was “In the sky, as birds that share a wing. On earth, as trees that share a branch”, from the famous lines in ‘The Song of Everlasting Sorrow’. Day and night, he repeatedly bemoans the shortness of her life, making his own but an empty dream. Chapter 41 of 'The Tale of the Genji' (源氏物語繪詞, Genji monogatari ekotoba), Naraehon manuscript, mid-17th century. British Library, Or.1287, f.43 In Chapter 41, Genji is left alone as his wife Lady Murasaki dies. In this chapter, the episode of the night of the 7th day of the 7th month is described as Tanabata, the day of the blessing of the star lovers. Genji is not in the mood for celebrating romance, and he keeps on thinking of his late wife and composes this poem: “They meet, these stars, in a world beyond the clouds. My tears but join the dews of the garden of parting.” Although the symbolic lines “In the sky, as birds that share a wing. On earth, as trees that share a branch” were not quoted explicitly in his poem, they are evoked implicitly through the whole chapter. The celestial lovers - Kengyū (Niulang in Chinese) and Orihime (Zhinü in Chinese). Ikeda, Touri 池田東籬. Amanogawa sōshi 銀河草子. Tenpō 6 [1835.] British Library, ORB.30/3377 Konparu Zenchiku (金春善竹 1405-1470) composed a Noh play, ‘Yōkihi (楊貴妃)’, based on the latter part of ‘The Song of Everlasting Regret’. The key motifs in his Noh play were the tragic separations and broken promises as the lovers believed that nothing could force them to be parted. The lines about the 7th day of the 7th month, the star lovers, tree branches and birds are repeated at the close of the Noh play, leaving the audience filled with sorrow. Yōkihi (楊貴妃) from the collection of 200 illustrations of characters from Noh plays. Tsukioka, Kōgyo 月岡耕漁, and Sōfū Matsuno松野奏風. Nōga taikan : nōga nihyakuban ōzoroe 能畫大鑑 : 能畫貮百番大揃. Tōkyō: Seibi Shoin 東京 : 精美書院, 1936. Revised edition of the work originally published in 1934. British Library, ORB.45/153 Lovers in classical literature were aware that they could not thwart fate and that human life is full of uncertainty, but perhaps they admired the star lovers in the night sky as a symbol of eternal love, unobtainable in the real world. Song of Everlasting Regret (Chinese & English translation) The Tale of Genji (full English translation) 源氏物語と長恨歌 The Dunhuang Chinese sky: a comprehensive study of the oldest known star atlas With special thanks to Professor Roberto Soria, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for identifying positions of the key constellations and the Milky Way on the Dunhuang Star Atlas. Chinese, East Asia, Japanese Asian and African studies blog recent posts Classes and costumes in traditional Vietnamese society From the Page Up: The Peking Gazette and the Histories of Everyday Print in East Asia (2) Tweets by blasia_africa Mughal India Ottoman Turkey Asian & African links	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2350
__label__cc	0.560029	0.439971	Flames of War: Fielding the US M1 57mm Anti-Tank Platoon It was clear to the Allies from the early years of World War II that German tanks were a big problem. From the early Panzer models to the medium Panthers and finally to the famed Tiger I and Königstiger, German armor combined with German tactics were major threats to Allies forces throughout the war. To help counter the German armor threat on the battlefield, the Allies quickly evolved their anti-tank weaponry. Building on earlier. lighter guns, the British introduced the “6 pounder” early in the war. Even before entering the war, the United States began production of its version with the M1 57mm anti-tank gun which it exported for use by UK and Soviet forces. Despite the gun’s mixed effectiveness against the strongest German tanks and only occasional use against infantry, the M1 57mm became the standard Allied anti-tank gun of the war with some 15,000 produced. I’ve previously modeled the British 6 pounder version of these guns for Flames of War, but I wanted to add some of the American M1 57mm models to my miniatures arsenal ahead of the Sint-Oedenrode scenario I’ll be running at the upcoming Fall In! convention in November. As luck would have it, a member of Metropolitan Wargamers in Brooklyn, NY was getting rid of some extra packs of the models and I picked them up on the cheap. Getting these assembled, painted and ready for the table was a quick process. After gluing everything up and covering the bases in a layer of filler putty, they got hit with a basic olive drab spray base undercoat. Flesh and equipment details got picked out, and skin was topped off in a flesh wash. The guns themselves received a brown wash and a lightened green highlighted brush coat. The bases were flocked, I added little bits of shrubby and then everything got a matte spray finish. The resulting four guns and two command stands gives me a lot of flexibility to add these to a lot of forces throughout the late war period I generally play. As a ubiquitous gun on the battlefields of World War II, these M1 57mm artillery pieces are certain to be making a lot of appearances in my games to come. Tagged 15mm, 6-pounder ordance gun, D-Day, Fall In!, Flames of War, France, Germany, Königstiger, M1 57mm Anti-Tank Gun, Metropolitan Wargamers, miniatures, Normandy, Normandy landings, painting, Panther, Panzer, scale modelling, Sint-Oedenrode, tanks, Tiger I, Tiger II, United States, wargaming, Western Front, World War II	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2351
__label__wiki	0.840343	0.840343	Concert of Ishtar in Plovdiv (24.11.2018 – S.I.L.A. hall) Ishtar, together with his band Alabina, returns in Plovdiv after seven years with a great concert on 24 November 2018. The show will be only in the "City of the Knolls". Ishtar will appear on stage with a band of 12 musicians and will show once more to the Bulgarian audience that she is deservedly considered to be the "Queen of Ethno Music". Ishtar comes to Plovdiv for the second time. At the first concert in 2011, the audience in the Ancient Theater remained fascinated by the talent of a world-famous singer of Jewish origin. Come on November 24, 2018 at 19:00 and hear star's biggest hits in live. Ishtar has been on the music scene for several decades, has sold several million albums and numerous world hits including "Last Kiss", Habibi (Sawah), "C'est La Vie". The real name of the talented performer is Eti Zah. She was born on November 10, 1968, in Kiriath Ata, to Haifa, Israel. Her mother was an Egyptian, and her father was a Moroccan, both of whom were Jews. Ishtar begins to sing at age 14 and continues, even during his service at the Israeli Defense Force. He chose the name Ishtar (the Mesopotam goddess of love and war because her grandmother called her Esther, but because of her Egyptian accent it sounded like Ishtar. In 2012 he released his latest album, "7", with 12 songs, the first of which is "Mi Amor". One of them is the Bulgarian ethnic song "Oblache le Byalo” (Cloudy White), the unofficial anthem of Bulgarians abroad. In 2015 Ishtar recorded a duet with Bulgarian singer Tsvetelina Yaneva, entitled "Music in Me". Organize by S.I.L.A. Complex - Plovdiv. Tickets at Eventim and Biletni Kasi (Tickets desks) in Plovdiv.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2356
__label__wiki	0.855338	0.855338	China’s National Security Commission Summary: China established the National Security Commission to help top leaders coordinate the country’s national security policy in a world of increasingly complex security challenges. Chinese leaders have long contemplated the formation of a national security council to help coordinate and manage the country’s complex security apparatus. Chinese President Xi Jinping took that step in 2013, announcing the creation of the Chinese National Security Commission (CNSC). In July 2015, the Chinese government passed a new national security law that is likely to strengthen the commission’s role in China’s national security policy. In a new Q&A, Zhao Kejin examines the origins and aims of the commission. He says the new body should prompt greater communication and coordination between China and the United States. Why was the Chinese National Security Commission established? What are the main tasks of the CNSC? How is the CNSC affecting China’s foreign policy? What is the commission’s working relationship with other established foreign policy organs? What is the CNSC’s relationship with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)? How can the commission help facilitate communication between government officials and military officials? How have China’s views about the management of national security evolved over time? How is China’s national security council similar to the U.S. model? In what ways will it be uniquely Chinese? What should be the relationship between the U.S. National Security Council and its new Chinese counterpart? According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first objective in establishing the CNSC is to help ensure the success of the deepening economic, political, and social reforms that are being carried out in China. In addition, the country’s new security commission, comprehensive security strategy, and national security law are expected to address the international security issues that China faces. The second goal of the CNSC is to establish a unified national security system. Before the CNSC was formed, the institutions for dealing with security were divided among many departments scattered throughout the Chinese Communist Party, the government, the military, and Chinese society. However, emergency situations that occur today require more effective management and cooperation among multiple departments. For example, there are more than ten departments involved in maritime security, and none of them can solve these problems on its own. Third, the CNSC was created to support the leadership and policy objectives of the Communist Party, which oversees the country’s security, military, and diplomatic affairs. The new national security council falls under the party, rather than the national government, and the commission can be expected to support the goals of the party. The CNSC has three primary tasks. The first is to advise the Politburo, which oversees the Communist Party, and the highest levels of leadership in matters of strategy and security. The second is to carry out strategic coordination between the different departments, and to unify the departments throughout the party, the government, the military, and society. Individual departments will routinely prepare reports for the CNSC. The commission is also working to establish uninhibited and institutionalized communications channels among agencies that are involved in military, security, and diplomatic affairs. The third task of the CNSC is to conduct crisis management and risk management, for both internal and external security threats. In the future, the overall policy direction for China’s national security will likely be determined by the Politburo, and the specific implementation of these policies will be the responsibilities of each of the departments. Overall coordination, as well as the determination of specific plans and crisis management, will be carried out by the CNSC. Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, China’s diplomatic policies had their own distinct goals and were largely independent from other areas of security. They were focused on establishing strong relations with the rest of the world and creating a good environment to encourage economic development. However, with the launch of the CNSC, China’s diplomatic policy has received high-level direction and become more integrated. During CNSC meetings, the concept of overall security has been stressed, with all Chinese diplomacy intended to serve this goal. In this regard, maintaining the long-lasting peace and stability of the nation should be the core goal. For example, when it comes to the China-U.S. relationship, diplomatic policies need to focus on ensuring mutual respect between the two countries, and the United States should not interfere in China’s internal affairs. For China, these are core interests. It is important to remember that the CNSC will not involve itself in the internal micro-matters of a particular department. For example, the management of embassies and consulates abroad, as well as strategic dialogue in diplomacy, will still be the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Unless there is an unexpected event or an emergency situation, the specific work will still be overseen independently by each department. The new agency’s relationship with the People’s Liberation Army is similar to its relationship with the country’s foreign policy organs. The internal affairs of the PLA will still be handled independently, and specific training, drills, and communications will remain the responsibilities of the military. The CNSC will not replace the Central Military Commission or the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. There are a number of ways that the CNSC can promote communication among government officials. The first way is to hold meetings. For example, if the military wants to increase its budget, it will need to make a proposal and then arrange a meeting to discuss it. The second way is by introducing legislation in China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress. Finally, the commission may serve as a conduit, receiving information from government organs and disseminating it to other interested departments. China’s views about the best structure for managing national security have changed in recent years, as China has become a more globalized power. Under the leadership of the Politburo and its top decisionmaking body, the Standing Committee, many institutions had been brought into the national security policy making process, including the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, the State Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of State Security. In the past, when the country’s external affairs were rather simple and chiefly characterized by clear divisions between friend and foe, this system satisfied China’s national security needs. In addition, most of the first generation of national leaders had been through the complicated test of battle, and that rich experience meant there was no need for a specialized institution or assistance to deal with matters of national security (as was also the case for the founding fathers of the United States). From Mao Zedong to Deng Xiaoping, these leaders essentially decided policy based on their personal experiences and the lessons they had learned in war. But beginning in the 1990s, and especially after the death of Deng Xiaoping, China’s leadership primarily consisted of engineers and technocrats who had no war-fighting experience. In addition, China faced new national security challenges from the United States, particularly with regard to Taiwan. In this context, some Chinese officials proposed the establishment of a national security council. Under the leadership of renowned scholar Wang Daohan, institutions such as the Shanghai Institute for International Studies began to study this proposal, with a focus on the structure of the U.S. National Security Council. In September 2000, the U.S. model was used to form the Central Leading Group for National Security, an informal agency for deliberation and coordination within the Communist Party that worked closely with the Foreign Affairs Leading Group. After this, when China found itself faced with increased security challenges, it was the Leading Group for National Security that initially raised policy suggestions. This group primarily focused on external security threats, analyzing their sources and severity and providing plans for dealing with them, while internal security issues were primarily the responsibility of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, which is tasked with maintaining stability. In this period, China’s national security apparatus appeared to be divided between external and internal policies. Initially, this structure was not problematic. However, as China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 and issues of domestic and external security became intertwined, the very concept of national security itself began to expand. There were now not only traditional security issues, there were also nontraditional security issues; there were not only short-term security issues, there were also long-term security issues that were caused by a problematic economic situation. All in all, China’s national security situation entered a state of increased complexity, with both foreign and domestic threats. The two-track system that had been in place faced a series of problems, including the decentralization of information, miscommunication, and compartmentalization. There was a lack of unified command, and there was an urgent need for an interactive and integrated strategy. It was against this backdrop that the decision was made in November 2013 to establish the CNSC. The national security councils in China and the United States both provide the highest echelons of leadership with advice as well as a platform for policy coordination. In the United States, the National Security Council serves as the president’s personal advisory body. It is formally chaired by the president and used to coordinate policy among various government agencies and departments. Meetings held by the National Security Council are regularly attended by the vice president, national security advisor, and various cabinet officials. By contrast, the CNSC is an institution of the Communist Party of China, and it is directly led by President Xi Jinping, who is the chairman of the Politburo, and by the vice chairmen. The CNSC is an administrative coordination agency. Unlike its U.S. counterpart (but similar to its Russian equivalent), it oversees several specific working departments, including bureaus involved with strategy, intelligence, security, and administrative affairs. The Chinese National Security Commission is also an interministerial body that coordinates the efforts of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People Consultative Conference, as well as those of other bodies, and it serves as a planning agency, with connections to think tanks. Thus, while the CNSC shares some traits with its U.S. counterpart, it also has special Chinese characteristics. It is important to establish mechanisms for high-level communication between the national security councils of China and the United States. Security issues between these two countries affect the entire world. China and the United States are two great powers that are both facing global security issues. The two nations need to improve communications regarding issues such as the Korean Peninsula, the South China Sea, and China’s dispute with Japan over the Diaoyu (or, in Japanese, Senkaku) Islands. In the event of an unexpected emergency, a hotline between the Chinese National Security Commission and the U.S. National Security Council would enable officials to set the agenda, share information, coordinate their responses, and stabilize the situation. The United States should propose this idea as a way to demonstrate its commitment to avoiding conflict and confrontation and demonstrating mutual respect. The national security councils in China and the United States could also encourage strategic and security dialogue between the two nations and their national security leadership. Such enhanced communication will ultimately allow differences to be brought under control, and allow the Asia-Pacific region as well as the rest of the world to become more secure. This article was published as part of the Window into China series. Implications of China’s Rise U.S.-China Relations Window Into China What Exactly Is the Story with China’s Rare Earths? The Logic Behind China’s Foreign Aid Agency Cheng Cheng How Are Various Countries Responding to China’s Belt and Road Initiative? Tomáš Valášek Darshana M. Baruah Feng Yujun Ma Bin Is This the End of Belt and Road, or Just the Beginning?	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2364
__label__wiki	0.700029	0.700029	St. Thomas More Catholic High School Schools of Choice View All K-12 Education Unique to Acadiana, Lafayette’s Schools of Choice program is a magnet-style option for students that comprises 16 academies with specialty-focused themes such as science, world languages, arts, engineering and more. Several of Lafayette’s Schools of Choice allow for advanced college preparatory work, including Early College Academy, which allows students to graduate from high school and complete a two-year associate’s degree at the same time. Specialty-focused programs at the area's Schools of Choice include: Language (French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese) Health care and biomedicine Early College Academy Early College Academy (ECA), located on the Lafayette campus of South Louisiana Community College (SLCC), is one of a small number of early-college high schools in the country. Graduates of the 9th-through-12th-grade program earn an associate’s degree in general studies in addition to a high school diploma. >> L. Leo Judice Elementary School L. Leo Judice Elementary School enrolls pre-kindergarten-through-5th-grade students on a campus that emphasizes environmental sciences. This freestanding School of Choice facility received an A rating from the State Department of Education for 2014-15. >> L.J. Alleman Middle School Arts-focused L.J. Alleman Middle School received an A rating from the State Department of Education for 2014-15. The 4th-through-8th-grade campus has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. The campus houses a Schools of Choice arts academy for 6th-through-8th-grade students. >>	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2369
__label__cc	0.624743	0.375257	Posts Tagged ‘812’ Fellini and the Self-Referential Nature of 8 1/2 Much has been made about the autobiographical nature of Frederico Fellini’s 1963 film 8 ½. The title refers to the film being his 8th feature, added with two short films equals 8 ½. The story is about a director who does not know what film he should direct. Fellini came up with that idea ironically while trying to decide what film he should direct. But how is this different from any random YouTube video made by a Junior High student without a plan? Or why is this film about itself so much more “artistic” than any car commercial, blatantly self-referential, and arguably plot-less? I believe the answer lies in its tremendous lack of pretentiousness, and therefore, its inherent honesty. When you watch a commercial, you feel like you’re being tricked. The thing being advertised is begging for you not only to care about its existence, but also to be infatuated with it. In the case of this film, our protagonist seems more interested in disappearing from the world than being known by it. Whereas in many cases, the director of a film provides fantasies for the audience to escape from the world, this director seeks fantasies for him to escape from the audience. There are certainly autobiographical elements in 8 ½. And 8 ½ is not the first film to feature itself as a premise – that belongs to the old Nickelodeons if you ask me. But 8 ½ does something more. It builds an emotional experience while simultaneously deconstructing it. Its like a time-lapse of a painting being created. The interest has shifted from the painting itself, to the process of it being painted. Fellini’s film works on all levels a typical movie is supposed to work. But its greatness lies in its existence as a lens through which to view artistic suffering. In the real world, Fellini’s search for a film would not have perfect pacing, elaborate coincidences, and metaphorical overtones. But Guido, the film’s protagonist, experiences these issues with an incredibly poetic timing and rhythm. Both his wife and his mistress find him in the same place at the same time, and instead of dealing with the problem then and there, he fantasizes about a much easier and more selfish existence where wife and mistress get along and neither of them judge him for hanging on to the other. This fantasy is further manifest in a later seen where Guido comes home to a harem of all the women in his life. They love him and plead for his attention. They need him and will never leave him. There is a significant narrative implication concerning the rules of personal fantasy in this scene. When he first walks in to his harem home he sees his mistress walk down some steps, to which he asks, “What were you doing upstairs?” and she answers, “Keeping those poor girls company, they’re always so alone up there.” To most members of the audience, this has no meaning whatsoever. But I will illuminate its importance here. When the writers of 8 ½ wrote that scene they most likely had already discussed the rules of each fantasy sequence, and coming upon this one they decided that in Guido’s harem only women under a certain age would be allowed to stay in the main floors – a fact that is later discussed toward the end of the scene. They set up this “fact of fantasy” with the aforementioned bit of dialog. The dialog itself does not say what’s upstairs that Guido is protecting his mistress from; that comes later. This is known as a “set-up/pay-off” system of storytelling. The initial line informs the audience that there is a distinguishing element between the upper levels and lower levels. The pay-off later tells the audience exactly what that distinguishing element is. Where this becomes important for the story is that Guido as a character must experience this fantasy in real-time. He doesn’t get to have a meeting in a “writer’s room” discussing the rules of each of his fantasies. He just creates them out of who he is and what he needs at the time. As a filmmaker, his imagination is so conditioned to exporting ideas in a set-up/pay-off system, that his fantasy is manifest in this way. Guido is now incapable of viewing or expressing his desires (both sexual and otherwise) in any way apart from theatrical deception and manipulation. That is how much his inner self desires to be expressed cinematically – that his fantasies imitate the cinema. But all the desire in the world won’t make a movie happen until you know what movie you want to make. Posted in International Cinema \| Tagged 8 1 2, 812, Black and White, classic, Felini, Fellini, Italian \| 1 Comment »	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2372
__label__wiki	0.610485	0.610485	Las Virgenes Unified School District District Library Media Specialist lvusd.org Tina started her career as a Middle School Language Arts teachers in Long Island, NY. For the last four years, she has been working for Las Virgenes School District in Calabasas, CA in several different capacities. As an elementary school Media Specialist, she helped teachers use data to drive instruction, while creating interactive technology based lessons that teachers could easily replicate for future classes. After completing her Masters in Library Science, Tina started working as the District Library Media Specialist for LVUSD. For the last two years, she has been partnering with public librarians and teachers to bring the best resources into school media centers and classrooms while teaching students research and data skills. She has also developed makerspaces that include engaging, hands-on activities that encourage students to think and create in the school libraries. 21st Century Differentiation Hacks - Transformative Tech Use for Exceptional Learners Tapestry Room, Hilton Hotel	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2374
__label__wiki	0.805597	0.805597	SEVEN ISLAMIC TERRORIST ATTACKS IN USA IN SEVEN YEARS For Obama Administration July 17, 2015 1:12 AM ET On Thursday, a Muslim man killed four U.S. Marines in attacks on military recruiting facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn. The man, identified as Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, then died in a pitched gun battle after he led police on a high-speed chase in a rented Mustang convertible. Abdulazeez, 24, was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Kuwait. He was an electrical engineer who grew up in Chattanooga in a conservative Muslim family. U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said during a press conference that this week’s shooting was an “act of domestic terrorism.” (RELATED: Mohammad Youssef Adbulazeez Identified As Chattanooga Gunman) The terrorist attack by Abdulazeez marks the seventh terrorist attack on U.S. soil by Muslims during Barack Obama’s presidency. Two dozen people have been killed in the attacks. Scores more have been seriously injured. In November 2009, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire in an attack at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Hassan killed 13 people and wounded over 30 more. In a document dated Oct. 18, 2012 obtained by Fox News, Hasan wrote: “I, Nidal Malik Hasan, am compelled to renounce any oaths of allegiances that require me to support/defend man made constitution (like the constitution of the United States) over the commandments mandated in Islam.” The U.S. government has steadfastly refused to call Hasan’s militant slaughter a terrorist attack. Instead, federal officials have repeatedly characterized Hasan’s actions as “workplace violence.” (RELATED: Report Downplays Islamic Role In Fort Hood Jihadi Attack) A U.S. military court sentenced Hasan, a military psychiatrist, to death in 2013. In April 2013, Chechen brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev exploded two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The bombings killed three people including an eight-year-old boy. Hundreds of runners and spectators were seriously injured. Seventeen people saw their limbs blown off. Three days later, the brothers ambushed and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died when his brother ran over him with a stolen Mercedes SUV in the midst of a shootout with police. In April, a jury found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of 30 criminal counts. He later received the death penalty. (RELATED: The Last Days Of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) In June 2009, a man named Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad killed one soldier and injured another in a drive-by shooting targeting a U.S. military recruiting office in Little Rock, Ark. The incident was eerily similar to Thursday’s shooting in Chattanooga. Muhammad, a black Muslim convert born as Carlos Leon Bledsoe, claimed to have been sent by an Al Qaeda group. He pleaded guilty to murder and, in 2011, was sentenced to life in prison. In October 2014, a man who had recently converted to Islam attacked four New York City police officers with an 18-inch metal hatchet. The incident occurred on a crowded sidewalk in Queens. The attacker, 32-year-old Zale H. Thompson, was a frequent visitor of websites such as al-Shabaab and ISIS which promote Islamic terror. He appears to have had a Facebook page featuring Arabic writing and a photograph of a Muslim warrior. (RELATED: Crazed Man Attacks NYPD With Hatchet) Two officers were seriously injured in the hatchet attack. A female bystander was inadvertently shot. Police killed Thompson. In December 2014, a Muslim man named Ismaaiyl Brinsley brutally murdered two New York City police officers. Police believe Brinsley was seeking revenge for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown at the hands of police. (RELATED: Two NYPD Officers Killed In ‘Execution Style’ Shooting) Brinsley fled after the slaughter and eventually shot himself to death on a subway platform. Brinsley’s abandoned YouTube channel contained a video showing him heading to pray at Brooklyn’s Masjid At Taqwa, a mosque that has been linked to terrorist and anti-police activity. (RELATED: NYC Cop Killer’s Undiscovered Social Media Accounts Show Islamic Side) In May 2015, two men opened fire outside of the Muhammad Art Exhibit event at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. The event featured the first inaugural “Draw the Prophet” contest. (RELATED: Shooting In Texas Outside Of Muslim Cartoon Event) The attackers were Elton Simpson, a dentist’s office employee who had been previously convicted a terror-related offense, and Nadir Hamid Soofi, who ran a carpet-cleaning business. (RELATED: White House Asks American Parents To Monitor Their Children For Signs Of Terrorism) A police officer on the scene killed both attackers. A third man, Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, allegedly supplied the attackers with a large cache of weapons which they were unable to use. (RELATED: Remember When Obama Was The Messiah?) Follow Eric on Twitter. Like Eric on Facebook. Send story tips to erico@dailycaller.com. Tags : barack obama islamic terrorism Epstein Preyed On At Least 1 Woman As He Served Time In Florida Jail, Lawyer Says	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2376
__label__cc	0.608032	0.391968	Cameron: Protecting people's mortgages and livelihoods Speech to an audience of business leaders at Bloomberg "Six hundred and ninety Wednesdays ago, my Party lost its reputation for economic competence. I was there that day, working in the Treasury. You may have seen the TV footage. The events leading up to that day were bad for our economy, disastrous for our Party, but most important of all… …made life really difficult for the millions of families who faced high interest rates, negative equity, and repossessions. No matter that the policy was backed by the CBI and by Gordon Brown and the Labour Party. That was thirteen years ago. We've learned our lesson. I will never let that happen again. We will never again take risks with people's mortgages and with people's livelihoods by putting economic stability at risk. So I'm announcing today a new Conservative economic framework to protect people's mortgages and livelihoods… … with a triple lock on economic stability. We will take the politics - and the politicians - out of the crucial long-term judgments that affect mortgage rates. OUR CURRENT STABILITY In Britain today we're living through a long period of economic stability. Our economy has grown consistently, each year and each quarter, for over thirteen years. Because of that growth, we are on average wealthier and better paid than ever before. With that growth we can afford better public services and a better standard of living. But to ensure that growth continues, we need two things: …economic competitiveness …and economic stability. In an increasingly competitive world we're not doing nearly as well as we should. Britain has fallen in the world competitiveness rankings from 4th to 13th. The reasons are clear. We have a growing burden of taxation, with some of the highest business taxes in the OECD… …where just five years ago Britain had some of the lowest. Despite Gordon Brown's promise that: "The objective of any government is to lower rather than increase the tax burden on ordinary families" . …families know that their tax burden has risen. And the Chancellor has now promised it will rise further still. We have a growing regulatory burden, costing Britain's economy an estimated £40 billion a year. We've fallen from 13th to 51st in the World Economic Forum's regulation league table… …and we dropped from 11th to 26th on bureaucracy. Our business investment is the lowest since records began. We need to do much more to develop a well-educated and highly skilled workforce. And we desperately need a twenty-first century transport infrastructure. This country is crying out for a consistent, credible set of policies to improve our competitiveness for the long term… …so our economy can create the investment and jobs that guarantee rising living standards. Only then can we continue to generate the wealth to pay for the investment we need in our public services. I'm confident that a renewed Conservative Party can produce the ideas we need to make our economy more competitive. It's one of the six big challenges Britain faces… …and so early in the New Year, I will be announcing details of our Policy Group on Economic Competitiveness. It will think radically, and for the long term about the action we need to take to enable strong economic growth and more wealth creation. ECONOMIC STABILITY But before we can tackle the long term challenge of making Britain competitive in the modern world… … we must first show that people can have confidence in Conservative economic policy. That we will never risk high mortgage rates, or high inflation, or risk letting the public finances get out of control. That we'll never put the stability of the British economy at risk. We need to establish a clear and credible framework for macroeconomic policy and economic stability… …so that the growth which began under the last Conservative government will continue under the next Conservative government. We need to show we have learnt from the past in order to give people confidence about the future. MACROECONOMIC FRAMEWORK Our current macroeconomic framework has evolved since the early 1990s. The introduction of inflation targeting, and of the independent Inflation Report in 1992 was the basis of the current system. Between 1993 and 1997, fiscal policy followed a 'growth rule' to ensure that the public finances were sustainable and that interest payments were reduced. That framework led to the so-called "golden economic inheritance" that greeted Gordon Brown on his arrival at the Treasury in 1997. That inheritance consisted of healthy public finances, a budget surplus, low and falling debt, low interest rates, and inflation of just 1.5%. The framework was built on by Labour through the operational independence of the Bank of England in 1997… …and the introduction of the fiscal rules in 1998. The "golden rule" states that over the cycle, borrowing can only be used to fund investment, not to fund current spending. The "sustainable investment rule" states that net debt should remain at less than 40 per cent of GDP. Even at the time, the rules contained a theoretical weakness, because the Treasury retained control over key assumptions… The Chancellor can determine the length of the cycle and the definition of investment. So there was always the potential for the rules to lose credibility because of political interference. LOSS OF CREDIBILITY And that's exactly what has happened The current fiscal rules now suffer a serious and growing problem of public credibility. In July, citing data revisions, the Chancellor announced a change in the timing of the economic cycle at a meeting of the Treasury Select Committee. He made this announcement without prior discussion or consultation and without a formal statement to the House of Commons. To say the least this was an inappropriate way to announce such an important change. Its effect was simple. It meant that the golden rule would not be broken in the present cycle, thus preventing political embarrassment for the Chancellor. But on the following day, data on the Public Finances were released showing that the UK was in deficit on the golden rule under the old definition. The credibility of the sustainable investment rule has also been brought into question... …because of off-balance sheet accounting treatment of some major contingent liabilities… …for example PFI debt and Network Rail liabilities. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that without a change in policy, the sustainable investment rule "is likely to be breached in 2008-9." But were the additional off-balance sheet liabilities to be included, the rule would be breached even sooner. In fact, further research estimates that total Government liabilities amount to 1.3 trillion, or more than our annual GDP. So the sustainable investment rule actually covers under two fifths of total Government liabilities - only a part of total Government debt. So I think it's time to update Britain's macroeconomic framework again… …to provide greater credibility… …to lock in stability… …and to provide the foundation for competitiveness and revived economic growth. CONSERVATIVE MACROECONOMIC FRAMEWORK So today I can announce a Conservative macroeconomic framework designed to provide a triple lock on economic stability: Independent setting of interest rates… Independent assessment of the fiscal rules… …And independent statistics. This triple lock on economic stability will take the politics - and the politicians… …out of the crucial economic judgments that affect the long-term stability of our economy. Our approach will create the foundations for low inflation, low interest rates, high employment, and high and sustainable income growth. Let me spell out our 'triple-lock' on stability and set out in more detail in the policy document we're publishing today. The first lock on stability is already in place and is well respected. We support the independence of the Bank of England to set interest rates by reference to a fixed inflation target. We will never let that independence be tarnished by political interference or by using undue influence. And we will not hand over the Bank of England's power to set interest rates to the European Central Bank. Under the Conservatives, the United Kingdom will retain its own currency and interest rates will be set in the United Kingdom, for the United Kingdom. No other party is prepared to make this pledge. FISCAL RULES Our second lock on stability is an independent panel to judge the golden rule. Rules to ensure that the public finances are kept in order are a good idea. We will strengthen them and restore confidence in them by establishing a new Fiscal Projections Committee to judge whether the rules are being met. It will be independent and report to Parliament twice a year, at the same time as the Budget and the pre-Budget Report. With independent judges, the verdict on the fiscal rules will be clear. We will not break them. So the public finances will be safe with us. The third lock on economic stability is independence for the Office for National Statistics. I welcome the recent announcement by the Chancellor on this subject. It's something we've been calling for for a while… …so it's good to see he too believes in consensus politics. Only with truly independent statistics can the business community and the public believe the figures. But there are a number of questions the Chancellor needs to answer: Who will appoint the National Statistician? Will the National Statistician, like the Comptroller and Auditor General, be an officer of the House of Commons? Who will appoint the external members of the Governing Board and will they be in a majority? Will the National Statistician be given responsibility for preparing the National Accounts… …so that an independent view is taken of things such as PFI, Network Rail and public sector pension liabilities? Will the National Statistician be given responsibility for labour market analyses? Genuinely independent national statistics will bring credibility to Government statistics. This will in turn improve the standing of the Sustainable Investment Rule… …which is now discredited by the Government's use of off-balance sheet financing. We will make statistics truly independent - reporting to Parliament, with a responsibility for all Government statistics. This approach to economic stability shows that we have learnt the lessons of the past. So I say today to everyone with a mortgage… …everyone saving to buy their own home… …everyone with their own business… …that the Conservative Party has changed. We've learned our lesson. We'll never again put your home, your business, your future at risk by undermining economic stability. With our triple-lock on economic stability providing the foundation… …we can build a strong and vibrant economy… …ready to meet the challenges of an ever-more competitive world… …and ready to create jobs, wealth and opportunity for everyone in our country." ← Conservatives lead condemnatio... Euro-MP rapporteur encouraged ... →	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2381
__label__wiki	0.724901	0.724901	Lowell Sanders Live Entertainers Making appearances at colleges and corporate functions, stand-up comedian Lowell Sanders is one of the funniest and busiest comics on the scene today, offering shows that are 100% clean. Whether headlining clubs, opening for stars, or touring the college market, Lowell is an act worth seeing. His unique blend of comedy is laid back, provocative and most importantly - real. A Detroit native, Lowell served three years in the US Navy after high school. He then launched his comedy career at an open mic night at the Comedy Castle in Detroit while studying telecommunications at Eastern Michigan University. In 1997, the legendary Luther Vandross personally picked Lowell to open, in 18,000 seat arenas, for his ‘Power of Love’ tour with Vanessa Williams. Recently, Lowell wrapped up a three year US tour with comedian George Lopez. In addition to working comedy clubs across the country he is a popular opening act for such acts as Tim Allen, Whitney Houston, Kenny G, and the Temptations. An accomplished actor, Lowell has also appeared on numerous television shows including Home Improvement, The Drew Carey Show, Evening at the Improv and many others. He made his movie debut in Walt Disney's Jungle 2 Jungle and was also featured in the film Joe Somebody. ‘Lowell Sanders in New York’ is currently airing on Comedy Central Premium Blend. Lowell has also made appearances on BET Comic View, It's Showtime At The Apollo, Star Search, The Arsenio Hall Show and Showtime: Comedy All-Stars VII. Banachek	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2382
__label__cc	0.667267	0.332733	How to Tell If Your Family Member Is an Alcoholic Home » Alcohol » How to Tell If Your Family Member Is an Alcoholic Alcohol seems harmless because of its widespread acceptance, but it’s still an addictive drug that hooks thousands of people who find it difficult to give up once chronic alcohol consumption and dependence have developed. People aren’t slowing down on their drinking and some will never stop on their own. According to federal data released in 2015, alcohol reportedly killed U.S. adults at a rate not seen in more than three decades. Drinking alcohol also is socially accepted in many circles, and this can make it difficult to determine when heavy and frequent drinking has crossed the line into alcohol abuse and addiction. There are ways to tell if someone is in a serious battle to control their drinking or if their alcohol abuse has become an alcohol use disorder. Not everyone who has a problem controlling their drinking has an alcohol use disorder (AUD), a condition that affects about 16 million people in the U.S., according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). An AUD is something determined after a medical evaluation has been done. Hiding or Lying About Alcohol Use Mood Swings Linked to Drinking Patterns Chronic Alcohol-Related Health Problems Withdrawal Symptoms That Follow a Break in Drinking Strained or Broken Relationships Unable to Stop Drinking Despite Making Promises and Bearing the Consequences It can be difficult to gauge when a family member is abusing alcohol drinking and has become addicted to alcohol. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “about 90 percent of people who drink excessively would not be expected to meet the clinical diagnostic criteria for having a severe alcohol use disorder. Seven signs that your family member may have an alcohol use disorder. Sign 1. Hiding or Lying About Alcohol Use Alcohol bottles and drinks are usually stored in a cabinet, at a home bar, or in an entertainment area. But if you find them hidden in closets in bedrooms or stored in unusual places that are out of sight, that may be just the sign you need to realize a loved one is struggling with their drinking or engaging in chronic alcohol consumption. It is common for problem drinkers to hide their stash of beverages or liquors because they don’t want anyone to know how much alcohol they are taking in. Taking time away to get a sip here or a glass there is a sign that there is some shame or guilt about drinking. Problem drinkers also may lie about their alcohol use and become defensive when the subject comes up. If they appear to become angry when asked about how much they drink or how often they drink, that’s an emotional sign that your family member may be an alcoholic. Sign 2. Mood Swings Linked to Drinking Patterns It is common for people addicted to alcohol to experience a roller coaster of emotions. Alcohol, a depressant, is a mood-altering substance. Sips of alcohol waste no time racing to the brain and slowing down communications between neural pathways. All of this activity changes the chemical balance in the brain, which, in turn, affects one’s mood, thoughts, feelings, and actions. If your family member feels tired or spent after drinking or doesn’t get sleep or rest, these are all conditions that can lead to mood changes. Family members who use alcohol to improve their mood so they can feel better are likely self-medicating to manage mental health disorders that they may or may not know they have. If a person is already struggling with depression and/or anxiety, alcohol tends to worsen those mental health disorders. Alcohol intake also can make drinkers aggressive, so a negative emotional response when drinking is a sign that someone may have alcohol problems. Sign 3. Chronic Alcohol-Related Health Problems Excessive drinking is a sure path to chronic health issues that affect the entire body. If you have a family member who drinks regularly and experiences problems with vital organs, alcoholism could be an issue. Heavy alcohol abuse can affect one’s heart, liver, and kidneys among other areas of the body. Hard drinking is damaging to the heart. If the heart muscle weakens, the heart will no longer pump blood efficiently to the other parts of the body and fail. Too much drinking can prevent the liver from doing its important job, which is to remove toxins from the blood. When this happens, drinkers develop an alcohol-related liver disease (ALD). The same goes for the kidneys, which are also responsible for filtering out toxic substances from the blood. Alcohol also causes dehydration, so if the body’s cells don’t receive the water they need to thrive, kidney failure is possible. Binge-drinking can cause “acute kidney injury,” which is when there’s a sudden drop in a person’s kidney function. Dialysis is often needed with this kind of injury to help the kidney return to proper functioning. If not, the kidney could be permanently damaged. Alcohol-related health problems also can affect cognitive health. Heavy drinkers may experience temporary (or in severe cases permanent) memory loss or memory impairment linked to blackouts. They also may struggle with retaining information or learning new data because all the excessive drinking has changed the physical structure and functioning of the brain.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2386
__label__wiki	0.879247	0.879247	Venezuelan court ruling limits coverage of water quality New York, March 26, 2012--The decision by a Venezuelan court to forbid the press from reporting on issues of water contamination without using a government-approved report is a clear attempt by authorities to censor critical information, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Daniel Guédez, a criminal court judge in the capital, Caracas, ruled on March 21 that any media reports on the quality of the local water supply must be based upon "a truthful technical report supported by a competent government body," the Attorney General's office reported. News accounts in recent weeks had questioned whether a nearby river that provides drinking water was contaminated with chemicals. The government has denied that the water is contaminated, news reports said. "This is effectively a gag order on a matter of public health," said Carlos Lauría, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas. "Forbidding the Venezuelan media from reporting on the quality of the water supply is an outrage. Authorities should reverse this decision immediately." Less than 24 hours before the ruling was made, President Hugo Chávez Frías asked the Attorney General's office and the Supreme Court to investigate anyone who alleged the water was contaminated, according to news reports. But in an interview on Thursday, Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz said the decision was unrelated to the president's statements, and that it had originated from a complaint made by three citizens who said the reports on water contamination were creating public panic. "The media has an obligation to inform truthfully and cannot generate this kind of fear in the population," Díaz said. Local free expression group Espacio Público has said, however, that in the past, authorities have been uncooperative about sharing government-approved reports. After seeking official results for water quality tests last year, the group received a letter stating: "All the necessary tests were conducted...the quality of water in the city of Caracas is drinkable according to parameters established by the World Health Organization." Chávez' administration has waged a systematic campaign to stifle critical reporting through regulatory, judicial, and legislative avenues, CPJ research shows. In 2010, a court barred local media from publishing images of crime in the run-up to the September legislative elections, a decision that followed years of politicized regulatory rulings that removed critical Venezuelan broadcasters from the airwaves. For more data and analysis on Venezuela, visit CPJ's Attacks on the Press. Daniel Guédez Available in: Español , Português Short URL: https://cpj.org/x/4a0d Venezuelan authorities restrict internet, block outlets amid unrest May 1, 2019 6:07 PM ET Miami, May 1, 2019--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Venezuelan authorities to refrain from restricting access to the internet, social media services, and news outlets in the country during widespread protests and political unrest.... Polish reporter Tomasz Surdel assaulted in Venezuela Miami, March 15, 2019 -- Venezuelan authorities should conduct an urgent and thorough investigation into the violent assault of reporter Tomasz Surdel, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.... Venezuelan intelligence agents detain critical journalist March 12, 2019 10:09 AM ET Miami, March 12, 2019 -- Venezuelan authorities should immediately release radio journalist Luis Carlos Díaz, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.... Venezuelan counterintelligence agents detain U.S. freelancer, Venezuelan fixer Miami, March 6, 2019--Venezuelan authorities should immediately release a U.S. freelance journalist and a Venezuelan fixer who were detained after counterintelligence agents raided their homes this morning in Caracas, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.... Venezuelan authorities must return equipment to Jorge Ramos, Univision crew February 26, 2019 1:20 PM ET Miami, February 26, 2019--The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the detention yesterday of a Univision news team at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas and its expulsion today, and called on Venezuelan authorities to immediately return confiscated equipment....	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2391
__label__wiki	0.90582	0.90582	Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai's departure has left journalists with the difficult task of reporting on unconfirmed reports. How to stop rumors in China: Stop censorship By Madeline Earp/CPJ Senior Asia Research Associate on March 27, 2012 2:09 PM ET The sacking of Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai has sparked some entertaining gossip this month, leaving journalists covering China with the difficult task of reporting on unconfirmed reports. The Chinese government blames the international media, not its own lack of transparency and comprehensive censorship apparatus, for the burgeoning rumors. Here are some of the juiciest: The international connection: "Bo's longtime aide and Chongqing's vice mayor, Wang Lijun, fled the city and sought refuge overnight at the United States Consulate in Chengdu. ... Rumors have been rife--and unverified--that Mr. Wang presented American officials with evidence of official corruption," according to The New York Times. The blocked coup: "Bloggers circulated alarming reports of tanks entering Beijing and shots being fired in the city as part of what is said to have been a high-level political battle among party leaders--and even a possible military coup" last week, according to The Washington Times. The vanishing head of security: "Stories of the removal of spy and police chief Zhou Yongkang are largely based on the absence of his signature on an order last week for cadres in his department to attend an ideological retraining session," according to The Vancouver Sun in Canada. The poisoned Englishman: "Concerned friends and other members of the British community in the south western metropolis of Chongqing fear [Briton Neil Heywood] may have been deliberately poisoned. ... Rumors and speculation, fueled by Chinese online whistle blowers, claimed his death is linked to his professional relationship with the Bo family," according to Britain's The Daily Mail. Or perhaps there was some other link: "Heywood sometimes did work for Hakluyt and Company, an intensely private London-based strategic advisory firm with close links to the British spy agency, MI6," the Sun said. Chinese information officials have played a key role in this mess. Internet censors have been working overtime to delete Chinese-language posts on all of these topics, international news reports and media analysts say. Chinese government spokespeople have been unforthcoming. "I am not aware of this case," the Foreign Ministry told the Mail when asked about Heywood. But by tamping down the rumors, authorities are feeding speculation that they have something to hide. In the world of propaganda, however, attack is the best form of defense. The government camp hastened to blame journalists themselves for the information vacuum: "Rumors have been vigorously spreading on the Internet, a few of which even indulge in ludicrous speculations," the state-run Global Times tutted in an editorial Tuesday. It's baffling remedy? "Tolerance is still needed over delayed information release in some pivotal fields." Well, that's cleared that up, then. "Some media have done reports which are all like jigsaw puzzles, because their information is not complete, and where they're lacking they rely on their imagination. ... So these jigsaws are all incorrect, and even absurd," another official told a press conference about the Bo Xilai drama, according to The Wall Street Journal website. Here's the problem: Journalists and their readers alike know the jigsaw is incorrect. We're not happy about it either. When you finish a puzzle, you can move onto the next one, but no one will give up on one that's incomplete. There is a way to deal with rumors, but it's not censorship. It's time for the government to release the rest of the pieces. Madeline Earp is senior researcher for CPJ’s Asia Program. She has studied Mandarin in China and Taiwan, and graduated with a master’s in East Asian studies from Harvard. Follow her on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk. Neil Heywood Wang Lijun Zhou Yongkang Short URL: https://cpj.org/x/4a11 How many journalists are jailed in China? Censorship means we don't know Reporting on China's harassment of journalists has never been easy. Lately it's been getting much harder, which suggests that conditions for the press could be worsening. At least 47 journalists were jailed in China at the time of CPJ's 2018 prison census and I am investigating at least a... On International Women's Day, CPJ highlights jailed female journalists On International Women's Day, CPJ has highlighted the cases of female journalists jailed around the world in retaliation for their work. At least 33 of the 251 journalists in jail at the time of CPJ's prison census are women. At least one of those--Turkish reporter and artist Zehra Dogan--was... Surveillance tops foreign correspondents' concerns in China, FCCC finds January 29, 2019 11:29 AM ET Working conditions for foreign correspondents in China further deteriorated in 2018, according to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China annual survey. The report, "Under Watch: FCCC Annual Working Conditions Report 2018," highlights growing digital and human surveillance, as well as government interference in reporting in China.... Google complicity in Chinese censorship could endanger press freedom elsewhere August 17, 2018 1:45 PM ET In 2010, after four years of offering Chinese users a heavily censored version of its search engine, Google decided it would no longer block search results at the request of the Chinese state. "Our objection is to those forces of totalitarianism," Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, told The New York... Hong Kong Journalists Association finds press freedom further restricted by 'one country' principle August 2, 2018 12:32 PM ET In its annual report, released July 29, the Hong Kong Journalists Association found that press freedom has gone backward as the administrative region seeks to implement legislation to criminalize critical opinions toward China's "one country" policy and Beijing....	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2392
__label__cc	0.745261	0.254739	← Criterion: It Happened One Night, Frank Capra, 1934 Criterion: Parade, Jacques Tati, 1974 → Criterion: Trafic, Jacques Tati, 1971 As workers and mechanics are preparing to send their model car off to Amsterdam for a car show, we hear them whistle a number of familiar tunes. We hear snippets from Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Mon Oncle, and probably various others if you listen carefully. The trace of Hulot’s presence is immediately evident, even if we do not see him for a few minutes. The shock of Hulot’s introduction in Traffic is that he is employed. Previously, he was nearly unemployable. In Mon Oncle, he bombed an interview and got fired from a job for incompetence, and in PlayTime, he could not even navigate the modern world to get time in the same room with a potential employer. Even in Jour de Fete, where Tati’s Francois could be seen as a prelude to Hulot, he has a job and is absolutely terrible at it. In the years after PlayTime, Hulot has clearly had a change in ideals. Not only is he employed at an auto company, but he is an actual designer. The car that he ends up designing would be admired by the Arpels from Mon Oncle or by the invention expositioners in PlayTime. It is an entirely modern camper, a way of getting outdoors and enjoying life, but with a lot of clever, innovative and sometimes useless features that are the exact type of thing that baffled Hulot previously. The fact that he obtained the job and designed something modern and silly is a mystery, but that’s not at the heart of the story. He and his team are responsible for transporting his model camper car to an auto show in Amsterdam. As can be expected, a lot of hijinks occur along the way that slow down and threaten to half the trip entirely. In some ways Traffic is similar to the previous three films. They are mostly in long shot without close-ups, with sight gags that are easy to miss the first time through, not too much dialogue from the main characters, plenty of background noise, a mixture of languages, and of course, Monsieur Hulot is at the center of it all. Despite these similarities, this does not feel like the same type of Tati film. Perhaps it is unfair to compare it to the previous trio, which are arguable masterpieces, but everything seems a little more watered down this time out. The jokes are not quite as inventive. There are big laughs, such as when Hulot hangs upside down while trying to fix some ivy, but it feels like it has been done already. Previously Tati had been pushing his art a little further each time, and that resulted in PlayTime, his finest film. Traffic feels like a creative step back. That is not to say this is a bad movie. Lesser Tati is still enjoyable and worth watching, and there are plenty of quality scenes. The traffic accident scene ranks up with the best of Tati’s scenes across his entire filmography. There are other lighter touches, such as the windshield wipers reflecting the look and personality of the drivers, and the mass of umbrellas at the end, that are full of the Tatiesque charm. Yet, for all of those, there are other scenes that don’t quite work. I could have done without the anonymous nose-picking in cars, which is too easy and not nearly as intelligent as most of Tati’s humor. There is also the cruel practical joke that makes Maria mistake her dog for dead, when the doppelganger is a mop with a button nose and far from realistic. Tati was probably trying to connect the children’s pranks from Mon Oncle, but those were organic and fun, whereas the dog prank is tired and transparent. The ending is up to par with the rest of his work. When Maria is on the boat in the water, we see her appreciate the beauty of her surroundings, which is consistent with Tati’s typical arc of anti-technology and humanizing his characters. When they get away from the hustle and bustle, they find themselves refreshed and their personality changes for the better. Like with PlayTime, they go in circles rather than squares, only in Traffic they embrace quiet and solitude as opposed to the everlasting automobile congestion. The end is bittersweet. Even though this film is not quite up to par with the remainder of Tati’s work, it is the final film for an endearing character. The outcome for Hulot is no surprise, but we’d like to know what awaits him next. We’ll miss him. It is not easy to say goodbye to Monsieur Hulot. Adieu, my friend! Film Rating: 6.5 “Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot’s Work” – This is a 1976 program from the British show Omnibus. It begins at the beach house of Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday. Most of the special consists of interviews with Tati about his craft and his films, jumping backward and forward throughout his work. The one thing I have learned from this set is that Tati is not the greatest interview, which is perhaps because of the language barrier, but more likely because he is protective, defensive and not too revealing about his art. Nevertheless, he does say some interesting things about his work. Tati says he is not criticizing modernity, but is defending people who feel they have to change. This makes sense with Traffic because Hulot tried to assimilate into this new, high-tech society, only to fall on his face yet again. My favorite part of this special was his comparing himself with the old masters, specifically Chaplin. His comedy is passive rather than Chaplin’s active. He talks about the wreath and tire part from Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, and how differently Chaplin would have orchestrated the gag. People ask him why he made so few films over the years, but he liked to do them in his own way with creative freedom, without making something that doesn’t live up to his style. He adds that “in life, you only have so many ideas.” With only one major supplement and a film that doesn’t measure up to Tati’s filmography, this disc is the most disappointing, yet still worth a watch. Posted on December 12, 2014, in Criterions, Film and tagged criterion, film, jacques tati, Monsieur Hulot. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments. Pingback: Criterion: Parade, Jacques Tati, 1974 \| Criterion Blues ..... Pingback: Criterion: The Complete Jacques Tati \| Criterion Blues .....	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2395
__label__wiki	0.558944	0.558944	27th June 2016 Track 3 Comments 1920sclassicalhymnTrack of the Week I Vow To Thee … Last Saturday Crotchety Man went back to school. It was the first time I had visited my old school, St. Dunstan’s College, in more than 45 years. My father, who also went to St. Dunstan’s, had visited a couple of years ago when they celebrated the 125th anniversary of moving to their present site in south London. This time they had invited former pupils who would have been in their final year between 1930 and 1970 for lunch and a tour around the school buildings. Having left in 1970 I was one of the youngest; my father, who left in 1949, was one of the oldest. We had been told we would be interviewed by one of the prefects about our memories of our school days and subsequent careers. The conversation was to be videoed and added to the College’s ever growing archives. Needless to say this prompted some extensive archaeology within Crotchety Man’s personal memory banks in search of historical facts, anecdotes and, if possible, skeletons in the hope of providing something interesting, amusing or shocking for the official record. Several artefacts came to light. There was the time Mr. Jeffries, a diminutive but perfectly formed example of the teaching profession (affectionately nicknamed ‘Peanut’), came into the classroom where we were expecting to have a German lesson. He hoisted himself into a sitting position on the big table at the front of the room and announced, “I don’t feel like doing any work today. Someone tell me a joke”. But I am not Tom Brown and this is a music blog not an autobiography covering my less Crotchety school days, so I won’t go into that. St. Dunstan’s College One memory, though, that is appropriate for these pages is of a hymn we used to sing occasionally in the school assemblies. Although I loved some of the hymns I sang as a choirboy in our local church, I Vow To Thee My Country was always my favourite and it was only in those school assemblies that I had a chance to hear it and sing it. It is a highly patriotic song, excessively patriotic in my opinion. Perhaps that’s why it was never on the board in St. Bartholomew’s church. Or perhaps it just wasn’t in the hymn book used there. I don’t know. What I do know is that this hymn, with its Thaxted tune, was given to me by St. Dunstan’s College and for that I am very grateful. I Vow To Thee My Country started as a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice, British Ambassador to the United States of America from 1912 to 1918. The poem was set to music in 1921 by the English composer Gustav Holst. Holst cheated a bit. Instead of writing a new piece to accompany the poem he took the music from his orchestral suite, The Planets. It is, in fact, the middle section of the fourth movement, Jupiter. Jupiter is supposed to be the Bringer of Jollity, as Holst titled it, but it doesn’t feel jolly to me. Perhaps ‘playful’ is a better description for the main theme of the movement but neither ‘jolly’ nor ‘playful’ fit the tone of the bit in the middle that became the patriotic hymn in praise of dear old England. I prefer to think of I Vow as a sober but stirring folk song arranged for a full orchestra and choir. The instrumental parts sound to me more determined than frivolous, more hopeful than carefree. The words, though, express a somewhat different sentiment. I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above, Entire and whole and perfect the service of my love. The writer is pledging to serve his country with all his strength and courage, to fight for the motherland even if it means he has to make the final sacrifice and lay down his life. It’s all a bit over the top. I mean, it’s OK to support your national football team but a blind allegiance to your flag, whatever colour it may be, smacks of rampant nationalism – the kind of nationalism, in fact, that had led to the Great War and prompted Cecil Spring Rice to write a rarely used second verse lamenting the terrible loss of life in that conflict. The link I gave above is to a version of I Vow To Thee My Country by Helena Blackman and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. It’s a tad slower than most but it’s a good recording and the various textures of the strings, woodwind and brass come across really well. Enjoy the music, sing along with it if you like, but don’t think too much about the words. There’s a subtle difference between a love of one’s own country (patriotism) and a belief that all other nations are inferior to your own (nationalism). The school reunion was scheduled to run from 12 noon to 3 pm. Mr. and Mrs. Crotchety had made full use of their Senior Railcards and the advanced booking rules to get cheap train tickets and we had to leave promptly at 3 o’clock to catch the train for the return journey. As the lunch progressed it became obvious that we would not have time for a tour of the school or to recount any memories for a prefect wielding a video camera. So, sadly, I never had a chance to entertain one of the current pupils with my wit and humour. To be honest, although she was polite and welcoming she didn’t really seem to be that interested in the old fogeys who surrounded her. And I’m just a Crotchety Old Man these days. This post was prompted by the school reunion but, in the wake of the British EU Referendum result, it seems to have taken on a slightly political slant. I think our decision to leave the EU highlights a disturbing rise of nationalism within the UK and I worry that this might ignite the fuse of nationalist tendencies elsewhere in Europe. We shall see. 3 thoughts on “I Vow To Thee …” Wasn’t there a blind dog in the mix somewhere? As another musical factoid, Aus band Spectrum also ‘borrowed’ a theme from ‘Mars’ for their 70s cautionary tale ‘Make your stash’. Vinyl Connection , 28th June 2016 at 1:51 pm A blind dog? Sorry, VC, you’ve lost me there. As for covers, parts of the Planets Suite have been appropriated by all sorts of artists and bands. Jeff Wayne and Rick Wakeman did the entire suite. Mars has been performed by Emerson, Lake and Powell, by King Crimson (who called it The Devil’s Triangle and credited it to Robert Fripp) and others. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band called Jupiter ‘Joybringer’ and parts of Jupiter have found their way into pieces by Yes and Led Zeppelin. (All information from the Wikipedia page on the Planets Suite.) I’m not familiar with Spectrum but they make for interesting browsing on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/5c2Pu0gMxufYxkh7TUc3Vr). There we find no mention of any album before 2006 and no single before 1992. It does, however, list a compilation album from 2011 called The Byzantine Legacy which seems to consist entirely of eastern European ‘classical’ pieces (Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, etc.) and is clearly a cataloguing error. Spectrum’s artist page also says that they appear on an album called The Techno Lobby (https://open.spotify.com/album/2117kzHd5L0rkaCh3I2mp0) which has a cover photo that would be an excellent addition to the Vinyl Connection collection. I think that must be some other Spectrum, though. Or, rather, the biography of Melbourne’s progressive rock band has nothing to do with the music tracks!! stoneyfish , 28th June 2016 at 4:50 pm Pingback: Maria Browne \| Crotchety Man	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2396
__label__cc	0.738578	0.261422	ICT society launched in Sierra Leone Sierra Leone Information Technology Society (SLITS) was launched by the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Lansana Nyalley in Sierra Leone as part of an initiative to introduce Information and Communication Technology(ICT) in the country. stakeholders such as Members of Parliament (MPs), members of the diplomatic corps, journalists, business community and other dignitaries attended the event. Information technology is the government's agenda for change in Sierra Leone. The government is presently putting modalities in place for the proper establishment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). According to Dr. Nyalley, many avenues have been created in the business community, academia and other important areas, in order to popularize the ICT facilities. He maintained that government is ready to support SLITS and other ICT Societies to achieve the opportunities that ICT offers. According to the Chairman of the occasion, Hon. Ibrahim Sorie, it was a big opportunity for Sierra Leone to have an ICT Society that includes lecturers, students and members from all walks of life. SLITS is aimed at bringing all stakeholders together in order to gain a wealth of knowledge from ICT and utilize it for the purpose of development. He appealed to all stakeholders, including government, to put hands on deck and support SLITS. The National President of SLITS, Mr. Alfred Hindolo Fomolu, spoke on the shortage of ICT instruments in tertiary institutions. Sierra Leone ranked 170th out of 178 countries in the world of ICT. ICT plays a very vital role, and thus SLITS was formed mainly to strengthen and develop ICT in the country. But there was a need for the government, the business communities, the parliamentarians and other stakeholders to put policies in place that will enhance ICT in Sierra Leone. Related Items:Chairman, Sierra Leone, SLITS 10th Elets World Education Summit to be held in Delhi AICTE to revise curriculum to make students industry ready India’s first financial journalism programme co-launched by Bloomberg and ACJ IIMC launches programmes for working professional IT enabled Environment initiative launched by DELL and TERI	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2405
__label__wiki	0.523966	0.523966	Kuala Lumpur - Garden City, full of lights Kuala Lumpur, or simply Kay-El, as briefly referred to the Malays, is located in the southwestern part of the Malay Peninsula, in a picturesque valley surrounded by mountains. This ultra-modern metropolis, sprawling over an area of 245 square kilometers, is the center of economic and political life of the new "Asian tiger". The city's skyline has changed beyond recognition in just a decade, and powers among the buildings of the colonial era have grown dozens of strange construction of glass and concrete. Now living here almost a half million people, and drive three million cars. In Kuala Lumpur, flying planes more than 30 airlines, and because of the enormous load that the old airport could not cope, in 98 even had to build a new one: a city with lots of lifts, escalators, automatic driverless metro. However, despite all the modern highways, an unprecedented height of skyscrapers and millions of tourists, Kuala Lumpur largely remained a provincial city in Asia, where inexplicably joined the technical achievements of the West and the mysterious mysticism of the East. In Kuala Lumpur, the most intricately woven modernity and antiquity. One has only to go beyond the areas where modern skyscrapers are concentrated, as you see the real Asia, the real Malaysia. You get comfortable in the narrow streets in which the Malaysian culture inevitably surrounds you, making a real charm to understand Asia. And as Chinatown, as if still in the romantic past. Malaysia's economic miracle has allowed very fast Kuala Lumpur to take its rightful place among the fastest growing and most luxurious cities in the world. The city is a paradise for shoppers. In many stores you can find products for every taste. But nightlife certainly will not make you feel miserable during the night of your stay in the capital of Malaysia. What you need to visit in Kuala Lumpur? Dataran Merdeka, Independence Square At midnight on August 31, 1957 in this historic location in the heart of the city was the last time lowered the national flag of Great Britain. Dataran Merdeka is a field in front of the Royal Selangor Club (Royal Selangor Club), where each year Malaysians are going to mark the anniversary of independence. Formerly known as the area Selangorskogo Club, Dataran Merdeka is widely used for games of cricket, hockey, tennis and rugby until the mid-1990s when it was rebuilt with the construction of underground parking and restaurant and shopping complex. Until now, there is still conducted cricket. At the southern end of the field up the world's tallest flagpole (100m) with the national flag and flower beds at its foot. Every third Saturday of the month in the square at a time the band played the Malaysian Armed Forces and Royal Malaysian Police. Sultan Abdul Samad Building It is the most photographed building Kuala Lumpur, designed by British architect Norman, erected from 1894 to 1897. Initially, it served the British administration secretariat. The building is a wonderful blend of Victorian and Moorish styles, and now here are the trial court and the Supreme Court. Directly next door is constructed in the same spirit of Moorish building of the former town hall. Temple St. Mary's Across the street from the building of the Sultan Abdul Samad is a majestic church of St. Mary, also designed by Norman and also memorable for its beauty. In the ancient Church of England established a wonderful, rare organ. Kuala Lumpur Memorial Library Independence Square is located behind a marvelous two-storey colonial architecture that is both a public library and reference center. Here is stored a considerable amount of information on the history of Kuala Lumpur. The library is open daily, except Saturdays, from 10.00 to 17.00. Masjid Dzhamek mosque Dzhamek`s mosque, located behind the Sultan Abdul Samad building, is a wonderful example of Indo-Muslim architecture. Designed by British architect Habboksom, it was built in 1909 at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak, exactly where historically built Kuala Lumpur. The mosque which stands amid the palm trees, arched colonnades and cool marble floors. National Art Gallery occupies an area of 5.6 acres at Jalan Temerloh, between the State Theatre and the State Library. Constructing a functional and aesthetically pleasing at the same time, the gallery serves the cause of preserving and developing various kinds of art, as well as research and experimentation activities in this area. The complex consists of several galleries with removable and permanent exhibitions. Here are a creative center, garden sculptures, photography studio and graphic studio, lecture hall, library, restoration facilities, a bookstore and cafe. Gallery is open from 10:00 to 18:00 (daily). Taman Tasik Perdana Lake Park The most popular park of Taman Tasik Perdana capital (Lake Park Kuala Lumpur) was built in 1880. It covers an area of ??91.6 hectares and is equipped with a children's play area, jogging track, warming pads and pleasure boats. Established in the Park Jubilee scene regularly musical concerts and cultural performances. Orchid garden and hibiscus garden Taman Tasik inside the park is located Perdana Orchid Garden, where there are more than 800 species of exotic flowers, including rare. Orchids can be purchased. Nearby is a garden hibiscus, which are raging all shades of color more than 500 varieties of this plant with thin, like paper with flower petals. Hours: 9:00 to 17:00 daily. Park of birds Bird Park is located across the street from the Garden of orchids. Under a huge cage collected many species of birds from around the world. For them, created conditions similar to those in which they live in the wild. Here you can see the hornbills of Sarawak, rare forest dwellers and predators. The park is open from 9.00 am to 17.00 daily. Park of butterfly Prior to Butterfly Park is within walking distance from the Garden Orchid and Bird Park. His multicolored create more than 6,000 butterflies belonging to 120 species. Hours: 9:00 to 18:00 every day. Park of deers Park constructed on a hillside where deer roam freely. Guests are allowed to communicate with these cute animals. This could come every day from 9.00 to 17.00. At the moment, stand-alone facing the Petronas Twin Towers are the tallest in the world, billowing into the sky in the metropolitan 452 m. This is an architectural wonder, inspired by the concept of the five pillars of Islam, is the axis of cutting-edge business district. The building is located Petronas Philharmonic Hall, where the band played the Malaysian Philharmonic and the Ensemble of Petronas. Museum of Islamic Arts Malaysia Museum of Islamic art is placed on the street. Jalan Perdana Lamb and consists of several thematic galleries. In particular, the Gallery of Muslim architecture presents visitors layouts famous buildings. In addition to this gallery in the exhibition hall of the Ottoman presence, this displays objects that belong to the epoch of the Ottoman Empire. The Gallery of the Koran and manuscripts are more than 200 rare manuscripts, Muslim, including the Koran out of 30 parts, dating from the Chinese Ming Dynasty. As a constant scene of "National Theatre" and the National Symphony Orchestra, the theater is responsible for the development of all forms of dramatic art in the country. It is functionally designed building is not only observed the external elegance and equipped with advanced equipment, but also bears the stamp of the national heritage and traditional Malay style. It regularly hosts drama, dance and music performances. If you are attracted to Asian culture and exquisite ceramics, you should visit this museum, located at the University of Malaya. Here is an impressive, well-documented collection of ceramics from all over the world. The museum is open from 9.00 am to 17.00 from Monday to Friday and from 9.00 to 12.30 on Saturdays, with a break from 13.00 to 14.00 (on Fridays from 13.00 to 14.45). Fun in Kuala Lumpur Poetic Malaysians call their city "garden lights." The metaphor is quite understandable, as soon as night falls the streets of the capital, and lit with colored lights and signage showcase clubs, discos, karaoke halls, restaurants, bars and cinemas. Kuala Lumpur nightlife in Southeast Asia, but it remains one of the coolest capitals of the world. Most popular clubs here its karaoke. This is a Japanese invention liking Malaysian, and now a favorite form of entertainment in this city - to sing songs in the evening in pleasant company. In addition, there are many dance clubs. Moreover, private clubs, where you can get only on membership cards or through a strict face-control and dress, not here. You can come to any club, paying about 15 ringgit. Basically, in Kuala Lumpur two types of clubs: the Chinese and European. In Chinese clubs are always noisy and fun, the atmosphere is relaxed. In Europe, all the same a little ceremony and officially come to dine here by light music. There are also a variety show, offering fine cuisine and variety with participation of foreign artists. This usually comes fairly respectable public. Most of the nightlife of the city tends toward large shopping complexes. Some of the clubs: The Beach, one of the most popular clubs in Kuala Lumpur, is located on P. Ramlee. It looks like a huge Uncle Tom's Cabin. On the same street is Bollywood, named after the famous film studio in Bombay. Everything here is permeated with the spirit of Indian cinema. Nightclub El Nino is located opposite the Hotel Nikko. This legendary institution, and the regulars say they come to Kuala Lumpur and do not go to the El Nino means to put money away. Here comes the most colorful crowd of Southeast Asia: the elderly transvestites, young hippies, the ladies in the style of decadence. Crustacea club located on the 1st floor of shopping center Bangsar. It plays jazz, and seafood. White Rajan - soulful club, which is located at: Jalan Telawi 4. Usually you listen to sentimental songs about love and friendship in different languages??. About an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia is the largest entertainment center "Genting". Here, on a cliff recently emerged hotel with restaurants and swimming pools, water park rides, shows and casinos. In fact, gambling is for Muslims - a terrible sin. Therefore, all wondering how the owner of "Genting" managed to make the status of "rock entertainment" special. However, right now, "Genting" became a kind of oasis of excitement in this Islamic country. To come home, do you remember about the colorful Malaysia as long as possible, you need to bring something that keeps a particle Malaysian soul. First of all - a national handicrafts. Buy the best souvenirs in the markets of Kuala Lumpur. In this Chinatown - not only picturesque old market town. No less remarkable shopping street called Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rohman. Every Saturday he is walking, and here begins the sale of pottery, jasmine garlands and saris and sarongs batik, leather goods. By thrown across the river Klang footbridge can be passed to the Central Market, built in 1936. Extended for a quarter of the market building facade is painted in blue and pink hues. In addition to the usual souvenir shops and eateries, you'll find an exhibition of products of Malay arts and crafts. In areas of the market is often the venue for concerts, performances of dance, puppet theater. At Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Chow Kit spreads - the biggest, bustling and lively night market the Malaysian capital. There you can buy a variety of handmade products, including the Malay headgear, prayer, sarongs batik, silverware from the state of Kelantan and traditional clay pots "labu". We recommend to pay attention to products made ??of tin - all kinds of napkin rings, decorative trays, amazingly beautiful mugs, cups, vases and tableware. Malaysian tin of very high quality, it contains 97% of treated rock. Also prized clothing, tablecloths, bags, hats, pictures of the national fabric batik. Batik production, incidentally, a very tedious process: talented artists hand-applied wax to the fabric pattern, then paint it. Kuala Lumpur has a good transport network, offering visitors to the city not expensive and comfortable travel. Taxi car hire in parking lots, to vote in the street or ordered by radio paging. The fare charged by the meter. During the call over the radio extra charge. Railway service. At the station, Kuala Lumpur Railway Station to buy tickets to almost any destination on the Malay Peninsula. Features and comfortable train travel in recent years has increased thanks to the emergence of a new service - trains-computers. The service offers high-speed communication through trains plying between Kuala Lumpur and Port Klang, Rawang and Seremban. Easy Metro Kuala Lumpur has a single light-rail system, known as STAR, which has four main lines that connect to each other different areas of the capital. The stations are located at major points of the city, sometimes in close proximity to the monorail stop. Train light rail go with an average interval of 6 to 10 minutes daily from 6.00 am to 23.30, extended working hours on holidays. Bus service. City buses go to the capital and to the many Klang Valley settlements. As a rule, they are all equipped with air conditioning and cash registers that accept money and transport maps. Share your ideas, add something or ask something about Kuala Lumpur - Garden City, full of lights Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Airports Near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah International Airport Subang (SZB) 17.2 km/10.7 miles Kuala Lumpur International Airport Kuala Lumpur (KUL) 46.9 km/29.1 miles Malacca (MKZ) 117.7 km/73.1 miles Sultan Azlan Shah Airport Ipoh (IPH) 169.8 km/105.5 miles Pinang Kampai Airport Dumai-Sumatra Island (DUM) 175.7 km/109.2 miles more Airports Near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Cities Near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Batu Caves is 5.12 miles/8.23 kms away Kampong Seri Medan is 5.16 miles/8.3 kms away Damansara is 5.18 miles/8.33 kms away Ampang Resettlement is 5.18 miles/8.33 kms away Kampong Bukit Lanjan is 5.73 miles/9.22 kms away Kampong Kepong is 5.76 miles/9.27 kms away Salak South is 5.78 miles/9.31 kms away Kampong Sungai Tua Baharu is 5.85 miles/9.42 kms away Kuala Ampang is 6.16 miles/9.92 kms away Kampong Gombak Utara is 6.17 miles/9.93 kms away Petaling is 6.22 miles/10 kms away Selayang Baru Utara is 6.49 miles/10.44 kms away Kampong Jawa Tengah is 6.51 miles/10.47 kms away Petaling Jaya is 6.73 miles/10.84 kms away Kampong Sungai Midah is 6.73 miles/10.84 kms away	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2407
__label__cc	0.704724	0.295276	light sleeping I am up late at night listening to Chuck Berry, watching ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and writing on my blog. it’s a media frenzy in my apartment right now. I’ve also made up a pot of spaghetti. I can eat up some damn spaghetti, I’ll tell you what. I am hungry tonight. edits. so here is a video of Chuck Berry rocking the shit out of a room full of crackers in the 1950s. it’s an awful recording, but I think it adds to the song. the image is grainy. Berry looks like a ghost, and the music he plays comes in waves, and for me, courses. makes my toes tap. it’s music that I would fade to black to when the poorly received biopic of my life never comes out. is it abnormal to listen to a lot of music that was made decades before you were born? I don’t think so. I love this song. I would like to make an observation on the international politicking going on between the president of Iran and Obama over absolutely nothing. nothing! Obama — and therefore the country — has been pretty reserved in his response to a violent crackdown on civilians by a theocracy. a theocracy. I think that’s important to remember. it’s also important to remember that angry old grouch Sen. John McCain and his lackey, Sen. Lindsey Graham, made a big fucking stink about how the President of the United States needs to speak up for democracy wherever it should flourish, that he should “stand up for freedom,” or something to that effect. the argument against the president being vocal was that the regime in Tehran, which understands that blaming the US and Britain for its problems gets a lot of mileage, would do just that: blame the US and Britain. claim their historic foils meddled. fomented trouble. etc. I don’t know if Obama felt the glare of those who thought he should speak up, but he eventually did say something to the effect of, “I am very concerned by the response of the Iranian government against civilian protests,” and so on. and I don’t know if the clerics who run Iran were planning on blaming the US one way or the other, but now they are. they’re arresting Iranian British-consulate staff. which is frustrating, because I can’t understand whether they’re trying to insult the world’s intelligence, or if someone out there might actually believe that bullshit. maybe I’m not an impartial observer, because I’m an American citizen. but I doubt it. it had grown quiet. but now, the opposition is back at it. I think that is legit. it wasn’t a flash. the protest is still there. I am now full of spaghetti. this movie is very violent, so I’m gonna turn it off. it’s dark, and quiet, and I’m done with Chuck Berry for the evening. I have a book I am reading. ‘things fall apart’ by Chinua Achebe. I’m gonna read it, and I swear, I will learn to relax. « it’s spooky poor ol Mark Sanford »	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2409
__label__wiki	0.979344	0.979344	JIMMIE ALLEN MAKES HISTORY AS FIRST BLACK ARTIST TO LAUNCH CAREER WITH NO. 1 DEBUT SINGLE ON COUNTRY RADIO Monday, November 19, 2018 - 8:45am In 2016, Jimmie Allen spent his last $100 to buy a ticket to the CMA Awards as a fan. Two years later, the rising country star stood on stage to present the CMA Award for Single of the Year and is currently holding the No. 1 spot at the top of the Billboard and Mediabase/Country Aircheck Country Airplay charts with his own “Best Shot,” which has been the most Shazamed song in Country music for the past eight consecutive weeks. This impressive feat marks the first time a black artist has garnered a career No. 1 hit with their debut single on Country radio. He joins only Darius Rucker to claim the top spot in Country with a debut single. “If someone asked me two years ago if I thought that this would be my life today—that I’d be on the red carpet at the CMAs or my song would be the No. 1 song on country radio, I would have honestly said no,” reflects Allen. “Did I think it would happen eventually? Absolutely! Just not this soon. I’m humbled and grateful— it’s such an honor to get my first No. 1 and to know that my song is connecting with people and resonating in a way that hopefully makes us all better people in the end, because that’s really what ‘Best Shot’ is all about.” Written by Allen, Josh London and JP Williams, “Best Shot” is the first single from Allen’s label debut project Mercury Lane. Described as “a rare honest love song, with a catchy, melodic chorus that flirts with pop-rock power balladry” by Rolling Stone, “Best Shot” is a self-evaluation song that comes from a personal place in Allen’s life and focuses on taking each day to be a better person. “When you’re a better person, you can be a better husband, wife, parent or friend,” injects Allen. “In writing this song, we just wanted to be honest with ourselves and write something that others can empathize with.” Dubbed “a self-made man” with “one of the most inspiring tales to come out of music row in the last decade” by CMT, Sounds Like Nashville declares that Allen “is on his way to becoming one of the most important young voices in country music” and Pandora states “it’s only a matter of time before his is a household name.” Following an incredible co-hosting job, Allen will return for his fourth appearance (since October) on NBC’s TODAYas part of Kathi Lee and Hoda’s “Guys Tell All Panel” on November 28. Fans will have a chance to see Allen on the road this winter playing direct support to Scotty McCreery on his Seasons Change Tour and playing select dates on Kane Brown’s Live Forever Tour. Jimmie Allen Tour Dates: November 29 — Dallas, TX—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour November 30 — San Antonio, TX—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour December 7 — St. Paul, MN—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour December 9—Chicago, IL—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour December 13—Cincinnati, OH—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour December 15—Grand Rapids, MI—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour January 17—Atlanta, GA—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour January 18—Charlotte, NC—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour January 19—Raleigh, NC—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour January 25—Boston, MA—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour January 26—Westbury, NY—Scotty McCreery Seasons Change Tour February 15— Rockford, IL—Kane Brown Live Forever Tour February 16— Brookings, SD —Kane Brown Live Forever Tour February 17— Grand Forks, ND —Kane Brown Live Forever Tour February 28— Bloomington, IL —Kane Brown Live Forever Tour March 1— Cape Girardeau, MO —Kane Brown Live Forever Tour March 2— Bossier City, LA —Kane Brown Live Forever Tour About Jimmie Allen: The epitome of the phrase “persistence pays off,” Jimmie Allen laid it all on the line to make his dreams a reality. Now signed to BBR Music Group’s Stoney Creek Records, Allen’s debut single “Best Shot” is a certified hit, claiming the spot as the #1 Most Shazamed song in the format for eight consecutive weeks, and also claimed the No. 1 on Country radio, marking the first time a black artist has launched a career with a No. 1 hit with their debut single on Country radio. On October 12th, Allen released his hotly-anticipated debut album, Mercury Lane, named in tribute to the street he grew up on and the origin of his incredible journey. Featuring a cutting-edge mix of country, rock, R&B, and pop, Mercury Lane draws upon the influence of his family and small-town upbringing of the critically-acclaimed rising star. The Southern Delaware native’s talent for songwriting is undeniable, having written a song that was featured in a Super Bowl commercial and appearing in a Diet Coke ad with megastar Taylor Swift. “Blue Jean Baby,” off his debut self-titled EP, immediately caught the attention of country music fans and critics alike with its soulful groove— rocketing it to the top of digital playlists, across all genres. After introducing his music at festivals across the country this summer, this fall Allen will hit the road once again to share the stage with Chase Rice, Kane Brown, and Scotty McCreery. The hot newcomer has already been heralded as one of the top “artists to watch in 2018” by Rolling Stone, Billboard, Pandora, Sounds Like Nashville, NY Country Swag, Country Music Rocks and New England Country Music has earned spots in CMT’s “18 for 2018” Listen Up program, Bobby Bones’ Class of 2018. Media Contacts for Jimmie Allen Ebie McFarland Essential Broadcast Media ebie@ebmediapr.com BBR Music Group Jay Jones \| Quinn Kaemmer jay@bbrmusicgroup.com \| quinn@bbrmusicgroup.com	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2413
__label__wiki	0.505825	0.505825	Drupal.org redesign code sprints As promised, we're organizing a series of sprints to help push the drupal.org redesign closer to completion. The drupal.org redesign is a massive project, and, when implemented, will be an important milestone for our community. The Drupal.org website was originally launched in 2001 and last redesigned in 2005; over time we've simply outgrown it. The community has made it clear that new features were needed, and the Drupal Association has made the Drupal.org redesign one of its top priorities. By improving the navigation, the design and the organization of the site, we hope to further expand Drupal's reach and to provide us better tools to communicate and collaborate. Most of you are likely familiar with the open redesign process that has occurred in the redesign group with the help from Mark Boulton, Leisa Reichelt and many other people in our community. Now it is time for us, the community, to take these designs and to implement them. To that end, we're organizing a number of redesign-specific sprints over the next two months, each concentrating on a specific area of the process. Even though we won't be able to completely upgrade the entire site during these sprints, we will make valuable progress and form plans that will allow us to move forward to completion. Many Drupal contributors have already agreed to participate, and a number of companies and individuals have come forward to donate time, resources and money. I've included a Chip-in widget on this page, and I encourage you to contribute as well. Köln Hackathon, January 17 -18 — While in Germany to attend DrupalCamp Köln, Gerhard, Robert, and I are going to sit down and prepare for the upgrade, hash out the modules to be used, plan the details of the new search feature, and make some other important design decisions. Anyone at DrupalCamp Köln is welcome to join us as we make these preliminary plans. Boston, Cambrigde, January 26 - 30 — The Boston sprint is dedicated to upgrading drupal.org's Drupal 5 platform to Drupal 6, in preparation for the redesign. During this week-long sprint at the OLPC offices, we plan to get a working upgrade path for the existing drupal.org databases, port the project infrastructure to Drupal 6, and implement Views, among other issues. The redesign infrastructure team group contains many posts detailing the current status of the upgrade process. Gábor Hojtsy, Derek Wright, Chad Phillips, Damien Tournoud, Neil Drumm, Dave Reid, Kevin Hankens, Susan MacPhee and myself have all committed to attend, and many others are available contingent on funding. Paris, February 9 - 13 — At the Paris sprint, we'll start implementing Mark Boulton's redesign on D6. Though it will take longer than this week to do, we plan to be well on our way by week's end. Gábor Hojtsy, Gerhard Killesreiter, Damien Tournoud, Neil Drumm, Joeri Poesen, Robert Douglass and myself have committed to attend, and many others are considering it. I also called up Mark Boulton, and he is tentatively scheduled to attend the code sprint in Paris. Washington DC, March 4 - 7 — While at DrupalCon DC 2009, we plan to continue to work on the upgrade. When, where and what will be worked on is still to be defined. Though our meet-up in Köln will be essentially free, the week-long sprints in Boston and Paris are not. We need to raise around $15,000 USD to fund the sprints. The money will be used to cover flight, food and hotel costs for the sprinters. All sprinters are generously donating their time to make this happen. Any excess money will be used to add more people, or will be donated to the Drupal Association. While the Drupal Association may be able to provide some funds, we'll only reach our goal through your generous contribution. A number of organizations, including Acquia, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), AF83, Four Kitchens, DrupalTherapy, OpenBand and Looforyoo have already come forward with donations of money and resources to help make these sprints be successful. We'll make sure to highlight companies and individuals that make a significant donation. But more than anything else, we need people that are willing to step up and help. If you're available to attend these sprints, and if you have the time and dedication to work on the drupal.org redesign before, during and after the code sprints, join the redesign infrastructure team, let me know in the comments and we'll figure out how and when you can best participate. We certainly welcome more people, especially those who can pay (most of) their own way. Please consider making a donation using the ChipIn widget or help us raise funds by spreading the word. Drupal.org is our home on the web, and it needs your help. Thanks!	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2418
__label__cc	0.576259	0.423741	Mental Health & Well-Being - Home - School Support - Community Support - FAQ - Get Help Now Mental Health & Well-Being/ At DSBN, we believe that mental health and well-being play a critical role in student success. Partnering with families and community agencies to help support and empower our students and address their mental health needs is one of the most impactful things we can do to help provide a learning environment where everyone can learn, grow and achieve. Our vision for the mental health climate at all of our DSBN schools is to create an environment where: School staff works together with parents, mental health partners and other schools to become stronger together by sharing responsibilities and resources Staff serve as mental health and well-being partners in the classroom and work with families and community agencies to mobilize support and access to service Students understand and respect mental health and well-being and feel comfortable advocating for their own needs Family members are empowered to support the mental health and well-being of their children The voices of students, staff, parents and community partners contribute to an on-going mental health conservation that builds understanding There is growing discussion about mental health in Ontario and the way we talk about it matters. This brand new video by the CAMH Health Promotion Resource Centre explains the separate but interconnected concepts of mental health and mental illness, as well as what it means to ‘promote mental health’, in ourselves and in our communities.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2419
__label__wiki	0.681183	0.681183	Documentary List Rating: 9.00/10 based on 9 votes cast. Report Broken Documentary Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy / One Comment On December 7, 1975 Indonesia secretly – but with the complicity of the Western powers including the US, the UK, and Australia – invaded the small nation of East Timor. Two Australian television crews attempting to document the invasion were murdered. In 1993, with the Indonesian army still occupying the country, John Pilger and his crew including director David Munro, slipped into East Timor and made this film. In the intervening 18 years, an estimated 200,000 East Timorese – 1/3 of the population – had been slaughtered by the Indonesian military. The C.I.A. has described it as one of the worst mass-murders of the 20th century. Pilger tells the story using clandestine footage of the countryside, internment camps and even Fretlin guerillas, as well as interviews with Timorese exiles, including Jose Ramos Horta and Jose Gusmao, and Australian, British, and Indonesian diplomats. Related Documentaries Einstein’s Equation of Life and Death The Forgotten Refugees Welcome to Australia Marijuana Nation Every day, millions of packages are delivered through the mail in the United States but for 19 days, a bomber held the city of Austin, Texas, hostage. He had residents terrified due to the unpredictab The Real Chernobyl Following the success of the HBO & Sky Atlantic hit mini drama series Chernobyl, Sky have released a documentary special which heads straight for Ukraine in order to meet some of the real people w Hidden Killers of the Tudor Home Nowadays we think of the Tudor home as an icon of Britishness, timber-framed and possibly thatched, a cottage even, it sounds wonderful but these quaint pretty relics of the past belie the revolution Thousands of migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean while sailing from Libya to Italy. Chamseddine Marzoug, a fisherman from Jarjis in neighbouring Tunisia, buries some of their bodies in a “cemet TT3D Closer to the Edge The TT motorcycle race takes place on the Isle of Man every year and TT3D: Closer to the Edge is a film which follows some of the leading riders of the 2010 race, most notably Guy Martin and Ian Hutch Highest Rated This Month Following the success of the HBO & Sky Atlantic hit mini drama series Chernobyl, Sky have released a documentary special which heads straight for Ukraine in order to meet some of the real people who w... Body Farms Since 1980, there have been over 250,000 recorded unsolved homicides in the United States, the number of missing persons and unidentified remains has been described as "the nations's silent mass disas... On August 15th 1977 a strange signal from the constellation Sagittarius was received by the Big Ear radio telescope. The signal known as the 'Wow!' signal reached an intensity up to 30 times higher th... Every day, millions of packages are delivered through the mail in the United States but for 19 days, a bomber held the city of Austin, Texas, hostage. He had residents terrified due to the unpredictab... America’s Lost H-Bomb Georgia's sandy costal shallows hide a deadly secret, a hydrogen bomb dumped by an American bomber over half a century ago in 1958 at Tybee Island. The bomb itself was very much nuclear capable and th... Throwback Documentaries Putin: The New Tsar An incredible film documenting the rise of Vladimir Putin, detailing how a poor boy from a small apartment located in St. Petersburg managed to not only escape poverty but become one of the worlds mos 10 Things You Dont Know About: Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP); National Socialist German Workers Party). He was c Auschwitz: Inside The Nazi State More than any previous documentary about the Holocaust, Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State reveals the inner workings of the Nazi implementation of Hitler’s infamous “final solution.” Drawing on the lat Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants is placed in interim storage, which is vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and 15 Years of Terror 15 years ago today on September 11, 2001, the world became witness to an unimaginable horror, the sight of New Yorks skyline ablaze fundamentally changed how we as a society view terrorism. Today we a Copyright © 2019 DocumentaryHeaven	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2422
__label__wiki	0.80346	0.80346	Doikayt "And know: a person must cross over an exceedingly narrow bridge; but the most essential thing is not to frighten yourself at all." -Reb Nachman Tag: Zionism The Jewish PLO copied from my Alternative Information Center article here Abraham Weizfeld is a co-founder of the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians, whose motto is ‘Jews & Arabs Are United, Israel’s Wrongs Must Be Righted’. He was also a founder of the Jewish People’s Liberation Organization. Here, he speaks with the Alternative Information Center (AIC): Jews who are opposed to Zionism marching in Canada (photo: flickr/Ullyses) Zionism formed in response to European persecution of the Jewish people. Where did it go wrong? Zionism said that the Jews should establish a Jewish nation state in their own name, excluding any other nation, just as the Jews have been excluded from Germany and Europe, because they realized that Jewish liberty in Europe was not feasible. So instead of opposing the exclusionary European nation state, they adopted the same methodology and chose to implement it in their own name, with the alliance of those European nation states, which considered that the Jews didn’t belong in their nation state, and that the Jews should go to their Jewish nation state, and incidentally form an outpost of European colonialism. Zionism was separatist, it wanted to segregate the Jewish people in Palestine. That’s the true origin of Zionism. This has corrupted Jewish spiritual culture, and has destroyed a great part of Jewish political culture, the Yiddish language. Now I am a Yiddish speaker who can speak with nobody. Nobody speaks Yiddish, except the Hasidim. Instead of Zionism going off and establishing its own nation state on the model of European exclusionary nation states, how could they have stayed and fought persecution? In Poland the Jewish workers’ movement formed a civil rights movement, much like the African Americans did, and they developed it into a political party and a trade union federation called the Jewish Labor Bund. My mother was a member of the Bund and so was her brother, who became a partisan during the Nazi invasion of Russia. This Jewish Bund, which means ‘union’, was of the opinion that the Jewish people who lived in Poland were legitimately Polish, as legitimate as any other Polish person. They had had lived there for over 500 years. They spoke Polish to each other in their home as well as Yiddish. My parents spoke to each other in Polish, not in Yiddish, and with me they spoke Yiddish. They were as Polish as any other Polish person, only they were Jewish as well, they had a dual identity. The Jewish people are one of the least religious nations in the world nowadays…but the Jewish cultural-national identity continues to exist. The Jewish Bund was based on this national identity…The Jewish Bund developed on a civil rights basis as an alternative to Zionism, in fact it was anti-Zionist. It was devastated both by the Nazis and the Stalinists, but it survived nonetheless, and here I am. I was raised as a Bundist by my mother, who was also an anti-Zionist. It’s interesting that whereas the Bund sought to maintain a duality between their national identity as Jews, and their full participation in the Polish or Russian class struggle as Poles or Russians, Zionism sought to collapse that duality into a single identity, where the cultural-national identity as Jew immediately coincides with the nationalistic identity as Israeli. The Zionists are so fanatical on that point, their official ideology doesn’t even allow an Israeli national identity to be established. There is only a Jewish identity, though two thirds of the world’s Jewish people do not have a vote on the Israeli elections… That’s why I advocate a Jewish revolution against Zionism, for the independence of the Jewish people from the state of the Zionists. There may be an Israeli nation now, but it is not a Jewish nation. It does not represent the Jewish people. The Jewish Bund was proven correct in its critique of Zionism, in the sense that it was not necessary for Jewish people to run away to Palestine to preserve their identity. Jewish people are not going to lose their identity, they are not going to be assimilated, even though they live in other societies. Jewish people are strong enough to have a dual identity. You can speak more than one language. You can have more than one identity. Humans are not limited to being just one thing. To be Jewish is to be creative, it is to develop new ideas, to adapt new ideas, to learn from other cultures, and to fuse them with what the Jewish people have learned from the various cultures, to develop an internationalist culture which is very dynamic. We have formed an international Jewish opposition to Zionism now. There are various Jewish organizations that are either anti occupation or anti Zionism… Jewish identity has to be asserted in an independent fashion, and Jewish identity has to be rebuilt, without feigning allegiance to the Zionist state, which is artificial and is not representative of the actuality of Jewish culture in any country. Author Ben LorberPosted on November 29, 2011 Categories Israel-Palestine conflictTags Abraham Weizfeld, Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians, Bund, Jewish Bund, Jewish Identity, Jewish identity politics, Jewish Labor Bund, Jewish PLO, JPLO, Yiddish, ZionismLeave a comment on The Jewish PLO ‘A Jew, Not A Zionist’: Interview with Rabbi Meir Hirsch, leader of Neturei Karta Palestine reprinted from my MondoWeiss article here (image from http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1652) Last week I interviewed Rabbi Meir Hirsch, leader of Neturei Karta Palestine, at his home in the Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Sharim in Jerusalem. Mea Sharim is a tight, crowded maze of a neighborhood with windy, dirty, dimly lit streets. Walking down a cobblestone pathway at night, with Orthodox men, women and children hurrying by on all sides, with cats scurrying in and out of dumpsters, with a yeshiva to the left and a kosher slaughterhouse to the right, one can sometimes get a flashback to a past life in an 18th-century Russian shtetl. In the few blocks around Rabbi Hirsch’s home, the Neturei Karta stronghold in the center of Mea Sharim, one starts to see Palestinian flags scrawled on the walls, with slogans like ‘No Zionists Allowed’, ‘Zionism is Dying’ and ‘Arabs are Good’ graffiti’d in Yiddish, then crossed out, then graffiti’d again. Rabbi Hirsch’s doorbell reads ‘A Jew Not a Zionist’. An excellent interview detailing Rabbi Hirsch and Neturei Karta’s political views can be found here-http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1652. Also be sure to visit Neturei Karta’s website, www.nkusa.org! When did your family come here? Meir Hirsch: I am the fifth generation in this land. My family came 150 years ago from Russia. Then, Aliyah as a term, like Zionism, did not exist. People outside of Israel aspired to get to Israel in order to better worship God. When Mea Sharim was made 145 years ago, it was a wilderness at first! There were animals roaming around, people had to lock their doors! When the Orthodox community saw waves of European secular Zionists coming, how did they feel? The Balfour Declaration of 1918 made the people here, especially the orthodox families, very upset. There was an objection from the ultra Orthodox community, which was the majority, specifically in Jerusalem but in other parts as well. Jacob Israel de Haan was a secular Jew who became religious, and came here from Poland. He came to Palestine and at first he went to the Mizrahi movement, but was not content with their version of religion and connected with [WHO] the Chief Rabbi of the ultra-Orthodox. Because of his diplomatic connections he almost got the Balfour Declaration canceled- he had connections with Arabic leaders and British leaders. The Zionist leaders, because they saw that he was about to succeed, decided to assassinate him. When he was coming back from Maariv (evening) prayer, they shot and killed him. That led to the foundation of the Neturei Karta movement to continue to resist the Zionist movement. De Haan was trying to make a bi-national state? He was trying to undo Zionist aspirations towards statehood. The Zionists were progressing with their project and the Arabs were very much worried that the Zionists were trying to take their land. He met with King Abdallah of Jordan who promised him that Jews would have no problems living in Jordan or wherever he may rule, as long as they didn’t have any aspirations for political dominance. Could you call de Haan a cultural, rather than a political Zionist? He was anti-Zionist! He was completely detached from Zionism. All along Neturei Karta has been completely detached from Zionism in any form. Where does the name come from? Neturei Karta means ‘Guardians of the City’, it is an Aramaic term from the Talmud. It basically means to guard the city from Zionism entering the culture. I lied to you, I actually know where the name comes from! [Taken from www.nkusa.org- Neturei-Karta is the Aramaic term for “Guardians of the City. The name Neturei-Karta originates from an incident in which R. Yehudah Ha-Nassi (Rabbi Judah the Prince) sent R. Hiyya and R. Ashi on a pastoral tour of inspection. In one town they asked to see the “guardians of the city” and the city guard was paraded before them. They said that these were not the guardians of the city but its destroyers, which prompted the citizens to ask who, then, could be considered the guardians. The rabbis answered, “The scribes and the scholars,” referring them to Tehillim (Psalms) Chap. 127. (Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Hagiga. 76c).] So the Zionists in this metaphor are the armed guards of the city, and Neturei Karta represents the scribes and scholars who keep the truth alive? Well in the passage, the armed guards were the Romans who had conquered Jerusalem, so they actually were the ‘destroyers’. A (Hirsch’s wife, who wished not to be named): This passage is referring to the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. Then, the scribes and the scholars literally were the guardians of the city in that, through the merit of their Torah learning, they watched over the city. But the name ‘Neturei Karta’ does not mean they are guarding over the city physically, but ideologically- they are guarding the city of Jerusalem from the ideas of Zionism. MH: There were also ‘destroyers’ of the city who were not Roman. In the time of the 2nd temple’s destruction, there were a group of Jews called Beriyonim, the ‘Bullies’, the family of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. They resisted the Romans, they decided not to surrender to the Romans at all. They were called Haruvei Karta, the Destroyers of the City. While everyone else accepted the Romans, they were adamant about not surrendering. And that is why the Romans destroyed the Temple, because of this resistance. There’s a growing movement of reform and secular Jewish opposition to Zionism, in Israel and around the world. What is the relationship between this movement and Neturei Karta’s Orthodox opposition to Zionism? The difference is that secular Jews are opposed to Zionism for humanitarian ideals which are basically Gentile, while Neturei Karta’s objection to Zionism, though it is also because of the humanitarian ideas, is drawn from religious commands. This is why our objection is much stronger, because it is based on religion. The secular and reform anti-Zionist movement shares with Orthodox opposition a valorization of diasporic Judaism, but for different reasons- secular Jews feel happy and productive in their various countries, whereas for the Orthodoxy diaspora is our God-given lot until the coming of Messiah…. There is a similarity, but there is a fundamental difference because again, the Orthodox argument is based on a divine command to stay in the diaspora, while the secular Jewish ideas are based on humanitarian values. What’s the difference between humanitarian moral ideas and divinely commanded moral ideas? In Syria people are resisting the totalitarian regime. A humanitarian person would object to what’s going on, and would care about what’s going on there. However, in Israel the state is using religious symbols to justify oppression. For example its name, Israel, is the name given to Jacob in the Torah. Whereas anyone would care about humanitarian catastrophes going on in Syria, this is the basis of Neturei Karta’s objection to the religious aspect of Israel’s crimes. Would you compare the State of Israel to the Jewish people’s sin of worshipping the Golden Calf? It is much worse than worshipping idols, because while you are worshipping the Golden Calf, you are a Jew who worships wrongly, who worships other Gods. But Zionism comes in order to fundamentally remove the roots of Judaism, it aims to destroy the Jewish people. A: Zionism claims the Jews need a nationalistic state, they need a land and a language like all other countries. Jews are not based on a land and a language, they are based on following God’s commandments, whether they live in Russia or England or anywhere. I want to ask about the Three Oaths. (Talmudic passage cited by religious Jews as forbidding a Jewish state in Palestine) One of them is ‘do not rebel against the nations of the world’- when the Jewish people are in diaspora, they should not rebel against the powers-that-be. The second one is ‘do not go up the wall’. ‘Go up’ is ‘aliyah’. There is no problem with living in the land of Israel, but Jews should not make a pilgrimage, we should not go there en masse. The third one is do not hurry the end- there should be redemption at the end of days, but there is nothing we can do to rush it. I am curious- one of the Three Oaths is that Jews should not rebel against the nations of the world. Many revolutionary Communists, socialists, anarchists, etc. of the 19th and 20th centuries were Jewish. Were they violating the Oath by rebelling against states? That is true, but the ones who did that were not Jews. They were fully secular, and therefore not part of the Jewish people anymore. So it was not against the divine command anymore, because they did not do it as Jews. It is often said that the Messiah will come only and exactly when the world falls completely to pieces. Is the existence of Israel and its effects upon the world a sign that, because things are getting so bad, the Messiah will come soon? We are not prophets, so we do not know! According to the Torah, the Zionist State of Israel should not exist, so it will be unmade. The Book of Joshua details the migration of the Jewish people out of the desert into the land of Israel, and their slaughter and expulsion of the land’s inhabitants. What do you think of those who justify the modern-day creation of the state of Israel by citing this biblical precedent? Because Zionism is coming to destroy the Jewish people, they have no right to do this. Attempting to come and use a Biblical ideal to justify their actions is blasphemous, it is like mixing light and dark. Some religious Zionists say that Palestinians are descended from Amalek, the so-called eternal enemy of the Jewish people. What do you say to this? [Deuteronomy 25.17-19- “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.“] This is brainwashing propaganda by the Israeli Zionist media machine. It has nothing to do with Torah. Zionists are actually Amalek! The Chofetz Chaim said that he who goes against Judaism is from the seed of Amalek! And so therefore Zionists are from the seed of Amalek. Something else I’ve heard is that the Arab world hates the state of Israel because of a deep-seated Muslim hatred of Jews, turning the Israel-Palestine conflict into a ‘holy war’ between Islam and Judaism. This is a very big distortion of history. If you go throughout 3000 years of history, the big persecutions of Jews were always in Christian, not in Muslim countries. The classic example is the deportation from Spain, where Jews, deported from Christian Spain, found refuge in Muslim countries. But you don’t have to go that far- in the Holocaust time, Jews found safe havens in many Muslim countries. How is Neturei Karta received by the rest of the Orthodox community? Almost all Orthodox Jews reject Zionism, and this is why almost none of them enlist in the army. Although many receive funds from the government and involve themselves in the politics of the Zionist state, they reject Zionism’s ideals. The impression is that Orthodoxy supports Zionism but this is not true. They cooperate, they go hand in hand with it but they do not agree with it ideologically. They have gotten used to it. But the difference between them and Neturei Karta is that we desire to have contact with Muslim people and Palestinian leaders. How old were you when your father visited Yasser Arafat in Ramallah? What was it like? I was 15 or 16. Even when Arafat was living in Tunisia my father went to him and explained that Judaism and Zionism are two opposite ideas, and that Neturei Karta aims to support the right of Palestinians to receive their national home in Palestine. I met Arafat in Ramallah and the Gaza Strip. It was very important for me, and a few days later, when Arafat spoke at the UN, he said he knew the difference between Judaism and Zionism. This was very important for me. Were you or your father condemned by the Jewish community for this? Of course there were objections, by settlers for example, to these meetings, but of course we don’t really care. So you are carrying on your father’s message! Why is this important for you? Zionist actions are creating a lot of hatred against the Jews, and it is important for us to make it very clear to Palestinian leaders that true Jews are anti-Zionist, to try to prevent as much as possible this misunderstanding. There are some Orthodox Jews who simply ignore the State of Israel, refuse to pay taxes, etc. but Neturei Karta actively vocalizes and demonstrates opposition. What is the importance of this? It is very important to be active against Zionist actions, because they are harming both Jews and the rest of the world. So it is important to maintain vocal opposition, to dispute the Zionist agenda and make it understood that the Zionists are not really the Jewish voice. Do you go to the Kotel (Western Wall)? Because it has been occupied by the Zionist state, and I do not recognize this occupation. It must be difficult for you, because it is one of the holiest places in Jerusalem! It is hard, because it is only five minutes away from here by foot! What do you think of international Neturei Karta members who refuse to even set foot in Israel for the same reason? It is equally important, I believe, to be able to declare opposition from within here, to speak out against Zionist actions. Do you think that the State of Israel will disappear and become another stain in Jewish history, like Sabbatai Tzevi or any other idol worship in the past? Author Ben LorberPosted on November 26, 2011 Categories Israel-Palestine conflictTags Amalek, anti-Semitism, Book of Joshua, Golden Calf, Israel, Jacob de Haan, Kotel, Mea Sharim, Mosche Hirsch, Neturei Karta, Orthodox Jewry, Second Temple, Talmud, Three Oaths, Western Wall, Yasser Arafat, ZionismLeave a comment on ‘A Jew, Not A Zionist’: Interview with Rabbi Meir Hirsch, leader of Neturei Karta Palestine ‘An Interview with a Former Zionist’- My Beautiful Voice On South African Radio I gave this interview sitting in bed at 9 in the morning to a South African Islamic radio station. I wouldn’t call myself a ‘former Zionist’ really, though I suppose I did write that in this blog’s ‘About’ section… http://www.ciibroadcasting.com/2011/11/23/an-interview-with-a-former-zionist-ben-lorber/ Author Ben LorberPosted on November 24, 2011 Categories Israel-Palestine conflictTags apartheid, Israel, Israeli occupation, palestine, ZionismLeave a comment on ‘An Interview with a Former Zionist’- My Beautiful Voice On South African Radio Archeo-(il)logical Imperialism, Political Theology, and Linguistic Fascism Within the ideological innards of both camps of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and connecting the two inextricably, there quivers a web wedding religious aspiration and political action, very tangled and dense, but not impenetrable. On the side of the oppressor (Israel), the religious idea of a ‘return to the homeland’ is the whole reason Zionism has chosen this patch of land over all others, and its process of colonization and displacement of the 1000-year native Palestinian population relies completely on the idea that Jews were ‘here before’, and so have returned to ‘resurrect’ their innate, divine claim to the land. Zionism colonizes this land through remembrance- it fleshes out the past and uses it to usurp and cover over the present Palestinian presence. The past is its sword and shield. On the side of the oppressed (Palestinians), a religious rejection of modernity, and a deep-seated desire for the revitalization of the Golden Age of Islam, have taken in their stride, in the land of Palestine, a protracted anti-colonialist struggle to throw off the yoke of oppression. These spiritual desires in the Islamic world are part of a much larger religious and social movement that spans the last several hundred years; nonetheless, through radical, political Islam, they have taken shape, in the Israel-Palestine conflict, as a struggle to liberate the Palestinian people ‘from the river to the sea’, and to establish a self-determining Muslim state with Jerusalem as its capital. We must remember that, among Jews and Palestinians, those motivated chiefly by such religious worldviews represent but a small fraction of the total population. Not all Jews yearn for a Greater Israel, and not all Palestinians yearn for a new Caliphate. In his 2009 booklet Obstacles to Peace, Israeli human rights activist Jeff Halper writes that “Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and other Palestinian “rejectionist” groups that reject peace with Israel and have turned to violent means of resistance represent about the same proportion of Palestinian society in the Occupied Territories – say 15-20% – that extreme settler and other right-wing rejectionist groups represent in Israeli society.” (28) Nonetheless, this small minority polarizes both sides of the conflict, paints the conflict with an air of divine irreconcilability, and grafts onto the conflict an irreducibly religious dimension in the sphere of ideology, that vast stomping ground of fantasy and mirage where humans manage to develop very confused ideas of what they are doing to themselves and to each other. I will attempt here to tentatively explore the complex, interdependent relationship between the spiritual-religious beliefs of Zionism, and its national-political aspirations, focusing on the twin lenses of the Zionist revival of the Hebrew language in the early 1900s, and the archeological excavations in modern-day Palestine, in particular the 1967 transformation of the Western Wall into a vast secular spectacle. Looking at the deliberate revivification of ancient Hebrew in the 1900s as a modern, secular language for (what portrayed itself as) a modern, democratic nation-state, I will examine the intense Zionist drive to unleash and channel this religious well-spring for its own secular, nationalist purposes, to fashion a new beast out of old clay, at the expense of the day-to-day language of the Diaspora that, for a vast amount of time in between, separated the Hebrew of the past from the site of its purported rebirth- Yiddish. This double movement within Zionism, at once remembrance of Hebrew and suppression of Yiddish, has as its parallel the colonization of Palestine, where the ground was literally dug up from under the feet of the 1000-year indigenous Palestinian population through the archeological recovery and recollection of an ancient Israelite presence, so that colonization appears as recolonization, settlement as resettlement, occupation as return. This is a peculiar sort of imperialism, which summons to life a new cultural and political beast clothed in remembrance of the dead letter, which calls on the skeletons of its ancestors to spiritually finance a deadly occupation, and draws all the power and might of Western arms and capital in its wake. In ‘The Eyes of Language’, Jacques Derrida speaks of a 1926 letter from Gershom Scholem, a cultural-turned-political Zionist who was teaching Jewish Mysticism at Hebrew University in Palestine, to Franz Rosenzweig, an anti-Zionist, pro-diaspora Jewish writer who was then paralyzed on his deathbed in Germany. Though there had long been a friendship-rending disagreement between the two over the question of Zionism’s fidelity to (Scholem) or betrayal of (Rosenzweig) the messianic core of Judaism, Scholem, though he defends the validity of Zionism, confesses to Rosenzweig in this letter his startling and discomforting recognition of an evil that may lurk, unbeknownst even to its host, within the very essence of Zionism. In Derrida’s words, “It is a confession before Rosenzweig the anti-Zionist, because Scholem is a Zionist- that is what he wants to be, that is what he remains and confirms being. Yet, he cannot but recognize in Zionism an evil, an inner evil, an evil that is anything but accidental. More precisely, one cannot but recognize that the accident that befalls Zionism or that lies in wait for it threatens it essentially, in its closest proximity- in its language, and as soon as a Zionist opens its mouth….It is a matter of what used to be called then, in Palestine, the “actualization (Aktualisierung)” of the Hebrew language, its modernization, the transformation undertaken since the beginning of the century (Ben Yehuda) and pursued systematically toward adapting biblical Hebrew to the needs of everyday communication, be it technical and national, but also, for a modern nation, international and interstate communication.” (Acts of Religion, 194) From the 2nd century CE, until the latter half of the 1800s, Hebrew was a language that for the Jewish people had virtually vanished from literary or spoken expression, and was reserved only for prayer, theological writing, and books of law. In the late 1800s, Hebrew enjoyed a somewhat obscure literary revival among Ashkenazi Jewry in Eastern Europe; at the same time, the spark of Zionism was struck among Eastern European Jews, as part of a wider European wave of nationalism and in response to growing anti-Semitism. Says Ghil’ad Zuckerman in his linguistic study Hybridity Versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns, “At the time, although territory and language were at the heart of European nationalism, the Jews possessed neither a national territory nor a national language.” (43) http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Hybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf In the soil of the Hebrew language, this spark of Zionism burst into a flame, propelling a fireball of cultural pride into a political movement that used the revival of Hebrew to foster a new national self-consciousness, a new Jewish identity that, in typical Enlightenment spirit, considered itself a soul birthed anew out of its past, and sought for itself a body in a new land- Palestine. The glorification of Hebrew in the 1900s by Ben-Yehuda and others went hand in hand with the proliferation of Zionist Jews in the land of Palestine; the transformation of a language went hand in hand with the political expansion of a people. According to Wikipedia, “the process of Hebrew’s return to regular usage is unique; there are no other examples of a language without any native speakers subsequently acquiring several million such native speakers, and no other examples of a sacred language becoming a national language with millions of first language speakers.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revival_of_the_Hebrew_language Scholem confesses his fear that Zionism, by transforming the sacred language of Hebrew, charged as it is with (what to him appeared as) holy potentialities, into an everyday secular tongue, thereby unleashed into the national-political scene of the 1900s an ancient monster beyond anyone’s control. “This country is a volcano”, says Scholem, “it houses language…if we transmit to our children the language that has been transmitted to us, if we-the generation of transition- resuscitate the language of the ancient books so that it can reveal itself anew to them, must then not the religious violence of this language one day break out against those who speak it? And on the day this eruption occurs, which generation will suffer its effects?…Hebrew is pregnant with catastrophes.” Scholem senses that the Zionism in which he places his faith, the Zionism which has revitalized Jewish culture, is nonetheless also the Zionism which, by secularizing, modernizing and normalizing the Messianic forces that dwell in the holy Hebrew tongue, has injected a divine, schizophrenic and unpredictable energy into a national populace that, in 1926, was still working to birth itself into the political world as a nation-state among nation-states. This did not just occur on the abstract plane of language, rather, it took place as a process in history that began in Eastern Europe in the late 1800s and, by 1948, solidified into a political Event, the consecration of a new nation-state. Alongside this guided (forced) evolution of Hebrew, from sacred tongue to national-secular dialect, was a transformation of cultural Zionism, which sought to revitalize Jewish culture and identity in face of the threats of assimilation and anti-Semitism, into political Zionism, which took this cultural drive for renewal and turned it into a national-political agenda to conquer a land and form a militarized nation-state. Today, as we look back upon and form the narrative of the past that has led us to this 21st century present, we must guard against a tendency to mythologize the past, to summarize it with the broad strokes of abstract historical ‘forces’. There is a deification of the force of language, in Scholem’s worldview and in Derrida’s interpretation of it, that leads to a reification of an immaterial essence- Hebrew and its holy potentialities- as the driving Spirit behind the history of Zionism. For according to Scholem’s narrative, the transformation in question here, from Hebrew as holy tongue to secular dialect, and from cultural Zionism as Judaic revitalization to political Zionism as nationalist project, is a transformation that occurs first and foremost in the former field of language, and only then trickles down to transform the latter field of ideology. Or, if the two transformations in truth occur as a single evolution, they unfold, in ‘The Eyes of Language’, upon a field that, true to Derrida’s entire project (which, for all its beauty, is not Marxist), is not the concrete, immanent socio-economic field of politics and history, but is rather the semi-transcendent, partly-ineffable, infinitely-open play of interpretation and the letter. “There is a power of language”, Derrida claims, “at once a dynamis, an enveloped virtuality, a potentiality that can be brought or not to actuality; it is hidden, buried, dormant. This potentiality is also a power, a particular efficacy that acts on its own, in a quasi- autonomous manner, without the initiative and beyond the control of speaking subjects.” (213-14) If we wish to actually reconstruct the chain of events that constitute the history of Zionism and the Israel-Palestine conflict from which it cannot be disassociated, we are left with little time to leave our reasoning power at the door, slip off our slippers, remove our thinking caps and kneel before the altar of the Hidden Potentiality of Language. Derrida tries to account for all concrete political history by enveloping it within his Play of the Letter- “this catastrophe of language will not only be linguistic. From the beginning of the letter, the political and national dimension is staged.” Nonetheless, the latter two dimensions of politics and national identity are framed within, and bow before, the former dimension of the letter, so that the catastrophe of Zionism can be seen as ultimately a catastrophe of language, and so that the political-historical events which constitute Zionism’s unfolding become the playing-out of supra-natural, transhistorical essences. As good materialists, we cannot rest easy with Scholem’s worldview that explains historical phenomena as the surface effects of ghostly, ephemeral, spiritual-Biblical processes that play themselves out behind the given socio-economic-political reality. Nor can we be satisfied with a Derridean picture that leads our eyes away from historical fact, towards a pseudo-theological play of signifiers (however tempting speculation regarding the latter may be). The danger in this is clear- throughout the 1900s, it was precisely the Zionist mythology that viewed its concrete imperialist project as a spiritual process, as God’s will manifesting itself on Earth. Zionism used this spiritual meta-narrative to justify and to cloak the oppression of Palestinians and the expropriation of their land. In addition, it is easy today to look at the Old City, where Al-Aqsa mosque sits so close to the Western Wall, and to become convinced that the Israel-Palestine conflict is a cosmic clash between divine forces, a Battle of the Monotheisms, in which the human narrative is mere puppet play. The radical factions within Judaism and Islam inflame and obfuscate this conflict by painting it with precisely these transcendent, passionate colors. Today, to dispel the tangled, illusory and confusing clouds of religious passion and tribal ideology that drive everyone into a deeper mess, we must see the historical facts of the Israel-Palestine conflict for what they are- historical facts, composed of the concrete interplay of social, economic and political relationships. Though we must guard against romanticizing and mythologizing the stark reality of the conflict, we can nonetheless draw from Derrida and Scholem’s discourses on language important insights regarding the relationship between religious mythologies, national orientations, and political affiliations. We can see the intrinsic relationship between the Zionism which bends the sacred language of Hebrew for its secular nationalistic purposes, and the Zionism which twists and channels the Biblical passions of Judaism into a concrete political agenda. For while spiritual-metaphysical concepts do not possess any transcendental reality, and in themselves have no immanent causal effect in the realm of social-political configurations, they are used, within these latter configurations, as signifiers of extreme force and violence, so that, as elements of language and pawns of ideology, the forces embedded in religious ideas come to play a major role in world politics and history. As critical secular thinkers, we must affirm that there is no Judaic ‘God’ or divinely mandated ‘ingathering of the exiles’, we must affirm that there is no ‘Allah’ and no divinely mandated ‘jihad’; nonetheless, we cannot fail to recognize how these ideas play such a crucial role in inflaming political agendas and social movements. In the thought, word and deed of humans, these ideas seem to take on a life of their own. This is the sphere of political theology- the study of how religious and theological concepts play themselves out in, and influence, the political patterns by which humans navigate and organize their shared social reality. For “those who believed that they secularized the sacred language did not do so in order to desacralize. They believed, thoughtlessly, that they were going to ‘resuscitate’, to reanimate the language of origin in a modern world and in a modern state.” (Acts of Religion, 206) Throughout the 1900s, the actors of political and cultural Zionism, as they pushed for the creation and sustenance of the State of Israel, believed either that they were fulfilling, in earthly politics, God’s will as written in the Torah, or that they were protecting and strengthening the Jewish people, as a nation and a culture. Be it cultural or political Zionism, be it in the practical atheist nationalism of Theodore Hertzl or in the all-Jews-to-the-Holy Land unification theology of Abraham Isaac Kook, we see one and the same drive to unify and uplift a people. Both camps sought to glorify the given, and so, consciously and unconsciously, they translated theological emotions into political motivations. They tapped into deeply-embedded cultural motifs of collective exile and redemption, not to ‘desacralize’ concepts previously only whispered in prayer or eyed in fantasy and longing, but to ‘resuscitate’ a scattered and battered people threatened by diaspora, assimilation and anti-Semitism, to raise this confused and secularized mass closer towards what they perceived to be a new state of sacred Becoming. In this nexus of political theology that in the 1900s animated the Zionist project, we see the violence of a double inscription, carved atop a double erasure- first, on the surface of Zionism’s body, the land of Palestine, we see the forced settlement of the Jewish population, coincident with the forced suppression of the indigenous Palestinian presence; second, within the borders of Zionism’s self-identity, we see the forced revitalization of Hebrew, coincident with the forced forgetting of Yiddish. The parallels are clear as day- in Palestine, Jews had for centuries been a tiny minority among Arabs; in Diaspora Judaism, Hebrew had been for centuries the language of a tiny minority, spoken only in prayer, while the vast majority of Jews spoke Yiddish. As part of the national-political Zionist project, the former element was dragged out of obscurity and forced atop the latter in a deliberate, unnatural gesture of dominance. The movement which scarred the Palestinian people had also to scar itself; the mark of difference had to wedge itself between Jew-Arab on the outside, and between Hebrew-Yiddish, and in a larger sense Israel-Diaspora, on the inside; Zionism had to cover over both scars with the same brazenness, the same masculine over-assertion, the same all-encompassing cultural and political upsurge of nationalism and pride. In the early 1900s, the Legion of the Defenders of the Language was established in Tel Aviv to harass Yiddish theater performances, ban and hinder the spread of Yiddish publications, and otherwise forcibly promote the development of Hebrew as the only acceptable language for what would become the Jewish nation. Zuckerman, cited above- “In the 1920s and 1930s, gdud meginéy hasafá, ‘the language defendants regiment’, whose motto was ivrí, dabér ivrít ‘Hebrew [i.e. Jew], speak Hebrew!’, used to tear down signs written in ‘foreign’ languages and disturb Yiddish theatre gatherings.” (48) As Sue Wright says in her book Language and the State- Revitalization and Revival in Israel and Eire, “The struggle with Yiddish continued even after Hebrew was firmly established. It was seen as a continuing threat during the immigration of the early days of independence in the 1950s. Yiddish was the prototype enemy of Hebrew. It was the language associated with the Diaspora, and so with the rejected identity of Diaspora Jew. It was the language of the religious anti-Zionists, a group seen as a constant reminder of another rejected identity. And it was the language espoused by an identity that rejected territorialism and the return to Zion.” (19) Or as Benjamin Harshav points out in Language in Time of Revolution, “The revulsion from [the Yiddish language]…[was] a recoil from Diaspora existence… [from] the mother tongue, intimate and hated at the same time, from the parental home of the shtetl, corroded by idleness and Jewish trading, and from the world of prayer, steeped in the scholastic and irrelevant study of Talmud, and the irrational and primitive behavior of the Hasidim.” (157) The Committee of the Hebrew Language, late 1800s, with chief proponent of the revitalization of Hebrew, Eliezer ben-Yehuda, first on right Yiddish was rejected, and Hebrew was enforced, in the same Zionist stubbornness which spit out, like a bad memory, the thought of the Diasporic Jewish community, dependent on the bricks of another’s house, guests in a foreign land, too weak to determine itself like the rest of Europe. For the newly-forming Zionist consciousness, wrenching itself away from this reality meant violently shoving it into the past. This was accomplished in a double motion- on the one hand, breaking into and creating a new future, in a new land, with a new identity; and, on the other hand, digging up, as in an excavation, the comforting pretense of an ancient past, and clothing the forward march in the shreds of this past, thrusting the name of this past ahead as justification for the advance. The land of Palestine combined perfectly this motif of Enlightenment futurity with the trace of an anarchic, irretrievable, Biblical past. To reconcile Zion the imaginary with the Real patch of land on the coast of the Mediterranean, required an immensely surreal, novel and traumatizing leap of forced familiarity. Writing of Gershom Scholem in 1926 Palestine, Derrida asks us to imagine “the paradigmatic scene of this Berliner intellectual from the diaspora, living two cultures, familiar, as are so many others, with sacred nonspoken texts reserved for study and liturgy, and who all at once hears, in the Palestine of the 1 920s, these sacred names in the street, on the bus, at the corner store, in the newspapers that every day publish lists of new words to be inscribed in the code of secular Hebrew. One must imagine the desire and the terror in the face of this outpouring, this prodigious, unbridled prodigality that flooded everyday life with sacred names, language giving itself out…” (209) He continues- ‘The demonic horror of these sorcerers’ apprentices gifted with an unconscious courage that pushes them to manipulate forces which surpass them-here is this horror commensurate with a kind of death, the death of the living dead…as if the return to life were only a simulacrum for which one was going to disguise the dead as a caricature of itself for the funeral home, a nonlanguage, the frozen grin of a semiotics, a disincarnated, fleshless, and formally universal exchange value, an instrument in the commerce of signs, without a proper place, without a proper name, a false return to life, a shoddy resurrection.” (209-10) A perfect example of the Zionist drive to ‘disguise the dead as a caricature of itself for the funeral home’, to fix the past in a ‘frozen grin’, is what is now known as the Western Wall. For 2030 years, this wall has stood; for nearly 2000 years, it has been the only remnant of the structure of the Jews’ Second Temple; for at least 1000 years, the wall itself has been for the Jews a supreme object of religious fixation. Only for the last 44 years, however, has a magnificent open-air synagogue plaza paved the way to the wall for the Jews- paved, as it were, over the remains of 135 houses, a mosque, a school, and the 800-year history of the Moroccan or Mughrabi Quarter. The Moroccan Quarter sometime between 1898 and 1946- virtually everything in the lower half of the picture was demolished to make way for the Western Wall Plaza from Wikipedia- “Three days after Israel seized the Old City during the Six Day War, on the evening of June 10, 1967, 650 inhabitants of the Moroccan Quarter were told to vacate their homes on a few hours notice. Workers under the guard of soldiers then proceeded to demolish the quarter, consisting of 135 houses, the al-Buraq mosque, the Bou Medyan zaouia and other sites, with the exception of a mosque and a zaouia which were demolished two years later. According to Etan Ben Moshe, the officer in charge, several persons died following their refusal to leave their homes; one woman from the quarter who did not hear the calls to vacate was buried beneath the rubble, her body found the next morning under the ruins of her home. In the following days all of the Palestinian Arab inhabitants of the Jewish Quarter were also evicted…Almost a year later, on April 18, 1968, the Israeli Ministry of the Treasury officially expropriated the land of the quarter for public use, along with the Jewish Quarter, and offered 200 Jordanian dinars to each family which had been displaced. After the destruction, the section of the Wall dedicated to prayers was extended southwards to double its original length from 28 to 60 meters, while the original facing open area of some four meters grew to 40 meters: the small 120 square meter area in front of the wall became the vast Western Wall Plaza, covering 20,000 square meters over the ruins of the Moghrabi Quarter.The site of the Moroccan Quarter is now a large open plaza leading up to Western Wall, in use as an open-air synagogue.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_Quarter The Western Wall has always been for the Jews a present symbol of an irretrievable past, the living remnant of a dead temple, the trace which persists in time to announce that which has passed, the visible sign of an invisible promise. It is the only remaining segment of the guard wall that once surrounded their Second Temple, destroyed almost 2000 years ago. Like any other religious site, the wall has been imbued over the years with what we can refer to as a ‘holiness’, not (for us seculars) by the will of God, but through the intense devotion of generations of human hands, hearts, words, and tears. To forcibly inscribe a new conquest and to markedly denote a new era, the Zionist movement bathed this living symbol in blood and artificially grafted a new limb onto it. Just as the Hebrew language persisted in a similar holiness for thousands of years, and then was hijacked, magnified and warped by the Zionist movement, so did this wall exist as a holy site for thousands of years before the Zionist project covered it with the flood lights of a nationalist spectacle. It is not that the holy presence has totally withdrawn from this wall because of Zionism; just as Yiddish today has seeped back into the Hebrew language, exists alongside it and has gained a new strength of its own- just as the Palestinian people have mounted a steadily increasing resistance since the occupation, illuminating and elaborating the cracks in the Zionist edifice- so the inherited holiness of the wall now coincides awkwardly with, hides itself as a trace behind, persists uncomfortably in spite of the ‘frozen grin’ of the occupation which has hijacked and transmogrified it for purposes which, were we religious, we would rightly call idolatrous. That which is suppressed cannot be forgotten, but inevitably returns again, first as a specter to haunt the oppressor, then as the ominous cracks in the edifice of oppression, and finally as a full-on revolution which tears down the wall and liberates the enslaved. We are reminded of the famous passage from Marx’s Capital, which describes how capitalist oppression cyclically spirals towards its own breaking point and creates its own self-supersession and the liberation of the proletariat- “Along with the constantly diminishing number of the magnates of capital [read: Zionist oppressors], who usurp and monopolize all advantages of this process of transformation, grows the mass of misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, exploitation; but with this too grows the revolt of the working class [read: Palestinian people], a class always increasing in numbers, and disciplined, united, organized by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production [read: Zionist exploitation] itself. The monopoly of capital becomes a fetter upon the mode of production, which has sprung up and flourished along with, and under it. Centralization of the means of production and socialization of labour at last reach a point where they become incompatible with their capitalist integument. This integument is burst asunder. The knell of capitalist private property sounds. The expropriators are expropriated.” (Capital Volume I, Chapter 32) The alternative archeology association Emek Shaveh has this to say about another Old City site (the City of David, currently excavated under/pasted over the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan), but it applies just as well to the Western Wall- “[The] incorporation of this site into the Jewish-Israeli narrative is multifaceted — mixing religious nationalism with theme- park tourism. The past is, of course, a palpable presence, used both to shore up the new Jewish settlers’ claim for primacy and to attract Bible-oriented tourism. As a result, conflict with local Palestinians occurs at the very basic level of existence, where the past is used to disenfranchise and displace people in the present.” http://www.alt-arch.org/silwan.php In the West Bank city of Hebron (al Khalil in Arabic), we find a blatant example of how archeological excavation goes hand in hand with Jewish settlement, and thus betrays its underlying ideological motivations. At the site of Tel Rumeida, about a two minute walk from where I am currently sitting, seven Israeli families moved in with caravans in 1984, as part of a broader wave of settlement starting in 1980. In the face of mounting violent resistance, the Israeli government agreed to construct permanent housing for these settlers. This description, taken from a Zionist website, shows how the excavation, which unearthed 4,000 years of fascinating history, was undertaken explicitly for the purpose of settlement. Though this is an atypical example, framed in a context that unusually and dramatically weds excavation and settlement, it is still worth mentioning, if for no other reason than that it holds special significance for me right now, as I walk right past the settlement home every day. http://www.gamla.org.il/english/article/1999/july/h1.htm “The archeological work was licensed two weeks before the Israeli general election in May as a “rescue excavation” to research the site before permanent homes are built there for the settlers…Dr Hamdan Taha, director-general of the Palestinian ministry for archeology, said the excavation had been politically motivated. “We think the site should be protected as an archeological site without any ideological attempt to threaten and endanger a cultural heritage that represents the ancient history of Hebron,” he said. Officials at the Israeli antiquities authority privately agree. “If such a significant site were inside Israel proper, the law would prohibit anything being built on it,” a senior Israeli archeologist said. Persuading the settlers to go, however, will be difficult. David Wilder, spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, said the excavation proved their right to live there. “We always knew this was the site of the ancient city; now these excavations have found positive proof of Jewish presence from the time of the patriarchs,” said Wilder. “In terms of Jewish roots and heritage, what more do you need?” In most instances of Israeli archeological imperialism, the old is excavated gradually, as a groundbreaking first step that paves the way for the eventual new colonial settlement which, all along, was the implicit purpose of excavation. At Tel Rumeida, the old was excavated after the new was already set to be established; the fact of settlement explicitly caused the necessity of excavation; the structural order was inverted, allowing the overarching ideological motivation, teleologically oriented towards the establishment of the new, to emerge even clearer into the clear light of day. David Wilder, mentioned above, had this to say, on the Jewish Community of Hebron web site, about the Tel Rumeida site, called by the settlers Beit Menachem- “To me, this site could be called Tel Aviv. Why? Today’s Israeli metropolis is named after Theodore Herzl’s book, Altneuland, which literally means ‘old — new land,’ with ‘Tel’ [the name for a hill containing the remains of an ancient city-ed] representing the old and ‘Aviv’ (which means spring in Hebrew), representing the new. However, the authentic ‘old’ is here in Hebron, the roots of our existence, at the site called Tel Hebron. And the new is directly above the old — a beautiful new apartment complex, the buds of the rebirth of the Jewish People in the City of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs.” http://www.hebron.com/english/article.php?id=241#Hebron,%20the%20Real%20Tel%20Aviv To repeat, what is unique to this Zionist colonization is that, like Hebrew in relation to Yiddish, what is newly asserted is both excavated under and pasted over that which it replaces- a Jewish presence in Palestine 3000 years ago is used as justification to butt out the Palestinians who have been living here for at least 1000 years; Hebrew’s presence as an ancient holy tongue is cited as a reason to elevate it and to suppress Yiddish; the Western Wall’s longevity is an excuse to turn it into a spectacle over the ruins of the Moroccan quarter. In each case, the former element is brutally enlarged and magnified, while the latter element is crushed to a pulp; but, like a parasite, the former element emerges from within the skin of the latter element, and empties itself out from within the host it has devoured. To conquer the given, the new posits the old as its ground, and then, rising up from this posited precedent, it breaks through the given and projects its unprecedented dominance upon the present and into the future. ‘We were here before in Palestine’ becomes ‘we shall now drive out the Palestinians’; ‘we have always been Hebrews’ becomes ‘we must now all speak Hebrew’; ‘this wall has always been holy to us’ becomes ‘it is now justified for us to decimate a community that has lived here for 800 years’. Most Western imperial projects of the last two centuries have approached a land from the outside, and conquered its native population as an external invasive force. To dominate its object, Zionism discovers itself already there before or beneath the object; it rises itself up from the depths of the ground upon which the object rests, and thus posits itself as always-already the hidden truth of the object. Speaking again of the City of David, itself an archetypal example of archeological colonization, Emek Shavek writes- “Archaeology provides physical and symbolic capital for [Zionism’s] settlement project, in the form of a narrative emphasizing Jewish continuity and eliding other cultures, and of relics that testify to such continuity…The sanctity of the City of David is newly manufactured, and is a crude amalgam of history, nationalism, and quasi-religious pilgrimage. As such, it curiously incorporates many of the qualities used, according to Ben Israel (1998), by nationalist movements in the creation of hallowed land: a revised and selective history, cased in religious terminology (‘holiness’ imparted by the Bible, the kings and the prophets), with mystical overtones (invoking the ‘energy’ of the place; stating that ‘the wall is not just a wall’).” Throughout the short history of Israel, archeological excavations are not performed for the simple cultural Zionist purpose of learning more about the history of the Jewish people- the ideological subtext of excavation claims that Jews have God-given and historically verified ownership of the land, and the practical consequences of excavation are the Palestinian house demolitions and Israeli settlements that invariably follow the discovery of Jewish ruins. There may have been a time in the early 1900s when it was possible to distinguish between a cultural Zionism which merely sought to revivify Jewish culture, and a political Zionism which coveted a militarized nation-state in Palestine; in today’s Israel, however, they are one and the same package. The celebration of Jewish culture leads directly to the glorification of Israel, and is thus always-already the oppression of Palestinian culture. Mainstream Jewish pride carries with it a clear Us-vs-Them mindset, and whereas in all previous Jewish history the ‘Them’ may have been ‘the goyim (non-Jews) who do not worship our God, who rule this state and social structure, and who at any time may deny us our right to worship, oppress us as second-class citizens, kick us out of this country, or worse’, today’s ‘Them’ is a single enemy, a single people who are either reviled and spat upon as sub-human by the extremists, or who are consciously feared and unconsciously demonized by the rest of the population. The modern excavation of Biblical ruins, like the adaptation of Hebrew as secular tongue, services cultural and political Zionism alike, and delineates the point where the two meet, where the harmless Judaic pride of the former is twisted into Fascist domination by the latter. Author Ben LorberPosted on August 29, 2011 Categories Israel-Palestine conflictTags archeology, Beit Menachem, Ben Yehuda, Capital, City of David, cultural Zionism, David Wilder, Diaspora, Emek Shaveh, Franz Rosenzweig, Gershom Scholem, Ghil'ad Zuckerman, Hebrew, ideology, imperialism, Jacques Derrida, Language Defendants Regiment, Legion of the Defenders of the Language, Marx, Moroccan Quarter, Mughrabi Quarter, political Islam, political theoloy, political Zionism, politics of memory, Silwan, Tel Rumeida, Western Wall, Yiddish, ZionismLeave a comment on Archeo-(il)logical Imperialism, Political Theology, and Linguistic Fascism Einstein and Zionism Einstein was a very strong cultural Zionist, who believed that the creation of a national homeland for Jews (read homeland, not state) could awaken a revitalization of Jewish culture in the face of anti-Semitism. However, he, like many other Jewish intellectuals of his era, was careful to maintain the absolute primacy of moral and social equality with Arabs- the universalistic, humanistic ethos- over any kind of fanatical belief in the moral superiority of the Jewish people. His Zionist legacy is much contested right now, because he did publicly support Zionist efforts on several occasions, traveling to America in the 1930s to raise money for the cause. (Einstein and his wife, Zionist and future president of Israel Chaim Weizmann and his wife, Menachem Ussishkin and Ben-Zion Mossinson, NYC, 1921) “I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state. My awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power, no matter how modest. I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain—especially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks, against which we have already had to fight strongly, even without a Jewish state. … If external necessity should after all compel us to assume this burden, let us bear it with tact and patience.” – Albert Einstein, 1938 speech ‘Our Debt to Zionism’ “[the Zionist] movement [must] avoid the danger of degenerating into a blind nationalism. In my opinion, we must endeavor above all that psychological understanding and an honorable will towards cooperation take the place of resentment towards the Arabs. The overcoming of this difficulty will, in my opinion, be the touchstone that our community has a right to existence in the higher sense. I must unfortunately openly acknowledge that the attitude of our [Zionist] officialdom, as well as the majority of public expressions in this connection, appear to me to leave much to be desired.” – letter to Heinrich York-Steiner, November 19 1929 ‘The most important aspect of our [Israel’s] policy must be our ever-present, manifest desire to institute complete equality for the Arab citizens living in our midst … The attitude we adopt toward the Arab minority will provide the real test of our moral standards as a people.” – letter to Zvi Lurie, January 5, 1955 Author Ben LorberPosted on August 22, 2011 Categories Israel-Palestine conflictTags Einstein, ZionismLeave a comment on Einstein and Zionism Freud and Zionism In February 1930 Freud was asked, as a distinguished Jew, to contribute to a petition condemning Arab riots of 1929, in which over a hundred Jewish settlers were killed. This was his reply: Letter to the Keren Hajessod (Dr. Chaim Koffler) Vienna: 26 February 1930 I cannot do as you wish. I am unable to overcome my aversion to burdening the public with my name, and even the present critical time does not seem to me to warrant it. Whoever wants to influence the masses must give them something rousing and inflammatory and my sober judgement of Zionism does not permit this. I certainly sympathise with its goals, am proud of our University in Jerusalem and am delighted with our settlement’s prosperity. But, on the other hand, I do not think that Palestine could ever become a Jewish state, nor that the Christian and Islamic worlds would ever be prepared to have their holy places under Jewish care. It would have seemed more sensible to me to establish a Jewish homeland on a less historically-burdened land. But I know that such a rational viewpoint would never have gained the enthusiasm of the masses and the financial support of the wealthy. I concede with sorrow that the baseless fanaticism of our people is in part to be blamed for the awakening of Arab distrust. I can raise no sympathy at all for the misdirected piety which transforms a piece of a Herodian wall into a national relic, thereby offending the feelings of the natives. Now judge for yourself whether I, with such a critical point of view, am the right person to come forward as the solace of a people deluded by unjustified hope. Your obediant servant, Author Ben LorberPosted on August 22, 2011 Categories Israel-Palestine conflictTags Freud, ZionismLeave a comment on Freud and Zionism Neturei Karta and the Revolutionary Intelligentsia Neturei Karta is a group of anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Jews who pray for the ‘peaceful dismantling of the State of Israel’. Descended from the Orthodox Jewry who, for hundreds of years before the advent of Zionism in the 1900s, lived in peaceful coexistence with Arabs in Palestine, they base their opposition to Zionism not only on the rich tradition of written and oral Jewish prophecy- which says, among other things, that Jews should not settle in the land of Israel until the coming of the Messiah, and that at no time during the Diaspora should Jews return en masse to the land and settle it by force- but also on their clear perception that the human rights abuses committed by Zionism run directly counter to Jewish ethics and morality. From the USA branch’s website- ‘Neturei-Karta is the Aramaic term for “Guardians of the City”. The name Neturei-Karta originates from an incident in which R. Yehudah Ha-Nassi (Rabbi Judah the Prince) sent R. Hiyya and R. Ashi on a pastoral tour of inspection. In one town they asked to see the “guardians of the city” and the city guard was paraded before them. They said that these were not the guardians of the city but its destroyers, which prompted the citizens to ask who, then, could be considered the guardians. The rabbis answered, “The scribes and the scholars,” referring them to Tehillim (Psalms) Chap. 127. (Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Hagiga. 76c).’ Before we take this quote and apply it to the modern world, we should be clear that, according to Neturei Karta and all Orthodox Jewry, the ‘scribes and the scholars’ are primarily the rabbis and students who pour over the collected body of Jewish writings and, above all, the Torah, those who follow what is written in the Pirke Avot (Sayings of the Fathers)- “Ben (son of) Bag Bag said: Turn the Torah over and over for everything is in it. Look into it, grow old and worn over it, and never move away from it, for you will find no better portion than it.” Much of Neturei Karta’s condemnation of the state of Israel is founded on principles of Torah and Judaic eschatology which are foreign to us; their primary opposition to the State of Israel is founded not on its grossly imperialistic human rights violations, but on its infidelity to the true dictates of the Torah (the former, for them, derives from the latter). Nonetheless, they share with secular anti-Zionism the universal moral imperative, and the desire for a liberated, secular, democratic Palestine. Accordingly, this parable can take on meaning for us beyond its Torah context. We can apply it not only to contemporary discussions of the State of Israel, but also to the modern State as such, the capitalist cosmo-polis that threatens to engulf the planet; we can distill from this parable a drop of insight touching on the general question ‘What is to be done?’, in reference both to this particular manifestation of imperialism (Israel), and to imperialism as such. What is to be done? that is, how shall we resist? What is resistance in this day and age? In this parable, who are the ‘scribes and scholars’, who are the ‘city guard’, and what is the ‘city’? A simplistic, surface-level bourgeoisie reading would suggest that the ‘city guard’ refers to the modern police and army, (in the case of Israel, the Israeli police force, the IDF, Mossad, Shin Bet, etc.), while the ‘scribes and scholars’ of the city refer to the lawmakers and judges, and, in a broader sense, the bourgeoisie academics and journalists, the entire literate cosmopolitan public- from the politicians who spit out policy, to the state-worshiping intellectuals who scrutinize its details while, implicitly or explicitly, paying lip service to the ideological power structures of the State (in the case of Israel, the entire ideological apparatus, from the Supreme Court and the Knesset in Israel proper, to the entire gamut of international Zionist apologist intellectuals- Dershowitz, Joan Peters, etc). The parable’s message, according to this bourgeoisie reading, is that the ‘guardians of the city’, the preservers of the social order, are not its police, who guard its walls with brute force, but its lawyers and judges, its intellectuals, who maintain the symbolic social order by controlling, interpreting, defining, and proscribing its laws. The fountain of law flows from the lofty heights of the latter down into the guns of the former. The lawmakers write the laws, and the cops enforce their dictates. The real guardians of the social order, those who truly protect and constitute the life-blood of the social body, are not those who enforce social policy with a strong arm, those who stand in as the physical representation of its laws; rather, the strength of the city is actually ensured by those who generate the laws, those who protect and transmit the ideas and ideologies that knit the social body together. The ‘scribes and scholars’ constitute the Mind of the State, while the ‘armed guards’ stand in as its inert and obedient Body. But we see the flaw in this interpretation when we ask- how, then, according to this model, are we to understand that the armed guards of the city are ‘not its guardians, but its destroyers’? The police are not the destroyers, but the executors and enforcers of the written law of the state. If we are to claim that lawmakers and judges are the true guardians of the city, it does not make sense to say in the next breath that the police ‘destroy’ the city that these lawmakers guard; quite the contrary- the police, in modern societies, seem to get along just fine with the lawmakers! Nor can we be content with interpreting this parable to mean merely that the ‘purity’ of the written law of the state, as it flows from the fountain pen of the court, is ‘imperfectly’ carried out on the street, is compromised or tainted by the corrupt cops, who enforce it according to their own whims. The disparity between the ‘scribes and scholars’ and the ‘city guard’ in this parable runs deeper than this- the latter destroy what the former guard. There is clearly a moral cut that runs between the two, whereby they work not in harmony but in direct opposition. The ‘scribes and scholars’ preserve the city from the destructive hands of the city guard; if it were up to the latter, there would be no city left to guard. How can this be, if the former write the city laws, and the latter guard the city walls? Who are the ‘scribes and scholars’, if not the bourgeoisie lawmakers and intelligentsia, and what is the ‘city’ that they guard, if not the concrete city and its body of social law? The bourgeoisie reading of this parable erroneously believes that the ‘scribes and scholars’ ‘guard the city’ by serving as its state-sponsored lawyers, judges and apologist intellectuals, developing and upholding its ideological banner, and thereby fortifying its oppressive social order. The parable does not speak of these folks at all. The ‘scribes and scholars’ of this parable play no role in the fortification of State power. In truth, the ‘scribes and scholars’ can only be those within society who critique its power structures, those who ‘speak the truth to power’, those intellectuals and writers who, in every generation, denounce those elements of oppression within the social order that stifle the potential of the people. These writers and speakers work alongside social activists, on the ground, as part of a single concerted effort, embodying in written form the ‘theory’ that animates, as well as the poetry that gives voice to, the movement. These writers and thinkers leave traces of their spark both in the lofty heights of academia (though much of what is ‘up there’ is too far removed from the ground to serve much use, and ends up calcifying into lifeless refuse), and in the innumerable daily publications by which the innumerable NGOs of the world document the innumerable human rights abuses that occur every day. In the present struggle, the written word that ‘speaks the truth to power’ does not exist sequestered on a plane apart from the concrete, practical political fight for justice; it is the very effulgence of this battle itself, its lasting expression, cast off its breathing back like a shell, left behind to remain imprinted on the temporal skin of cultural memory. For as long as humanity has left written traces of its existence, we find the marks of this spark- its roots lie back in the prophetic lamentations of religious texts that cry for social justice, speak for the poor and downtrodden, and decry the corruption that men of power unleash upon the world; closer to the modern age, as the opportunities for social change become more tangible and practical, we find a myriad of social movements that blossom, unleash their clarion call into the world, and wither in time, leaving their skeletal remnants as testament and sign, from which future generations draw inspiration, receive vision and become firm in footstep. By speaking words of dissent and leaving written traces of protest, these ‘scribes and scholars’ maintain in history a revolutionary flame that illuminates the past and casts its light forward into the future. Thanks to this unbroken chain of resistance, held firm through the generations by revolutionary remembrance, we can stand at our ‘point’ on (what we imagine to be) a historical time line, look behind us, and see signs and signals left by those who came before, little lights flickering on the dark hillsides of the past that give us hope in our struggle. It is our job, as the precious few ‘scribes and scholars’, to answer to the revolutionary struggles of those who have come before us in time; for if we do not give testament to the bones of the oppressed, their memory will be covered over by the oppressors, past and present, who, in the interest of the perpetuation of their own power, would happily erase the record of injustice from the historical register (ironically, this very logic is used to justify the State of Israel in the name of holocaust remembrance; more on that below). The archive is a battleground, and, in the words of Walter Benjamin, “Whoever until this day emerges victorious, marches in the triumphal procession in which today’s rulers tread over those who are sprawled underfoot. The spoils are, as was ever the case, carried along in the triumphal procession. They are known as the cultural heritage…a lineage [Abkunft: descent] which [one] cannot contemplate without horror. It owes its existence not only to the toil of the great geniuses, who created it, but also to the nameless drudgery of its contemporaries. There has never been a document of culture, which is not simultaneously one of barbarism.” (Theses on the Philosophy of History) Just as the ‘scribes and scholars’ are a far cry from the bourgeoisie judges, lawyers and apologist intellectuals of the State, so, too, do they guard a ‘city’ which is a far cry from the city whose walls are patrolled by armed guards, whose laws are enforced by armed policemen. The ‘city’ of the parable, the ‘karta’, refers not to the established State with its army and its laws, but rather to the productive, communal social body as such, the democratic space of plurality as it exists both tangibly- before and between us- and ideally- beyond us, as the democratic ideal towards which we strive. The ‘guardians’ of this city are certainly not the policemen who maintain law and order, nor the lawmakers who proscribe law and order, but are rather the visionaries who speak this ideal of justice to the people, who remind the human community of its moral shortcomings and its innate possibilities. The true ‘guardians of the city’ guard a city that is not perceptible by the senses in space and time; the ‘scribes and scholars’ of each generation dwell with suspicion, distrust and outright condemnation in earthly cities, which anyway are guarded perfectly well by paid armed guards. The city guarded by the ‘scribes and scholars’ is of an entirely different nature- it is a vision of a social structure wherein humans live in democratic peace and equality, and, as a transcendent corrective ideal, it translates into immanent critique of oppressive social structures which fall far short of justice. The City is To Come, because as a human community here on planet Earth we are still divided by bloodshed and strife. Nonetheless we whisper to each other words of hope, that this City is possible, and one day may come. In the Diaspora, observant Jews pray to God three times a day, saying, among other things- ‘And To Jerusalem, your city, may you return in compassion, and may you rest within it, as you have spoken. May you rebuild it soon in our days, as an eternal structure, and may you speedily establish the Throne of David within it.’ Orthodox Judaism is unflinching in its belief that ‘Jerusalem’ refers to the actual piece of land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean; Zionism has warped this into the political belief that Jews must now rush over there and drive out its inhabitants; but in the course of the Diaspora, many Jews, Orthodox and secular alike, have expanded the signifier ‘Jerusalem’, which in Hebrew means ‘abode of peace’, to refer not to any particular city, but to the vision of a peaceful, just, and mutually equal human community as such. The ‘Throne of David’, also, refers to the Messiah, who upon his arrival will, among other things, unite the human community in a singular peace. (Of course, there are many problematic aspects to the Jewish concepts of Jerusalem and Messiah which unquestionably prefer the Jewish people over others, but as a secular humanist Jew who believes in the universal human community, I reject these elements. If, as the Orthodox (and many secular Zionists) will claim, I have sinned before God by forgetting the special lot of the Jewish people, then perhaps my soul will not be rejoined with my body in the World to Come, when all the righteous will be resurrected to study Torah for all eternity. My bad!) Judaism is suffused with this spirit of revolutionary remembrance, though it often runs as an undercurrent beneath the surface of revealed tradition, and is today almost completely submerged under the colossus of Zionism. As Joel Kovel says in his book Overcoming Zionism, ”Judaic being can conduce to universality and bring forth emancipation. We should regard this as its priceless potential, if not always a legacy. However, emancipation has always, indeed necessarily, occurred in reference to a critique of, and a standing away from, the established order, including the order of Judaism itself. The Prophetic tradition within the Old Testament is certainly one of the great gems given to the world by the Jewish people, and an example of this. By definition oriented to an as-yet-unfulfilled future, it is therefore grounded in critique of the given. The prophet is one of the people but stands outside the city and reminds it of its falling away from the universal that is God’s true being.” (22) Neturei Karta, and the handful of other ultra-Orthodox, anti-Zionist groups that exist, represent an attempt, at the Torah level, to redeem the religious essence of Judaism from the clutches of Zionism; but Western, secular Jews who critique Israel and Zionism in word and deed also have an important role to play as ‘guardians of the city’, in this case, of the prophetic, critical, anti-establishment legacy of Judaism. The radical kernel of Judaism can be reaffirmed, in the name of the prophets, by wresting the monopoly over the Jewish legacy away from the clutches of the Zionist enterprise. Joel Kovel- ”a multiple linkage and dissolution is involved: casting off the identity of the Jew as Zionist who is to redeem Israel and restore its glory, and in the process, undoing the linkage of Zion to capital and Western imperialism” (7). The irony, in relation to the state of Israel, is that Israel was founded in 1948 on the imperative to ‘never forget’ the Holocaust, and now, in the name of precisely this sort of ‘remembrance of the oppressed’, it continues to pump its ideological life-blood from the corpses of the six million Jewish victims of Nazi Germany. Its Zionist apologists portray themselves as precisely those ‘guardians of the city’ who fight to protect the remembrance of past oppression from the clutches of the ‘armed guards’, the Islamo-fascists who today are enemies of Western ‘freedom’. Israel, then, is portrayed as the physical embodiment of the morally virtuous City of Peace, upheld by the ‘scribes and scholars’ who protect the remnant of justice in the world. Zionism has usurped for its own purposes a stale image of Judaism’s revolutionary, prophetic function, and uses it to bolster its banner of State power. This sort of trick is emblematic of all postmodern, decentralized, disembodied, omnipotent, immanent forms of societal oppression- even the ground on which one could stand outside of and critique the existing order seems swallowed on all sides by that order, so that one has nowhere to turn; even the voice of resistance, which speaks different tongues in different ages, itself blares out of the megaphones, and is emblazoned on the banners of, the very social structure against which one must nonetheless speak. Regarding the Holocaust, Zionism has twisted remembrance of the oppressed into a new oppression, and perversely uses the former as the weapon of the latter, creating, out of the specter of anti-Semitism, and inscribing, on the fabric of the moral weight of history itself, a seemingly impenetrable shell to house the parasite within. On December 12, 2006, Rabbi Yisroel D. Weiss of Neturei Karta gave a speech in Tehran, Iran at the controversial ‘International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust’. Largely denounced by the Western intellectual community as a hotbed of Holocaust denial, the conference aimed in its own words to open a space “for suitable scientific research so that the hidden and unhidden angles of this most important political issue of the 20th century becomes more transparent”, to, in the words of the Foreign Minister of Iran, “create an opportunity for thinkers who cannot express their views freely in Europe about the Holocaust”. While I can currently pass no judgment on the conference (I have only given a cursory glance at its Wikipedia page), it is safe to say that its very existence highlights the fierce political, social and moral battle over the memory of the Event. Zionists would claim that the Holocaust itself, as well as this conference, as well as any attempt at all to criticize Israel, constitute examples of “a document of culture, which is simultaneously one of barbarism”; while others would claim that Zionism itself constitutes such a document of culture, as it manipulates the memory of the Holocaust to justify the existence and actions of a brutally oppressive military regime and imperialist monster. Here are the words of Neturei Karta rabbi Yisroel Weiss- “Now maybe I can say that at the discussion of the holocaust, I may be the representative, the voice of the people who died in the holocaust because my grandparents died there. They were killed in Auschwitz. My parents were from Hungary. My father escaped and his parents remained. He wasn’t able to get them out of Hungary and they died in Auschwitz as were other relatives and all the communities that they knew. So to say that they didn’t die, to me you can not say that. I am the living remnant of the people who died in the holocaust and I am here, I believe sent by God, to humbly say, simply to speak to the people here and say, “you should know that the Jewish people died, and do not try to say that it did not happen. They did die.” There are people throughout the Jewish communities, still alive in their seventies and eighties and every one of them will tell you their stories. It is something which you can not refute, but that being said, it doesn’t mean that the holocaust is a tool to use to oppress other people. And that is the most new unfortunate piece of the holocaust, why the holocaust is such a bad word, because the holocaust is being used today to oppress another people….The main people who are suffering anew from the holocaust today, would be the Palestinian people…The holocaust is being manipulated and abused by a movement that refers to themselves as the Jewish nation, that usurped the name of the Jewish nation. The Jewish nation after World War II was very weak and the people who were in power, who were non-religious, people who were far from God who decided for convenience sake that they wanted to use the word “Judaism”, they wanted to use the Star of David, they wanted to use the Bible to be able to gain a materialistic gain: the state of “Israel”. They decided that they are going to use the holocaust to be able to reach their goal of having a nation…There should be Nuremburg trials on the actions of the Zionists. Not only that, but the irony is, they said “as more Jews die then we will get more land because the more the bloodshed, then the nations will feel guilty and the nations will give us land”. After World War II they went to the nations and said “you must give us land”. They were given the land. Therefore they use the word “holocaust” because they demand that, that is one of the reasons to give them land. And they are afraid that if you talk about the holocaust, you will be able to find the truth: that they are guilty just as the Nazis are…Jews were killed, but they died to sanctify God’s name. Their souls went up in purity and they don’t want to be brought down now to rebel against God. I am here to speak the cry of the dead of the holocaust: “We do not want to be used, to be soiled, to rebel against God with our blood. We do not want the state of “Israel”. We don’t want that our blood should be used and tainted for the state of “Israel”, which is a steady rebellion against God. We want a speedy and peaceful dismantlement of the state.”“ Like all struggles against oppression, that against Zionism is fought not only on the ground, in the present, but in the past as well. It is a battle over the past, where the tides of ideology turn in line with our changing comprehension of the timeline of events that have led us to this moment. We see this not only with regard to the Holocaust, but also with regard to the Nakba (disaster), the name given to the ethnic cleansing of 1948, the primitive accumulation by which Zionism drove out the Palestinian inhabitants of this land to secure for itself the territory necessary for the Jewish state. A major battle was won in the 1980s, when a New School of historians from the right and the left (Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe, and others) unearthed into the public light something which had long been denied by Zionist historians- that the Arabs did not leave of their own free will in 1948, that they were actually brutally driven out by their oppressors. Folks on the ground, not least the actual victims of the Nakba, had long known this to be the case, but for the first time the entire literate public was forced to remember that which for decades had hovered over the precipice of obscurity. In our struggle, we must remember that those who struggled before us, struggle anew alongside us today; we must struggle in the name of the wellspring of resistance that bubbles just beneath the surface of the officially recognized, bourgeois picture of history. For as we struggle against oppression, we inherit, we give voice to, we carry the flame of a struggle that long precedes us, and will continue long after we are gone. The ‘scribes and scholars’ of every generation play a vital role in guarding, carrying, and transmitting this revolutionary inheritance. “The danger threatens the stock of tradition as much as its recipients. For both it is one and the same: handing itself over as the tool of the ruling classes. In every epoch, the attempt must be made to deliver tradition anew from the conformism which is on the point of overwhelming it.” – Walter Benjamin, ‘Theses on the Philosophy of History’ Author Ben LorberPosted on August 22, 2011 Categories Israel-Palestine conflictTags bourgeois, Diaspora, guardians of the city, historical materialism, history, Holocaust, Ilan Pappe, Jerusalem, Joel Kovel, Judaism, Knesset, Messiah, Nakba, Neturei Karta, new School, remembrance, scribes, Talmud, Torah, ultra-Orthodox, Walter Benjamin, ZionismLeave a comment on Neturei Karta and the Revolutionary Intelligentsia Welcome to Doikayt! This blog is about: radical Torah; fighting fascism and racism in the US; the Israel/Palestine conflict; Jewish history and identity; Yiddishkeit, and more. The word ‘doikayt’, meaning ‘hereness’ in Yiddish, was the slogan of East-European Jewish socialists- we must struggle, with feet firmly planted where we stand, for the liberation of ourselves and all other people. חזק חזק ונתחזק- Be strong, be strong, and may we strengthen one another! alt-right American Jewish community anti-fascism anti-Semitism BDS diasporism ethics Gaza history islamophobia Israel-Palestine conflict Jewish activism Jewish history Jewish Identity marxism Middle East migrant justice philosophy racial justice remembrance revolution spirituality Torah Trump Walter Benjamin Zionism Cultivating Jewish “Ecotheology” The Resurgence of Right-wing Antisemitic Conspiracism Endangers all Justice Movements Four reasons why I love Purim- on vulnerability and resilience, diasporism, and fighting white supremacy Jewish Alternatives to Zionism: A Partial History Speak (or stutter) your truth, like Moses- a Dvar Torah Follow Doikayt on WordPress.com WHO IS DOIKAYT? My name is Ben Lorber and I’m a writer, organizer, musician and radical Jew. Here mostly to smash fascism, raise the sparks, sing and bring Moshiach. I make weird folksy music as Narrow Bridge- check out my Bandcamp! I live with my lovely partner and two cuddly cats in Chicago, Illinois. This blog is where I put my political diatribes, philosophical musings, spiritual ponderings, and reflections on Jewish identity, history and more. It also houses occasional guest posts from comrades and chaverim. Doikayt Blog at WordPress.com.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2423
__label__wiki	0.533677	0.533677	ESIL Reflection: The Silent Impact of the 1917 Revolutions on International Investment Law ESIL Reflection The Silent Impact of the 1917 Revolutions on International Investment Law November 16, 2017 November 30, 2018 Helene Debuire ESIL Reflections Publications Vol 6, Issue 10 Editorial board: Samantha Besson, Jean d’Aspremont (Editor-in-Chief), Jan Klabbers and Christian Tams Andrea Leiter University of Melbourne Law School The centenaries of the Russian and Mexican revolutions of 1917 invite reflection on their impact on international law. Investment law, in particular, is ripe for such an inquiry, given that it has the protection of property at its core. The revolutions have been understood as challenges to the international system of property protection,[1] but despite inspiring the claims promulgated in the New International Economic Order they are said to have finally remained unsuccessful. After a period of uncertainty about the standard of compensation for expropriation in the first half of the century, today’s bilateral investment treaties have established the Hull formula requiring prompt, adequate and effective compensation as governing rule in investment law.[2] Yet, I want to propose that the regime has taken a different turn as result of the revolutions – a turn that has somewhat escaped our attention, even though it encapsulates the political struggle over the distribution of wealth just as much as the debate over the appropriate standard of compensation did. It is the turn from property to investment. A look at the treaties and attempts at codification on rules of foreign property protection from the early 20th century shows that the notion of investment started to replace the term property around the 1950s. The 1929 “Harvard Draft Convention on Responsibility of States for Damage Done in Their Territory to the Person and Property of Foreigners” used the term property, whereas the 1949 code prepared by the International Chamber of Commerce’s Quebec Congress was called “International Code of Fair Treatment for Foreign Investment”. This change is also reflected in the Abs-Shawcross Draft Convention of 1959 titled “Draft Convention on Investments Abroad”. The draft was based on a 1957 document prepared by the German ‘Society to Advance the Protection of Foreign Investments’ and originally called “International Convention for the Mutual Protection of Private Property Rights in Foreign Countries”. From here onwards, it seems that the term property has been replaced by the term investment, leading up to the ratification of the 1966 ICSID Convention, the “Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States”. So far, this is nothing more than the observation of a semantic change. My argument, however, is that this semantic change is the result of the social and political pressure mounted on the notion of property by the 1917 revolutions and the assertion of permanent sovereignty over natural resources that came with decolonization. The Social Component of Property Turned Investment Until WW I the practice of most states with regards to property takings distinguished between lawful and unlawful takings based on compensation. If a state expropriated private property and paid compensation it was considered lawful, if no payment of compensation was made it was considered unlawful.[3] What lay at the heart of the discussion was always centred around the injury to the private entity. The Mexican and Soviet revolutions and the following land reform projects complicated this scheme. Instead of single incidents of expropriation, their takings were part of a public policy of transformation affecting the whole population. This new approach became even more pertinent after WW II, in the wake of decolonization, given that several newly independent states were implementing similar reforms. The legal academic circles in Europe and the US caught up with these developments in the early 1950s and addressed this novel situation under the rubrics of nationalisation and confiscation.[4] At the time, a number of positions were forwarded, so that some authors suggested leaving it to the states’ discretion to consider the amount of compensation appropriate and feasible, some stood by the request of full compensation, and others argued for different distinctions.[5] What is important for my argument is that Soviet lawyers at the time refused to phrase these questions in the language of compensation and insisted on the social transformation that the land reforms were introducing.[6] In response to the allegations that the expropriations would amount to a violation of human rights, Bystricky, a socialist lawyer, answered that “exactly the opposite is true, since the object of nationalization is precisely the effectual safeguarding of human rights.”[7] In a similar vein he proclaimed that nationalisation can never be injustice.[8] My contention is that these proclamations have to be taken at face value in order to understand the impact they had on the investment law regime. The categories the socialist lawyers proposed for the organisation of the economy were carried by a social rather than legalistic ethos. The transformation of the property regime was undertaken in the name of the dispossessed, attempting to end ‘exploitation of man by man’. It was this social meaning and the hope of a better future that discredited individual private ownership. The line drawn by the socialist movements was one that ran between the rich and the poor, between the powerful and the oppressed. They demanded that property be used for a public good and consequently the socialist state became the sole holder of property.[9] The claims for permanent sovereignty over natural resources by newly independent states in the 1960s and 1970s echoed the socialist views and put additional pressure on the protection of private property. Even though the proclamation of the New International Economic Order in 1974 foresaw the right to nationalization, at the same time bilateral investment treaties carrying a substantial protection of foreign investments emerged.[10] The distinct treatment of private property is further articulated in the rules for the succession of states in treaties, which explicitly excluded private contracts.[11] Thus, their ongoing validity and the exception for private ownership had to be justified. I argue that the socialist pressure had an effect in the liberal world as well and can be traced through the introduction of the notion of investment. The idea of investment connects foreign property to an expected social performance and can hold the idea of a societal good. After the turmoil of WW II, international legal thought caught up with the interwar events and it is thus not by chance that the introduction of investment coincides with the inauguration of the modern development discourse promulgated by Truman in his first address on 20 January 1949. As argued by Escobar, it was the moment of the discovery of poverty of large parts in the world[12] and combatting this poverty is then cause and legitimation for intervention in the name of development. The kind of development imagined by Truman was deliberately set in opposition to the socialist model.[13] Investment is the liberal answer to the demands for a more social world that allowed to secure Western influence vis-à-vis the Soviet Union.[14] Development, accordingly, was to be achieved not through foreign property, but through foreign investment.[15] This is not to say that the protection of foreign investment was uncontroversial. To the contrary, newly independent states, as well as Latin American governments were aware that the difficulty lay in the regulation of these investments. [16] The strong language condemning foreign domination and insisting on the right to nationalize expressed in the ‘Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order’ bear witness to this awareness. Similarly, the dependency theorists in Latin America were challenging the idea of development through foreign capital. Nevertheless, the distinction that Truman had introduced between developing and developed countries made its way into bilateral investment treaties and thus into the system for the protection of foreign investment. [17] At this point development through foreign investment was vested largely with the character of enhanced social justice; a shift from colonial exploitation to free trade as proclaimed by the US and part of the general Zeitgeist of the mid-20th century remarked by Duncan Kennedy to be the social century with a focus on interdependences rather than individual rights.[18] But the story does not end here and the criticism against investment law by social groups and countries of the South has not abated. The Double Meaning of Investment Investment is a term that denotes an expectation. It could uncontroversially be defined as “the commitment of resources with the goal of achieving a return.”[19] However, given the widespread usage of the term investment, it is not clear what kind of return. This ambiguity is what allows the term investment to be a response to social pressure while at the same time being the vehicle for exclusively increasing corporate profits. According to Sayer, the term denotes two different concepts but calls them by a single name. On one hand investment has a focus on improvements in infrastructure, technology, health, or any other societal goal. On the other hand, investment holds the meaning of the expectation of profit on capital.[20] Thus, the problem arises that “using the same word for different things allows people to mistake wealth extraction for wealth creation.”[21] It is this semantic ambivalence that allowed the term investment to absorb the pressure mounted by the revolutions of 1917 and the demands of the newly independent states, while continuing and extending the regime of private property protection. In the negotiations around the ICSID Convention the term investment was deliberately left undefined since it proved impossible to come to a common understanding.[22] The double meaning thus is a core element of the current system. That the idea of investment was meant to be a qualitative threshold for legitimising foreign property holdings so that only the ones contributing to the development of the host community should be protected is reflected in the so-called Salini criteria. The tribunal in the Salini v. Morocco Arbitration (2001), addressing the lack of a definition of the term investment, set out four criteria that had regularly been found to be characteristic of a protected investment in arbitral practice.[23] One of them was the necessary contribution of the investment to the economic development of the host community. The fate of this criterion, however, is indicative of the abandonment of the social component of the notion in favour of its profit-returning meaning. It was subsequently found too difficult to draw a line between investments that do contribute to the economic development and those that do not.[24] One expression of this attitude can be found in the arbitral award of Pheonix v. Czech Republic in 2009: “It is the Tribunal’s view that the contribution of an international investment to the development of the host State is impossible to ascertain – the more so as there are highly diverging views on what constitutes “development”. A less ambitious approach should therefore be adopted, centred on the contribution of an international investment to the economy of the host State, which is indeed normally inherent in the mere concept of investment as shaped by the elements of contribution/duration/risk, and should therefore in principle be presumed.”[25] Any lawful investment is found to potentially contribute to the development of the host country and thus worthy of protection. Where Does This Leave Us? In my account, the introduction of the notion of investment is linked to the pressure exerted in the name of the working class for a more just distribution of wealth. Considering the current divide in wealth of the global society, it seems we have moved even further away from the proclaimed goal. As a consequence, today, we find ourselves in another debate on the distributional consequences of the protection of foreign capital. I argue that the current debate does not only concern the same subject matter in the aftermath of 1917, it also follows the same pattern of conflict resolution. Certainly, today we are not concerned with the working class, but we are still concerned with social justice and more importantly, the same problem of the semantic ambiguity of the notion of investment underlies the current debate about the investment law regime. The first articles questioning the outcomes produced by international investment law appeared in the aftermath of the Argentinian financial crises and the findings in the resulting investment arbitrations. [26] The arbitrations epitomized the controversial relationship of the public good and the rights of the investor and were largely decided in favour of the investor.[27] What followed is a turn to sustainable investment as a notion that is able to capture social, environmental and security concerns of the public.[28] However, adding the term sustainable as yet another threshold to distinguish good from bad investments suffers from the same uncertainty as the idea of investment did when it was first introduced. Using the words of Erik Swyngedouw, “I have not been able to find a single source that is against “sustainability”. Greenpeace is in favor, George Bush Jr. and Sr. are, the World Bank and its chairman […] are, the Pope is, my son Arno, the rubber tappers in the Brazilian Amazon forest are, Bill Gates is, the labor unions are.”[29] As a result the debate about distributive fairness of the current system has been restated as the common goal to achieve sustainable development. This masks the fundamental disagreement that led to the debate in the first place: a political conflict over the distribution of wealth. Similarly, to the socialist challenge, the current criticism seeks to show that international investment law is beneficial for a few investors, but has detrimental effects on a large part of society. The counter argument was and still is that foreign capital is needed for development.[30] Hence, once the concept of development and the hierarchy it creates is accepted as starting point, the debate is locked into defining ‘good’ investment. During the past decade, a number of attempts have been made to develop ideas for a framework that leads to better investments.[31] Even though most accounts focused on safeguarding regulatory space for the state, the same motivation underlies claims of a human right to property, particularly when concerned with land grabbing.[32] Thus, what is at stake cannot be the quest for a perfect balance between sovereign power and individual rights. Neither the socialist interventions, nor the current criticisms should be understood as conceptual criticism of one or the other. They are expressions of a lived experience of loss and injustice that can be resisted as well as perpetuated through both individual rights and sovereign power. This reflection is then an attempt at joining the current conversation with a call to caution about the fixation on vague concepts and technical language. It is also a call to critically question and make explicit the assumptions that underlie the notion of development. In times of political turmoil and change we should address fundamental questions of the expectations we have about sharing a world. What needs to be examined is the frame for our loyalties. Are we loyal to a nation state and thus a national economy? Or is it some sort of classist or cultural identity that holds our sympathy? Who do we want to care for and who do we consciously exclude? Do we believe in meritocracy and a level playing field, or do we believe in structural injustices? Do we think that every society is on the same trajectory but in different stages? Or do we hold the banner of pluralism and the incommensurability of ways of life? How plausible is the promise of a global win-win where no hard choices must be made?[33] The pressure mounted on the international investment regime at various moments, including the current one, stems from actual suffering and the recognition that the regime produces winners and losers. We have to acknowledge that a new concept will in fact only be a semantic change, if we fail to find the courage to denominate and discuss incompatible interests. The turn from property to investment and the further turn towards sustainable investment have allowed to disseminate conflict through a vague notion that enables the dream of a global win-win to live on, despite everyday experiences to the contrary. As long as we shy away from the hard questions, we will not be able to have a meaningful reform of the legal system Cite as: Andrea Leiter, ‘The Silent Impact of the 1917 Revolutions on International Investment Law – And What It Tells Us about Reforming the System’ 6:10 ESIL Reflection (2017). Adam C and others (eds), Financing for Development: Editors’ Introduction, vol 31 (Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2015) Binder C, ‘Necessity Exceptions, the Argentine Crisis and Legitimacy Concerns: Or the Benefits of a Public International Law Approach to Investment Arbitration’ in Treves T, Seatzu F and Trevisanut S (eds), International Investment Law and Common Concerns (Routledge 2014) Craven M, The Decolonization of International Law: State succession and the Law of Treaties (Oxford University Press 2009) Dolzer R and Schreuer C, Principles of International Investment Law (2. edn, Oxford University Press 2012) Escobar A, Encountering Development the Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton Studies in Culture, Power, History, Princeton University Press 1995) Gardner RN, ‘International Measures for the Promotion and Protection of Foreign Investment’ (1960) 9 Journal of Pubic Law Kennedy D, ‘Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought’ in Trubek D and Santos A (eds), The New Law and Economic Development – A Critical Appraisal (Cambridge 2006) Kunz JL, ‘The Mexican Expropriations’ (1939) 17 NYULQ Rev 327 Mouffe C, On the Political (Routledge 2005) Newton S, Law and the Making of the Soviet World: The Red Demiurge (Routledge 2014) Pahuja S and Storr C, ‘Rethinking Iran and International Law: The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Case Revisited’ in Crawford J and others (eds), The International Legal Order: Current Needs and Possible Response: Essays in Honour of Djamchid Momtaz (Brill Nijhoff 2017) Pahuja S, Decolonising International Law Development, Economic Growth and the Politics of Universality (Cambridge University Press 2013) Perrone NM, ‘The Emerging Global Right to Investment: Understanding the Reasoning behind Foreign Investor Rights’ (2017) forthcoming Journal of International Dispute Settlement Phoenix Action Ltd. v. Czech Republic, Decision on Jurisdiction, 15 April 2009 (ICSID Case No. ARB/06/5) Quiborax S.A., Non Metallic Minerals S.A. and Allan Fosk Kaplún v. Plurinational State of Bolivia, Decision on Jurisdiction, 27 September 2012 (ICSID Case No. ARB/06/2) Reamer N and Downing J, Investment: A History (Columbia University Press 2016) Salini Costruttori S.p.A. and Italstrade S.p.A. v. Kingdom of Morocco, Decision on Jurisdiction (31 July 2001) (ICSID Case No. ARB/00/4 ) Sayer A, Why we can’t Afford the Rich (Policy Press 2015) Schreuer CH and others (eds), The ICSID Convention. A Commentary on the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (2nd edn, Cambridge University Press 2009) Schrijver N, Sovereignty over Natural Resources: Balancing Rights and Duties (Cambridge University Press 2008) Seidl-Hohenveldern I, ‘Communist Theories on Confiscation and Expropriation. Critical Comments’ (1958) 7 The American Journal of Comparative Law Seidl-Hohenveldern I, Internationales Konfiskations- und Enteignungsrecht, vol 23 (Beiträge zum ausländischen und internationalen Privatrecht, de Gruyter 1952) Swyngedouw E, ‘Impossible “Sustainability” and the Postpolitical Condition’ in Krueger R and Gibbs D (eds), The Sustainable Development Paradox – Urban Political Economy in the United States and Europe (Guilford Press 2007) Truman HS, Inaugural Address (20 January 1949) UNCTAD, Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development, 2015) UNCTAD, Phase 2 of IIA Reform: Modernizing the existing stock of old-generation treaties (IIA Issues Note, 2017) UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2015: Reforming International Investment Governance, 2015) Vandevelde KJ, Bilateral Investment Treaties : History, Policy, and Interpretation (Oxford University Press 2010) Víctor Pey Casado and President Allende Foundation v. Republic of Chile, Award, 8 May 2008 (ICSID Case No. ARB/98/2) Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties, 1946 UNTS 3 (1978) Wiemann H (ed), Fragen des internationalen Privatrechts. 8 Beiträge von Vertretern der sozialistischen Rechtswissenschaft (Deutscher Zentralverlag 1958) Wisborg P, ‘Human Rights Against Land Grabbing? A Reflection on Norms, Policies, and Power’ (2013) 26 Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics [1] Kenneth J. Vandevelde, Bilateral Investment Treaties: History, Policy, and Interpretation (Oxford University Press 2010) 30. [2] Rudolf Dolzer and Christoph Schreuer, Principles of International Investment Law (2. edn, Oxford University Press 2012) 100. [3] Josef L Kunz, ‘The Mexican Expropriations’ (1939) 17 NYULQ Rev 327 3. [4] Ignaz Seidl-Hohenveldern, Internationales Konfiskations- und Enteignungsrecht, vol 23 (Beiträge zum ausländischen und internationalen Privatrecht, de Gruyter 1952). [5] On overview of the various positions is produced in Ignaz Seidl-Hohenveldern, Internationales Konfiskations- und Enteignungsrecht, vol 23 (Beiträge zum ausländischen und internationalen Privatrecht, de Gruyter 1952). [6] See: Horst Wiemann (ed), Fragen des internationalen Privatrechts. 8 Beiträge von Vertretern der sozialistischen Rechtswissenschaft (Deutscher Zentralverlag 1958). [7] Bystricky quoted in: Ignaz Seidl-Hohenveldern, ‘Communist Theories on Confiscation and Expropriation. Critical Comments’ (1958) 7 The American Journal of Comparative Law 545. [9] Scott Newton, Law and the Making of the Soviet World: The Red Demiurge (Routledge 2014). [10] The first bilateral investment treaty was signed between Germany and Pakistan in 1959. [11] Art. 3 Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties, 1946 UNTS 3 (1978); Matthew Craven, The Decolonization of International Law: State Succession and the Law of Treaties (Oxford University Press 2009) 197. [12] Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development the Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton Studies in Culture, Power, History, Princeton University Press 1995). [13] Sundhya Pahuja, Decolonising International Law Development, Economic Growth and the Politics of Universality (Cambridge University Press 2013) 59 et seq. [14] See for example the argument by Richard Gardner: “We need not fear Communist investment in these countries [of the South] as long as it is relatively small in comparison with investment by the West. But when the Communist bloc becomes the main source of foreign capital for an underdeveloped country, it will use its influence thus gained to detach the country from the free world.” Richard N Gardner, ‘International Measures for the Promotion and Protection of Foreign Investment’ (1960) 9 Journal of Pubic Law 177. [15] The relevant passage in the Truman speech reads: “I believe that we should make available to peace-loving peoples the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help them realize their aspirations for a better life. And, in cooperation with other nations, we should foster capital investment in areas needing development.” Harry S. Truman, Inaugural Address (20 January 1949). [16] Nico Schrijver, Sovereignty over Natural Resources: Balancing Rights and Duties (Cambridge University Press 2008) 57 et seq. A detailed account of such awareness can be found in the controversy over the Anglo-Iranian oil concession. See: Sundhya Pahuja and Cait Storr, ‘Rethinking Iran and International Law: The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Case Revisited’ in James Crawford and others (eds), The International Legal Order: Current Needs and Possible Response: Essays in Honour of Djamchid Momtaz (Brill Nijhoff 2017). [17] The first paragraph of the preamble of the ICSID Convention explicitly refers to economic development and foreign investment: “Considering the need for international cooperation for economic development, and the role of private international investment therein;”. [18] Duncan Kennedy, ‘Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought’ in David Trubek and Alvaro Santos (eds), The New Law and Economic Development – A Critical Appraisal (Cambridge 2006). [19] Norton Reamer and Jesse Downing, Investment: A History (Columbia University Press 2016) 2. [20] On an account on the underlying conceptions of property and their focus on wealth maximisation see: Nicolás M Perrone, ‘The Emerging Global Right to Investment: Understanding the Reasoning behind Foreign Investor Rights’ (2017) forthcoming Journal of International Dispute Settlement. [21] Andrew Sayer, Why we can’t Afford the Rich (Policy Press 2015) 35. [22] Christoph H. Schreuer and others (eds), The ICSID Convention. A Commentary on the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (2nd edn, Cambridge University Press 2009). [23] Salini Costruttori S.p.A. and Italstrade S.p.A. v. Kingdom of Morocco, Decision on Jurisdiction (31 July 2001) (ICSID Case No. ARB/00/4 ) para. 51 and 52. [24] Víctor Pey Casado and President Allende Foundation v. Republic of Chile, Award, 8 May 2008 (ICSID Case No. ARB/98/2) para. 232. [25] Phoenix Action Ltd. v. Czech Republic, Decision on Jurisdiction, 15 April 2009 (ICSID Case No. ARB/06/5) para. 85. See also Quiborax S.A., Non Metallic Minerals S.A. and Allan Fosk Kaplún v. Plurinational State of Bolivia, Decision on Jurisdiction, 27 September 2012 (ICSID Case No. ARB/06/2) para. 222. [26] Christina Binder, ‘Necessity Exceptions, the Argentine Crisis and Legitimacy Concerns: Or the Benefits of a Public International Law Approach to Investment Arbitration’ in Tulio Treves, Francesco Seatzu and Seline Trevisanut (eds), International Investment Law and Common Concerns (Routledge 2014). [27] It should be noted, that this is true specifically for the Argentinian cases. According to the latest UNCTAD World Investment Report the overall number is not as high: “In 2016, 62 new cases were initiated, bringing the total number of known cases to 767. As of the end of 2016, investors had won 60 per cent of all cases decided on the merits.” UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2017 – Investment and the Digital Economy (2017) xii. [28] See for example the UNCTAD, Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development, 2015. [29] Erik Swyngedouw, ‘Impossible “Sustainability” and the Postpolitical Condition’ in Rob Krueger and David Gibbs (eds), The Sustainable Development Paradox – Urban Political Economy in the United States and Europe (Guilford Press 2007) 20. [30] In the introduction of an edited volume on financing for development with a special focus on the MDGs and SDGs the editor paraphrases Jeffery Sachs and states, that the fundamental problem ‘may be best described in terms of ‘capital shortage’ diagnosis of the development problem. Christopher Adam and others (eds), Financing for Development: Editors’ Introduction, vol 31 (Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2015) 261. [31] UNCTAD, Phase 2 of IIA Reform: Modernizing the Existing Stock of old-generation Treaties (IIA Issues Note, 2017) UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2015: Reforming International Investment Governance, 2015). [32] Poul Wisborg, ‘Human Rights against Land Grabbing? A Reflection on Norms, Policies, and Power’ (2013) 26 Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. [33] My thinking here goes to Chantal Mouffe who has coined the notion of the ‘post-political’ describing a consensus at the centre of Western democracies that makes alternatives look impossible. See: Chantal Mouffe, On the Political (Routledge 2005). The Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Judgment and its Contribution to the Development of International Law ESIL IG on International Bio Law – Call for Papers ‘International Bio Law and Universality The Role of International Organizations and International Courts in this Field’	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2424
__label__wiki	0.805293	0.805293	DestinationsFood & DrinkPlayStayVideo Paraguay full of surprises for South America travelers Wayne Bernhardson, Special to CNN • Updated 25th March 2015 (CNN) — Overshadowed by its bigger, flashier neighbors, Paraguay is a curious country that's overlooked by visitors who flock to South American destinations like Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and the highlands of the Andes. For those who visit nearby nations, though, Paraguay's subtropical forests, broad rivers and unusual history can make it an intriguing detour. Surrounded by Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, this landlocked nation is larger than a glance at the map suggests. It's roughly the size of California but has only about 6.7 million residents, at least 3 million fewer than Los Angeles County. Taste Paraguay's delicious mistake Anthony Bourdain traces his unknown roots in the country of Paraguay. Tune in to "Parts Unknown," Sunday 9pm EST. The Rio Paraguay divides the country into roughly equal halves. Most of the population lives in the eastern half, about a third of them in the riverside capital city of Asuncion. To the west, the Gran Chaco area is a mostly grassy plain, brutally hot in summer, punctuated with marshes, savannas and thorn forests. Thinly populated with ranchers and Amerindians, the west is also home to German-speaking Mennonite colonies near the Bolivian border. It's tempting to say that Paraguay is unspoiled by tourists, and that would be true; most visitors come from neighboring countries, with whom the nation warred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Now, despite ups and downs in the quarter-century since notorious dictator Alfredo Stroessner fell from power, Paraguay has become a more welcoming place. In the absence of mass tourism, it's a place where closer contact and the lack of preconceptions can lead to memorable, even intimate, experiences at underrated sites. Arrivals from North America or Europe are a relative novelty, to be treated with courtesy and respect. Here are 14 things to know about this little-known country: 1. ¿Habla usted Guarani? Bourdain seeks information in Paraguay about his great-great-great grandfather, who emigrated from France in the 1850s. Paraguay is Latin America's most bilingual country, as nearly 90% of all Paraguayans speak both Spanish and indigenous Guarani. It is the only country in the region with a large percentage of nonindigenous citizens who speak an indigenous language. There are at least a dozen other native languages, but none approaches Guarani's prevalence. 2. An evolving capital Paraguay's sprawling riverside capital, Asuncion, is the hub of its political, commercial and cultural life. Unlike most of South America's capitals, it's a relatively low-rise city where shade is at a premium, except on some lushly landscaped plazas. It was founded in 1537, and its grid pattern is typical of the earliest Spanish settlements, but there are few remaining colonial buildings. The most notable structures, such as the government palace and the shrine to those who perished in battle, date from the 19th century. Uruguay: 10 great reasons to visit a South American treasure 3. The government's house Asuncion's counterpart to the White House is the Palacio de los Lopez, a neoclassical building intended for the dynasty that ruled the country for decades in the mid-19th century. The Lopez family didn't survive the War of the Triple Alliance, when they foolishly took on Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay in a bid to dominate the region. Still, their political successors have occupied the palace ever since. 4. Shrine to warriors In downtown Asuncion, protected by an honor guard, the Panteon de los Heroes is a domed neoclassical shrine housing the remains of the figures who led their country into disastrous conflict with neighboring countries. Started in the 1860s, before the War of the Triple Alliance, it wasn't finished until 1936, after the Chaco War with Bolivia. A couple of unknown soldiers are a token presence. 5. Picturing diversity Paraguay has a rich indigenous heritage, not just from its Guarani past and present but also thanks to the smaller but diverse Amerindian populations from the Gran Chaco region that overlaps western Paraguay. Asuncion's Museo Etnografico Andres Barbero has a strong collection of historic photographs but also displays tools, ceramics and weavings from all regions of the country. 6. Avant art In its isolation, Paraguay may give the impression of provincialism, but Asuncion has a lively contemporary art scene showcased at many galleries and the Museo del Barro, which displays avant-garde works by Paraguayan, Spanish and other Latin American artists under optimum conditions (no easy feat in this hot, humid climate). The museum also features folk art collections from the 17th century to the present and more strictly indigenous artifacts from Paraguay's native peoples. 7. Spiderweb lace One of Paraguay's iconic crafts is nanduti, the embroidered lace that probably arrived from the Spanish island of Tenerife. The word itself, meaning "spiderweb" in the Guarani language, aptly describes the weavers' geometric patterns but not the rainbow of colors that embellish their designs. 8. Sopa Paraguaya A common traditional dish, "Paraguayan soup" isn't quite what its name would suggest. Rather, it's cornbread flavored with cheese and onion, among other ingredients. (Check out Eatocracy's recipe.) Legend says its odd moniker stems from a mistake by 19th-century dictator Carlos Antonio Lopez's cook, who accidentally added excessive corn flour to a more liquid lunchtime dish. Fortunately for the cook, Lopez liked the results. 9. Terere Related to the common holly, cultivated on plantations throughout the region, mate (pronounced "mahtay") or "Paraguayan tea" is popular among Argentines, Uruguayans and even southern Brazilians, who imbibe prodigious amounts of their favorite infusion. Some like it hot, but Paraguayans prefer it chilled in the suffocating summer heat. An early Jesuit missionary claimed that mate "improves the appetite, speedily counteracts the languor arising from the burning climate, and assuages both hunger and thirst." 10. Villa Hayes Historically, Latin Americans are skeptical of the United States and its politicians, but Rutherford B. Hayes is a Paraguayan hero. After the 19th-century War of the Triple Alliance against Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, this otherwise obscure U.S. president awarded the Gran Chaco -- now more than half of Paraguay's territory -- to Asuncion instead of Buenos Aires. Both Argentina and Paraguay sent diplomats to Washington for Hayes' binding arbitration. Paraguayan President Candido Bareiro renamed the former town of Villa Occidental, across the river from Asuncion, in Hayes' honor. The surrounding county, a school (with a monument) and the local soccer team also bear his name. (In Hayes' hometown of Delaware, Ohio, a gas station occupies the site of his birthplace). 11. Foundry in the forest Southeast of Asuncion, recovering subtropical forest blankets the compact and relatively small but verdant Parque Nacional Ybycui. Ybycui offers creekside trails, waterfalls and droves of metallic blue butterflies. Howler monkeys are harder to spot but easier to hear. The park is also a historical site for the iron foundry destroyed by Brazilian forces in the War of the Triple Alliance, a severe blow to Paraguay's war effort. 12. Cinematic ruins Along the easterly Rio Parana, which forms much of the border with Brazil and Argentina, 17th- and 18th-century Jesuit evangelists and their Guarani converts built a string of missions that provided the background for Roland Joffe's award-winning film "The Mission." Best known of the bunch is Argentina's San Ignacio Mini, but Paraguay's Mision Jesus de Tavarangue and Mision la Santisima Trinidad de Parana, near the southern city of Encarnacion, are almost equally well-preserved ruins. Strictly speaking, Mision Jesus is not a ruin; rather, it was an incomplete construction when Spain expelled the Jesuits from the New World in 1767. 13. Smuggler central? Near the "Triple Border" with Argentina and Brazil, not far from the famous Iguazu Falls, Ciudad del Este is a chaos of consumerist commerce. For street bazaars that barely leave room for a single pedestrian to pass, Brazilian bargain-hunters flock across the bridge for knockoff Rolexes and the like. One local "businessman," though, observed that the regional Mercosur common market could mean that "we will no longer be able to live by smuggling products and will have to begin producing things." 14. Bruderliebe? In the vastness of the Gran Chaco, about 280 miles (450 km) northwest of Asuncion via a paved highway, Filadelfia is the administrative center of Colonia Fernheim, a settlement of pacifist Mennonites who arrived from the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Of the area's several Mennonite colonies, this is the most outgoing, especially if German (preferably Plautdietsch or Low German) is your language of brotherly love. Wayne Bernhardson is the author of Moon Handbooks to Argentina, Buenos Aires, Chile and Patagonia, and the National Geographic guide to Argentina. He resides in Oakland, California, but spends four to five months every year in southern South America. A year of the world'sBest BeachesThere's a perfect beach for every week of the year. Join us on a 12-month journey to see them all Go to the best beaches Terms of UsePrivacy PolicyAdChoicesAdvertise with usAbout usNewslettersWork for usHelpTranscriptsLicense FootageCNN Newsource	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2427
__label__wiki	0.512115	0.512115	Jennifer Bursch Associate General COunsel Jennifer graduated Magna Cum Laude from Pepperdine University with a Juris Doctorate degree in law and a master’s degree in public policy in 2006. She performed her undergraduate work at Gordon College in Boston where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. While finishing her law degree, Jennifer earned numerous awards for academic achievement, excellence in moot court competitions, and brief writing. During this time, she also externed for a United States District Court judge for the Central District of California and later clerked for ADF and Robert Tyler. Jennifer played an instrumental role in the founding of Advocates and has chosen to follow her passion into constitutional law. She now serves as Associate General Counsel at Advocates. Jennifer has been published in The Daily Journal and has been called upon for comment by numerous local and national media outlets, including Fox News, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times. Farnan v. Capistrano Valley School District California Education Committee v. Arnold Schwarzenegger Perry v. Schwarzenegger Advocates For Faith & Freedom, Murrieta, CA, 92562(951) 304-7583 info@faith-freedom.com © 2018 Advocates for Faith & Freedom. All Rights Reserved.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2431
__label__wiki	0.869303	0.869303	City in Connecticut, United States Mum City, Bell City Location in Hartford County, Connecticut Coordinates: 41°40′52″N 72°56′26″W / 41.68111°N 72.94056°W / 41.68111; -72.94056Coordinates: 41°40′52″N 72°56′26″W / 41.68111°N 72.94056°W / 41.68111; -72.94056 Incorporated (town) Incorporated (city) Chippens Hill East Bristol Forestville Village Maple End Northeast Bristol Mayor-council Ellen Zoppo-Sassu (D) 305 ft (93 m) (2010)[1] • Estimate • Density 2,300/sq mi (870/km2) UTC−5 (EST) UTC−4 (EDT) GNIS feature ID www.ci.bristol.ct.us Peaceable Oak Tree Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, 20 miles (32 km) southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 60,477.[1] Bristol is best known as the home of ESPN, whose central studios are in the city. Bristol is also home to Lake Compounce (1846), America's oldest continuously operating theme park. Bristol was known as a clock-making city in the 19th century, and is home to the American Clock & Watch Museum. For silver enthusiasts, Bristol is also known as the site of the former American Silver Company and its predecessor companies (1851–1935).[3][4] Bristol's nicknames include the "Bell City", because of a history manufacturing innovative spring-driven doorbells, and the "Mum City", because it was once a leader in chrysanthemum production and still holds an annual Bristol Mum Festival.[5] In 2010, Bristol was ranked 84th on Money magazine's "Best Places to Live".[6] In 2013, Hartford Magazine ranked Bristol as Greater Hartford's top municipality in the "Best Bang for the Buck" category. 6.1 Bus 7 Public safety 7.1 EMS 7.2 Fire department 7.3 Police department 8 Revitalization 8.2 Blight Committee 9 Attractions 9.1 Mum Festival and Parade 9.2 Other attractions 12 Sister cities 13 Economy 13.1 Notable companies 13.1.1 Associated Spring 13.1.2 ESPN 13.1.3 Otis Elevator company 13.2 Top employers Incorporated in 1785, the town is named after Bristol, in England.[7] Government[edit] Bristol city vote by party in presidential elections[8] 2016 47.25% 12,499 48.20% 12,752 4.55% 1,204 2012 57.91% 14,146 40.95% 10,004 1.14% 279 2000 61.81% 14,665 33.50% 7,948 4.69% 1,112 1996 57.59% 13,616 27.74% 6,560 14.67% 3,468 1964 76.13% 15,600 23.87% 4,892 0.00% 0 1956 39.28% 7,602 60.72% 11,751 0.00% 0 The city is governed under a Mayor-council form of government. Both the mayor and councilpersons are elected every two years. The city's Treasurer, Board of Assessment Appeals, and Board of Education are also elected every two years.[9] The current mayor is Ellen Zoppo-Sassu (D), elected in the 2017 municipal election. The last municipal election was held on November 7, 2017.[10] The City Council is made up of six members, elected every two years from three two member districts. As of the 2017 municipal elections, the members of the city council are:[11] District 1: Democrats Gregory Hahn, Joshua Mederios District 2: Democrats David Preleski, Peter Kelley District 3: Republican Dave Mills, Democrat Mary Fortier Bristol is represented in the Connecticut House of Representatives by state representatives Cara Pavalock D’Amato (R-77), Whit Betts (R-78), and Chris Ziogas (79-D). State Senator Henri Martin (R-31) represents Bristol in the Connecticut Senate. At the federal level, Bristol is in Connecticut's 1st congressional district and is currently represented by Democrat John B. Larson. According to the United States Census Bureau, Bristol has a total area of 26.8 square miles (69.5 km2), of which 26.4 square miles (68.4 km2) is land and 0.39 square miles (1.0 km2), or 1.51%, is water.[1] Bristol contains several distinct sections, including Cedar Lake in the southwestern quarter, Chippens Hill in the northwestern quarter, Edgewood in the northeastern quarter, Forestville in the southeastern quarter and the city in the approximate middle of Bristol. The majority of Bristol's area is residential in character, though since 2008 there has been a push for commercial development in the city.[12] The city is part of the Naugatuck Valley Regional Planning Organization following the closure of the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency, the metropolitan planning organization for Bristol, New Britain, and surrounding towns for decades.[13] Forestville was the hunting grounds of the Tunxis tribe until the 19th century.[14] The village was established in 1833 and named Forestville for its wooded surroundings. Forestville today has grown into a mini-metropolis of suburban neighborhoods and local businesses. The boundaries of Forestville go from the Plainville town line, south to the Southington town line, west up to the industrial development along Middle street and crosses King Street, including properties on Kingswood Drive and Bernside Drive, north up to Bristol Eastern High School, then north up to the south edge of properties on Louisiana Avenue, then to the west of properties on the west side of Brook Street and from there, goes up to commercial development along Farmington Avenue. Within the Forestville area, there are two subsections known as East Bristol and the Stafford District. Forestville village has a library branch (Manross), post office, meeting hall, community group (Forestville Village Association), fire station, cemetery, funeral home, two urban parks (Quinlan Veterans Park and Clock Tower Park), Pequabuck Duck Race, Memorial Day Parade, Summer Concert Night, Pumpkin Festival, and a railroad station (no longer in use). At one time all of Forestville had its own zip code.[15][16] %± 1790 2,462 — 1800 2,722 10.6% 1810 1,428 −47.5% 1820 1,362 −4.6% 1920 20,620 116.4% 1930 28,451 38.0% 1940 30,167 6.0% 2000 60,062 −1.0% Est. 2017 60,223 [17] −0.4% U.S. Decennial Census[18] See also: List of Connecticut locations by per capita income As of the 2010 census, there were 60,477 people, 25,189 households, and 16,175 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,265.8 inhabitants per square mile (874.8/km²). There were 26,125 housing units at an average density of 985.6 per square mile (380.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 87.74% White, 3.84% African American, 9.64% Hispanic, 0.19% Native American, 1.94% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 3.72% from other races, and 2.54% from two or more races. In 2000 there were 24,886 households in Bristol, of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.6% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.0% were non-families. 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% consisted of a sole resident who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38, and the average family size was 2.94. The age diversity at the 2000 census was 23.2% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males. The median income for a household in the city in 2010 was $57,610. The per capita income for the city was $30,573. 10.5% of the population was living below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 8.7% of those under the age of 18 and 5.9% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of November 1, 2017[19] Active Voters Inactive Voters Democratic 12,739 96 12,835 36.27% Republican 6,911 206 7,117 20.11% Unaffiliated 14,025 779 14,804 41.84% Minor Parties 605 22 627 1.78% Education in Bristol is conducted using seven elementary schools (grades kindergarten through five), two middle schools (grades six, seven and eight), and two high schools. In addition to these public schools, there are three private Catholic Schools, and one Lutheran School available. These add an additional three pre-kindergarten through grade 8 schools and one additional high school.[20] A recent press release shows good scores on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, a standardized test which students take statewide in tenth grade. The report states that more than 87% of Bristol students scored at or above the proficient level in each of the content areas assessed.[21] Schools in Bristol K-through-8 schools Bingham School (closed June 2010) [22] Chippens Hill Middle School[23] Saint Anthony School (Closed June 2016) Bristol Central High School[24] Edgewood School[25] Memorial Boulevard Middle School (Closed June 2012)[26] Saint Matthew School [3] Bristol Eastern High School[27] Greene-Hills School[28] Northeast Middle School[29] Saint Joseph School [4] St. Paul Catholic High School[5] Hubbell School[30] Immanuel Lutheran School [6] Ivy Drive School[31] Jennings School (closed June 2012)[32] Mountain View School[33] O'Connell School South Side School[35] Stafford School[36] Recently, it has been proposed that the educational system of the city be redesigned. Because some of the schools are in historic buildings, new schools are being sought by the city. In addition, it has been proposed that the entire education system of the city be redesigned, eliminating the middle school category. In other words, all schools would be kindergarten through eighth grade or high school. The Bristol Board of Education's[37] appeals for support for this project have been met with mixed emotions.[38] Transportation[edit] Bus[edit] Bristol has a bus service that connects urban centers and hospitals with the rest of the city.[39] Public safety[edit] EMS[edit] Bristol's emergency medical services program has been provided by Bristol Hospital since 1977. It was designed to assume the responsibility previously carried by the Bristol Police Department. The Bristol Hospital's EMS are carried out using 6 emergency ambulances(including spares), 2 paramedic intercept vehicles and 4 wheelchair vans.[40] Fire department[edit] The Bristol, Connecticut Fire Department is a full-service fire department with five engine companies (or stations) and one tower company. The Bristol Board of Fire Commissioners consists of five members appointed by the Mayor who establish the primary policies of the fire department.[41] Police department[edit] The Bristol Police Department is a full-service police department with approximately 125 sworn officers. The Bristol Board of Police Commissioners consists of five members appointed by the Mayor who establish the primary policies of the police department. In addition to a vehicular patrol division, downtown Bristol is also policed by a bicycle division and walking beat officers. During any shift, there may be as many as 20 officers on duty, not including detectives and officers from other divisions.[42] Revitalization[edit] Downtown[edit] Since 2008, Bristol has begun another renovation of the downtown area. This has included a complete overhaul of a park in the center of the city. In addition, an outdated and underused mall from the 1970s was demolished in 2008.[43] Also, North Main Street was improved in 2008 by adding islands in the road, elegant street lighting and a brick median when the road was repaved.[44] In 2010, a preferred developer agreement was signed for a comprehensive $225 million redevelopment utilizing new urbanism strategies. A sharp decline in the availability of federal funding and a sluggish economy has stalled the project significantly. There has yet to be any groundbreaking as of the year 2017. Most of the city's redevelopment plans can be found in the city's "West End Study" and its 2015 Plan of Conservation and Development. Blight Committee[edit] In the 1990s, the Blight Committee was formed to enforce appearance laws, and even demolish[45] properties which it deems are unsightly and unkempt. This committee is tasked with ensuring that properties are not abandoned and that all properties are reasonably maintained. In 2008, the Bristol Blight Committee was disbanded in order to make way for a new committee, the Bristol Code Enforcement Committee. This new committee has even greater powers and can now deal with both appearances and structural integrity issues of buildings in Bristol. The purpose of the committee is to streamline the process of enforcing the issues the former Blight Committee was tasked with. The law requires all structures to be free of "abandoned vehicles, nuisances, refuse, pollution and filth ... broken glass, loose shingles, holes, cracked or damaged siding, crumbling brick and other conditions 'reflective of deterioration or inadequate maintenance.'"[46] Attractions[edit] In addition to the Mum Festival, Bristol holds an annual street festival with a car show and a family farms weekend at Minors Farm, Shepherd Meadows and Roberts Orchard, similar to that of Southington's apple festival, all of which are held around September.[5] Mum Festival and Parade[edit] The first Bristol Mum Festival began on July 7, 1962, and included a parade. The members of the Chamber of Commerce and City of Bristol officials met and completed a list of activities to take place over six days. They wanted to focus on the positive things that were occurring in Bristol. When the festival opened it was originally known as the "Fall Festival". In 1963 the chrysanthemum ("Mum") was also added to the festival's name. Prior to 1986 the nurseries in Bristol would produce over 80,000 mum plants.[citation needed] In 2014, city leaders elected to adopt a new "brand" for the city. "All Heart" became the new logo on letterheads and T-shirts and even the "Mum Festival" leaders were "encouraged" to adopt the new image at the festival and parade. Other attractions[edit] Bristol has many parks: Peck, Page, Rockwell, Bracket, Barnes Nature Center, Indian Rock, Forestville Memorial and many more.[47] The city is also home to Lake Compounce (1846), the oldest continuously operated amusement park in North America, and to the New England Carousel Museum, the American Clock & Watch Museum, the Imagine Nation Children's Museum, Bristol Military Memorial Museum, Bristol Historical Society Museum and the Witch's Dungeon Classic Movie Museum. The Harry Barnes Memorial Nature Center comprises 70 acres (280,000 m2) of forest and fields, with nature trails and an interpretive center. There is also a Polish-American Dożynki festival every September, at St Stanislaus Church. Bristol has a summer collegiate baseball team called the Bristol Blues who play home games at Muzzy Field. Muzzy Field is one of the oldest ballparks in the United States. In 2012 and 2013, the City of Bristol approved funding for a significant renovation project of the historic ballpark. Bristol hosts the Little League New England and Mid-Atlantic Regional playoffs every August at the A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Center.[48][49][50] The local daily newspaper is The Bristol Press,[51] and town news is also featured in a small weekly called the Bristol Observer.[52] Sister cities[edit] Kozani, Greece Economy[edit] Notable companies[edit] The companies below are some of the most notable in Bristol. These, in addition to Bristol Hospital, are the largest private employers in the area.[53] Associated Spring[edit] Founded in 1857 and headquartered in Bristol, Barnes Group is a diversified international manufacturer of precision metal components and assemblies and a distributor of industrial supplies, serving a wide range of markets and customers. Barnes Group consists of three businesses with 2005 sales of $1.1 billion.[54] ESPN[edit] ESPN houses its broadcast studios in Bristol on Middle Street. ESPN is the largest taxpayer to the City of Bristol.[55] ESPN's former parent, Capital Cities Communications, once owned the local ABC affiliate WTNH, but sold it after acquiring ABC (which owned ESPN), and later merged with The Walt Disney Company. Otis Elevator company[edit] Though its beginnings were in Yonkers, New York, Otis Elevator Company possesses the tallest elevator test tower in the United States in Bristol. Located near ESPN and Lake Compounce, the 383-foot (117 m)-high tower is easily visible from the surrounding roads.[56][57] Top employers[edit] According to Bristol's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[58] the top employers in the city were: # of Employees 1 ESPN 3,400 2 Bristol Hospital 1,750 3 City of Bristol & Board of Education 1,656 4 Stephen AutoMall Centre 200 5 IDEX Health & Science 200 6 Sheriden Woods Health Care Center 180 7 Quality Coils 170 8 Stop & Shop 150 9 Rowley Spring and Stamping 150 10 The Pines at Bristol 140 Notable people[edit] Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), father of Louisa May Alcott, taught school in Bristol on two different occasions: in 1823 and, after teaching in Cheshire for a time, again in Bristol from 1827-1828. Alcott later moved to Concord, Massachusetts where he became acquainted with many prominent Transcendentalists and literary figures. John R. Broderick (1957-), President of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, was born in Bristol. Gary Burghoff (1943-), actor who played the character Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly in both the film and television series MAS*H, was born in Bristol. Bob Crane (1928–1978), actor who played the title role in the television series Hogan's Heroes, worked for WBIS radio station in Bristol early in his career. Chris Denorfia, former Major League Baseball outfielder, was born in Bristol. Frank Filipetti, music producer, was born in Bristol. Michelle Guerette (1980-), Olympic athlete, graduated from Bristol Central High School Aaron Hernandez, (1989-2017), NFL former tight end for the New England Patriots Gordon J. Humphrey (1940-), U.S. Senator from New Hampshire (1979–1991) was born in Bristol. Cliff Johnson, author of The Fool's Errand, was born in Bristol. Karen Josephson (1964-) and Sarah Josephson (1964-), twin sisters who won the silver medal in synchronized swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, were born in Bristol. Fred Lynn debuted in his professional baseball career playing for the Bristol Red Sox at Muzzy Field, an early twentieth-century ballpark in Bristol. Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice, who debuted with Williamsport in the New York-Penn League and then played for Winter Haven of the Florida State League, also played part of his minor league career for the Bristol Red Sox. Scott Perkins (1980-), American composer, was raised in Bristol and graduated from Bristol Central High School. Mike Reiss (1959-), longtime writer for "The Simpsons", is a Bristol native. Adrian Wojnarowski, New York Times best-selling author and NBA Columnist for Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports One, and now ESPN was raised in Bristol and attended Bristol Central High School. Police HQ/Courthouse Gridley House, about 1908 Railroad station and Prospect Street, about 1913 Forestville railroad station, about 1912 Manross Library, center of Forestville Mountains, seen from Bristol, near the Burlington border St Joseph Church, Bristol CT ^ a b c "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Bristol city, Connecticut". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Retrieved November 20, 2012. ^ "Population and Housing Unit Estimates". Retrieved June 9, 2017. ^ Hogan, Edmund P. (1980). The elegance of old silver plate and some personalities (p. 98). Schiffer Publishing Limited: Exton, PA. Retrieved September 8, 2018. ^ (December 23, 2016). "American Silver Co. (and predecessor companies) designs in collections, design catalogues and historical information". artdesigncafe. [The predecessor companies include Holmes & Tuttle (1851–57) and the silverware division of the Bristol Brass and Clock Company (1857–1901)]. Retrieved September 8, 2018. ^ a b "Connecticut Economic Digest: Labor Market Information". Connecticut Department of Labor. October 2001. Archived from the original on 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2007-07-10. ^ "Best Places to Live 2010 - Top 100: City details: Bristol, CT". MONEY. 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-29. ^ The Connecticut Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly. Connecticut Magazine Company. 1903. p. 331. ^ https://authoring.ct.gov//SOTS/Election-Services/Statement-Of-Vote-PDFs/General-Elections-Statement-of-Vote-1922 ^ "Code of Ordinances \| Bristol, CT - Official Website". www.ci.bristol.ct.us. Retrieved 2018-04-17. ^ "RESULTS OF MUNICIPAL ELECTION - NOVEMBER 7, 2017". Bristolct.gov. Retrieved April 16, 2018. ^ "Bristol City Council Members \| Bristol, CT - Official Website". www.ci.bristol.ct.us. Retrieved 2018-04-17. ^ "City of Bristol, CT - Development Plans". City of Bristol, Zoning Board. Archived from the original on 2009-08-07. Retrieved 2008-04-14. ^ "Welcome". CCRPA. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ Bristol, Connecticut: "in the Olden Time New Cambridge" page 543 ^ Street Map Bristol, Burlington 1855 ^ 1939 Bristol, Plainville, Terryville, Forestville Volume 51 Price and Lee City Directories. ^ "Population and Housing Unit Estimates". Retrieved May 12, 2019. ^ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2015. ^ "Registration and Party Enrollment Statistics as of November 1, 2017". Connecticut Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-11-01. Retrieved 2018-06-27. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Our Schools". City of Bristol, Public Schools. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-04-16. Retrieved 2008-04-14. ^ "Bristol Public Schools" (PDF). City of Bristol, Public Schools. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-04-14. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Bingham School". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Chippens Hill MS". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Bristol Central HOME Page". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-10-21. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Edgewood School Homepage". Bristol.k12.ct.us. 2011-10-19. Archived from the original on 2011-10-23. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Memorial Boulevard HOME PAGE". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Bristol Eastern HS". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Greene-Hills School". Bristol.k12.ct.us. 2011-10-28. Archived from the original on 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Northeast Middle School". Bristol.k12.ct.us. 2011-09-12. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: E. P. Hubbell School". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-10-31. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Ivy". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Jennings School". Bristol.k12.ct.us. 2011-10-04. Archived from the original on 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Mountain View School". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: O'Connell School". Bristol.k12.ct.us. 2011-10-26. Archived from the original on 2011-11-18. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: South Side School". Bristol.k12.ct.us. 2011-09-07. Archived from the original on 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Stafford School". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Bristol Public Schools: Board of Education". Bristol.k12.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "City of Bristol, Public Schools: School Brochure" (PDF). Bristol Board of Education. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-04-14. ^ https://www.cttransit.com/services/local-service ^ "Bristol Hospital EMS". Bristol Hospital EMS. Archived from the original on 2008-09-16. Retrieved 2008-04-14. ^ "City of Bristol, CT - Fire Department". Ci.bristol.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-11-03. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "City of Bristol, CT - Patrol Division". City of Bristol. 2004. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-04-14. ^ Writer, DON STACOM; Courant Staff. "DEMOLITION PROGRESSES AT FORMER BRISTOL CENTRE MALL". ^ "Titus Roberts House Justice". Ken Karl. November 2007. Archived from the original on 2009-08-06. Retrieved 2008-04-14. ^ "Bristol Blog: Blight Committee Bites the Dust". Ken Karl. November 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-14. ^ "City of Bristol, CT - Parks & Facilities". Ci.bristol.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Little League Baseball". Little League Baseball Incorporated. 2005. Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-04-14. ^ "The Bristol Press". bristolpress.com. Central Connecticut Communications. Retrieved April 14, 2008. ^ "Bristol Observer". bristolobserver.com. Stepsaver. Retrieved December 6, 2018. ^ "City of Bristol, CT - History". Ci.bristol.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "Custom Industrial Spring Manufacturer - Associated Spring". www.asbg.com. ^ "City of Bristol, CT - top ten". Ci.bristol.ct.us. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ [2] Archived March 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine ^ "Bristol, CT - North America's Tallest Elevator Test Tower". Roadsideamerica.com. Retrieved 2011-11-05. ^ "City of Bristol CAFR" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-11-05. Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Bristol (Connecticut). Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bristol, Connecticut. City of Bristol official website City of Bristol official tourism website Bristol Historical Society Hartford (capital) Court Decisions Party strength Councils of governments Connecticut panhandle Coastal Connecticut Greater Bridgeport Greater Danbury Greater Hartford Greater New Haven Housatonic Valley Litchfield Hills Lower Connecticut River Valley Central Naugatuck Valley Naugatuck River Valley Southeastern Connecticut Municipalities and communities of Hartford County, Connecticut, United States County seat: Hartford CDPs Broad Brook Canton Valley Glastonbury Center Hazardville North Granby Salmon Brook Sherwood Manor Simsbury Center Southwood Acres Suffield Depot Tariffville Terramuggus West Simsbury Canton Center East Windsor Hill Hockanum Newington Junction Plantsville South Glastonbury West Granby ≤10k Hartford-Springfield metropolitan area Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bristol,_Connecticut&oldid=905250557" Cities in Connecticut Cities in Hartford County, Connecticut	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2432
__label__wiki	0.903416	0.903416	David Shelley (1957-11-23)November 23, 1957 Santa Monica, California, U.S. August 10, 2015(2015-08-10) (aged 57) Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. Blues rock, roots rock, Americana, Soul music, Reggae Musician, songwriter Vocals, guitar, drums, djembe MCA, Ocean Sound, Pink Buffalo Records David Shelley & Bluestone, Blues Farm, Mud Ponies, Chief Jim Billie, The David Shelley Band, Cher, Ti'shan davidshelleymusic.com David Joseph Shelley (November 23, 1957 – August 10, 2015) was an American blues rock musician who performed with Cher and released two critically acclaimed albums, That's My Train (2012) and Trick Bag (2013). 1.2 1979: Ocean Sound 1.3 1982: Ti'shan 1.4 1984: The David Shelley Band 1.5 1985: MCA 1.6 1988: And God Created Woman 1.7 1988: Cher, Heart of Stone 1.8 1991: The Ron Reagan Show 1.9 1993: Seventh Son/Mud Ponies 1.10 1996: LA-FL blues 1.11 2000: Chief Jim Billie 1.12 2002: Alligator Alley Allstars 1.13 2003: David Shelley & Bluestone 1.14 2011: That's My Train and Trick Bag 1.15 Illness and death 1.16 Personal life 2.1 on the South Florida sound of the 80's 2.2 on Native American music community 2.3 on other musicians David Shelley was born November 23, 1957 in Santa Monica, California. His grandfather Buddy DeSylva, along with Glenn Wallichs and Johnny Mercer, founded Capitol Records in 1942. DeSylva also was known for writing such standards as "California Here I Come" and "The Best Things in Life Are Free." Shelley's mother, actress and singer Martha Stewart, sang in big bands with Glenn Miller and Harry James and acted on Broadway and in films and TV, including In a Lonely Place (1950) starring Humphrey Bogart.[1] David began playing drums in high school in Florida and eventually took up guitar under the guidance of his friend Jeff Savage in California, who turned Shelley onto the blues via an extensive record collection.[2] 1979: Ocean Sound[edit] Returning to Florida in 1979, Shelley founded Ocean Sound Studio, a sixteen track recording facility, with childhood friend Michael Couzzi (who would go on to engineer hit albums like Santana's Supernatural). David played percussion live and in the studio with jazz artist Randy Bernsen, legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, other local artists[3] and his first self-led band, instrumental funk group Captiva.[4] 1982: Ti'shan[edit] In 1982, David Shelley joined popular area reggae band Ti'shan as singer and guitarist. Ti'shan played original music, provided back-up for visiting reggae artists like Barrington Levy and opened for The Clash.[5] Shelley appeared on Ti'shan's 1982 LP "Ti'shan Reggae Music" and in videos for the band's songs.[3] 1984: The David Shelley Band[edit] In 1984, David left Ti'shan to front his own band, Special Forces (eventually renamed The David Shelley Band), performing his original "power-dance-reggae" music. The David Shelley Band was a regional success, opening for reggae superstar Dennis Brown, The Kinks,[6] Laura Branigan, Cheap Trick,[4] Eddie Money and among the headliners at Miami's Big Orange Festival.[3] In February 1984, Shelley recorded a three-song demo at Criteria Studios in Miami, produced by Ron and Howard Albert, best known for producing Stephen Stills' albums. Two more songs followed in October, recorded at New River Studios in Fort Lauderdale with producer Alan Blazak, who had recently hit with Glenn Frey`s The Allnighter.[3] David's then manager Arnie Wohl pressed the five songs on a 12" EP that was distributed to regional record stores. Radio station WSHE (FM 103.5) added one of the songs, "She`s Only Rock `n` Roll", to its playlist and adopted it as a theme song. Major label MCA Records showed interest and financed David to record three more demo songs with Mike Couzzi and producer-writer Doug Shawe.[3] 1985: MCA[edit] Shelley moved to Los Angeles anticipating a deal and eventually signed with MCA in October 1985. For his major label debut, David Shelley worked with co-producers Gary Goetzman and Mike Picarillo, whose production credits included Smokey Robinson, Kim Carnes, The Staple Singers, Latoya Jackson and the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense. Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison played keyboard on David's song "Battle of the Sexes".[3] An album's worth of material was recorded, but upheaval at the label from MCA's involvement in the "indie" payola scandal of 1986 caused the record to be shelved and David dropped from the roster. 1988: And God Created Woman[edit] Shelley continued to seek a record deal, performing at rock clubs in Los Angeles with his band Ku De Tah (which included Colvin Fields from Ti'shan and The David Shelley Band) and various recording sessions, including singing on Richard Marx's hit debut album Richard Marx. When producer Goetzman got David's songs chosen for Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman, (remake-in-name-only of the director's 1956 classic with Brigitte Bardot), Shelley was cast to act as a rock band member in the movie, performing his own music, credited as "Dave Shelley".[7] 1988: Cher, Heart of Stone[edit] David's appearance in And God Created Woman caught the eye of casting directors and he was hired to portray a guitar player in the video for "You Wouldn't Know Love" from Cher's Heart of Stone album. He performed with Cher at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards and in the controversial video for the song "If I Could Turn Back Time". Shelley became a member of Cher's backup band (which included Darlene Love) for the Heart of Stone Tour, performing in the US, Canada, England, Ireland and Australia and appeared with Cher on the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards and Cher Extravaganza: Live at The Mirage (1992).[8] 1991: The Ron Reagan Show[edit] In 1991, David Shelley joined the live studio band for The Ron Reagan Show, a syndicated late-night talk show addressing political issues of the day hosted by Ron Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan. Led by D.A. Young who had played with Shelley in Ku De Tah, the band was called D.A. and Dr. Bombay and included Hawk Lopez, musician/actor who had joined David in the Vadim film. The music was all instrumental. The program was canceled after a brief run, unable to compete with the higher ratings of The Arsenio Hall Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Nightline.[9] Reagan has said that Shelley and the band were "the one undeniably wonderful aspect" of the show.[1] 1993: Seventh Son/Mud Ponies[edit] In the early 90's David Shelley began jamming with drummer and painter Darren Vigil Gray[10] in Santa Fe, New Mexico. With longtime friend Michael Tovar and Ray Rodriguez from Food For Feet (East LA band formed with Oingo Boingo's John Avila) and bassist Charles Gasper, they formed Seventh Son (named after the Willie Dixon song) and began performing live in 1995. Featuring Native American musicians (Vigil Gray being Jicarilla Apache/Kiowa Apache, Gasper Zuni Pueblo, additional singer Canadian-born vocalist Star Nayea Ojibwe), Seventh Son played events such as Redstock and annually at Santa Fe's Indian Market, eventually taking over the name of Vigil Gray's previous band, The Mud Ponies (from the Pawnee legend[11]). Their music has been described as "high-energy blues"[12] and "world beat with an edge".[13][14][15] 1996: LA-FL blues[edit] By 1996, David Shelley was living between Los Angeles and Florida with stays in Santa Fe working with The Mud Ponies. The band had a monthlong engagement as Seventh Son in Helsinki, Finland, with Hawk Lopez replacing Vigil Gray on drums. In Los Angeles, Shelley and Tovar played around town with Blues Farm, a band including Jimmy Griego (from Bobby Kimball of Toto's band)[16] and recorded a demo tape of original Shelley tunes.[14] Among the guest artists often sitting in with the band was guitarist Coco Montoya, who encouraged David to pursue a blues music career. In South Florida, Shelley began reintroducing himself to the scene as a blues artist, performing with Shack Daddys, The Weld[17] and other players. Shelley also played with a country and western band in Nashville[14] and got bit parts in the movies Basquiat (1996) and New Rose Hotel (1998) starring Christopher Walken.[18] 2000: Chief Jim Billie[edit] In 2000, David Shelley joined the backing band for Native American singer/songwriter Chief Jim Billie, Tribal Chairman of the Florida Seminole. This group included drummer Jeff Renza from The David Shelley Band and performed select dates around the state and across Indian country.[19] 2002: Alligator Alley Allstars[edit] In 2002, David Shelley took up residence[20] in the Alligator Alley Allstars, a "blues and roots super group"[21] at Alligator Alley,[22] a "Native Florida" restaurant and live music venue (named for nearby swamp highway) that teamed the musician with players such as Albert Castiglia.[1] 2003: David Shelley & Bluestone[edit] David Shelley began performing under his own name, for the first time since the 80's, as David Shelley and Bluestone. Playing around South Florida most often as a two guitar, bass and drums quartet with occasional fifth piece, band members included Billy Vazquez and JP Soars on guitar; Jason Rosner, Alaina Reed and "Kilmo" Carl Pacillo on bass; Jeff Renza, Goetz Kujack, John Yarling and Raul Hernandez on drums; Bob Taylor and Dean Sire on keyboards; Kellie Rucker on harmonica, among others. In 2003, David Shelley & Bluestone was voted by the South Florida Blues Society (SFBS)[23] to perform at the Riverwalk Blues & Music Festival[24] in Fort Lauderdale. In 2007, David Shelley & Bluestone was chosen to represent SFBS at the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, where the band was a top 10 finalist. In 2008, Shelley put out a promotional CD of live recordings made during the band's long-running residency at Fort Lauderdale jazz and blues cafe O'Hara's.[1] In 2010, Charles Gasper from the Mud Ponies relocated to South Florida to play bass in Bluestone. In April, David Shelley & Bluestone won the SunFest Rock n' Roll Shootout, a four-week battle of the bands competition that awarded the band opening slot for the Charlie Daniels Band at downtown West Palm Beach's annual SunFest.[2] In June, 2011, David Shelley & Bluestone performed at Festival International de Jazz de Montréal[25] with Michael Tovar from Blues Farm on lead guitar. Dave Scott, from legendary South Florida 80's band Tuff Luck (subject of 2015 documentary[26]), joined Bluestone as lead guitarist. The band gained popularity and was able to raise funds from fans and supporters to record David Shelley's first CD release. 2011: That's My Train and Trick Bag[edit] In August, 2011, David Shelley released That's My Train[27] by David Shelley & Bluestone on his own label, Pink Buffalo. The self-produced 10 track album featured all original songs by Shelley and his long time co-writer Vincent Noonan. Anchored by Scott, Gasper and drummer John Yarling with D.A. Young from David's earliest LA bands on keyboards, the recording included contributions from Tovar, Soars and others. In October, the band performed at the Daytona Blues Festival. Randy Ridenour began to play with Bluestone as drummer. In 2012, David Shelley & Bluestone continued to play more venues and events, including a tour to Colorado.[28] In June, 2013, David Shelley released David Shelley & Bluestone's second album Trick Bag on Pink Buffalo Records. Produced by Shelley and Paul Trust, the 11 song collection featured all original songs plus David's reworking of his grandfather's composition '"Birth of The Blues". "Too Far Gone", a shuffling blues remake on That's My Train of Shelley's showcase reggae rocker from And God Created Woman had caught the ear of beach music programmers and was charting.[29] The Rhythm & Blues DJ Association added the track to their Coast to Coast - The Music Lives On[30] sampler. Other tracks from both Bluestone releases began receiving airplay in Europe and Australia. In August David Shelley & Bluestone toured Montana.[31] In September, the band won the chance to represent SFBS again at the upcoming IBC in Memphis. In November, David performed at the Festival Internacional de Jazz in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico with Randy Bernsen.[32] In January, 2014, David Shelley & Bluestone competed in the 30th Annual International Blues Challenge in Memphis and made it to the semi-finals. Rave reviews of the band's performances at this and other events plus increased rotation of That's My Train and Trick Bag brought attention to Shelley's music and a European label offered the artist a record deal. One hour after receiving the offer, David found out he had cancer.[33] Illness and death[edit] In February, 2014, David Shelley had surgery to remove the cancer and he undertook a strict regime of treatment.[33] By March he had recovered enough to resume performing with Bluestone, often with Jimmy Powers, Billy Vazquez or Drew Preston on guitar. In addition to packing South Florida venues as the main attraction, David hosted open jams, participated in benefits for others, produced recording sessions and cut tracks with friends during this time. In August, the band appeared at the Trois-Rivieres en Blues Fest[34] in Quebec, Canada and in October, Shelley joined Warren Haynes and Gov't Mule on stage during their Miami concert encore. David Shelley & Bluestone was nominated for the 2014 British Blues Awards as Best Overseas Artist.[35] Although the label's offer had been rescinded, a tour of Europe (where travelling artist Albert Castiglia related there was a demand for Shelley[1]) was being booked for May 2015,[33] but in January David's cancer was found to have returned.[33] David Shelley & Bluestone performed Sunday, January 15, 2015 at The Funky Biscuit[36] in Boca Raton, Florida. It would be their last show together. Fans wore shirts with the "S" logo of Superman to show support for the artist, referencing the Shelley-Noonan song "When I Was Your Superman" from Trick Bag. Bluestone would fulfill a few remaining dates with Jeffrey James Harris on vocals and guitar. Shelley went to California and began treatment in February. A GoFundMe page was set-up to help with Shelley's medical expenses and raised over $30,000 in a few days. Shelley returned to home hospice care in Florida where he died August 10, 2015.[1] On Sunday, August 23, 2015, David Shelley's ashes were spread on the ocean off Fort Lauderdale beach, attended by a paddle out memorial for the surfer by his family, friends and fans. David Shelley is survived by a daughter, Daylin.[citation needed] Impact[edit] on the South Florida sound of the 80's[edit] David Shelley was a leading exponent of South Florida artists in the 1980s who "incorporated South Florida's ethnic and cultural mix into their original music, blending rock with reggae, calypso, funk, salsa and/or jazz."[4] Though South Florida original music bands play every kind of music, there also is a South Florida sound of sorts, discernible in much of the original music. Some of the bands have names for it: sugarcane soul, tropa-rock, apocalypso, Floribbean pop, reggae-rock. — Scott Benarde, South Florida bands flounder for a foothold, Sun-Sentinel, July 11, 1986[37] David Shelley achieved the most visibility for the sound, opening for major artists, getting radio airplay and eventually signing with a major record label. Performing his original music in the movie And God Created Woman, Shelley brought South Florida reggae-rock to its widest audience. Years later it would be noted that David Shelley's "unconventional blues style pulls from his reggae-playing past."[2] The Fort Lauderdale-based guitarist and singer...makes no apologies for infusing old-time blues with Caribbean soul, early ‘70s rock and jam-band vibes. "I never set out to be a traditional blues guy," he explained. "It wouldn't be natural for me. I have to be true to who I am." — Beth Feinstein-Bartl, Sun-Sentinel, April 30, 2010[2] on Native American music community[edit] David Shelley began performing with Native American musicians after meeting noted artist and musician Darren Vigil Gray[10] in the 1980s. Their band Seventh Son (later named The Mud Ponies) included members of the Kiowa Apache, Zuni Pueblo and Ojibwe nations. Seventh Son/Mud Ponies played at Indian events around the Southwest where Shelley performed with such artists as John Trudell, Keith Secola, Floyd Redcrow Westerman and the late Jesse Ed Davis.[38] Shelley produced and co-wrote Ojibwe vocalist Star Nayea's Somewhere in a Dream album, which won the 2001 Native American Music Award for Best Independent Recording. Three of its songs topped the Southwestern radio charts at #1 for several weeks.[39] After joining Florida Seminole singer/songwriter Chief Jim Billie's backing band in 2000, David performed at pow wows and festivals around the country and gained even more exposure to the Native American music scene. He continued supporting Native American artists, producing singer Paula Bowers and teenage Seminole blues rock trio The Osceola Brothers,[40] who often covered his songs in their live shows. David Shelley used his own work to promote Native American art. "War Party" on Trick Bag was co-written with Hunkpapa Lakota spirit singer Delbert "Black Fox" Pomani, a respected member of the Native American Church who gave Shelley the name "Pink Buffalo". on other musicians[edit] Pat Monahan, lead singer of the band Train (hits include "Meet Virginia" and the five-times Grammy-nominated "Drops of Jupiter") has often cited a meeting with David Shelley as the beginning of his career: Monahan, who grew up dreaming of California and making it in music, was, by twenty, the star of Erie's best covers act. "We played a show once, and David Shelley from Cher's band saw me singing, gave me his number and told me that I might be able to make it if I went to L.A.," he says. "I've never seen him again, but that guy telling me to go did it." Monahan, his band and his then-girlfriend (now his wife) made the cross-country move... — Rolling Stone, March 28, 2002[41] (Monahan eventually met Shelley again in 2012 at a Train concert in Florida.) David Shelley & Bluestone Trick Bag (2013) That's My Train (2012) Live at O'Hara's (2008) I Want To (Do Everything For You) (2015) Dave Shelley And God Created Woman (1988) David Shelley Band David Shelley Band (1984) with Ti'shan Ti'shan Reggae Music (1982) with other artists Bonefish Johnny - "Sings The Blues" (2016 Alflen & Fest - Fusion You Can Feel (2014) JP Soars - More Bees with Honey (2011) Gale Trippsmith - Chasing the Rabbit (2006) Spirit Jam - The Stranger Within (2001) Raiford Starke - Speak Me (1999) Cher - Cher Extravaganza: Live at the Mirage (1992) Richard Marx - Richard Marx (1987) Trog & Woody - Hey Dude, Let's Party (1986) Randy Bernsen – Music For Planets, People & Washing Machines (1985) As producer, songwriter JL Fulks - Heading Back to Memphis (2015) Nico Wayne Toussaint – Lonely Number (2011) Fiore - Kiss Me (2009) Star Nayea - Somewhere In A Dream (2001) Coast to Coast - The Music Lives On (2013) Showcasing the Blues, Vol. 3 (2012) New Rose Hotel (1998) Basquiat (1996) Cher: Extravaganza - Live at the Mirage (1992) ^ a b c d e f Crandell, Ben (August 10, 2015). "David Shelley, Fort Lauderdale blues guitarist, dies". Sun Sentinel. ^ a b c d Feinstein-Bartl, Beth (April 30, 2010). "Homegrown: Shelley's blues hybrid". Sun Sentinel. ^ a b c d e f Benarde, Scott (March 24, 1986). "Star Poised To Be Born". Sun Sentinel. ^ a b c Thornton, Linda (October 26, 1984). "Reggae rhythms decorate rock for opening act David Shelley". Miami Herald, The. ^ Rappieyea, Bonnie (Winter 1984). "Ti Shan". Thunder Magazine. ^ Thornton, Linda (February 4, 1985). "Kinks do it again and again at Sunrise". Miami Herald, The. ^ "And God Created Woman (1988)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Cher: Extravaganza - Live at the Mirage (1992)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Ron Reagan". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ a b Abatemarco, Michael (September 27, 2013). "Abstract exuberance: Darren Vigil Gray". Santa Fe New Mexican, The. ^ Dorsey, George Amos (1906). The Pawnee Mythology (10th, 1997 ed.). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 123–124. ^ Prince, David (August 18, 1995). "Seventh Son ready for high-energy blues". Santa Fe New Mexican, The. ^ Powell, Stephen (March 28, 1997). "It's world beat with an edge". Santa Fe New Mexican, The. ^ a b c Van Cleve, Emily (May 22, 1996). "When it comes to making music, no adversity is too great for dedicated performers. Members of the blues-rock band Seventh Son live in New Mexico, Florida, Colorado and California". Santa Fe New Mexican, The (NM). ^ Prince, David (September 13, 1996). "A rare gig set Thursday at Alegria". Santa Fe New Mexican, The. ^ Griego, Jimmy. "BLUES FARM Los Angeles blues formation". Jimmy Griego homepage. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "The Weld w/ Shack Daddys & David Shelley - Ain't That Loving You, Baby (1999)". YouTube. Shack Daddys. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Dave Shelley". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ Gallagher, Peter B. (November 25, 2014). "Chief Jim Billie band strikes familiar chord at 17TH Annual AIAC". Seminole Tribune. ^ Hambright, Courtney (July 28, 2005). "Kilmo, Represent". New Times, Broward/Palm Beach. ^ Zimmerman, Lee (March 13, 2012). "Backstage in South Florida: Native Florida Tap Room & Music Hall offers South Florida's coolest new hangout". New Times, Broward/Palm Beach. ^ "Alligator Alley Restaurant, BBQ, Tap Room & Music Hall". Alligator Alley official site. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "South Florida Blues Society". SFBS official site. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Riverwalk Blues & Music Festival". Riverwalk Blues & Music Festival official site. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Festival Archives: David Shelley & Bluestone". Montreal Jazz Fest official site. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ Charles, Laurie (February 19, 2015). "Tuff Luck movie "shows the world what could have been" of the Fort Lauderdale '80s rockers". New Times, Broward/Palm Beach. ^ "David Shelley: That's My Train". All Music Guide. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Colorado's 1st Annual Beach Party & Music Festival: Concert Lineup". Music Mountain Amphitheater. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Beach Music Top 40 Countdown May 26, 2012". Cashbox Magazine. Retrieved 24 August 2015. [permanent dead link] ^ "Have You Heard: The Music Lives On Review" (PDF). National Association of Rhythm & Blues Deejays official site. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ Devlin, Vince (August 16, 2013). "Flathead Lake Blues Festival gets focused". Missoulian (Missoula, MT). ^ "Randy Bernsen & David Shelley". San Miguel Jazz Fest official site. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ a b c d Rowe, Evan (January 14, 2015). "Dave Shelley, of David Shelley and Bluestone, battles cancer". New Times, Broward/Palm Beach. ^ Putignano, Robert. "Trois-Rivieres en Blues Festival!". Making A Scene. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Full List of Nominees 2014". British Blues Awards official site. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Sunshine Music & Blues Festival Official After Party featuring Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin, David Shelley & Bluestone & other special guests". The Funky Biscuit official site. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ Benarde, Scott. "South Florida bands flounder for a foothold" (July 11, 1986). Sun Sentinel. ^ "David Shelley & Bluestone Keeping The Music Alive And Well". Metro Music Mayhem, May 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ "Star Nayea". Native Stars Talent Agency. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ Karima, Dawn. "Young Thunder: A Visit With Cameron Osceola of the Osceola Brothers Band". PowWows.com. Retrieved 24 August 2015. ^ Bozza, Anthony. "Train: The Little Band That Could" (RS 892). Rolling Stone. Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_Shelley&oldid=881214236" American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues drummers American rock musicians 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century male musicians This page was last edited on 1 February 2019, at 03:59 (UTC).	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2433
__label__cc	0.675269	0.324731	ENBIS-19 Pre-Conference Event: Joint ECAS-ENBIS 1-Day Summer Course 1 September 2019; 09:30 – 18:30 This 1-day course is a joint initiative from ENBIS and ECAS (ecas.fenstats.eu), which provides courses since 1987 in special areas of statistics both for researchers and teachers for universities and professionals in the industry. The 1-day course is organised under the umbrella of the ENBIS-19 conference in Budapest. You can find more information about the conference here. New Product Growth Models: Theory, Practice, and a Look to the Future. Sunday, 1st September 2019, 9:30-13:30 Mariangela Guidolin, Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padua, Italy web: https://homes.stat.unipd.it/mariangelaguidolin/ google scholar: https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=tOh7UTUAAAAJ&hl=it General aim of the course Main puropose of this tutorial is to provide an introduction to the most known new product growth models (also called innovation diffusion models), used to describe and forecast the evolution in time of sales of new products. In most cases, commercial products are characterized by a finite life cycle, which follows a nonlinear path, namely birth, growth, maturity, and decline. In this context, traditional time series framework such as ARIMA models do not prove a satisfactory choice. Quantitative marketing has played a central role in the development of new product diffusion models. The statistical techniques involved in model estimation combine time series analysis with nonlinear regression techniques. The key objectives of the course are: to describe the main mathematical features of the models, illustrating the meaning of the parameters from the marketing point of view; to present and discuss the statistical aspects involved in model estimation and selection; to show and discuss forecasting and explanatory ability of the proposed models with real-data applications in several industrial and commercial sectors; to propose some ideas for future achievements in research and commercial practice. New product forecasting: marketing problems and quantitative models. New product life cycle as an empirical generalization: the Bass model. Accounting for marketing mix actions: the Generalized Bass model. Accounting for the strength of word-of-mouth, seasonality and competition: some advanced models. Statistical inference for nonlinear models. Forecasting for new product growth models. Model selection and evaluation. Causality: A Half Day Workshop Sunday, 1st September 2019, 14:30-18:30 Ron S. Kenett KPA Ltd and the Samuel Neaman Institute, Technion, Israel ron@kpa-group.com Judea Pearl, the 2011 Turing Award winner who developed Bayesian networks and causality networks, recently published a bestselling book: The Book of Why. In that book he calls for a “causality revolution”. Causality has been treated by statisticians for many years, since the work of R. A. Fisher at Rothamsted agricultural station on designed experiments. The gold standard for determining causality has been the randomized controlled trial (RCT). A general framework for handling causality has been the Neyman-Rubin potential outcomes approach and the propensity score methods developed by Donald Rubin. This workshop will review basic tools for identifying causality variables, such as the fishbone diagram, present the versatile Bayesian network tool, discuss the critical role of randomization in designed experiments and introduce the methods proposed by Pearl and Rubin to assess causality relationships. Applications of these methods to personalized medicine, condition-based maintenance (CBM) and Industry 4.0 will also be discussed. Workshop outline: Background on causality in science and statistics Fishbone cause and effect diagrams Bayesian networks Randomization in experimental designs Propensity scores in observational data Counterfactuals and do calculus Personalized medicine, condition-based maintenance and Industry 4.0 Future research areas Professor Ron Kenett, Chairman of the KPA Group, Senior Research Fellow, Samuel Neaman Institute, Technion and Visiting Professor, Institute for Drug Development, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He is Past President of the Israel Statistical Association (ISA) and of the European Network for Business and Industrial Statistics (ENBIS). Ron authored and co-authored over 250 papers and 14 books on topics ranging from industrial statistics, biostatistics, customer surveys, multivariate quality control, risk management and statistical methods in healthcare. He held academic positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the State University of New York, Binghamton, Tel Aviv University and Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, He was awarded the 2013 Greenfield Medal by the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) in recognition for excellence in contributions to the applications of Statistics and the 2018 George Box Medal by the European Network for Business and Industrial Statistics (ENBIS) for outstanding contributions to the application of statistical methods in European business and industry. He is editor in chief of the Wiley’s StatsRef electronic Encyclopedia and associate editor of ASMBI, Dynamic Relationships Management Journal, Electronic Journal of Applied Statistical Analysis and Transactions on Machine Learning and Data Mining. The methods he developed are incorporated in the arules and mistat R packages available from CRAN. For more details on Ron and his publications, see: https://www.neaman.org.il/EN/Ron-Kenett	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2434
__label__wiki	0.91667	0.91667	Professor Clair Wills Featured on BBC Radio 3 podcast, “Free Thinking” Recently Professor Clair Wills discussed her new book, Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Postwar Britain, on the BBC Radio 3 podcast “Free Thinking.” Wills’ new book, just published by Penguin UK, is a portrait of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, viewed through the experiences of both the citizens of empire and the European refugees who fled to Britain during those years. As host Anne McElvoy points out in her radio interview with Wills, many people remember the so-called “Windrush Generation,” migrants from the Caribbean who arrived in Britain aboard the Empire Windrush, marking the beginning of post-war mass migration. There were, however, many other groups that immigrated to the U.K. during this period. “Because many of the Caribbean Windrush passengers were highly educated, they wrote about their experiences when they arrived,” Wills notes. “In fact, many came explicitly to London in order to make it as writers.” This was not the case for the majority of Irish or eastern and southern European migrants and refugees, most of whom came to the U.K. on work schemes. The majority of these immigrants were unable to write about their experiences because they were too busy working. “There are wonderful oral histories of these groups, but oral history comes with its own rules and conventions,” Wills remarks. “Oral histories tend to focus very much on the journeys; the journeys were often very traumatic, but they don’t tell you much about what happens when they arrived in Britain.” In her book, Wills moves beyond the idea of immigration as primarily a political story to get to the human level underneath: how people fell in love, or how they fiddled their taxes, or why they decorated their houses in a particular way. By looking at documents such as civil service memos from the Ministry of Labor, which was desperate for workers, and the Home Office, which was wary about letting foreigners in, Wills attempts to uncover immigrants’ stories. Inside the memos, people gave interviews in which they told their stories, which helped Wills piece together small but significant pieces of immigrants’ day-to-day experiences. Britain’s work schemes intervened in a humanitarian crisis by bringing people out of countries devastated by World War II, though Wills contends this was not done altruistically. She describes Britain’s postwar immigration policies as a “market of bodies”: “The people most in need were the people less likely to be let in: the old, the sick, the needy. You were most likely to get access to Britain if you were a woman who might be likely to have children once you’ve arrived; Britain was looking for white people, for healthy people, and for young people, particularly women between 18 to 30.” In addition to this “market of bodies,” Wills observes that the U.K.’s selection of immigrants also reveals its religious and classist prejudices. “[They] were keener to get Germans than Italians, notwithstanding the war, and people from the Baltic states rather than the Poles.” Wills suggests this was because there were more Poles from a rural peasant background than there were Balts, and that Poles, Irish and Italians were all less desirable because they were Catholic. In spite of these fears, Wills acknowledges that the British government did a surprisingly good job of convincing the public that the immigrants who came to the U.K. would be an asset to their respective communities. “Britain was not rich after the war, so there was a huge amount of anxiety about sharing out resources,” Wills explains. “[The British government] wanted to present the refugees as givers, not takers; they persuaded communities to accept immigrants by downplaying that aspect of their lives; these groups were never called ‘displaced persons’ or ‘refugees,’ but rather ‘European Voluntary Workers,’ who were talked about in the press as respectable, hard-working poor.” Anxieties about refugees and immigration continue to plague the world today. Perhaps Wills’ portrait of postwar immigrants— as consumers and homeowners and voters— can help us reflect on the roles and experiences we share, rather than emphasize our differences. You can listen to Professor Wills discuss Lovers and Strangers on “Free Thinking” or on BBC History Magazine’s podcast “History Extra.”	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2436
__label__cc	0.507015	0.492985	Christina León caleon@princeton.edu Spring '19: Tu 1:00 - 2:00 & by appt. Teaching and Research Interests: Christina León earned her BA and MA in English at the University of Florida and her PhD in Comparative Literature at Emory University. She has research and teaching interests in hemispheric American literature with a focus on Latina/o, Caribbean, and diasporic studies, in addition to critical engagements with feminist theory, queer theory, and performance studies. In Fall 2016, she was a member of the “Queer Hemisphere: América Queer” Residential Research group at the University of California Humanities Research Institute at UC Irvine. Christina is currently at work on her first monograph titled, Opaque Desires: Queer Latinidades and Aesthetic Relationality, which brings together the fields of queer theory, Latina/o Studies, literary studies and performance art. Opaque Desires theorizes opacity as an ethical reading practice and an artistic praxis for contemporary cultural productions of latinidad. She is also a co-editor of a special issue of Women and Performance: a journal of feminist theory entitled “Lingering in Latinidad: Aesthetics, Theory, and Performance.” She has published articles in Sargasso: a Journal of Caribbean Language, Literature & Culture and ASAP/Journal, as well as translations in the forthcoming Havana Reader (Duke University Press).	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2437
__label__wiki	0.704557	0.704557	Why white-collar crooks may be cheering this Jeff Sessions memo Bethany McLean Yahoo Finance March 21, 2017 Attorney General Jeff Sessions is focusing on violent crime, not corporate crime. Susan Walsh/AP Late last week, President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint was released. Among many other headline-grabbing cuts—the EPA, Meals on Wheels, climate change funding, legal aid for low-income households, and on, and on, and on—it also included a less-noticed $1.1 billion, or 4%, cut to the Department of Justice. The DOJ, of course, includes two divisions of key interest to corporate America, namely, the antitrust division and the fraud section of the Criminal Division. The budget blueprint doesn’t propose a funding level for the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose enforcement division conducts investigations into possible violations of securities laws and prosecutes civil cases. But internal sources say the SEC is also bracing for budget cuts. At a recent conference in Washington, Michael Piwowar, a Republican economist who was first appointed to the Commission by President Barack Obama, and who was designated the Acting Chairman by President Trump, said, “Depending on which way the budget goes and stuff in the future, we’re going to have to make some tough choices in terms of using limited resources.” Some experienced lawyers there have already voted with their feet. President-elect Donald Trump wants Wall Street lawyer Clayton to be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Dick Duane via AP And there is cultural change afoot in that agency, too. President Trump’s pick for SEC chairman, Jay Clayton, is a longtime corporate lawyer whose firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, has represented many of the people he’ll now have to police. Clayton hasn’t yet been confirmed, but in the meantime, Piwowar is starting to impose more centralized control over the investigative process, says one person familiar with events. This person points out that this was the playbook in George W. Bush’s administration as well, where Republican commissioners had significant input on what investigations got done. Sessions’ March 8 memo In the context of the overall DOJ budget cut, a mostly unremarked-upon memo sent by new Attorney General Jeff Sessions on March 8 now seems more pointed to some observers. Entitled “Memorandum for all Federal Prosecutors” it directs prosecutors to focus not on corporate crime, but on violent crime. “It is the policy of the Department of Justice to reduce crime in America, and addressing violent crime must be a special priority,” Sessions wrote. “This memorandum directs a focused effort by the Department’s dedicated public servants to investigate, prosecute and deter crime.” While fighting violent crime is obviously critically important, in the past, the local cases have been the province of the state’s attorneys, not federal authorities. To prosecutors, the Sessions memo is a big deal. It’s a direct command from the AG. And it’s axiomatic that if the DOJ’s budget is shrinking, and the amount of money and time devoted to one thing—violent crime—is going up, then the amount of money and time devoted to another thing—white collar crime—will go down. ‘It [addressing violent crime] is for sure going to push resources away from other things,” says a former prosecutor, who adds that there is also a hiring freeze in the Southern District of New York, which is widely regarded as the office that does the most on white collar crime. As he points out, the freeze doesn’t stop departures, and fewer bodies also mean less ability to bring cases. (The SEC also has a hiring freeze.) Another former government prosecutor says that the ouster of Preet Bharara from the Southern District of New York, while part of the larger firing of all the US Attorneys, is reverberating through the legal community as well. “It does have symbolic meaning when you walk back your promise to keep in place the guy Time magazine called ‘The Sheriff of Wall Street,’” says this person, who says that morale is already low in the DOJ and the SEC, where people fear they are losing the ability to act aggressively on white collar matters. The SEC declined to comment, and the Justice Department did not return a call. Add to that last Friday’s news that the Trump administration is taking sides in a lawsuit—against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Back in 2014, the CFPB instituted a case against a New Jersey based mortgage lender called PHH. PHH fought back on various fronts, and eventually, an appeals court ruled, among other things, that the CFPB’s structure was unconstitutional. The Obama administration threw its weight behind the CFPB. But last week, Trump’s Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief agreeing the CFPB’s structure was indeed unconstitutional. Trump’s DOJ says that the president should be able to fire the CFPB director at will, not just for negligence or malfeasance, as is currently the case. Acting Attorney General Sally Yates was fired by Donald Trump. The Independent. In sharp contrast to this, in corporate circles the most famous (or infamous) DOJ memo during the Obama Administration was the so-called Yates memo, which was written by then Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in September 2015. (Yates, of course, was fired by Trump earlier this year after she declined to defend the travel ban.) Her missive, which was also sent to all the US Attorneys around the country, struck fear into the hearts of executives everywhere, because it was designed to have prosecutors hold individuals accountable for corporate misdeeds, not just collect fines and settlements from corporations. Or as then Acting Associate Attorney General Bill Baer explained, “When it comes to enforcing both criminal and civil statutes, it should not matter whether the offender commits white collar fraud or, as one judge termed it, ‘no collar’ fraud.” He added, “Civil wrongs can have damaging consequences, from the significant waste of taxpayer funds, to the loss of jobs, homes and financial security, to consumer overcharges, to fundamental market dislocations and economic crises…holding individuals account for corporate wrongdoing—even through civil enforcement actions—provides a powerful deterrent against future misconduct.” The actual effect of the Yates memo has been debated, but as law firm McGuireWoods wrote in a legal alert, “What we know for certain is that it was intended to send a message both to the public and to the ‘C suite.'” It’s impossible at this point to know how this all will shake out. And there certainly is a sense that the pendulum had swung too far. But one thing is for sure: The message has changed. Bethany McLean is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and bestselling author. Her recent book is “Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants,” published by Columbia Global Reports. More from Bethany McLean: The strange deal 2 drug makers made over a medicine with a skyrocketing price Steve Mnuchin: Goldman Sachs royalty and ‘culture carrier’ How 2 US senators profited from America’s financial crisis Facebook Stock Prices Surge After Receiving $5 Billion Fine Trump Vows To Oust Turkey From F-35 But Says 'It's Not Really Fair' Woman, 2 kids dead in fiery freeway crash in Indianapolis Lee now in favor of changing Confederate proclamation	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2444
__label__wiki	0.956	0.956	Dil Se.. (Redirected from Dil Se) Dil Se.. (lit. From the Heart..) is a 1998 Indian romantic thriller film set in the backdrop of the insurgency in Northeast India, written and directed by Mani Ratnam, and produced by Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma, and Shekhar Kapur. The film stars Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala in the lead roles, while Preity Zinta makes her film debut in a supporting role. Written by Ratnam and Tigmanshu Dhulia, the film is an example of parallel cinema and is noted as the final installment of Ratnam's thematic trilogy that consists of Roja (1992) and Bombay (1995).[3][4] English release poster Mani Ratnam Screenplay by Tigmanshu Dhulia Story by A. R. Rahman Santosh Sivan Suresh Urs Madras Talkies Varma Corporation Eros International ₹11 crore (equivalent to ₹37 crore or US$5.4 million in 2018)[1] ₹28.58 crore (equivalent to ₹96 crore or US$14 million in 2018)[2] The film was screened at the Era New Horizons Film Festival and the Helsinki International Film Festival. Noted for its aspects nonlinear storytelling, the film won awards for cinematography, audiography, choreography, and music, among others. The film was a success overseas earning $975,000 in the United States and £537,930 in the United Kingdom,[5] becoming the first Indian film to enter the top 10 in the United Kingdom box office charts,[6] and it was also a hit in Japan.[7] The film won two National Film Awards and six Filmfare Awards, while also receiving a special mention at the Netpac Awards.[6][8] The film's soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, sold six million units in India.[9] Amarkant Varma (Shahrukh Khan) is a program executive for All India Radio, dispatched from New Delhi to cover festivities in Assam. On his way there, during a rainy night, Amar stops at Haflong train station to catch the Barak Valley Express. As he waits, he tries to have a smoke and asks a mysterious person for either a match or a lighter. Suddenly a strong gust of wind blows the shawl off the person, revealing it to be woman (Manisha Koirala). Amar finds her very attractive and tries to strike up a conversation, but she ignores him for a bit and then asks him for a cup of tea. When he returns with the tea, he watches as she boards the next train with three male passengers and rides off into the distance. Later, Amar spots the same woman in Lumding. He attempts to talk to her, but she says she cannot recall meeting him before. As part of his news reporting assignment, for the occasion of fifty years of Indian Independence, Amar interviews many citizens of Assam, and an extremist chief (Gautam Bora), who claims that the reason behind human rights violations and poverty in the region is due to the Indian Government, and that the Liberationists do not wish to enter into any dialogue with the government, and further justify their resistance in Utthar Purv. A few weeks later, Amar describes his encounter with the woman, over the radio, which she hears. He again spots her at a post office. At this juncture, she tells him to leave her alone; but he follows her to the house and tells her that he is in love with her. She resists and tells Amar that she is married. Amar wishes to apologize to her, but she arrives with two men who beat him unconscious. During the beating, Amar learns that the men are presumably her brothers and that she had lied about her being married. He reaches her home, and learns from the locals that she has left the place. Amar then goes to the post office where he initially spotted her and bribes the PCO owner into giving him her contact details, and learns that she is telephoning to Ladakh. Subsequently, Amar travels to Leh, and while recording the Sindhu Darshan Festival, a suicide bomber is chased to death by the military, and Amar spots the woman again. As the woman and Amar board a bus, military officers question each passenger before the bus is allowed to leave. While Amar tell the officers that he is there reporting on the festival, the woman uses Amar to her advantage and tells the officers that Amar is her husband. After some travel, the bus breaks down and the passengers are required to walk to a nearby village. En route Amar forces the woman to reveal her name: Meghna. The two end up traveling together and recuperate. In the morning, Amar wakes to find Meghna gone. (It is later revealed that Meghna is part of a Liberationists group which plans multiple suicide attacks in New Delhi at the upcoming Republic Day celebration). Amar returns to his home in Delhi, where his family has found Preeti Nair (Preity Zinta) from Kerala as a potential bride for him. Amar agrees to marry Preeti because he has no hope that he will ever meet Meghna again. On his date with Preeti, Amar spots one of Meghna's associates, Kim, who banished him earlier. Amar chases him down to Connaught Place, where the man kills himself with a cyanide pill after being stopped by local police. Because of the extremist nature of the situation, the police relinquish the incident to the CBI. Much to Amar's surprise, Meghna shows up in Delhi and asks Amar to help her get a job as an office assistant at Amar's All India Radio office. It is later revealed that Meghna actually arrives in Delhi with her terrorist group and stays in Amar's residence to escape from the CBI inquiry operation. Based on eyewitness claims of the Connaught Place incident, Amar is now a prime suspect of the CBI (Piyush Mishra). At this juncture Amar follows Meghna and questions her motives, and she reveals to Amar that her name is actually Moina, and as a child, she had been a rape victim of the army and seeks liberation through her suicide attack on the Indian army and the President of India during Republic Day. Now the CBI convinces the Army general of India to grant permission to conduct security checks of all the Army convoys and tankers participating in the parade. Amar is again assaulted by Moina's associate (Aditya Srivastava) and the terrorists and as Amar fights back the terrorists receive a call from Moina on their mobile. Amar grabs the mobile and pleads with Moina to stop all this and marry him. Moina reveals that it is too late, and presumes Amar is being killed. But Amar returns home, only to find out from Preeti that Amar's mother is also being questioned and that Moina's location is at Sunder Nagar. The CBI also misconstrue that Amar is part of the terrorist group and arrest him. Amar claims to the CBI that he is not in cahoots with the terrorists, but in love with Moina and that he has interviewed one of the extremist leaders and wants to prevent them from perpetrating the attack. The CBI rejects Amar's claims and sedates him for further interrogation. The next day Moina is ready for the suicide attack. Amar escapes from the CBI and tries to hold Moina back. Amar expresses his love and desire to be with her. When she is still indecisive, he tells her he will even die with her if she does not wish to stop her suicide attempt. He embraces her and continues to plead with her to live with him. As they embrace, the explosive vest worn by Moina explodes, killing them both. Shahrukh Khan as Amarkant Varma Manisha Koirala as Moina/Meghna Preity Zinta as Preeti Nair Mita Vasisht as Mita Arundhati Rao as Kanval Dev Burman – AIR station director Raghuvir Yadav as Shukla ji – AIR manager Zohra Sehgal as Amar's Grandmother Janagaraj as Taxi Driver Gautam Bora as terrorist Leader Sabyasachi Chakrabarty as terrorist Aditya Srivastava as terrorist Sanjay Mishra as terrorist Anupam Shyam as terrorist Shabbir Masani as terrorist Krisn Kant as Kim terrorist Manjit Bawa as terrorist Sheeba Chaddha as Amar's mother Piyush Mishra as CBI investigation officer Gajraj Rao as CBI investigation officer Priya Parulekar as Young Moina Vanitha Malik as school teacher Tigmanshu Dhulia as cameo appearance as man at the post office Sameer Chanda as cameo appearance Tuba music shop dealer Shaad Ali as cameo as citizen of Silchar Wasiq Khan as cameo Pia Benegal as cameo Chintu Mohapatra as cameo Karan Nath as cameo Hemant Mishra as cameo B. M. Shah as cameo R. K. Nair as Preeti's father Alka as Preeti's Mother Rajiv Gupta as Sub inspector Avtar Sahani as Army general Lakshmi Rattan as Hazarika army official Suhail Nayyar as child artist Jessica as child artist Ishitha as child artist Subhadeep Sanyal as child artist Malaika Arora in the item number "Chaiyya Chaiyya" Sameer Chanda, and Wasiq Khan were the production and art designers for Dil Se.[5][10] The principal photography took place in Himachal Pradesh, Leh, Assam, New Delhi, Kerala, and Bhutan over a period of 55 days.[5][10] Tigmanshu Dhulia was the casting director. Pia Benegal and Manish Malhotra were the costume designers, Simran Bagga was Mani Rathnam's first choice for the role that Preity Zinta eventually accepted.[11] The song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" was shot between Malaika Arora and Shah Rukh Khan on top of the Nilgiri Express, en route Ooty, Coonoor and Kotagiri, the train is particularly painted in brown for the song sequence.[12] The travelling scenes, other crucial scenes were shot between Manisha Koirala and Shah Rukh Khan near Alchi Monastery, during the Sindhu Darshan Festival in Leh.[12] The longest song of the film "Satrangi Re" with the lead pair was shot near Thikse Monastery, the mystical Basgo Monastery ruins, and Pangong lake near Pangong Tso in Ladakh.[12] The song "Jiya Jale" was shot between Priety Zinta and Shah Rukh Khan near Athirappilly Falls, Alappuzha backwaters, Periyar National Park, and Periyar Lake in Kerala.[12] Several action sequences in the film choreographed by Allan Amin were shot near Connaught Place, New Delhi, Rajpath and Old Delhi.[5][12] Dil Se is said to be a journey through the seven shades of love that are defined in ancient Arabic literature. Those shades are defined as an attraction, infatuation, love, reverence, worship, obsession, and death. The character played by Shahrukh Khan passes through each shade during the course of the film.[13] Authors Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti of Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance also compared Khan's romance in the film to the trajectory of love in ancient Arabic literature, believing the lyrics in two of the songs to have delivered an "apocalyptic fatalism".[14] The film is a dramatization of the attraction between a character from the heart of India and another from a peripheral state and a representation of opposites in the eyes of the law and society.[15] Dil Se is described as a film "structured through deferment and unfulfilled teasing promises." [16] Rediff.com said about the film, "The entire feel of the film is appropriately poetic, with a few romantic exchanges standing out quite memorable. Tigmanshu Dhulia has handled the film's dialogues adroitly. Amid moonlit desert dunes, there is a particularly stirring conversation between the leading pair. Amar reveals his hate for Meghna's eyes – because he can't see the world is hidden behind them and his love for the same, stunning eyes – because he can't see the world hidden behind them."[17] Elleke Boehmer and Stephen Morton in their book Terror and the postcolonial (2009) believe that the songs and their exotic locations in the film were very important in masking the impossible reconciliation between a terrorist and an uptight government agent by evoking pure fantasy.[16] They argue that this is a phenomenon called the Release and receptionEdit Though Dil Se received a poor box office response in India, it found success overseas. It was screened at the Era New Horizons Film Festival and the Helsinki International Film Festival The film went on to win the Netpac Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, two National Film Awards, and six Filmfare Awards. The intense political agenda of the film with the trials of the Assamese on the India-China border, the love story and the fact that it coincided with the 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations became a major factor for its success overseas, particularly amongst the South Asian diaspora in the west.[18][19] The film became the first Indian film to enter the top 10 in the United Kingdom box office charts.[6] Even two months after its release in September 1998 the film was still screened on five screens, five times per day with an average of 3000 spectators across all screens in the Cineworld complex in Feltham, West London.[18] Deepa Deosthalee wrote a positive review to the film, calling it "A picture perfect ode to love" and praising the direction, writing and performances.[20] The film was included in Time Magazine's "Best of Bollywood" list in 2010.[21] Dil Se was also a hit in Japan.[7] The film has won the following awards: Recipients and Nominees 1999 Berlin International Film Festival (Germany) Netpac Award Mani Ratnam Won Special Mention 1999 National Film Awards (India) Best Cinematography Santosh Sivan Won Silver Lotus Award Best Audiography H. Sridhar Silver Lotus Award 1999 Filmfare Awards (India) Best Female Debut Preity Zinta Won Best Music Direction A. R. Rahman Best Lyricist Gulzar for "Chaiyya Chaiyya" Best Male Playback Sukhwinder Singh for "Chaiyya Chaiyya" Best Cinematographer Santosh Sivan Best Choreography Farah Khan for "Chaiyya Chaiyya" Best Actress Manisha Koirala Nominated 1999 Star Screen Awards (India) Best Male Playback Sukhwinder Singh for "Chaiyya Chaiyya" Won Dil Se... 8 July 1998 (1998-07-08)[22] Panchathan Record Inn A. R. Rahman chronology 'Jeans (1998) Dil Se... 'Earth Planet Bollywood The soundtrack features six songs composed by A. R. Rahman. Raja Sen of Rediff called it, "Rahman's finest soundtrack, by far."[17] The soundtrack album sold six million units in India.[9] The song "Chaiyya Chaiyya", based on Sufi music and Urdu poetry,[25] became especially popular and the song has been featured in the film Inside Man, in the musical Bombay Dreams, and in the television shows Smith and CSI: Miami.[26] The soundtrack was recorded in several other languages. The Tamil version of the track "Chaiyya Chaiyya", entitled "Thaiyya Thaiyya", was sung by Palghat Sriram, although Sukhwinder Singh, who sang the Hindi version was credited as the singer.[27] Malayalam lyrics for the song "Jiya Jale" were penned by Gireesh Puthenchery while the Punjabi part of "Thayya Thayya" was penned by Tejpaul Kour.[citation needed] Pink Floyd bass guitarist Guy Pratt for post Roger Waters albums Delicate Sound of Thunder, The Division Bell and Pulse played bass on title song Dil Se Re.[28] The background score was also appreciated and said to have contributed largely to the film. Original VersionEdit Hindi (Dil Se) All lyrics written by Gulzar; all music composed by A. R. Rahman. 1. "Chaiyya Chaiyya" Sukhwinder Singh & Sapna Awasthi 6:54 2. "Jiya Jale" Lata Mangeshkar, M. G. Sreekumar & Chorus 5:07 3. "Dil Se Re" A. R. Rahman, Anuradha Sriram, Anupama & Febi Mani 6:44 4. "Ae Ajnabi" Udit Narayan & Mahalakshmi Iyer 5:48 5. "Thayya Thayya (Remix)" Sukhwinder Singh 4:35 6. "Satrangi Re" Sonu Nigam & Kavita Krishnamurthy 7:25 Dubbed VersionsEdit Tamil (Uyire)Edit All lyrics written by Vairamuthu; all music composed by A. R. Rahman. 1. "Thaiyya Thaiyya" Sukhwinder Singh, Malgudi Subha & Palakkad Sriram 6:55 2. "Nenjinile Nenjinile" S. Janaki, M. G. Sreekumar & Chorus 5:09 3. "Sandhosha Kanneere" A. R. Rahman, Anuradha Sriram, Febi Mani, Anupama 6:42 4. "Poongkaatrilae" Unni Menon & Swarnalatha 5:45 5. "Thayya Thayya (Remix)" Srinivas, Sukhwinder Singh & Hariharan 4:19 6. "En Uyire" Srinivas & Sujatha 7:26 Telugu (Premato)Edit All lyrics written by Sitarama Sastry; all music composed by A. R. Rahman. 1. "Thaiyya Thaiyya" Sukhwinder Singh & Malgudi Subha 6:52 2. "Innaalilaa Ledule" K. S. Chithra, M. G. Sreekumar & Chorus 5:06 3. "Ninnele" A.R. Rahman, Sowmya Raoh, Dominique Cerejo & Kavita Paudwal 6:37 4. "O Priyatama" Mano & Swarnalatha 7:25 5. "Chaiyya Chaiyya (Remix)" Sukhwinder Singh 4:17 6. "Ooristhu Ooguthu" Srinivas & Sujatha 5:42 ^ "Dil Se Budget". Box Office India. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015. ^ "Dil Se Box office". Box Office India. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015. ^ Ciecko, Anne Tereska (2006). Contemporary Asian cinema: popular culture in a global frame. Berg Publishers. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-84520-237-8. Retrieved 11 April 2011. ^ Pat Padua. "FROM THE HEART – The Films of Mani Ratnam". cinescene.com. Retrieved 4 April 2011. ^ a b c d "Dil Se – Starring Shahrukh Khan, Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta, Raghuvir Yadav, Mita Vashisht, Zora Sehgal. Dil Se's box office, news, reviews, video, pictures, and music soundtrack". Ibosnetwork.com. 21 August 1998. Archived from the original on 16 December 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2011. ^ a b c Aftab, Kaleem (October 2002). "Brown: the new black! Bollywood in Britain". Critical Quarterly. Blackwell Synergy. 44 (3): 88–98. doi:10.1111/1467-8705.00435. The first Bollywood film to enter the UK top 10, Dil Se / Uyire was nevertheless a flop in India. Such factors attest to the crucial role of the NRI audience in the commercial fate of Bollywood produce. ^ a b Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (2013). The Indian Media Business. SAGE Publications. p. 188. ISBN 9788132117889. ^ Cary Rajinder Sawhney (2006). "Dil Se." British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2008. ^ a b "Rahman @ 25". CNN-News18. CNN International. 8 September 2017. ^ a b "Making movies with Mani Ratnam". rediff.com. ^ "Simran explains it all". minnoviyam.star.track. October 1998. Retrieved 9 June 2015. ^ a b c d e "Movie > Dil Se – Movies and Locations – Filmapia – Reel Sites. Real Sights". filmapia.com. ^ "Dil Se... A Mani Ratnam film". Retrieved 4 April 2011. ^ Gopal & Moorti 2008, p. 166. ^ Chaudhuri, Shohini (2005). Contemporary world cinema: Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and South Asia. Edinburgh University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-7486-1799-9. Retrieved 3 April 2011. ^ a b Boehmer, Elleke; Morton, Stephen (October 2009). Terror and the postcolonial. John Wiley and Sons. p. 350. ISBN 978-1-4051-9154-8. Retrieved 3 April 2011. ^ a b "Weekend Watch: Dil Se". Rediff.com. 21 October 2005. Retrieved 3 April 2011. ^ a b Dudrah, Rajinder Kumar (2006). Bollywood: sociology goes to the movies. Sage. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-7619-3461-5. Retrieved 3 April 2011. ^ Meyer, Michael (2009). Word & image in colonial and postcolonial literatures and cultures. Rodopi. p. 230. ISBN 9789042027435. Retrieved 11 April 2011. ^ Deosthalee, Deepa (22 August 1998). "A picture perfect ode to love, Dil Se". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2011. ^ Corliss, Richard (27 October 2010). "Dil Se – 1998". Time. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2012. ^ "Dil Se (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes. ^ "Dil Se – music review by M. Ali Ikram". Planet Bollywood. Retrieved 30 June 2011. ^ "Dil Se – music review by Bhaskar Gupta". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 June 2011. ^ Basu, Anustup (2010). Bollywood in the Age of New Media: The Geo-televisual Aesthetic: The Geo-televisual Aesthetic. Edinburgh University Press. p. 164. ISBN 9780748643233. ^ "Dil Se Soundtrack". Amazon.com. Retrieved 30 June 2011. ^ K. Pradeep. "Musical notes". The Hindu. Retrieved 8 September 2007. ^ "Dil Se Soundtrack at arrahman.com". arrahman.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013. Gopal, Sangita; Moorti, Sujata (2008). Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-4578-7. Dil Se on IMDb Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dil_Se..&oldid=906383344"	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2450
__label__wiki	0.914563	0.914563	Johnny Alexander Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes; December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was an American singer, musician, composer, arranger, bandleader, talent scout, disc jockey, record producer, television show host, artist, author, journalist, minister, and impresario.[1] He was a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll. He discovered numerous artists early in their careers who went on to become highly successful in their own right, including Little Esther Phillips, Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, Johnny Ace, Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John, Hank Ballard, and The Robins (who eventually changed their name to The Coasters), among many others. Otis has been called the original "King of Rock and Roll"[citation needed] and the "Godfather of Rhythm and Blues".[2] Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes (1921-12-28)December 28, 1921 Vallejo, California, U.S. January 17, 2012(2012-01-17) (aged 90) 1940s–2000s johnnyotisworld.com Otis was born in Vallejo, California, to Greek immigrant parents, Alexander J. Veliotes, a Mare Island longshoreman and grocery store owner, and his wife, the former Irene Kiskakes, a painter.[3] He had a younger sister, Dorothy, and a younger brother, Nicholas A. Veliotes, who became the U.S. Ambassador to Jordan (1978–1981) and Egypt (1984–1986). Johnny grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood in Berkeley, California, where his father owned a grocery store. He became known for his choice to live his professional and personal life as a member of the African-American community.[4][5][6] He wrote, "As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black."[7] On May 2, 1941, when Otis was 19, he married Phyllis Walker, an 18-year old woman of African American and Filipino descent from Oakland, whom he had known since childhood. Despite deep and enduring objections from his mother, the young couple left California and eloped in Reno, Nevada, where interracial marriage was accepted at the time.[8] They had four children: two sons, Shuggie Otis and Nicholas Otis — both of whom became musicians — and two daughters, Janice and Laura.[9] Johnny and Phyllis also raised Lucky Otis, Shuggie's son with his first wife, Miss Mercy Fontenot of The GTOs. Music careerEdit Otis began playing drums as a teenager, having bought a set by forging his father's signature on a credit slip. Soon after, he dropped out of Berkeley High School, in his junior year. He joined a local band, the West Oakland House Rockers,[10] with his pianist friend "Count" Otis Matthews. By 1939, they were performing at many local functions, mostly in and around Oakland and Berkeley, and were popular among their peers. In the early 1940s Otis played in swing orchestras, including Lloyd Hunter's Serenaders[11] and Harlan Leonard's Rockets.[12] He founded his own band in 1945; they had one of the most enduring hits of the big-band era, "Harlem Nocturne", a composition by Earle Hagen. His band included Wynonie Harris, Charles Brown, and Illinois Jacquet, among others. In 1947, he and Bardu Ali opened the Barrelhouse Club in the Watts district of Los Angeles. Otis reduced the size of his band and hired the singers Mel Walker, Little Esther (born Esther Mae Jones and later known as Esther Phillips) and the Robins (who later became the Coasters).[13] He discovered the teenaged Esther Jones when she won a talent show at the Barrelhouse Club. With this band, he toured extensively in the United States as the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan and had a string of rhythm-and-blues hits through 1950. Otis and his Orchestra played at the third annual Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on September 7, 1947. Woody Herman, The Valdez Orchestra, The Blenders, T-Bone Walker, Slim Gaillard, The Honeydrippers, Sarah Vaughn and the Three Blazers also performed that same day.[14] Otis discovered the tenor saxophonist Big Jay McNeely, who played on his up-tempo "Barrelhouse Stomp". He began recording Little Esther and Mel Walker for Savoy Records, based in Newark, New Jersey, in 1949,[12] and also released a stream of hit records, including "Double Crossing Blues", "Mistrustin' Blues" and "Cupid's Boogie", all of which reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. In 1950, Billboard selected Otis as the R&B Artist of the Year.[15] He also began playing the vibraphone on many of his recordings.[12] In 1951, Otis released "Mambo Boogie", featuring congas, maracas, claves, and mambo saxophone guajeos in a blues progression, the first R&B mambo ever recorded.[16] Otis moved to Mercury Records in 1951. He discovered the singer Etta James, who was then 13 years old, at one of his talent shows. He produced and co-wrote her first hit, The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry). In 1952, while in Houston, Texas, Otis auditioned the singer Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. He produced, co-wrote, and played drums on her 1953 recording of "Hound Dog" (the first recording of the song); he and his band also provided the backup "howling" vocals.[17] The song was co-written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Otis had a legal dispute with the songwriting duo over the credits after he learned that Leiber and Stoller had revised the contractual agreement before the singer Elvis Presley recorded a new version of the song, which quickly became a number 1 hit. Claiming Leiber and Stoller illegally had the original contract nullified and rewrote a new one stating that the two boys (who were both 17) were the only composers of the song, Otis sued. The judge decided the case in favor of the defendants, ruling that the first contract with Otis was null and void because they were minors when they signed it. One of Otis's most famous compositions is the ballad "Every Beat of My Heart", first recorded by the Royals in 1952 for Federal Records.[18][19] It was a hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1961. Otis also produced and played the vibraphone on "Pledging My Love", by the singer Johnny Ace, which was number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart for 10 weeks. Another successful song for Otis was "So Fine", originally recorded by the Sheiks in 1955 for Federal and a hit for the Fiestas in 1959. As an artist and repertory man for King Records, Otis discovered numerous young prospects who later became successful, including Jackie Wilson, Hank Ballard, and Little Willie John.[12] Otis hosted a television show, The Johnny Otis Show, and became an influential disc jockey in Los Angeles, with a program on radio station KFOX in Long Beach in 1955.[20] In 1955, Otis started his own label, Ultra Records (he changed the name to Dig after releasing five singles). He continued to perform and appeared on TV shows in Los Angeles from 1957. On the strength of their success, he signed with Capitol Records. Featuring the singer Marie Adams and with his band, now known as the Johnny Otis Show, he made a comeback, at first in the British charts with "Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me" in 1957.[21] In April 1958, he recorded his best-known song, "Willie and the Hand Jive", a clave-based vamp. It was a hit in the summer of 1958, peaking at number 9 on the U.S. Pop chart, and was Otis's only Top 10 single. The single reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. Otis's success with the song was somewhat short-lived, and he briefly moved to King Records in 1961, where he worked with Johnny "Guitar" Watson.[12] In 1969, Otis landed a deal with Columbia Records and recorded the albums Cold Shot! and the sexually explicit Snatch and the Poontangs, both of which featured his son Shuggie and the singer Delmar "Mighty Mouth" Evans.[22] A year later, he recorded a double live album of his band's performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Johnny Otis Show Live at Monterey! with Little Esther Phillips, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Pee Wee Crayton, Ivory Joe Hunter, and The Mighty Flea, among others. A portion of the performance was featured in the Clint Eastwood film Play Misty for Me. Live at Monterey was released in 1971 by Epic Records. Reviewing it in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said, "In-concert compilations are often incoherent, but the blues-style hard jive beloved of performer-turned-majordomo Otis has such formal integrity that this r&b spectacular moves smoothly for four sides. Some of the featured players are no more than Otis's hired hands, including guitarist Shuggie O. But (in ascending order) Roy Milton, Big Joe Turner, Ivory Joe Hunter, Little (?) Esther Phillips, Roy Brown, and Cleanhead Vinson are a cast that beats anything Richard Nader's ever put into the Garden."[23] Otis toured less in the 1970s. He started the Blues Spectrum label and released a series of fifteen albums, Rhythm and Blues Oldies, which featured the 1950s R&B artists Louis Jordan, Roy Milton, Richard Berry, and Otis. In the 1980s, Otis had a weekly radio show, airing Mondays from 8 to 11 p.m. on the Los Angeles radio station KPFK, on which he played records and received as guests R&B artists such as Screamin' Jay Hawkins.[24] Otis also recorded with his sons, Shuggie (guitar) and Nicky (drums), releasing the albums The New Johnny Otis Show (1982), Johnny Otis! Johnny Otis! (1984) and Otisology (1985).[12] In the summer of 1987, Otis hosted his own Red Beans & Rice R&B Music Festival in Los Angeles, which featured top-name acts and hosted a Southern-style red beans and rice cook-off. He moved the festival to the city of San Dimas, where it ran annually in association with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation for twenty years, until 2006.[25] Otis and his family moved from southern California to Sebastopol, California, a small apple-farming town in Sonoma County. He continued his weekly radio program from KPFK's sister station KPFA in Berkeley, California, which aired every Saturday from 9am to noon. Otis performed across the United States and Europe well through the 1990s, headlining the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1990 and 2000. In 1993, he opened the Johnny Otis Market[26][27][28][29] in Sebastopol, a grocery/deli/cabaret where Otis and his band (now joined by his grandsons Lucky on bass and Eric on rhythm guitar) played sold-out shows[30] every weekend until it closed its doors in 1995.[31][32][33] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame in 1994.[34] He was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2017. Other workEdit In the 1960s, Otis entered journalism and politics. He lost an election for a seat in the California State Assembly. He then became deputy chief of staff[35] to state Assemblyman, later, Democratic Congressman, Mervyn M. Dymally.[36] Otis also founded[37] and preached in the New Landmark Community Gospel Church,[38] which held Sunday services in Santa Rosa, California. Landmark's worship services centered on Otis's preaching and the traditional-style performances of a vocal group and choir backed by his rhythm section and an organist.[39] The church closed in mid-1998.[citation needed] The Johnny Otis Show, relocated from KPFK to sister station KPFA in Berkeley, California, where it aired on Saturday mornings. After his market in Sebastopol opened in 1994, Otis broadcast from there, with his band playing live on the air, later broadcasting from the Powerhouse Brewing Co.[40] After Otis' retirement in late 2004, his grandson Lucky hosted the show at KPFA for two years, until its final airing in late 2006, when Otis and his wife moved back to Los Angeles.[41] He taught Music 15-B: Jazz, Blues and Popular Music in American Culture, a 3-unit Peralta Community College District class.[42] Otis died of natural causes on January 17, 2012, in the Altadena area of Los Angeles. He died three days before Etta James, whom he had discovered in the early 1950s.[1] He is interred with his wife at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California, USA.[43] DiscographyEdit Chart singlesEdit Chart Positions US Pop[44] R&B[15] UK[45] 1948 "That's Your Last Boogie" Joe Swift with Johnny Otis & His Orchestra – 10 – 1950 "Double Crossing Blues" Johnny Otis Quintette, the Robins and Little Esther – 1 – "Mistrustin' Blues" / "Misery" Little Esther and Mel Walker with the Johnny Otis Orchestra Little Esther with the Johnny Otis Orchestra - "Cry Baby" The Johnny Otis Orchestra, Mel Walker and the Bluenotes – 6 – "Cupid's Boogie" Little Esther and Mel Walker with the Johnny Otis Orchestra – 1 – "Deceivin' Blues" Little Esther and Mel Walker with the Johnny Otis Orchestra – 4 – "Dreamin' Blues" Mel Walker with the Johnny Otis Orchestra – 8 – "Wedding Boogie" / "Far Away Blues (Xmas Blues)" Johnny Otis' Congregation: Little Esther, Mel Walker, Lee Graves The Johnny Otis Orchestra with Little Esther and Mel Walker - "Rockin' Blues" The Johnny Otis Orchestra with Mel Walker – 2 – 1951 "Gee Baby" / "Mambo Boogie" The Johnny Otis Orchestra - "All Nite Long" The Johnny Otis Orchestra – 6 – 1952 "Sunset To Dawn" Mel Walker with the Johnny Otis Orchestra – 10 – "Call Operator 210" Johnny Otis and His Orchestra featuring Mel Walker – 4 – 1957 "Ma He's Making Eyes at Me" Johnny Otis and His Orchestra with Marie Adams and the Three Tons of Joy – – 2 1958 "Bye Bye Baby" The Johnny Otis Show, with vocals by Marie Adams and Johnny Otis – – 20 "Willie and the Hand Jive" The Johnny Otis Show 9 1 – "Crazy Country Hop" The Johnny Otis Show 87 – – 1959 "Castin' My Spell" The Johnny Otis Show 52 – – 1960 "Mumblin' Mosie" 1969 "Country Girl" The Johnny Otis Show – 29 – ^ a b Lewis, Randy (January 19, 2012). "Johnny Otis Obituary: R&B Singer, Drummer, Bandleader Dies at 90". latimes.com. Retrieved January 19, 2012. ^ "Johnny Otis". History-of-rock.com. Retrieved July 1, 2008. ^ "Fifteenth Census of the United States (1930), Berkeley (Health District 2), Alameda County, California, Enumeration District 1–280, p. 16A, lines 1–6, household of Alex J. Veliotes". The Generations Network. April 10, 1930. Retrieved November 23, 2009. ^ Dahl, Bill. "Johnny Otis". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. ^ "Johnny Otis". Soulbot. June 15, 2014. Retrieved October 6, 2015. ^ Powers, Ann (March 27, 2007). "Will the Real Stone Rise Up?". Los Angeles Times. ^ Otis, Johnny (1968). Listen to the Lambs. University of Minnesota Press. p. xiii. ISBN 978-0-8166-6531-0. ^ "'Black by Persuasion'". Popmatters.com. Retrieved October 5, 2015. ^ "Johnny Otis, 'Godfather of Rhythm and Blues,' Dies at 90". New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2015. ^ "Johnny Otis: Black by Persuasion - JazzTimes". ^ Perry, J. J. (1998). "Johnny Otis: Pioneering Rhythm and Blues Legend". Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana), October 23, 1998. Retrieved April 7, 2007. ^ a b c d e f Bill Dahl, Biography of Johnny Otis at Allmusic.com. Accessed January 19, 2012. ^ Dahl, Bill. "Johnny Otis – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved November 14, 2012. ^ “’Cavalcade of Jazz’ To Be Studded With Music Stars” The California Eagle Aug. 28, 1947. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–1995. Record Research. p. 336. ^ Boggs, Vernon (1993). "Johnny Otis R&B/Mambo Pioneer". Latin Beat Magazine, vol. 3, no. 9 (Nov.), pp. 30–31. ^ Spörke, Michael. "Big Mama Thornton: The Life and Music". Mcfarlandbooks.com. Retrieved October 7, 2015. ^ "Ask 'Mr. Music' Jerry Osborne: For the Week of March 26, 2007". Mr. Music. Retrieved 2011-10-10. ^ "Hank Ballard". Soulful Kinda Music. Retrieved 2011-10-10. ^ Shaw, Arnold (1978). Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues. New York: Macmillan. p. 160. ISBN 9780026100007. ^ J. C. Marion, My Search Is Over – Marie Adams, 2002. Accessed January 19, 2012 ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Snatch and the Poontangs – Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved October 6, 2015. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: O". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com. ^ Kiersh, Ed (August 1985). "Ike's Story". Spin. 1 (4): 36–43. Retrieved October 5, 2011. ^ RANSOM, FRANKI V. (August 23, 1992). "Familiar Face at Johnny Otis Festival" – via LA Times. ^ Lipsitz, George (January 12, 2018). "Midnight at the Barrelhouse: The Johnny Otis Story". U of Minnesota Press – via Google Books. ^ "Sonoma County musicians mourn Johnny Otis". January 19, 2012. ^ Writer, Rollie Atkinson Staff. "Johnny Otis memories shared around Sonoma County". ^ "All Kindred and Food Products (Products) companies in Sebastopol, Sonoma (CA)". sonoma-ca.4bizen.com. ^ news@sonomawest.com, Rollie Atkinson Sonoma West Staff Writer. "R&B pioneer Johnny Otis dies at age 90: Longtime Sebastopol resident known as 'renaissance man'". ^ "Best Local Culture". ^ "MetroActive Features - Best of Sonoma County - Best Local Culture". www.metroactive.com. ^ Atkinson, Rollie. "R&B pioneer, former Sebastopol resident Johnny Otis dies at 90". ^ "Johnny Otis: Inducted in 1994". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved 2011-10-10. ^ "News 101: When a story is 'news'". May 7, 2013. ^ Otis, Johnny (1993). Upside Your Head!. Wesleyan University Press. p. xxviii. ISBN 0-8195-6287-4. ^ Lewis, Randy (January 19, 2012). "Influential R & B singer, musician" – via LA Times. ^ "Upside Your Head!". ^ Otis, Johnny (November 19, 1993). "Upside Your Head!: Rhythm and Blues on Central Avenue". Wesleyan University Press – via Google Books. ^ Raskin, Jonah. "Johnny Otis, 1921-2012". North Bay Bohemian. ^ "A Salute to Johnny Otis". January 20, 2012. ^ "Meeting Johnny Otis". ^ "Remembering Bandleader And Producer Johnny Otis". ^ Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955–2002. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 529. ISBN 0-89820-155-1. ^ Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952–2004. London: Collins. p. 577. ISBN 0-00-717931-6. Johnny Otis at AllMusic JohnnyOtis.com Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Johnny_Otis&oldid=905554580"	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2451
__label__wiki	0.770798	0.770798	Mifune (film) (Redirected from Mifune's Last Song) Mifune (Danish: Mifunes sidste sang, "Mifune's Last Song"), 1999, is the third film to be made according to the Dogme 95 group rules. It was directed by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen. The film was a great success in Denmark and an international blockbuster, ranked among the ten best-selling Danish films worldwide. It was produced by Nimbus Film. Mifune Søren Kragh-Jacobsen Birgitte Hald Morten Kaufmann Thor Backhausen Karl Bille Christian Sievert Anthony Dod Mantle Valdís Óskarsdóttir 12 March 1999 (1999-03-12) At the 49th Berlin International Film Festival, the film won the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize and Iben Hjejle won an Honourable Mention.[1] Kresten had moved from his parents' farm on Lolland, an out-of-the-way small Danish island, to Copenhagen to pursue his working career. When his father dies, he has to move back to the farm, where nothing much has happened since he left. He places an ad in the local newspaper to get help running the farm and taking care of his retarded brother. The prostitute Liva, who is running away from harassing telephone calls, takes the job. But running away from one's past isn't easy. Anders W. Berthelsen Jesper Asholt Emil Tarding Anders Hove Sofie Gråbøl Paprika Steen Susanne Storm Ellen Hillingsø Sidse Babett Knudsen Søren Fauli Kjeld Nørgaard Kirsten Vaupel Torben Jensen Klaus Bondam Sofie Stougaard ConfessionEdit The "confession" is an idea adapted by Thomas Vinterberg in the first Dogme 95 film: Make a confession if elements of the film do not comply with the strict interpretation of the Dogme-rules. It is written from the director's point of view. "As one of the DOGME 95 brethren and co-signatory of the Vow of Chastity I feel moved to confess to the following transgressions of the aforesaid Vow during the production of Dogme 3 – Mifune. Please note that the film has been approved as a Dogme work, as only one genuine breach of the rules has actually taken place. The rest may be regarded as moral breaches."[citation needed] I confess to having made one take with a black drape covering a window. This is not only the addition of a property, but must also be regarded as a kind of lighting arrangement. I confess to moving furniture and fittings around the house. I confess to having taken with me a number of albums of my favourite comic book series as a youth, Linda & Valentin (Valérian and Laureline). I confess to helping to chase the neighbour's free-range hens across our location and including them in the film. I confess that I brought a photographic image from an old lady from the area and hung it in a prominent position in one scene: not as part of the plot, but more as a selfish, spontaneous, pleasureable whim. I confess to borrowing a hydraulic platform from a painter, which we used for the only two bird's-eye overview shots in the film. I do solemnly declare that in my presence the remainder of Dogme 3 – Mifune was produced in accordance with the vow of chastity. I also point out that the film has been approved by DOGME 95 as a Dogme film, as in real terms no more than a single breach of the rules has been committed. The rest may be regarded as moral transgressions.[citation needed] List of submissions to the 72nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film List of Danish submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film ^ "Berlinale: 1999 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 31 January 2012. Mifunes sidste sang on IMDb Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mifune_(film)&oldid=870220865"	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2452
__label__wiki	0.725114	0.725114	Tim Pratt Tim Pratt (born December 12, 1976) is a science fiction and fantasy writer and poet. He grew up in the vicinity of Dudley, North Carolina, and attended Appalachian State University, where he earned a Bachelor's in English. In 1999 he attended the Clarion East Writing Workshop. He moved to Santa Cruz, California in 2000, and currently resides in Oakland with his wife Heather Shaw and son River.[1] He currently works as a senior editor at Locus Magazine. Pratt's work has appeared in a number of markets, including Asimov's Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, and Strange Horizons. His story "Little Gods" (online) (2002) was nominated for Nebula Award for the Best Short Story. His story "Hart & Boot," first published in Polyphony 4, was reprinted in Best American Short Stories: 2005. His "Impossible Dreams" (Asimov's July 2006) won the Hugo Award in the Best Short Story category. Collection Hart & Boot & Other Stories was a World Fantasy Award finalist in 2008. He has also had stories and poems published in various other markets and Year's Best collections. In 2009, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.[2] NovelsEdit As Tim Pratt The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, Bantam Spectra, 2005 (ISBN 978-0-553-38338-6) The Nex, Tropism Press, 2010 Briarpatch, ChiZine Publications, 2011 Venom in Her Veins, Wizards of the Coast, 2012 City of the Fallen Sky, Paizo Publishing, 2012 Liar's Blade, Paizo Publishing, 2013 Reign of Stars, Paizo Publishing, 2014 The Stormglass Protocol, 2013 (with Andy Deemer) Pathfinder Tales: Liar's Island, 2015 (ISBN 978-0-765-38431-7). The Wrong Stars, 2017. As T.A. Pratt -- Marla Mason novels Blood Engines, Bantam Spectra, October 2007 (ISBN 978-0-553-58998-6). Poison Sleep, Bantam Spectra, April 2008 (ISBN 978-0-553-58999-3). Dead Reign, Bantam Spectra, November 2008 (ISBN 978-0-553-59135-4). Spell Games, Bantam Spectra, February 2009 (ISBN 978-0-553-59136-1). Bone Shop, June 2010 Broken Mirrors, August 2010 Grim Tides, April 2012 Bride of Death, November 2013 Lady of Misrule, February 2015 Queen of Nothing, November 2015 Closing Doors, January 2017 As T. Aaron Payton The Constantine Affliction, Night Shade Books, August 2012 (ISBN 978-1-59780-400-4) CollectionsEdit Little Gods, Prime Books, 2003 (ISBN 978-1-894815-82-6) If There Were Wolves (poetry), Prime Books, 2006 Hart & Boot & Other Stories, Night Shade Books, 2007 (ISBN 978-1-59780-053-2) Antiquities and Tangibles & Other Stories, Tropism Press, 2013 Edited AnthologiesEdit Sympathy for the Devil, Night Shade Books, 2010 Rags and Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales, Little Brown, 2013 (with Melissa Marr) TimPratt.org, the author's website. Includes his blog, bibliography, and links to some of his stories online. Interview excerpt from the November 2005 issue of Locus Magazine. Tim Pratt at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database REVIEW : Rags and Bones ^ David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, ed. (2006). Year's Best Fantasy 6. Tachyon Publications. ISBN 1-892391-37-6. ^ Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Collection Archived 2012-06-03 at the Wayback Machine, Northern Illinois University Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tim_Pratt&oldid=881820522"	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2453
__label__wiki	0.593866	0.593866	After the nuclear agreement with Iran Time to deliver After the successful negotiation of an agreement on Iran's nuclear programme, the pressure on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is set to increase. Iranians expect an improvement not only in their economic and socio-political situation but also in the fight against corruption. By Adnan Tabatabai At last. After 23 months and a concluding three-week marathon of negotiations, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif took centre stage on Tuesday to announce that a nuclear agreement had been reached. And so, an international conflict that lasted more than 12 years and teetered on the brink of war many times has finally been resolved. Undoubtedly, obstacles remain on the path towards the implementation of the agreement. The US Congress in particular is causing some serious headaches. Its approval of the 159-page Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is needed. A two-thirds vote against the document cannot be ruled out. But when one considers the amount of political capital the Obama administration has invested in these negotiations, it is hard to imagine that Democrats in Congress and the Senate will join the Republican opposition in derailing this agreement by voting against their fellow party members and president. Such a collapse of the JCPOA would mean that Washington could be held responsible for the ultimate failure of the agreement. Considering the global relevance of the issue, this seems too high a price to pay. In contrast, no serious challenges are to be expected in Tehran. Iran's negotiating team, which is headed by Javad Zarif, enjoys broad support both among the high-ranking political elite and the people. There are, of course, critics and sceptics – particularly among conservative hard-line parliamentarians and outspoken political commentators – but they will not be in a position to critically endanger the implementation process of the nuclear agreement. Rouhani's major political success, however, brings new challenges. His administration now has to deliver on two domestic fronts. A cause for rejoicing on the streets of Tehran: on the evening of Tuesday, 14 July 2015, thousands of mostly young people took to the streets of Tehran to celebrate the announcement of an agreement on Iran's nuclear programme and the gradual lifting of sanctions. They honked car horns and played pop music at full blast. With banners and chants, they thanked President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif for initiating the agreement with the West The promised economic boost Must urgently, the Iranian population demands an improvement in economic conditions. This ranges from an increase in purchasing power (namely by strengthening the Iranian currency) to job creation and serious efforts to increase social justice and reduce corruption. A lifting of the comprehensive sanctions regime will undoubtedly facilitate such endeavours. However, even if the upcoming implementation process runs smoothly, sanctions targeting Iran's finance and energy sector will not be lifted before the end of this year, and even then, it will naturally take several more months before ordinary people begin to see an improvement in their everyday lives. Home-made problems such as mismanagement and corruption will certainly not be overcome by the lifting of sanctions alone. However, with the end of Iran's economic and political isolation, a more open market and more meaningful competition may bring the level of corruption down and increase managerial professionalism. Combating corruption and bolstering social justice In a co-ordinated effort with the judiciary, Rouhani's government is firmly cracking down on some of the most severe cases of corruption in the history of the Islamic Republic. However, these efforts will only have a sustainable effect if they are comprehensive and do not just target a select few. Most importantly, Iran's re-integration into the global economy must not only benefit the political and social elites. President Rouhani will have to make sure that the lower-income layers of society – which make up the majority of Iran's population – also really feel the benefits of the agreement in their day-to-day lives. For this part of society, the euphoria over a diplomatic success and talk about dialogue with the rest of the world is not enough. For them, it is primarily a matter of economic survival and the need for a swift improvement in their living conditions. The reform-seeking voters who swept Rouhani to power have shown a lot of patience since he took office. Even those who actively and tirelessly campaign for more political freedoms and civil rights have thus far abstained from exerting too much pressure on his government in order to avoid further complicating the nuclear talks. Increased poverty: economic problems are forcing some Iranian families to send their children onto the streets to earn money, like this child selling matches on a street in Tehran. According to a report by the Iranian parliament, more than three million children across the country work instead of going to school Pragmatism and a cautious opening They hope that, strengthened by the nuclear deal, President Rouhani will be in a better position to foster domestic de-radicalisation and work to open up the socio-political realm. As plausible as this seems, a lot of it will depend on whether or not Rouhani has the political will to confront influential elites and their resistance to such measures. In this regard, it is important to bear in mind that Rouhani is not a reformist. He is instead a security-minded figure who hails from the core of the Islamic Republic's security apparatus. Ironically enough, this aspect of his background significantly increases the prospects of his living up to his promise of opening up the public space. When Rouhani speaks about increased media freedom, a lower presence of security agents at universities or more social liberties, he does not do so out of a high regard for pluralism and democratic principles. Instead, his security-oriented mindset tells him that excessively tight restrictions could lead to unrest and conflict. Such arguments in favour of more civil liberties resonate much better among Iran's powerful conservatives than words of a genuine reformist. In short: Rouhani intends to open up the domestic scene for the sake of national security ("amniat-e melli") and in the interest of the entire system ("maslahat-e nezaam"). Considering that the country is still recovering from the particularly restrictive years of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's tenure, and taking into account the fact that the country is situated in a volatile regional context, such a path towards more openness may indeed be the only promising one to take. Rightfully, Iran's population will expect Rouhani to walk this path. After all, they gave him enough support and granted him a strong mandate, which enabled the president to champion the nuclear deal. Adnan Tabatabai © Qantara.de 2015 Adnan Tabatabai is a political analyst on Iranian affairs and CEO of the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO) in Bonn. Nuclear agreement with Iran: A major historic breakthroughHow the West views Iran's leaders: A sober and critical eye is neededNuclear talks with Iran: The long hoped-for breakthrough Hassan Rouhani, Iranian clerics, Iranian nuclear programme, Iranian opposition Iran is home to the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world. Jan Schneider visited the Jewish Musazadeh family in Tehran to share in their Sabbath celebrationsMore Rising tension in the Middle East Where are the USA and Iran heading? Now the nuclear agreement in its present form no longer applies to Iran either. On Sunday it began enriching uranium beyond the 3.67 percent mark, thus exceeding the limit set by ...More The Islamic Republicʹs existential crisis Will Iran crack under the strain? Iranʹs 2017–18 popular uprising heralded a new chapter in the history of the Islamic Republic that, in its fortieth year, is mired in acute and seemingly insurmountable domestic ...More U.S. policy on Iran Trump's fake "stability" premise The United States justifies its policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran by accusing the nation of "destabilising" the region. But neither is stability the correct criteria for ...More The war in Syria is not over Policymakers and media have recently taken to announcing the end of the war in Syria, concluding that the refugees could now begin to return home. Syrian author Tarek Azizeh, ...More Trumpʹs challenge Taking on Tehran Forty years after the revolution that ousted the Shah, Iran’s unique political-religious system and government appears strong enough to withstand U.S. pressure and to ride out the ...More	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2455
__label__wiki	0.630646	0.630646	HomePosts tagged 'Battle of Trenton' Battle of Trenton Significant Number Factoid Friday – Today The Number Had To Be 1776 July 4, 2014 fasab Factoids, Numbers 1776, Adam Smith, Adam Weishaupt, America, American colonies, American Continental Army, American Continental Navy, American Continentals, American friends, American gunboats, American navy, American Patriots, American Patriots Royal Navy, American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, American Southwest, American submersible craft Turtle, americans, an independent nation, Andrew Doria, Arctic, Assembly of New Hampshire, Austria, Bahamas, battle, Battle of Harlem Heights, Battle of Long Island, Battle of Pell's Point, Battle of the Rice Boats, Battle of Trenton, Battle of White Plains, Bavaria, Benedict Arnold, Benjamin Franklin, bigamy, bird tail, Boston, Bowling Green, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, British, British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle, British authority, British control, British fleet, British parliament, British Royal Navy, Brooklyn, California, Captain James Cook, Chatterton Hill, Cherokee, Cherokee Nation, cock tail, Col. Johann Rall, Committee of Five, common sense, Continental Army, Continental Congress, Continental Congress delegates, Continental Union Flag, crossed the Delaware River, Crown Prince Paul, customer, declaration of independence, Delaware General Assembly, Doncaster, Dorchester Heights, Duchess of Kingston, Dutch flag, education, Edward Gibbon, England, enlistment of free blacks, Entertainment, espionage, facts, fatal, Father Francisco Palou, first Europeans, first governor, first state constitution, first US fraternity, Fort Orange, Fort Washington, France, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, French support, Gen George Washington, George III of Great Britain, George Mason, George Washington, Gregorian calendar, Guadeloupe, Haffner, Halifax Resolves, hanged, happy Fourth of July, Hessian mercenaries, Hessian troops, HMS Resolution, horse races, hurricane, Illuminati, independence day, independence from British rule, Ingolstadt, interrogation torture, invading spaceships, Jersey bank, Johannes de Graaff, Juan Bautista de Anza, Julian calendar, King George III, Kips Bay, Lake Champlain, leap year, Lee Resolution, Liberty Bell, Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, loyalist leaders, Lt Jose Joaquin Moraga, Manhattan, Marines, Marquis de Lafayette, Massachusetts, McKonkey's Ferry, MDCCLXXVI, Mission Dolores, Mission San Francisco de Asis, Monterey Presidio, Moore's Creek bridge, Mozart, Nassau, Nathan Hale, new york, New York City, New York Harbor, Norfolk, North Carolina, number, number factoid, numbers, Pacific Ocean, pamphlet, Patriot cannons, Patriot forces, patriot victory, peace conference, Phi Beta Kappa, Philadelphia, Plymouth, Presidio of San Francisco, Province of Georgia, published, rebels, renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain, Rhode Island, Richard Caswell, Richard Henry Lee, Roman numerals, Royal Colony of North Carolina, Royal Navy, Russia, Salzburg, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Savannah River, Scottish economist, Scottish North Carolina Loyalists, Second Continental Congress, Serenade No. 7, Significant Number Factoid Friday, significant numbers, Sir Guy Carleton, Sophie Marie Dorothea, South Carolina, Spaniards, spy, St Leger, State of North Carolina, Staten Island, successful assault, The American Crisis, The Bronx, The Crisis, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the Rockies, the Sierras, The Wealth of Nations, the world's first submarine attack, These are the times that try men's souls, third voyage, thirteen colonies, Thomas Paine, time bomb, Trenton, United States Declared Independence, Valcour Island, Virginia, Virginia Convention of Delegates, Virginia Declaration of Rights, vote for independence, Washington, Washington's troops, Württemberg, William & Mary College, William Howe, Wilmington And a very happy Fourth of July to everyone, particularly my American friends. Independence Day again, and no sign of invading spaceships so I’m assuming its safe to do another number factoid. And what else could it be today other than 1776, the year America became an independent nation. And where else to start but with…. American Revolutionary War On January 1st, 1776 Gen George Washington hoisted the Continental Union Flag. The same day the town of Norfolk, Virginia, was destroyed by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces. On Jan 5th the Assembly of New Hampshire adopts its 1st state constitution. On January 10th Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense “written by an Englishman” in Philadelphia arguing for independence from British rule in what were then the Thirteen Colonies. On Jan 16th the Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks. On February 27th Scottish North Carolina Loyalists charge across Moore’s Creek bridge near Wilmington to attack what they mistakenly believed to be a small force of rebels. Several loyalist leaders are killed in the ensuing battle. The patriot victory virtually ended all British authority in the province. On March 2nd and 3rd the American Continental Navy and Marines made a successful assault on Nassau, Bahamas, and in the Battle of the Rice Boats, American Patriots resisted the Royal Navy on the Savannah River effectively ending British control over the Province of Georgia. On March 4th American Patriots capture Dorchester Heights thereby dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts. Threatened by the Patriot cannons on Dorchester Heights, the British evacuate Boston on March 17th. On April 12th the Royal Colony of North Carolina produced the Halifax Resolves making it the first British colony officially to authorize its Continental Congress delegates to vote for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. On May 4th Rhode Island became the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain. On June 7th Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Second Continental Congress (meeting in Philadelphia) that “these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” On June 11th the Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five to draft a Declaration of Independence. On June 12th the Virginia Declaration of Rights by George Mason was adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates and three days later on June 15th the Delaware General Assembly voted to suspend government under the British Crown. On July 2nd the final (despite minor revisions) U.S. Declaration of Independence was written. The Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution. And as we all know, on July 4th the United States Declared Independence: The Continental Congress ratified the declaration by the United States of its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. On July 8th the Liberty Bell rang in Philadelphia for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence and the following day an angry mob in New York City toppled the equestrian statue of George III of Great Britain in Bowling Green. On August 2nd most of the American colonies ratify the Declaration of Independence. On August 15th the first Hessian troops land on Staten Island to join British forces. On August 27th in the Battle of Long Island, Washington’s troops were routed in Brooklyn by British under William Howe. On September 1st the Cherokee Nation was invaded by 6,000 patriot troops from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina begins. The troops destroyed thirty-six Cherokee towns. On September 7th saw the world’s first submarine attack when the American submersible craft Turtle attempted to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe’s flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor. On September 11th an abortive peace conference took place between British and Americans on Staten Island. On September 15th British troops landed on Manhattan at Kips Bay. On September 16th in the Battle of Harlem Heights, the Continental Army under Washington are victorious against the British on Manhattan. On September 22nd the British hanged spy Nathan Hale in New York City for espionage. The following month, on October 11th on Lake Champlain near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeated 15 American gunboats commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Although nearly all of Arnold’s ships are destroyed, the two day-long battle gave Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City. On October 18th in the Battle of Pell’s Point, forces of the American Continental Army resisted a British and Hessian force in The Bronx, whilst on October 28 in the Battle of White Plains, British forces attacked and captured Chatterton Hill from the Americans. On October 26th Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution. The last day of that month, October 31st saw King George III make his first speech before British Parliament since the Declaration of Independence that summer, in which in perhaps the understatement of the year, told the British Parliament that all was not going well for Britain in the war with the United States. On November 16th Hessian mercenaries under Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen captured Fort Washington from the American Continentals. The captain of the American navy ship Andrew Doria fired a salute to the Dutch flag on Fort Orange and Johannes de Graaff answers with eleven gun shots. On December 7th the Marquis de Lafayette attempted to enter the American military as a major general. And on December 21st the Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state. On December 23rd Thomas Paine, living with Washington’s troops, began publishing The American Crisis, containing the stirring phrase, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” At Christmas 1776, Gen. George Washington ordered the first issue of The Crisis to be read to his troops on Christmas Eve, then at 6 p.m. all 2600 of them march to McKonkey’s Ferry, crossed the Delaware River and land on the Jersey bank at 3 a.m. And finally December 26th saw the Battle of Trenton, in which Washington’s troops surprised and defeated the 1500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall outside Trenton, taking 948 prisoners while suffering only 5 wounded. In other things and other places in 1776 The year 1776 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar. In Roman Numerals 1776 is written as MDCCLXXVI. On January 2nd Austria ended interrogation torture On February 17th Edward Gibbon published the first volume of his famous work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. On March 9th Scottish economist Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in London. On March 28th Juan Bautista de Anza found the site for the Presidio of San Francisco. On April 15th the Duchess of Kingston was found guilty of bigamy. On May 1st Adam Weishaupt founded the Illuminati in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. On June 17th Lt. Jose Joaquin Moraga leads a band of colonists from Monterey Presidio, landing on June 29th and constructing the Mission Dolores of the new Presidio of San Francisco. On July 12th Captain James Cook sets off from Plymouth, England, in HMS Resolution on his third voyage, to the Pacific Ocean and Arctic, which would turn out to be fatal. On July 21st Mozart’s Serenade No. 7 (the “Haffner”) is first performed in Salzburg, Austria. On July 29th Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, and eight other Spaniards set out from Santa Fe on an eighteen-hundred mile trek through the American Southwest. They were the first Europeans to explore the vast region between the Rockies and the Sierras. On September 6th a hurricane hit Guadeloupe, killing more than 6000 people. On September 24th the first of the now very famous St Leger horse races were held at Doncaster, England. On October 7th Crown Prince Paul of Russia married Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg. On October 9th Father Francisco Palou founded the Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California. On October 18th in a New York bar decorated with a bird tail, a customer orders “cock tail”. On December 5th the first US fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa (William & Mary College), is formed. The Standard Practice for Conditioning and Testing Textiles is Active Standard ASTM D1776 The Standard Specification for Eye Protective Devices for Paintball Sports is Active Standard ASTM F1776. MTE M-1776 is a Surge Protective Device P1776 is the code for solenoid stuck in low/reverse which is a fairly common problem and can be prevented most of the time by keeping the fluid clean. The 1776 Premier Program offers a venue for highly-committed, elite players to receive professional, year-round coaching and to seek competition at the highest levels of US Youth Soccer.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2458
__label__wiki	0.83145	0.83145	HomePosts tagged 'formidable nation' formidable nation July 17, 2015 July 5, 2015 fasab Current Events, Factoids, Politics, Rants ally, America, americans, another cold war, arrogance, assassinations, best option, Black Sea coast, breakup of the USSR, breathed a great sigh of relief, capture, civil war in the Ukraine, Cold War part two, composite entity, counter-sanctions, coup d'etats, coup d’etat, Cuba, culprit, Current Events, defeated country, duly elected, eastern regions, eastward expansion of NATO, education, EU, Europe, factoid, facts, foreign affairs, formidable nation, friendly economic terms, fully armed, idiot, independent, information, Mikhail Gorbachev, mistake, NATO, Nikita Khrushchev, no clue about foreign affairs, not taking sides, nuclear arsenal, Opinion, Orthodox, Ottoman, plan, Poland, politics, President Carter's administration, prevent Russia becoming a great power again, puzzle, Rants, redrew borders in the Middle East, remove Ukraine, Russia, Russian's doorstep, Russian-speaking, Russians, sanctions against Russia, separatist militias, Soviet Union, Soviet Union broke apart, sphere of influence, stupid bureaucrats, stupid English bureaucrats, subservient, Summer Is Here, tensions between the West and Russia, the chill continues, the Cold War, the Crimea, the Kurds, the Ukraine, third option, Thoughts, tsarist armies, Ukraine, Ukrainian army, Ukrainian President, Ukrainians, US National Security Advisor, volunteer battalions, west, western regions, world, WWI, WWII, Zbigniew Brzezinski The world breathed a great sigh of relief when the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, but somehow we’re in the middle of another cold war that nobody wants or needs. How did that happen? As most things do, it all started with a huge mistake. That mistake was the West, particularly America, treating Russia like a defeated country after 1991, instead of the formidable nation that it still was despite the breakup of the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev has acknowledged that fact. Unfortunately Americans have no clue about foreign affairs and never have had. That, plus a ton of arrogance, led us to the Ukraine which America thought it could more or less capture as an ally to be slotted into NATO. They wanted a fully armed NATO nuclear arsenal on the Russian’s doorstep. The Americans quite rightly didn’t like it when the Russians tried to do it to them in Cuba way back in the early 1960s, so what idiot thought that the Russians would like it when they did it to them? Whoever formulated the plan, it was heavily influenced by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US National Security Advisor during President Carter’s administration. His theory was that the only way to prevent Russia becoming a great power again was to remove the Ukraine from its sphere of influence. Thus America initiated an eastward expansion of NATO, using the EU to present the Ukraine with a choice between Russia and Europe. Some Ukrainians, like those in the Crimea favored Russia and others in other parts wanted closer ties with the EU. Like many other countries, the prospect of joining the EU is attractive to a significant proportion of Ukrainians. But the way America tried to bring it about was just a step too far. The Ukrainian President, who had been duly elected, was removed in what would have been called a “coup d’etat” had it happened elsewhere, or had Russia been the culprit. That is why a lot of the tensions between the West and Russia is centered on the internal troubles within the Ukraine. If one looks into the history of the Ukraine another significant part of the puzzle presents itself. In much the same way as stupid English bureaucrats redrew borders in the Middle East without any consideration for the people who lived there, (for example, the Kurds), which resulted in wars and upheaval ever since, when the Soviet Union broke apart somewhere in the region of 25 million Russians were left outside the borders of Russia. A lot of them were in the Crimea in the Ukraine. But the Ukraine had only been independent for three years in its history (1917-20), after the collapse of the tsarist armies. The post-December 1991 Ukraine was thus a composite entity, its western regions had belonged to Poland between WWI and WWII; its eastern regions were Orthodox and Russian-speaking; and its Black Sea coast had been Ottoman. The Crimea had never been Ukrainian until Nikita Khrushchev decreed it should be in 1954. Thus, for anyone with any degree of understanding of foreign affairs, the troubles now being suffered by the various peoples in the Ukraine were both predictable and avoidable. But the stupid bureaucrats in power were not able to predict it and thus the mess became inevitable. Sadly the situation has now deteriorated into what amounts to a civil war in the Ukraine. On one side there is the Ukrainian army plus “volunteer battalions”, supported by the US and its allies, and on the other the “separatist” militias who draw their support mainly from Russian-speakers in the east, and who are supported by Russia. Outside of what is happening in the Ukraine itself, the US and EU implemented severe sanctions against Russia which have hurt, but not nearly as much as they were supposed to. In turn Russia announced counter-sanctions on food and looked to emerging markets, particularly China, to diversify its foreign trade and industrial cooperation. And so the Cold War part two has begun and shows little sign of ending just yet. In fact it looks like the Ukraine will remain in a mess until it gets its act together and decides whether it wants to remain on friendly economic terms with its huge neighbor Russia, or whether it will settle for becoming subservient to the whims of the US, via some kind of economic agreement with the EU. It has a third option, though, perhaps its best option, and that is not taking sides, but rather remaining on friendly terms with both East and West. However, they may never get the chance to choose option three. In plain language, I don’t think that the people who arrange assassinations and coup d’etats will let them do that. Meantime, summer or not, the chill continues.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2459
__label__wiki	0.638638	0.638638	WSU Fundraising News Young alum embodies “Cougs helping Cougs” May 27, 2016 Trevor Durham The well-known saying, “Cougs helping Cougs,” is thoroughly embedded in the philanthropic spirit of Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture alumnus Andrew Pilloud (’11). Andrew Pilloud (’11 Comp. Engr.), and Rachel Forbes, president of WSU’s Linux Users Group, in Sloan Hall’s computer lab. Each year since earning his degree in computer engineering, Andrew follows the lead of EECS alumni who generously invest in the student experience at WSU. He knows firsthand the impact made by fellow Cougars in supporting equipment purchases and laboratory upgrades. While participating in student organizations such as WSU Amateur Radio Club and Linux Users Group, Andrew worked on projects using equipment made possible by private support. He enjoyed the opportunity to test his problem-solving skills in the laboratory and spent countless hours experimenting with the theory he was taught in class and applying it to real-world concepts. “I want to make sure future students have the same opportunities I did,” he says. “When I was a student and we needed something, the alumni were eager to help.” WSU’s Linux Users Group (LUG) is among the areas Andrew supported with an annual gift. LUG president Rachel Forbes emphasizes private support has helped the club continue updating servers and equipment used to host club websites and other student projects. LUG also hosts two annual computer gaming events. The club seeks sponsorships from other on-campus student organizations as well as industry-sponsored prizes. Private support covers the cost of renting the CUB Senior Ballroom and providing food for participants. Club members set up the networks and coordinate event details for the more than 250 students from all disciplines who gather for a night of fun, she says. Rachel and her classmates are currently tackling the club’s largest project to date: developing a new Linux Learning Lab. The lab will provide safe, reliable equipment to enable students to learn about Linux, and gain networking, development, and system administration skills outside the classroom. Club officers will oversee the operations of the lab and experienced faculty will advise when needed. The project will require a significant investment to get going, Rachel says, but will greatly benefit the students. “Without donor funds, we would not be able to push the club and give students these amazing resources to help them learn and love Linux and other open source software,” she says. The Voiland College EECS Undergraduate Laboratory Renovation Fund, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Excellence Fund, WSU Amateur Radio Club, and Marching Band Development Fund are other areas Andrew supports, drawing from his student experiences and fond memories. He was president of the Amateur Radio Club and played trumpet in the Cougar Marching Band. Additionally, he had two summer research jobs working on Teleoperated Lunar Robotics at NASA Ames Research Center. “WSU gave me the opportunity to get a first-rate education with the flexibility of having time to self-study in my own areas of interest,” he says. His engagement in campus organizations opened doors in the work place too. “The biggest impact of WSU on my professional success was the networking that occurred in student clubs,” Andrew says. “My first employer shared my résumé with a recent WSU grad before interviewing me. The graduate didn’t know me but he knew other students who were involved in the same groups. One of those students vouched for my competence and that was enough to land me an interview for what ended up being my first job out of college.” Andrew currently resides in Seattle and works at Igneous Systems, an early stage tech startup. He continues his engagement with WSU as a member of the industry evaluation panel for EECS Senior Design projects. While working for a previous employer, Isilon, a Seattle-based tech company, Andrew served as a mentor for the senior projects and actively encouraged the company to become more involved at WSU. In his spare time on weekends, he enjoys hiking and camping. He also volunteers as a referee at Washington FIRST, a robotics competition for middle school and high school students. He recently was granted his first patent. Giving back to WSU makes perfect sense to Andrew. “You can direct your gift to go exactly where you want. What part of your WSU experience are you fondest of? Earmark your donation to that group’s fund and help today’s students have the same positive experience you did,” he says. « Senior Scholarships: A Cougar Tradition Mary Alice’s Guiding Influence »	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2461
__label__wiki	0.606472	0.606472	Frank Armstrong Textosaurus, hoping to evolve. Literary Voodoo in Czarist Russia Boys Do Cry – A Gonzaga Education Cassandra Voices Is Veganism Compatible with being Pro-Choice? The End of Vegetarianism? Hunter International… on Ireland’s Livestock-Industrial… Mick o connor on The Crookedness of Irish Polit… After a name change,… on Anti-Refugee Sentiment in Czec… anauld tiredsoul on Ireland: a failing state. 10 r… Tom Jordan on An Overflow of Violent Bacchan… Arab-Israeli Gender relations NAMA to Nature Subscribe to this site via Email frankarmstrong in Ireland, Law, Uncategorized March 21, 2016 March 21, 2016 989 Words Unmasking the shroud of Legalese (Unpublished, 2010) For the past two summers I have taught law in Oxford to Americans of High School age. The students’ enthusiasm and dedication in allowing their summer months to be spent in academic study is impressive and also indicative of the competitiveness of the application process for prestigious American universities. What is most interesting from a teaching perspective is the degree of prior knowledge that students display. Most seem to have taken classes in what they call ‘government’ which develops a relatively sophisticated knowledge of their Constitution and Bill of Rights. In fact, knowledge of the basics of their law is something that I have encountered among most educated Americans. Likewise, in France law is generally seen as part of a general education; Rene David wrote of this awareness of law as being an ‘element presque normal de la culture generale’. It has been said that the original French civil code owes its clarity to the fact that its draftsman always had to ask himself whether his words would withstand the criticisms of a highly intelligent layman like Napoleon, unfamiliar with the legal jargon. Alas, the general body of citizens do not display the same legal erudition in this republic. The law and legal judgments are invariably rendered to the public in distilled form by journalist interpreters. Most students of history will be able to say that a Constitution was promulgated in 1937 and was informed by Catholic values, but the type of government that it creates and the rights that it enshrines are shrouded in what has come to be known as ‘legalese’; the obscure language of the legal professional. Why is this the case? Why should legal jargon be inaccessible to the general public? In part, this is down to deficiencies in our secondary education system. Recently Civil, Social and Political Education (C.S.P.E.) was introduced as a mandatory subject for Junior Certificate students, but the syllabus merely piously enjoins students to understand that ‘laws and rules serve important services in any community or society, including the peaceful resolution of conflicts, the protection of life and property etc.’ There is no serious attempt to demystify the sources of law in this country. C.S.P.E. then ceases to be available to Leaving Certificate students. Unlike knowledge of religion, which is taught weekly to most students, a cursory knowledge of law is, seemingly, not considered an important aspect of a citizen’s education. Arguably much of the difficulty lies in the Constitution itself. Article 50.1 states ‘subject to this Constitution and to the extent to which they are not inconsistent therewith, the laws in force in Saorstát Éireann immediately prior to the date of the coming into operation of this Constitution shall continue to be of full force and effect until the same or any of them shall have been repealed or amended by enactment of the Oireachtas.’ In plain language, this meant that judges would continue to apply the common law that had applied since the Act of Union. Behind the veneer of legal independence there was no clean slate. Therefore, this state continued as a common law jurisdiction. So, for example, notwithstanding Article 40.6.1 which guarantees ‘the right of the citizens to freely express their convictions and opinions’, the courts continued to apply the common law rules of defamation with its obscure distinction between libel and slander. Max Weber, the renowned German sociologist, provided a compelling critique of the verbal gymnastics emanating from common law lawyers: ‘The extensive participation in the process of juridically experienced and trained experts, who to an ever increasing degree devoted themselves “professionally” to the task of “counsel” or judge, has placed the stamp of “lawyers’ law” upon the type of law thus created’. This creates a situation where ‘reasoning is tied to the word, the word which is turned around and around, interpreted, and stretched in order to adapt it to varying needs, and, to an extent that one has to go beyond, recourse is had to “analogies” or technical fictions’. While statute law ameliorates this situation to an extent, the technique of lawyers honed in the professional schools of our common law system often descends into over-complication and even casuistry, and much of our law, particularly on the civil side, is still governed by judge made common law. This “lawyers’ law” is impenetrable to ordinary citizens. A letter from a solicitor creates consternation as the ordinary citizen feels ill-equipped to understand the obscure workings of laws that might as well be written in another language. This situation serves the law firms and barristers very well. In fact, textual obscurity is for some (particularly those engaged in the law of real property) a defence mechanism against professional obsolescence. In a post Catholic society the interpretation of the divine by the priesthood has been replaced by the legal oracle. Of course a society needs experts in law, but the present system promotes legal mumbo jumbo, and too often opinions are addressed to a narrow professional audience. The deeper the pocket, the further the lengths that can be gone to stymie the ascertainment of truth and the determination of justice. One has only to observe the legal subterfuge used to undermine the workings of tribunals. What can be done to bring about reform of a system that leaves the general population confused? Firstly, it is necessary that law as a subject be brought into the mainstream; that it should be a part of a secondary education, and at third level that it be taught alongside other humanities subjects as an abstract discipline that includes a comparative dimensions rather than solely as part of a vocational education. Second, it is necessary that judgments and legislation be drafted in a style comprehensible to an educated lay audience. A general understanding of the law among the citizenry is necessary in this republic otherwise we remain a subject people and the lawyers will keep coining it. Large scale immigration requires ‘the nation’ to be redefined The Vagabond Spirit of Poetry	cc/2019-30/en_head_0008.json.gz/line2462

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