pred_label
stringclasses 2
values | pred_label_prob
float64 0.5
1
| wiki_prob
float64 0.25
1
| text
stringlengths 37
996k
| source
stringlengths 37
43
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__cc
| 0.66616
| 0.33384
|
Why are thirds used to construct chords?
I am (slowly) learning music theory on the guitar. I've begun learning about scales and chords, and it seems that all chords are built using some combination of thirds.
For example, a minor triad is constructed using a minor third interval and then a major third interval.
Why thirds? Are other intervals sometimes used?
theory chords chord-theory intervals
Meaningful Username
sdasdadassdasdadas
A chord does not have to be made up of thirds. A chord is by definition two or more notes heard as if sounded simultaneously. Not all chords have three notes either. There are dyads (two notes), triads (three), tetrachords (four), pentachords (five), and hexachords (six). There's no limit on the number of notes, and also, by definition, there's no limits on which notes. C - E - G is a chord. D - E - F - C is a chord. However, the most common triads are the major, minor, augmented, and diminished (there is also the suspended). All of these are composed of a root, a third, and a fifth (except the suspended, which uses the root, perfect fourth and perfect fifth).
So, now to your question, why thirds? First, realize there are two types of thirds: the major and the minor. The major consists of four semitones and the minor three semitones. Quoting Wikipedia:
The major third is classed as an imperfect consonance and is considered one of the most consonant intervals after the unison, octave, perfect fifth, and perfect fourth. In the common practice period, thirds were considered interesting and dynamic consonances along with their inverses the sixths.
After the major third became established as such, it become pretty standard. Every classical piece makes use of it in some way. The other reason the major third is so widely used is that it is found in the harmonic series (between the fourth and fifth). Early brass (e.g., posthorn, natural trumpet) had no valves or slides and were limited to the harmonic series. This encouraged use of and familiarity with the major third. However, I'd say the most important of all these reasons is the first. It is highly consonant.
The minor third has the same level of consonance as the major third, but is found higher up in the harmonic series (between fifth and sixth). Also, there are many common transposing instruments which sound a minor third higher or lower form where they are written. For example, the Eb clarinet and the Eb trumpet both sound a minor third higher than written. The oboe d'amore, popular in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, and the soprano clarinet in A sound a minor third higher than written. Of these reasons, I'd say the first (again) is the most important.
As for other intervals, any interval can be used, but some are more common than others. The perfect fifth, octave, unison, and seventh (in no particular order) are very common. All major, minor, and suspended chords have a perfect fifth. Also important are the perfect second, perfect fourth, and major sixth. To learn more about different chords and the intervals that make them up, read this article on intervals and this one on chords. They are both very informative.
Why thirds?
Thirds are the most consonant intervals (after the unison, octave, perfect fifth, and perfect fourth).
Are other intervals sometimes used?
Many other intervals are used. See here for a list of the main ones. They include the perfect fifth, the perfect seventh, the octave, the major sixth and the perfect fourth.
American LukeAmerican Luke
It might be useful to inject a note about the language we use when talking about music, and specifically music theory. It sounds like you are asking about why music theory would call one thing a chord and not some other thing.
"Building" and "constructing" have no precise meaning when used in music. Are you talking about "building" an actual chord that gets played in a piece? Or are are you thinking more of a "blueprint" model; as in, what are the possible chords I could build, whether I eventually play one or any of them?
To help explain the difference, think of a "vertical slice" of a piece of music. As in, what happens in the half-second interval beginning at minute 1:31 of whatever song you are currently listening to. No matter what the music is, you are hearing what sometimes get called a "simultaneity." It's just the combination of "all" the sounds that are happening simultaneously.
If you're thinking of a solo piano piece, it might be that the piano has just struck three notes, and those are primarily the ones ringing out in this half-second sample you're imagining. But if you are thinking of an orchestral piece, it could be a hundred notes all being played simultaneously.
In both cases, it's not wrong to think of what you are hearing as a chord, but most people would tend to think only of the first case as the response to what you are asking. Though it might help you get your bearings to learn only chords "built" of thirds, you'll may eventually realize that any combination of notes may actually sound good in one moment in a piece.
The theory you are learning is describing what we would call "tertian harmony." In this case, you are "stacking" thirds. But what happens when you strike the open strings of a guitar in standard tuning? Why wouldn't we call that a chord, too? And this is where the semantic problems rear their ugly head. There's no reason not to call what you've just played a chord, but using the language of "tertian harmony" makes it a little complicated. Do you like the name "E minor 7th sus 4?" I sure don't, but that would be an accurate name (another, less precise but no less correct way to think of the open-strings chord is that it has a "quartal" sound- this means made from primarily stacking fourths).
Learning the taxonomy for naming vertical slices of notes is not as easy as saying C-E-G is a triad, but at least you're not stuck thinking you are limited in your choices.
Here's two famous examples re: "chord constructing"
Think about the amount of time spent devoted to thinking about something that takes about a send to hear:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hard_Day%27s_Night_(song)#Opening_chord
This is the ending of "A Day in the Life", which is mentioned in the above article. Think about how you would describe the orchestral sounds that precede the big, final concluding E? Hard to describe, but no less powerful.
OK, here's the real answer, which hardly any theory texts explain properly and I only learnt when doing special studies in microtonality at music school.
Western harmony is derived from what Harry Partch called the five limit. You get your triadic chords by making intervals with fractions that have a denominator of less than five. Just tuned intervals below the five limit are (in order of consonance to dissonance): 2/1 octave, 3/2 - p5th, 4/3 - p4th, 5/4 - M3rd, 6/5 - min 3rd. To derive the notes in major harmony, you build a triad using 3/2 and 5/4 on the 1st, 4th and 5th. In other words, you stack 3/2 and 5/4 over 3/2 and 4/3. This gives you all the notes in the major scale. To do the same for minor harmony, you stack 3/2 and 6/5 over 3/2 and 4/3, giving you 1,2,b3,4,5,b6,b7. If you mix both, you have all the notes in western harmony less the tritone. So triadic harmony is actually far from arbitrary in it's pure form.
Partch's harmonic system was based on extending this by experimenting with higher limits and is one of the more interesting 20th century directions in harmony.
Iain DuncanIain Duncan
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged theory chords chord-theory intervals or ask your own question.
Harmony formula
why major chords only have 1-3-5 notes why not other notes?
Why is there a preference to odd notes in a scale?
Why play out of scale notes as part of a chord?
Theory of Major and Minor Chord Sounds
Why are there major and minor intervals?
Why is a major second not called a perfect second?
Confusion about intervals in chromatic VS diatonic scales
Roman Numeral Analysis
Triads with thirds that aren't major or minor?
Is there a way to determine the flatness (or sharpness) of the 4th note of a chord from its name?
Why is a ♭5 chord not a “triad”?
Is a Major Interval the same as a Pure Interval?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4503
|
__label__cc
| 0.70265
| 0.29735
|
Home Interviews Evergrey - Tom Englund, Henrik Danhage
Bloody Hammers - Anders Manga
Hatriot - Cody Souza
Evergrey - The Atlantic - 30.04.19
Evergrey @ KB, Malmö (SE) - 08.11.17
Evergrey - The Storm Within - 08.08.16
Evergrey @ Reggies, Chicago (US) - 27.08.15
Evergrey - Hymns For The Broken - 17.09.14
Evergrey - Tom Englund, Henrik Danhage
Using all the gathered momentum from “Hymns Of The Broken”, EVERGREY stroke once again with the amazing “The Storm Within” which has been haunting my playlist since day one. Most recently, the band was upon US soil to do some press and METAL KAOZ had the chance to Skype with Tom Englund and Henrik Danhage, so please have a look what we discussed and for what we had a couple of laughs...
Hi Tom and Henrik, and welcome to METAL KAOZ!
Tom: Hey Dimitris, thanks for having us.
How was the album release party?
Tom: It was fantastic! There was a great amount of people, sold lot of albums and, most importantly, everyone really loved the album, so yeah, it is with a sigh of relief we enter this cycle of the album release with the touring.
You did also some pre-listening sessions for some EVERGREY fans; so how anxious did you feel then?
Tom: Well, when we write / record an album, we are not interested in what anybody thinks. But then, it starts to shift; the day we release an album, then it is of course not our album, and becomes the audience’s album. So, at that shift it becomes extremely important what people think and of course we need to have as many people as possible to think that this is the best album we have ever recorded. So, before the pre-listening we were not that anxious but we were eager to get things out and start the next step of this process.
How would you feel if someone had something negative to say?
Tom: It depends if this is said in a constructive way or just to badmouth the band, and believe it or not, there are people like that (laughs).
Of course I believe you, Tom…
Tom: It is also strange; because you can have ten thousands of positive comments and then you see just one and it bothers you. I think there is an analytical side of me that wants to understand what it is that they don’t get (laughs).
I think this is how our brains are wired and always be focused on the bad things. Anyway, “The Storm Within” is the first 'love' album by EVERGREY? (laughs)
Tom: (laughs) Or maybe it is the first 'lack-of-love' album.
I guess this makes more sense…
Tom: Yeah, especially if you listen to the music, then it makes more sense, right?
Exactly, and in fact, when you look at the album’s cover artwork, you see the black birds and the white doves and although they seem to be in perfect harmony, there is some short of a battle going on. This is something each of us has to experience - the good fighting the bad side.
Tom: Exactly, it is all about finding the balance in life. There are times in one’s life that is easy to find this balance and others where it is impossible. I think life is demanding but at the same time is a totally unique experience for everyone.
So, what period of time of your life or of the band’s life is being representing in “The Storm Within”?
Tom: I think every EVERGREY album represents the most recent times. The music that we make is being colored by the experiences we had or someone really close to us had. This is the cool thing about music when we can experience the situation we were when we were writing the music.
Well, the concept of the album seems to be personal, so how can a band contribute to the songwriting and still feel like it is based on one person’s experiences?
Tom: Well, being in a band means exactly this thing. I am the one who wrote the lyrics for the songs, so from that aspect, I am the mind behind that, but we are five individuals that write music together and this is like working as a single mind. This is how it works. Of course we talk about things and explain to each other how we see or feel things. When you analyze this, it seems like a well-thought process in a way and this is also something that we have learned and have used to be doing all this time. Most of us have played together for almost fifteen years, so we know each other.
Speaking of the songwriting process and since I am talking to the two EVERGREY guitarists, how do you split the leads between the two of you?
Henrik: It does not matter who writes what; if I think that I have a riff that sounds better when Tom plays it, then he will be the one to do it.
Tom: And vice versa...
Henrik: Exactly. There are no rules and we want to make the best possible and the hardest riffs, no matter who is playing it. We just go with what feels the best.
Tom: For the lead parts, I usually say to Henrik; “here’s the part that you’re going to play on” and then he does...
Henrik: And this is usually done very fast... (laughs)
Do you challenge each other?
Henrik: Yeah, there is always some tension between us, although this word has a negative sense but I think you get what I am saying. It is very important to have this between us and I’d say we have a very good guitar companionship I’d say. After all, a lot of people like this, so I guess there must be something we are doing right.
Tom: This is really important and the thing is that even if you are very good at playing the guitar, there are moments you feel insecure and I think what you need, what I need to hear from Henrik and what he needs to hear from me is if ‘this is good enough’. So, we are each other’s ears and this works.
And that goes back to what you said about playing together from fifteen years and maybe so this is the result of maturing and growing up together as musicians and as persons, right?
Tom: Yeah, for example in “The Paradox Of The Flame” we played the guitar lead together but without deciding what to play beforehand. We kind of follow each other in a way and Henrik plays with his whammy bar, I play with my style and then we make it work; something that is a very cool thing. We know each other guitar-wise in and out.
Speaking of “The Paradox Of The Flame”, this is the third video that you have planned to release, correct?
Tom: There will be four actually. “The Impossible” will be the last of the three videos we filmed in Iceland and the fourth one will be “Orbit” with Floor Jansen.
Cool, will Floor be part of the video?
Tom: Of course she will.
Is it true that you asked Floor to guest sing on the album over a glass of wine?
Tom: Yeah, but it was not me and her. It was my wife and her (laughs)...
So, was it the wine that did the talking? (laughs)
Tom: (laughs) Might have been and maybe now Floor feels really sorry about it. No, I’m joking, it is all good. The only problem we have is trying to schedule things because there is no time. I mean, after getting home from the US, we have 7-8 days of time to make this video because we have to play in Norway but somehow we will make it work.
How did you use her singing abilities in “Orbit”?
Tom: Well, I gave her the melody I had written and let her sing it. For the last part of the song, she does a lot of ad-libbing and whaling and I just try to follow her and mark the song with the EVERGREY sound. So, she had the freedom to pretty much do what she wants within the range of the song.
Did you use a live choir during the recordings?
Tom: Yeah, that’s my daughter and her friends.
So, I guess everyone is singing in your family…
Tom: Everyone except the dog; he is not singing that well (laughs).
And speaking of family, you had your wife doing a duet with you, so are there any plans to get her on the tour with you?
Tom: No, never! (laughs) but mainly because she doesn’t want to. She is totally uninterested in that type of life. She would go crazy and I would definitely go crazy within eight hours or something like that. However, the hardest part of being a musician is being away from your family. But the moment the musicians start bringing their family on the tour bus, then it will be the end of the band, for different reasons (laughs).
I can only imagine… In the special edition of the album, you had the cover on SABBATH's “Paranoid”; so was this just an easy choice or there is some weird connection with the theme of the album?
Tom: No, it is totally a stand-alone song. We actually recorded this for a project for homeless people in Sweden. They get to sell magazines and then get the money, so this organization had a lot of such homeless people wishing for an artist in Sweden to record their favorite song and one of these guys he asked for EVERGREY to do “Paranoid” and we did it. Then we saw that it came out so great that we wanted the rest of the world to hear it as well. The song was released about two years ago.
I have to say that you did a great job with the guitar solo that has nothing to do with the original.
Tom: Thank you so much, although I have to admit that I don’t even remember that. It is been a while since the last time I’ve listened to it but I will take your word for it.
The press release that came with the album reads that this LP is in the context of celebrating the band’s 20 years, so are there any plans to celebrate more this occasion?
Tom: We celebrate every day when we tour... (laughs) The thing is that this 20th anniversary came as bit of a surprise for us. I mean, I consider us being recording artists for 20 years when it will be 2018 because EVERGREY released their first album in 1998. But of course this band has been since 1995, so maybe when we reach the 20th of being recording artists, we will have a logical plan to celebrate this.
Do you like the idea of playing an entire album when it is the anniversary of its release?
Tom: No (laughs). We don’t like playing entire albums at all because some songs are not made to be played live; they are just studio work, even though for this I could actually see us playing every song.
Tom: Yeah, it would, but you know, we have done so many songs that people wanna hear.
Yeah, I totally understand this. The next question is for both of you; what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think the beginning of EVERGREY? Although Henrik was not in the band from day one…
Henrik: The first thing that comes to my mind is excitement of what was about to come.
Tom: For me, thinking about this makes me feel fucking old (laughs). Seriously now, I can’t even remember; of course I do remember when EVERGREY did a demo and then we got a record deal, so you know, it happened quite fast to get into a semi-professional status, and for me, this was exciting.
This is a cliché question but I will ask it anyway; are you satisfied with the way EVERGREY have evolved and matured after all these years?
Tom: Matured? Absolutely, I am super-satisfied. Of course, we could have sold many more albums but with that being said, we are extremely happy where we are. I mean, we are professionals and we can still have our lives in a way that works for us. With that being said (again), if this steps up a few notches, we will have to recalculate what we need to do in order to do this. After all, we are musicians and this is what we do.
Of course, and going back to the press release, there is another line that says that your life plan was to release ten albums; so this is tenth one…
Tom: Yeah, so life is over (laughs).
Ok then, nice talking to you (laughs)...
Tom: This was just a child’s imagination, being the greatest thing ever. It is a great thing to have accomplished that for sure but now - as it happens in real life - you have new goals; my goal now is for everyone to hear “The Storm Within” album and then get out there to play and stay healthy.
Sure, especially the latter. Speaking of playing live, you have announced the tour dates for Europe starting around late September, so my obvious question is when should we be expecting to see EVERGREY here in the States?
Henrik: In May.
That was a quick answer, I like that!
Tom: (laughs) Yeah, the sure thing is that we will play for one day live in the US in May...
Henrik: (laughs) Well, we don’t have the schedule yet.
Do you know if it will be a headlining tour?
Tom: Of course it will.
Cool, so please make a note to include Chicago…
Tom: Chicago is already included, Dimitris.
Oh cool, you just made my day. Have you chosen the songs from the new album to play live?
Tom: Oh no, we haven’t. I know that we will start to rehearse “Passing Through”, “In Orbit” and... what was the other one?
Henrik: It was “Distance”.
Tom: Yeah, these were the first that we have picked to rehearse.
For “In Orbit”, will you be using pre-recorded parts for Floor’s singing?
Tom: No, I will dress up Johan [Niemann], the bassist, and he will come out and do those (laughs).
Is Johan that tall?
Tom: (laughs) Well, the plan is for me to sing all the parts but I will skip the ones in the end, but it will sound awesome - I promise that.
Well, I will keep you accountable for this… Do you have any leftover material from the “The Storm Within” sessions?
Tom: No, we have just 35... (laughs) But these are from both “Hymns For The Broken” and “The Storm Within” sessions and they are not full songs. These are song fragments and ideas and some of them are also produced. The main reason that we did not use them is that they did not fit the vibe of either albums. We need to write songs that fit to the exact period of time. Who knows, maybe we will write another album next and use some of them later.
I asked this because some musicians don’t like to use old material…
Tom: Well, yeah, when you start writing for an album, you want to start writing and not just looking through old stuff. I mean, if you have the inspiration, then that’s what you want to use and this is why some songs get written but never recorded. But we do not know.
The album has some violin sounds, so did you use actual violins or did these come from keyboards?
Tom: No, we hired musicians to record these. There is a cello and a violin and we hired for a couple of days musicians who sat with us in the studio to record the parts “The Paradox Of The Flame” and quite a few parts for other songs that some of them we ended up using.
I have the impression that the album has an almost modern finishing touch in the keyboards…
Tom: Yeah.
So, was this done intentionally or it just happened?
Tom: The thing is that the whole inspiration for the album came from the keyboard sound you hear in the chorus of “Distance” and “Disconnect”. Those were the first two songs we wrote, so the whole vibe is based on the keyboards and then of course we built this “The Storm Within” world around that. I don’t know if this answers your question, but it’s true; we had a keyboard sound and then we had an album (laughs).
That sounds so easy that I can do it myself (laughs). I have one last question; watching the videos, I have to ask you how you get in that mood with all these elements around you? It had to be cold right? So, what’s going on with you - do you have some actor within you?
Tom: Well, I don’t know. I mean, I just walk and it is not that hard because I have been doing this since I was two years old (laughs). But it was not cold and, in fact, it was hot and we wore shorts and t-shirts but for the video I had to wear all these clothes and sweat my ass off.
That was awesome, guys! Thank you for taking the time to once again talk to METAL KAOZ.
Tom: Thanks a lot, Dimitris.
Henrik: Thank you.
Looking forward to seeing EVERGREY live again and getting my hands on the vinyl. Have safe travels!
Tom: Thanks a lot man, see you in Chicago.
Written by Dimitris Kontogeorgakos Tuesday, 27 September 2016 08:11
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4506
|
__label__wiki
| 0.904982
| 0.904982
|
Tight race predicted in Nigerian poll
Moh Uwagbale Momoh 27 Mar 2015 00:00
Free to run: The opposition’s chief contender, Muhammadu Buhari, has been accused of perjury but the case was adjourned until April 22. (AFP)
Nigeria is on edge ahead of Saturday’s elections, whose outcome analysts say could plunge the country into chaos.
Adding to the tension, this week former president Olusegun Obasanjo spoke openly about a rumour that President Goodluck Jonathan is planning to hand power to the army if he loses the presidential election.
Obasanjo said this would undermine Nigeria’s integrity. “I hope we will soon go away from the rumor of handing over to the military, because the military is not meant to run the affairs of a nation in terms of running government.”
Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose slammed Obasanjo for his comments. “At his age, one would expect that the former president should stop peddling rumours, as this may cause confusion in the polity.
Being a former military leader and also a retired general, whatever Obasanjo says will carry weight and some people will believe that. Or is it that General Obasanjo has some ‘boys’ touting the idea of a coup? Maybe he is the person planning one.”
Obasanjo recently tore up his party membership card to mark his exit of the ruling People’s Democratic Party. He accused the PDP of various transgressions, including corruption, and called on the electorate to vote for opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), whom he described as a disciplined and patriotic citizen.
Rumours emerged on Thursday of Jonathan meeting Buhari, adding to speculation of a unity government but these could not be confirmed.
Court challenge
A last-minute court hearing on Wednesday almost derailed the poll after a court challenge was mounted to the candidacy of Buhari. The election is expected to be a race between Buhari and Jonathan. The high court in Abuja adjourned the applications to April?22. This means the elections for the governorship and the state houses of assembly will be held on April 11 before any challenges to the eligibility of candidates are heard.
Buhari breathed a sigh of relief as the previous day he had failed to stop the court from hearing the bid of those seeking to halt his candidacy. The applicants allege that Buhari committed perjury by falsely claiming to have attached his academic qualifications to his candidacy form.
The APC’s counsel, Wole Olanipekun, argued that the court process had not been followed diligently and that as far as he and his client were concerned, no suit existed before the court for determination.
Olanipekun also argued that even if they assumed that the court papers had been properly served, the matter before the court was one of perjury, a criminal offence that could not be initiated by way of a summons.
On Tuesday APC spokesperson Lai Mohammed said the ruling party is sponsoring the court cases as a ploy to disqualify Buhari. The PDP dismissed the claims, saying the APC is simply engaging in electioneering.
At a rally, first lady Patience Jonathan fumed that she would send “Holy Ghost fire” to consume Buhari.
She also praised her husband’s efforts, saying he should be re-elected for improving infrastructure.
“When my children were small, they asked me what a train was. I had to take them to London and we entered a train from London to Paris. But the PDP government has brought trains back to Nigeria.”
Journalists detained
On Thursday, Al Jazeera demanded the release of Nigerian journalists Ahmed Idris and Ali Mustafa, who it said have been detained by Nigerian forces in their hotel room since Tuesday. The two were producing a special report on the Nigerian army’s campaign against Boko Haram.
Their camera equipment was confiscated after they were accused of not having accreditation, but the network said they had been accredited. – © Guardian News & Media 2015
Who is Muhammadu Buhari?
• He is the presidential candidate for Nigeria’s opposition All Progressives Congress.
• He is 71 years old.
• He lost presidential elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011 amid allegations of electoral fraud.
• He is a retired major general who did his military training in Nigeria, the United States and India.
• He led Nigeria for 20 months in 1983 after a coup that overthrew the government.
• He is known for his tough stance on corruption. During his time in office, he led a “war on indiscipline”, allowing soldiers to whip members of the public who did not queue in an orderly fashion in public places.
•He was ejected from power in a coup by General Ibrahim Babangida in 1985.
• His tough approach to governance and economic policy is widely known as “Buharism”.
Nigeria elections
A Buhari win may turn Nigeria into a warzone
Nigeria: Delays raise the stakes for 2015 elections
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4508
|
__label__wiki
| 0.865627
| 0.865627
|
Select ratingGive Haywood, John 1/5Give Haywood, John 2/5Give Haywood, John 3/5Give Haywood, John 4/5Give Haywood, John 5/5
Haywood, John
by Robert E. Corlew, 1988
16 Mar. 1762–22 Dec. 1826
John Haywood, Revolutionary soldier, lawyer, jurist, and historian, was born in Halifax County where his grandfather had migrated from Virginia. His parents were Egbert and Sarah Ware Haywood, both of whom were of English heritage. Egbert Haywood was active in the political life of the colony, was an officer in the North Carolina militia during the Revolutionary War, and, after the Revolution, was a member of the state legislature.
John Haywood, too young to enter military service at the beginning of the war, volunteered near the end of the conflict and was assigned as an aide to a North Carolina officer. Although he had received only a limited education, he apparently was admitted to the Halifax bar soon after the Revolution, because in 1785 the General Assembly elected him judge of the Superior Court of Davidson County (Tenn.), a position he declined. In 1791 he was named attorney general, and in 1793 he was appointed to the Superior Court of North Carolina. Haywood established himself as the dominating legal mind on the court and was, as one observer noted, "as completely the court as Chief Justice [John] Marshall was of the Supreme Court of the United States." Before resigning from the bench in 1800, he published two volumes of the court's decisions, which are the earliest of the North Carolina law reports. He later published two other works in North Carolina: A Manual of the Laws of North Carolina (1808) and The Duty and Authority of Justices of the Peace (1810).
Haywood moved to Tennessee—one source indicates as early as 1802 and another as late as 1807—and purchased a farm near Nashville, which he named Tusculum. Recognized immediately for his acute legal mind, he became both a successful practitioner before the Nashville bar and a teacher and counselor of young men who wished to "read law." In 1816 he was elected to the Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals (court of last resort) and served until his death. Haywood edited and reported the opinions of the court and, in association with Robert L. Cobbs, compiled The Statute Laws of the State of Tennessee (2 vols., 1831).
Sometimes referred to as "Tennessee's Earliest Historian," Haywood organized in 1820 the Tennessee Antiquarian Society, a forerunner of the Tennessee Historical Society, and became its first president. His interest in history led him to read widely on the subject and to publish several works, the first of which was a book of some 350 pages entitled The Christian Advocate (Nashville, 1819). In this philosophical account, he attempts to trace the aboriginal inhabitants of Tennessee and of America to Asia. Much of the material in this volume appeared a few years later in his The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee (Nashville, 1823). In the same year he published his best known work, The Civil and Political History of Tennessee (Knoxville, 1823). Both trace the development of the Tennessee country to the time of statehood.
Physically, Haywood was massively formed and weighed more than 350 pounds at the time of his death. Judge Nathaniel Baxter, who believed him to have only Felix Grundy as a peer, described him thus: "His arms, his legs, and his neck were all thick and short, his abdomen came down on his lap and nearly covered it to his knees. His head, which rested nearly on his shoulders, was unusually large and peculiarly formed. His under jaw and his lower face looked large and strong, and his head above his ears ran up high and somewhat conical, and viewed horizontally it was rather square and round. His mouth was large, expressive, and rather handsome."
Haywood died at Tusculum and was buried there.
W. C. Allen, History of Halifax County (1918).
Joseph B. Cheshire, Nonulla (1930).
DAB, vol. 4 (1960).
John W. Green, Lives of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1796–1947 (1947).
J. G. de R. Hamilton, ed., Papers of William A. Graham, vols. 1, 3 (1957, 1960).
L. L. Knight, comp., Library of Southern Literature, vol. 15 (1907).
John H. Wheeler, Historical Sketches of North Carolina (1851).
Who Was Who in America, 1607–1896 (1963).
Irwin, Ned L. "John Haywood." The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. 2009. http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=616 (accessed January 14, 2013).
Colyar, A. S. "A Sketch of the Author." 1890. 5-14. Haywood, John. The civil and political history of the state of Tennessee from its earliest settlement up to the year 1796, including the boundaries of the state. Nashville, Tenn., Publishing house of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. 1891. https://archive.org/details/civilpoliticalhi00hayw (accessed January 14, 2013).
J.B.C., Jr. "Why Judge Haywood Left North Carolina." North Carolina University Magazine XIV, no.4 (January 1895). http://books.google.com/books?id=rwM8AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA189#v=onepage&q&f=false (accessed January 16, 2013).
"CSR Documents by Haywood, John, 1762-1826." Colonial and State Records of North Carolina. Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/creators/csr10569 (accessed January 14, 2013).
http://www.tnportraits.org/30174-haywood.htm
E. G. Williams & Brothers. "Engraving, Accession #: H.19XX.318.87." 1900. North Carolina Museum of History.
Corlew, Robert E.
1 January 1988 | Corlew, Robert E.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4511
|
__label__cc
| 0.695513
| 0.304487
|
June 17, 2019 June 21, 2019 by Alexandria Robinson
NBC News: A town with no bank how Itta Bena, Mississippi, became a banking desert
NBC News, June 15, 2019: A town with no bank: How Itta Bena, Mississippi, became a banking desert
ITTA BENA, Miss. — Shawn Robinson, 50, has a view from his front stoop that he often finds more interesting than what’s on TV. From the doorway of his building on the edge of Itta Bena’s town square, Robinson can see people come and go from this struggling Mississippi Delta town’s only no-fee or low-fee ATM.
In Itta Bena, population 1,828 and likely declining, the four other ATMs sit inside gas stations and charge $5.25 to $7.50 per transaction. So, the demand for the most basic financial services at an affordable rate is such that on one or sometimes two days a week, Hope’s ATM runs out of money.
Banks — where they are, who they lend to and on what conditions — are a key lever in the American economy. Yet branches are closing at a rapid pace, with more than 3,800 shuttering since 2017. Most of those branches closed in overwhelmingly nonwhite urban neighborhoods in cities like Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and Las Vegas, but rural communities have also struggled. In some, like Itta Bena, the one or two banks that used to exist are gone.
“The bank branch is to local economies what the debit card is to your wallet — a key point of contact to the financial system and the way a large part of the population accesses non-predatory financial services,” said Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an association of community development organizations.
“Apps are great,” Van Tol continued. “Nobody denies that. But there are, believe it or not, some important things that can’t be accomplished on your cellphone.”
in In the news
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4512
|
__label__cc
| 0.654569
| 0.345431
|
Refugee used online education to accelerate resettlement
06.16.2017 Posted by NetHope Blog
By Theresa Ritzer, Project Reconnect
Noor Hakeem is excited to be a dad. Just a few months ago, he and his wife, Sumaya, welcomed their first child. Noor is also happy that he was officially granted asylum status in Germany. Together, Noor and Sumaya have built a new life: family, their own apartment, and a job.
Noor and his wife fled from Bangladesh to Germany. Originally from Myanmar, Noor belongs to the Muslim minority group Rohingya, which are persecuted in Myanmar. In Bangladesh, opportunities for refugees to integrate are extremely limited, so Noor and his wife continued their flight to Germany.
In February 2016, Noor started a seven-month language course in Geretsried, a small community in Bavaria. After just four months, Noor felt ready to tackle the final language exam — and passed it.
Equipped with this knowledge, Noor started an internship at AsylPlus, a nonprofit organization that supports refugees and asylum seekers with computer-assisted learning opportunities. Noor used a Google Chromebook provided by Project Reconnect and online language programs to deepen his knowledge, and inspired his wife to do the same.
When Noor learned that he had been granted asylum a few weeks back, the first thing he did was go to the government job center — not to request additional support, but to document his new job. Noor has been hired by AsylPlus to help with technical administration and provide training to refugees and asylum seekers.
Before he came to Germany, Noor never had the chance to attend secondary school, but hopes to study computer science and someday, work as a software engineer. With this goal in mind, Noor is preparing for his secondary school diploma at an evening school in Munich. “In my interim report I had the best grade in German, math, English, and in other subjects,” Noor says proudly.
If this story inspires you and you would like to invest in NetHope’s work supporting refugees like Noor and his family, we welcome your donation.
Filed Under: Project Reconnect, World Refugee Day
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4517
|
__label__wiki
| 0.797891
| 0.797891
|
Home » Currents » ‘Kids in Cages’ Draws Attention to Plight of Migrant Children
‘Kids in Cages’ Draws Attention to Plight of Migrant Children
Tags: Currents, Brooklyn, NY, Faith, Family, Media, Queens, NY, World News
By Antonina Zielinska
The shocking images of realistic-looking dolls wrapped in emergency thermal blankets laying in small cages greeted New Yorkers during the morning commute on June 12.
People took double and triple takes as they passed by what appeared to be a child sleeping in a cage at the York Street subway station in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn. There were prominent signs that stated #nokidsincages and a smaller sign explaining the display.
James Johnson’s 7-year-old daughter noticed the figure in DUMBO as the two walked by on their way to school. She asked if it was a real lady.
Her father assured her that it wasn’t, but struggled to explain what she was seeing.
Similarly, several people who didn’t speak English stopped, concerned that a real child was in immediate danger. Friendly passersby assured them that it was fake.
It was one of two dozen artistic depictions installed by Raices Refugee and Immigration Center for Education and Legal Services as a protest against the treatment of migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border. The group cites instances of immigrant children being held in large outdoor cages in freezing temperatures with little more than emergency thermal blankets for comfort.
In parts of Manhattan, police were called by people who believed the displays were real. Many of the displays had sound installations of real children crying for their parents. Early in the morning, according to a recording on social media, police broke one of the locks to confirm the child wasn’t real by removing the wig. In other locations, police or workers removed the displays as seen on social media photos and videos.
Despite the shocking and disturbing portrayal in public view, Johnson said he approved of the message and the manner in which it was conveyed. He said it forced people to stop and pay attention to an important issue, himself included. He noted that many simply walked by seemingly without noticing.
It was morning rush hour in New York City, after all.
Later in the day, Carlos Abreu stopped to look at the display by the subway station in DUMBO. Shock filled his face, soon replaced by sorrow as he realized what he was looking at.
“It hurts,” he said.
Abreu was in DUMBO to protest the nonunion work being done at a nearby worksite. Having fought one battle for justice, he said he now realizes he cannot ignore a dilemma that is too often put out of sight.
“I have kids,” said the father of two. “I can’t … I can’t allow this.”
“It makes my heart heavy as I stand here,” said longtime educator Kathy Kennedy. “I just feel like people have not treated these people as people.”
She said she approved of the display being set out in a business district in New York because it puts the issue the issue of migrants the Southern border front and center and forces people to reflect.
Luciana Arias, a tourist from Argentina, stopped in her tracks when she saw the display.
“I thought it was real,” she said.
It took her a couple of minutes to connect the dots and remember the news reports of the migrant children being locked in cages in the United States.
She said she was thankful to have seen the display on her visit to New York. She believes that it will have an impact on people and help them better understand the situation.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4518
|
__label__cc
| 0.503689
| 0.496311
|
← CSI: NL, Blue Star Labels
Stealing Fire(Water): The BeerThief and Newfoundland Beer →
German Brewmasters and “British Traditions” in Newfoundland Brewing
If you’ve been to Newfoundland you’ve likely taken note of a fairly strong connection to British and Irish traditions within the province’s music, culture, and perhaps even in its beer. Popular places to grab a pint are regularly decked out in Irish garb – places like Bridie Molloys, The Republic, or Christians to name a few – or, like the famous Duke of Duckworth, more grounded in the British pub experience. But what about Newfoundland beer? In this post, a reappraisal of Webb and Beaumont’s classification of Newfoundland as having weak “British Traditions” in the light of the history of German-Newfoundland brewmasters.
In Tim Webb’s and Stephen Beaumont’s excellent should-be-on-your-self reference The World Atlas of Beer (Sterling Epicure, 2012), they describe Newfoundland as having a “weak British influence.” In a wonderful map showing where immigrant populations brought their beer traditions from the old world, the authors illustrate how Canada was colonized by Old World beer. They write, on page 206, that in the Atlantic Provinces “beer drinking is arguably a more social act than anywhere else in Canada, ‘sessionable’ English and Irish beer styles – those with a lower-alcohol content – have long held sway.”
I don’t particularity want to dispute Webb’s and Beaumont’s assertion, surely it holds for some of they Atlantic provinces, and as much as I would like to imagine a Newfoundland full of pale ales, bitters, and stouts, with the exception of Yellowbelly’s recent arrival, it does not seem, historically, to be the case. Newfoundland’s beer – or at least the beer traditionally associated with Newfoundland – seems to be dominated by generally fizzy yellow, crisp and clean, stuff. Even the great Michel Jackson once wrote that “Newfoundland is particularity proud of its full-bodied local beers, which tend to be darker and heavier and more bitter than elsewhere,” yet he puzzled at the notion that “the much-vaunted Dominion Ale” was “in fact, bottom-fermented” (The World Guide to Beer, Prentice-Hall, 1977, page 201). One way to see it might be to think that Newfoundlanders, more than most, fell for the ‘lite’ lager beer proffered by American and Canadian macro breweries. History, however, provides a more subtle story.
While Newfoundland’s culture might provide the logical jump to imagine Irish red ales and British best bitters, our brewing history shows a deeply Germanic influence. In his book Vikings to U-boats: The German Experience in Newfoundland and Labrador (McGill-Queens University Press, 2006), Gerhard P. Bassler has undertaken a great deal of research into the history of German-Newfoundlanders and their contributions to the province’s history. Among their many contributions, brewing expertise and knowledge stands out.
Bessler describes his own sence of historical surprise at Newfoundland’s lapse in historical memory when it comes to German brewing. When arriving in Newfoundland in 1965, just years after all of Newfoundland’s breweries were bought by Canadian ones, Bassler describes the “paradox that Newfoundlanders, who claimed to be British to the core, consumed a superb-tasting German-style lager beer brewed by a local so-called Bavarian Brewery” (ix, he is likely referring to Blue Star). For a full account of the German experience in Newfoundland, of course, you ought to consult Bessler’s book. Here, to make the point that Newfoundland is perhaps more German influenced than British, I will just jump through some of his account of German brewmasters.
The J. Lindberg Brewing Company, founded in the early 1880s on Signal Hill, was one company which lead the first charge towards lagers over the ales which likely would have dominated the scene. While it is difficult to estimate the Lindberg Brewing Company’s impact, Bassler does report that the brewery employed around twelve men and “had an annual output of 8,000-9,000 gallons,” mostly of a self-proclaimed “Bavarian” lager (116). Lindberg was listed in the press as a “German beer baron” in 1885 despite also being the importer for several imported brands like Guinness and Bass. The company was also involved in a legal case – “the famous Bavarian beer case of Sergeant M. Kearney versus John Lindberg” – where beer was first licensed as distinct from malt liquor in Newfoundland. Bassler even notes that Lindberg was awarded a medal for his beer at the Paris exhibition of 1891.
While, as noted elsewhere on this blog, the Lindberg Brewing Company disappeared before the First World War, likely due to the dance of restrictive liquor laws leading up to the eventual prohibition of liquor in Newfoundland, other German brewmasters would have “a profound impact” on Newfoundland “beer brewing and consumption” after the Second World War. Bassler explains the conditions of Newfoundland beer between prohibition and the Second World War:
During the nine years of prohibition in Newfoundland (1915-24), only so-called near-beer (a beverage not exceeding 2 per cent alcohol content) was available, and thereafter the choice of local brews seems to have been limited to either a low-alcohol English pale ale or a strong, but bitter draft beers. All Newfoundland beer from the time of World War I was brewed by English or local brewmasters in two breweries (the Bennett and the Newfoundland Brewing companies) designed on the English ale system. They had no quality or standards control. Then virtually overnight in 1932 all Newfoundland breweries reintroduced and begun brewing lager. German brewmasters were brought in to be in charge. (170)
This change fits into the wider trend for lager beers within the United States (as discussed in other posts on the blog), but the suddenness of the change is remarkable. Bassler attributes it to Garrett Brownrigg’s attempts to add a new, “modern brewery to his soft drink business” which then set of a competitive explosion between the breweries for “the best German-type and quality beer” (170). Thus, after a scouting trip to Germany where a brewmaster named Brehm was hired and blueprints were acquired, the Brownrigg Brewery was founded on Leslie Street. Brownrigg, unable to afford the massive costs of a modern German brewhouse, eventually went into foreclosure and his brewery was acquired by Albert E. Hickman, who renamed the brewery Bavarian Brewery as a sign of quality.
Bassler goes into some detail about the brewmasters of the brewery. Hans Schneider (until 1938) apparently lived in an apartment above the brewery, formulated Jockey Club, and made “Bavarian Newfoundland’s largest, wealthiest, most modern brewing operation” (172). Max Weber succeeded Schneider in April of 1938 but was older and slightly more curmudgeonly than his predecessor and, with the outbreak of World War Two, was sent to an internment camp where he died (Bassler goes into much more detail on this matter elsewhere in his book which is very much a social history, so do check it out). A German-American brewmaster, Valentine Foltz, replaced Weber and after the war in 1946 Jake Guehring took over brewing command into the 1950s.
The Bennett Brewing Company also began to switch to German brewmasters in the 1930 by first employing a brewmaster named Scheuermann to remodel the plant and then bringing a brewmaster named Hans Wich from Germany to manage the plant. Again, Bassler goes into detail about Wich’s much more fortunate life in Newfoundland – he was one of the few people who became wealthy enough to own one of the nation’s fifty licensed cars in the 1930s – and Wich’s investment of much of his wealth in the nation before eventually leaving Bennett after a failed attempt at partial ownership for a brewery in the New York.
The Newfoundland Brewing Company also went German in the 1930s going through a list of brewmasters: “Otto Scheffhauser, Allan Hann, Hank Frolich and Fritz Neumeister” (175). The brewery was also, like the other two, modernized with new equipment designed to improve quality and to better produce the German-style beers favored by the new brewmasters. It was, Bessler reports, not uncommon to hear loud German banter ringing out of the brewery to celebrate the arrival of new supplies from German-American salesman.
There is much more to the story of the German brewmasters outside of the beer they brewed which Bessler aptly recounts in his chapter on the internment of the brewmasters during the war. There, he describes the fears of poisoning beer and consumer perceptions of German beer put these new immigrants into very difficult situations. The competitive aspect of their profession is not to be forgotten either, as many of these men could not openly talk to each other despite being a part of a very small contingent of German-Newfoundlanders.
The impact of German tastes on Newfoundland beer is still difficult to tell. While German brewmasters continued to be employed by the three Newfoundland breweries until they were bought in 1962 (and after), it is hard to say wither American and Canadian lagering tastes or Germanic brewmasters were more pivotal for ending the British ale tradition in Newfoundland. It’s likely that both mattered, but what is clear is any “British tradition” in Newfoundland’s beer culture and tastes was in decline in the 1930s. From then on, it was, at least weakly, German.
While Newfoundlander’s might be sipping a beer sitting in an Irish Pub – though let’s not forget, the oldest Irish pub on George Street is still younger than the Avalon Mall – that beer, if it’s one of the nostalgia macros like Blue Star, Jockey Club, or India Beer, is steeped in German brewing traditions. It is surely plausible that these beers have been lightened over the years since 1962 when they became part of larger breweries from Canada, there is evidence that these beers have always been deeply shaped by the lager suitabilities of German brewmasters like Jake Guehring and Hans Wich, rather than ale experts from England. So, with respect (and lots of it) to Webb’s and Beaumont’s efforts, remembering Newfoundland’s brewing heritage shows a weak German tradition which ought not be forgotten despite the Irish and British pub pump and circumstance.
Filed under Bavarian Brewing, Bennett Brewing, Blue Star, Culture, History, Newfoundland Brewery, Other Brewers
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4519
|
__label__wiki
| 0.569415
| 0.569415
|
An Unconventional Journey Through Optometry
Eleanor Gold December 11, 2018 Leave a comment 942 Views
A Conversation with Dr. Millicent Knight
The name Millicent originates in an old Germanic word for strength. So it comes as no surprise that Dr. Millicent Knight, OD, FAAO, FAARM, the new Senior VP of Essilor’s Customer Development Group, has always been the kind of person who does everything in her power to achieve her goals. NewGradOptometry had the chance to sit down with her at Vision Expo West and talk about all the things she’s learned and done on her path to her current position, and what advice she has for young optometrists.
How did you get into optometry?
“According to my father, when I was in second grade, the teacher sent a note home saying that she thought I had a vision problem,” so Dr. Knight’s father started taking her to vision therapy at the Illinois College of Optometry. Every Saturday they would make the long drive to her appointment. “One day he was picking me up from vision therapy, and I looked at him and I said, ‘Dad, I’m going to be an eye doctor.’” She laughs. “And he smiled, and said, ‘That’s great,’ but he had the bubble in his head going, you’re 8.” Ironically, Dr. Knight skipped a grade (2nd-4th) after completing vision therapy.
But that dream persisted, even when the pre-optometry advisor in college told her he would not provide a recommendation, because he did not believe she could be an optometrist. He indicated there was no way she was going to get into optometry school without it. She got into all three she applied to.
“I’ve had a lot of adversity,” says Dr. Knight. “I started optometry school thirty years ago, when there weren’t a lot of people that looked like me either because I was a woman, African American, or both. And a lot of people that didn’t think I should be there. So every step of the way I had to keep myself motivated, and I had to give myself positive affirmations. My family was also a very strong support system. My mother and sisters all have at least one master’s degree, and my mother (who was passionate about addressing mental health) retired at age 75 as the CEO of a mental health agency. So, not succeeding was not an option. Today, my husband, Harvey Echols, MD and I are a team. We support each other’s careers, laying a strong foundation for our son.”
Envisioning the future of optometry
In order to achieve all the things she’s done in her career — from hospital based optometry-ophthalmology co-management, private practice ownership to a corporate executive role not to mention a plethora of other endeavors — she’s had to be methodical about going after her goals. A large part of that involves strategic self-reflection.
On December 31st of every year (her birthday is January 1st), Dr. Knight sits down — “With a nice glass of Cabernet,” she laughs — and works on vision boards. Over the year, she accumulates cutouts that resonate with her in one way or another, and she puts them together into vision boards. “Often I’ll put it aside and I might not look back at that board until the next year, but when I look back at that board the next year, half of the things on the board I’ve done.”
“They’re a blueprint, if you will, of what’s in your subconscious,” she says. And tapping into that, even to clear out your mind, is one way of clearly defining your goals, no matter how long-term or short-term they are.
“We get so busy in our lives that we don’t carve out the time to continue to grow as individuals,” says Dr. Knight. “And when you’re not growing, you’re [receding].” She takes every chance she can to learn new things, whether through books — she’s a voracious reader — or through continuing education. She encourages doctors to take CE courses even if they don’t get credit, since education is a valuable lifelong process.
“A lot of my journey has been putting in the work, doing a lot of reading, making sure I continue to be disciplined and continue to motivate and be open to critique,” says Dr. Knight. “When I wanted to broaden our practice offerings into complementary (holistic) care, my associates and I studied to become certified health coaches, and I completed a fellowship in anti-aging regenerative medicine (FAARM). Most of the doctors in my class were internal medicine physicians. We all had a common interest in pursuing the fellowship . . . wanting to provide more than a bandage to the growing chronic inflammatory diseases our patients were presenting with.”
“You have to do the work. There’s no way around that.”
Changes in the profession
“I picked optometry because I was interested in eyecare and I was also interested in business,” Dr. Knight says. It’s often difficult for optometrists to bridge the gap between medical practice and the business of their work. “I think we can be very myopic, if you will,” says Dr. Knight. This is particularly true when it comes to hiring and managing a practice.
It’s important to consider the flexibility of value. ODs — whether they’re new grads or experienced professionals — want to give to their practice and create value, but not necessarily in terms of forty plus hours in office. Many young ODs want to do marketing, research, and brand development on their own time, from home or in the evenings, and not concentrate forty physical hours at location, and that may be an efficient way of growing the practice, especially to a particular cohort of patients.
“So think about that,” Dr. Knight says. “If you’ve got a practice setting that doesn’t allow for the fact that some of your best and brightest minds are going to need to operate in that manner, and you don’t have a network or a setup that’s going to support them in doing that, then obviously the business is going to suffer.” Just hold them accountable for results.
Optometrists are being more proactive than ever. We interviewed ODs at Vision Expo East 2017 to learn what they were doing to meet the future of optometry!
On leadership and ownership
“Some leadership is organic, and some leadership is acquired, either through book knowledge or experiences, and maybe a combination of all of those things. I was fortunate to be awarded a Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship. It was a very competitive three year leadership training and development program. I was also a White House Fellowship Regional Finalist early in my career. I have always been interested in advocacy. My uncle is a US Congressman. Both opportunities really helped me focus and hone my skills and interests. And just because you get to one level of leadership doesn’t mean that you still don’t have an opportunity to grow and learn more,” says Dr. Knight, stressing the importance of “showing up.”
“I have a lot of people ask, how do you get into leadership roles? And I say sometimes you have to be available, you have to make your opinion known, and you have to volunteer. You’re either part of the solution, or you’re part of the problem. You can’t always get paid for everything you do, because you get paid in other ways. I’ve also been asked how I predict future changes. I don’t predict, I prepare. I stay open to evolution, and then look for how it can be harnessed for the best use for patients and our profession.”
When Dr. Knight was in her early thirties, she bought a practice from a retiring optometrist (who then stayed as an employee). Once she took over the practice from its former owner, Dr. Knight says, “I moved the practice to a larger building, a multidisciplinary building. It was a huge amount of money at that time, but I did it because the rental revenues covered the expenses, and I thought I’d be practicing for a very long time, and it didn’t make sense to me to pay rent for thirty or forty years. At that early time in my career, I had a lot of responsibility. I was afraid, but I did it anyway.”
“So I bought this building, and wanted to upgrade the facility, and that was challenging because despite having a great credit score, I was asked unusual questions by the bank—questions like, well, are you married? Are you planning on getting married? Are you planning on having children?” Dr. Knight’s exasperation is clear. “What man gets asked that when they go in for a loan?” She eventually did get the loan.
Dr. Knight had a very specific vision for her practice. “I really wanted [my patients] to have a premier experience in the office that was almost concierge-like,” she says. But things at her practice weren’t immediately coming together the way she wanted, and she realized a way to fix it. “It dawned on me, maybe my staff had never be treated that way, and I’m asking them to treat patients in a way that no one’s ever treated them. So I set up a retreat.”
She already did an off-site training and appreciation event with her staff every year. “It was expensive, but a great investment. Unfortunately, I would hear a lot of my colleagues say ‘Why do you do that? That’s kind of expensive. I can’t afford to do that.’ My retort, ‘why wouldn’t you invest back in your business that way? They are the biggest asset you have.’”
For this specific event, she had a limo pick up her staff and associate doctors from the office, who had been told not to wear their scrubs but to come to the office dressed in business attire. “I took them to the nicest five-star restaurant; they had a seven-course meal, and I had pre-arranged with each of the chefs to come out and tell them how they create the experience, because that was the theme — Creating the Experience.”
“They were just floored, but I saw a complete difference in their attitude afterwards, because they really understood what I was trying to do — the way that I wanted the patients to feel and be treated”
Essilor and the future of optometry
When we ask her about her plans at Essilor and what she’s excited about, Dr. Knight laughs. “In corporate, companies walk a fine line in not always showcasing the really good things that they do for the industry, you don’t want to come off as being braggadocios about it, but ECPs want to know who you are, what you are doing to contribute to the industry and how you are partnering with the professionals to augment patient care. Essilor is involved in a lot of really great philanthropic activities. We help a lot of doctors with their philanthropic efforts as well, but many of our customers don’t know about these efforts. Providing eye care support to our customers and to their patients, ladders up to our mission of improving lives by improving sight. The commitment comes from the top, in that the Leadership Team includes an optometrist (me representing our customer).”
“During my on-boarding, I was struck by the fact that not only are we [Essilor employees] encouraged to have a comprehensive eye exam every year, you’re actually penalized via your benefits if you don’t. So think about this: over 8,000 employees going out to doctors all around.” That’s living into the belief, as a company, that comprehensive eye examinations matter!
Dr. Knight is adamant that good leadership means supporting those who follow you. You have to make sure your employees are given the support they need to live your mission, or you’re not providing the tools they need to succeed, or to make your business successful.
“All in all, optometry has been a blessing to me, first as a patient, and later as a doctor and industry executive. So many people have helped me along the way, and I hope that I can continue to pay it forward.”
“If nothing else, if people just really get clear about where they feel their passion is, then you can take calculated risks, because you weigh it all out. Once you’ve done the analysis, don’t wait until you’re one hundred percent sure of something: jump and grow your wings on the way down.”
essilor Marketing technology 2018-12-11
Eleanor Gold
About Eleanor Gold
3 Patient Education Pearls in Optometry
Delivering Bad News – How to Handle Tough Patient Conversations
Allergan Optometry Jumpstart Program New Grad Video
Utilizing TearLab’s Osmolarity System and RPS’s InflammaDry in Dry Eye Patients
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4520
|
__label__wiki
| 0.933633
| 0.933633
|
It's the Dinero, Caudillo
By Francisco Toro
Why Spain can't anger Hugo Chávez, even if he's aiding Basque terrorists.
What were two members of a violent Basque separatist group doing with 11 members of Colombia's narco-Marxist insurgency in a remote corner of southwestern Venezuela in August 2007? According to a blockbuster indictment handed down by a Spanish judge last week, they were participating in a kind of intercontinental terrorist training camp held under the aegis of the Venezuelan military.
More specifically, the two members of ETA, or "Basque Homeland and Freedom," were teaching the rebels from FARC, or "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia," how to use plastic explosives and urban guerrilla tactics, such as rigging cell phones to work as bomb fuses. This unlikely alliance between FARC, a peasant-based Marxist movement financed by a massive drug-trafficking operation, and ETA, a nationalist group that specializes in shooting Spanish policemen, civil servants, and local politicians in the back of the head, dates back as far as 1993. According to the indictment, beginning in 2000, ETA plotted with FARC to murder a range of leading Colombian political figures when they traveled to Spain, including sitting president Alvaro Uribe.
But it's Venezuela's alleged involvement with two of the Spanish-speaking world's most notorious terror groups that has set off a political firestorm in Spain, where the center-left government enjoys a close relationship with the Venezuelan caudillo, Hugo Chávez. The indictment, which is the culmination of several years of investigation by Spanish and Colombian police, claims that Chavez's soldiers and a military intelligence officer escorted the FARC members to their August 2007 training site. What's more, among the seven FARC and six ETA members charged with conspiracy to murder and holding explosives in collaboration with a terrorist group is Arturo Cubillas Fontán, a longtime ETA leader who emigrated to Venezuela in 1989. According to El Pais, he works as head of security for Venezuela's ministry of Agriculture. (Venezuelan government sources have refused to clarify his position.) And his wife has worked in a variety of public roles throughout the Chavez administration including, currently, as head of public relations for the Agriculture ministry.
By exposing a possible link between the Chávez government and an international terror conspiracy, the indictment is a particularly hot potato in the lap of Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, whose warm relations with Venezuela's strong man have yielded invaluable commercial advantages for Spanish multinationals. As U.S.-Venezuelan ties have worsened over the past ten years, Spanish firms have swarmed to do business in Venezuela. Today, 55 percent of Venezuela's third-largest bank is owned by Spain's sprawling BBVA bank; the country's leading mobile phone network is owned by Telefónica, Spain's privatized telecoms giant; the largest of its new electric power plants are being built by Spanish energy companies Iberdrola and Elecnor; and some of its biggest new oil contracts are going to Spanish oil giant Repsol.
Additionally, in a quirk of timing, the Venezuelan Navy received the first of four military patrol ships from Spanish shipbuilder Navantia just one day after the ETA-FARC indictment was handed down. In effect, Spain is now selling military hardware to a country whose government allegedly sponsors a terrorist group plotting aggression against the Spanish state.
No issue is as politically sensitive in Spain as Basque terrorism, so it's hardly surprising that opposition conservatives have wasted no time slamming the Zapatero government. Jorge Moragas, foreign affairs spokesman for the conservative People’s Party, decried the “excessive closeness between” Venezuela and Spain, and the party’s secretary general has called on Zapatero to consider breaking diplomatic relations with Venezuela.
But such a move would likely spur Venezuela to expropriate Spanish investments, which would freeze the profits of Madrid's multinationals (we're talking billions of euros) in Caracas. It wouldn’t be the first time Chávez has muscled his international business partners: Two years ago, his government shut down most commerce with Colombia over Uribe’s allegation that Venezuela was funding Marxist guerillas, and launched a wave of expropriations against its neighbor that continues to this day. In other words, Chávez has leverage with Spain, he knows it, and he's not afraid to use it.
This might explain why Madrid has treaded so carefully on the indictment crisis. Zapatero has mildly said he would seek “explanations” from the Venezuelan government and proceed accordingly. But even that formulation drew an angry response from the bombastic Chávez. He blustered in a recent speech, "I don’t have to explain anything, not to Zapatero or anyone!”
In response, Spain’s foreign minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, hurried to note that Spanish authorities were merely seeking “information” in the case, not “explanations.” But this deference left Zapatero's government exposed to fire on the domestic front. Conservative leader Mariano Rajoy called his country's virtual apology to Chávez “absolutely grotesque.”
This paints a vivid picture of the political corner Zapatero’s government has backed itself into: Protect Spanish investment in Venezuela, and you’re soft on ETA, but make a principled stand, and you put hundreds of Spanish jobs at risk. Signs so far indicate the government will swallow hard and continue to placate Venezuela. But what happens if, next week (or next month, or next year), a high-profile Colombian public figure takes a trip to Spain and gets shot in the back of the head?
Francisco Toro blogs about Venezuela in the Chávez era at Caracas Chronicles.
For more TNR, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
World, Caracas, Madrid, El Pais, Spain, Elecnor, Venezuela, Iberdrola, Alvaro Uribe, Hugo Ch, Arturo Cubillas Font, Jorge Moragas, Luis Rodr, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, ETA, Spanish and Colombian police, Venezuelan government, Venezuelan military, Venezuelan Navy
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4521
|
__label__wiki
| 0.965113
| 0.965113
|
Arsenal’s Emery values winning a trophy above Champions League return
Reuters/Andrew Boyers
Arsenal coach Unai Emery would rather focus on winning the Europa League than worry about securing a place in next season’s Champions League, the Spaniard said on Wednesday ahead of his side’s semi-final second leg against Valencia on Thursday.
The Londoners have practically blown their chances of finishing in the Premier League’s top four after Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion, meaning winning Europe’s second prize is their only realistic route back into the Champions League.
But Emery, who guided Sevilla to three consecutive Europa League crowns, said returning Arsenal to Europe’s elite competition for the first time in three years was not on top of his wish list.
“The Europa League is a trophy and we are playing in it to win it,” Emery, whose side hold a 3-1 lead going into the second leg in Valencia, told a news conference.
“The second motivation for us is that it will give us a Champions League place. We know it’s going to be difficult, and we have no chance in the Premier League, but with ambition and a strong mentality we know we can win.”
Emery spent four seasons as coach of Valencia, leading them to top-three finishes in LaLiga in his final three campaigns, yet he never endeared himself to the club’s famously demanding supporters because his side never challenged for trophies.
He also angered the club for an exuberant celebration when his Sevilla side knocked Valencia out of the 2014 Europa League semi-finals with a last-gasp goal from Stephane Mbia.
“I enjoyed myself a lot here and I put my heart into my work, although I’m left with the sensation that I should have fought for a trophy here,”Emery said.
“When I was at Sevilla they prioritised reaching a final over qualifying for the Champions League, each club has its objectives and the important thing is to achieve them and I did that at both clubs and that’s why I’m here at Arsenal.
“But most of all I’m focused on the present and I’m most concerned about how my team responds tomorrow, I hope we are competitive in this great stadium.”
REUTERS/Reporting by Richard Martin, editing by Pritha Sarkar
Arsenalfootball newsUEFA Champions LeagueUEFA Europa LeagueUnai EmeryValencia
Adidas extends sponsorship of Real Madrid until 2028
Real Madrid award stadium remodelling contract to FCC
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4523
|
__label__wiki
| 0.585052
| 0.585052
|
Physicists take first steps to harness antimatter
Video – “Antimatter – harnessing the power of positrons”
“This morning, NASA successfully launched the world’s first gamma ray shuttle to the galactic center of the Milky Way. Once there, geo-astronauts say they can mine and harvest enough raw antimatter to power Earth’s energy needs for the next decade. Unfortunately, they won’t be back for centuries…”
Although we won’t see that story on tonight’s six o’ clock news, Kelvin Lynn is serious when he says it is possible to harness the power of antimatter – and that it may be conceivable to collect that antimatter from a mother-lode hiding out near the center of our galaxy.
Marc Weber and Kelvin Lynn (l-r)
Lynn – professor in the departments of Physics and Mechanical & Materials Engineering and director of the Center for Materials Research – and Marc Weber, staff scientist in the Department of Physics, have developed an unprecedented concept that could offer the world its first practical method for containing and transporting a type of antimatter particle called the positron.
If successful, their theory could lead to large-scale production of antimatter fuel capable of powering deep space travel – as well as a host of other, more earthbound, applications.
“It’s the most efficient energy source that we know of. It’s 100 percent efficient – with no radioactive residue,” said Lynn.
As two of the foremost positron researchers in the world, Lynn and Weber have the capacity to produce more positrons at WSU than any other facility in the nation. With a deuteron accelerator in the W.M. Keck Antimatter Laboratory, they can create positron beams that generate up to 120 billion positrons per second – or up to 10 trillion usable positrons per day.
They said it could never be done
Because of their expertise in the field, the pair was challenged by the U.S. Air Force several years ago to come up with a way to trap these positrons – specifically by storing them in plasma. (Plasma is a unique type of matter composed of ionized gas.)
Despite their best efforts, however, they were unable to overcome the repulsive forces present when a billion or so positrons are forced together into a plasma “trap.” Since particles of like charge repel each other, the energy required to hold the positrons together quickly exceeds the energy that would be gained through their “annihilation” – the explosion that occurs when an antimatter positron meets its matter opposite – the electron – and releases gamma rays.
Until now, no one had discovered a way to circumvent the repulsion problem – and the general consensus was that it was impossible. When even Lynn could not figure out a way to make it work, he literally went outside the box and turned to tubes.
It had occurred to him, one restless night, that rather than trying to contain positrons in an enclosed space, they could instead be lined up side-by-side in an infinitely long and narrow vacuum tube. From there, he realized, the tube could be cut up into tiny straws – each containing just one positron.
With several million dollars in federal funding approved for this project, Lynn and Weber have already designed a prototype trap – about the size of a Coke can – that can hold an array of 10,000 tubes each with a diameter of 100 micrometers and 0.1 meter length. Their goal is to store up to one trillion positrons for 10 days.
The key is in the coating
The key factor behind the success of the trap is a mirror-like, metallic coating on the walls of each tube. The repulsive forces of each positron are bounced back by the mirror and can no longer affect any of the other positrons. In effect, many more tubes can be added to the trap with no further energy expenditure.
Also helping hold the positrons in place are magnetic fields, which must be perfectly aligned within each tube. At the end of the trap is a small metal “gate” that could be charged with a 9-volt battery.
“When we want to use the positrons, we could lower the voltage, open the gate and let some of the positrons come out and annihilate to give us energy,” said Lynn.
“The Coke can (trap) can store up to one trillion positrons, which would create a tremendous amount of energy,” he said. “When matter comes together with antimatter, all that’s left is pure energy.”
Indeed, just 0.3 milligrams of antimatter – the size of two grains of sand – packs the same energy potential as about 1, 700 tons of liquid hydrogen-oxygen fuel used to power the space shuttle. With only two milligrams of antimatter and a 10 pound trap, Lynn speculates that astronauts would be able to fly into deep space.
“While the experimental pursuit and prototype test of this idea is technologically challenging, it complies with all known fundamental (laws of) science,” Lynn said. “Our concept is based on well established and experimentally proven physics – but we are extending it into previously unexplored territory.”
To the galaxy and beyond
And if that concept is confirmed, “it is just a matter of extrapolation,” said Lynn.
The trap design could be scaled to a size large enough to power space ships, for example – which would use the gamma rays to propel them along.
“They would slowly push you faster and faster … until you eventually reached the speed of light,” he said. “Then, you could actually go mine antimatter near the galactic center and put it in the traps – and from there, you could travel anywhere you’d want to. You wouldn’t have to make it anymore.”
Just recently, Lynn explained, astronomers have detected massive amounts of annihilation and gamma rays coming from the center of our Milky Way galaxy – signaling a large cache of antimatter in that location. He said that ever since the inception of the big bang theory, physicists have wondered about an apparent lack of antimatter in our universe. It now seems that at least some of it is being hoarded near the galactic center.
Portable positrons
On a more terrestrial level, Weber said that “most people can probably relate to antimatter in terms of positron emission tomography. The PET scan is a medical device that uses positron-emitting isotopes to diagnose biomedical conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and very early stages of cancer.”
Worldwide, one of the biggest threats to human health is a lack of available clean water. Lynn is using positrons to help improve nanofiltration technology that may make water treatment systems much more effective.
In addition, positrons also are used for studying biological, chemical and environmental systems – as well as for measuring atomic interactions, global warming and dark matter. In the world of materials research, positrons help identify defects in semi-conductors, insulators and metals.
“Right now, they have to bring the semi-conductors to us because we have the positron beams,” said Lynn. “But if we had these little traps, we could take them other places. We could have portable positrons.”
Like lasers and transistors – both of which had their skeptics when first invented – Lynn said harnessing positrons could open up a “universe” of unexplored ideas and uses.
“It could happen in your lifetime,” he said.
To learn more about positron research, see online @ http://www.cmr.wsu.edu/
or http://www.cmr.wsu.edu/facilities/keck
Creating antimatter
The concept of an “antimatter” world first arose in 1928 when the fields of quantum mechanics and relativity theory were just emerging. In 1933, American physicist, Carl Anderson confirmed that reality when he identified the first-known antiparticle, the positron, from cosmic rays – and was awarded the Nobel Prize.
(photo: curved line on left gave first proof of an
antiparticle. Courtesy Kelvin Lynn.)
Simply speaking, antimatter is the exact opposite of matter. For every electron, proton or neutron in an atom, there exists a particle of opposite charge. Right now, there actually could be an anti-you sitting in front of an anti-computer in an anti-universe somewhere. But if you happened to meet yourself and shake hands – Boom! When matter and anti-matter meet, they annihilate each other – leaving nothing but energy behind.
“We can create antimatter very easily in the matter world,” said professor Kelvin Lynn. “It just doesn’t live very long because it eventually finds (its opposite) an electron … and annihilates. However, if you put it in a vacuum, it will live forever.”
Lynn and staff scientist Marc Weber are world-renowned for their ability to create positrons. Using a 3 million volt deuteron accelerator in the Keck Antimatter Laboratory, they shoot beams of particles at carbon atoms with such force that they are pounded into unstable nitrogen atoms that further decay, releasing positrons in the process. A similar reaction takes place in the PET scan with positron emission tomography.
In order to harness the energy of positrons, Weber listed three problems that must be overcome.
“We need to be able to generate many positrons; we need a vacuum container to store them in; and then we must convert their annihilation power into something that drives an engine or turns on the lights. Right now we are focusing on the storage problem.”
center for materials research
Kelvin Lynn
Marc Weber
positrons
School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4524
|
__label__wiki
| 0.552472
| 0.552472
|
Home :: Articles :: Spirit Guides
The Teachings of Spirit Guides Part One
By:Richard Rowley
Date: Thu,07 Jun 2012
Submitter:Richard Rowley
Meeting Your Guides - A Guided Visualisation With Kerin Webb
Guide Power!
Wolf Running
The Unorthodox Writer
The Ancient Mystery Schools
Meeting your gatekeeper
Psychic Art
Native American Spirit Guides
Royal Interest in Estelle Roberts and her guide Red Cloud
T.K. Weatherhead
The Teachings of our Spirit Guides Part 1
A review of “The Eternal Resurrection” by Agresara.
All of my articles are based on my own experiences supplemented by a review of books and reports selected from the vast Spiritualist literature available from authors who were and are either mediums, psychical researchers or enlightened enquirers from many professions and walks of life. They are intended to stimulate an interest towards further reading and study. Interesting though an interview or presentation on YouTube or in a documentary film may be, or even a Blog, Tweet or Facebook commentary, the media can only skim the surface of a subject or event. So, for an in-depth understanding of the life of our soul and spirit, we need time for study, reflection and meditation. Hopefully these articles, reviews and other valuable information on TheSpiritGuides.co.uk site can offer the reader doorways to a more complete understanding of the material and spiritual worlds all of us live in. These two worlds may seems miles, or aeons apart, but in fact they are inter-twined and forever influencing each other.
The portrait beside this article is of my great-grandfather Trenham King Weatherhead, one of several ancestors who represented the Church Missionary Society in India and Africa in the 1850s and 60s. This was the same time that the Modern Spiritualist movement came into being, and one of his cousins, David Weatherhead, was championing its cause with publication of his Yorkshire Spiritualist Telegraph, where he introduced England to such mediums as Mrs W. R. Hayden and Daniel Dunglas Home. My purpose in juxtaposing these two forebears, T.K. and David Weatherhead is to contrast the two sides to religion, the pomp and ceremony of the Church of England, and even more so, that of the Roman Catholic Church, as opposed to the simplicity and directness of Spiritualism and the work of our mediums. The service held in St. Paul’s Cathedral this Tuesday celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee shows what high spiritual energy can be created in an inspiring and colourful Cathedral Ceremony, with beautiful music, a stimulating sermon and meticulously rehearsed processions. This is the worldly side of religion, leading to a lifelong impression and memory for those who took part, or who merely viewed the event on television. But all that cannot compare with a direct experience of contact with the World of Spirit. What formal, orthodox religion provides is a sense of security and elevation of the spirit and emotions from a shared religious event. Spiritualism goes a step further by reaching into the Spirit World, and bringing back assurance, rather than faith, that our loved ones who are now beyond the veil are still very much alive, and their knowledge and higher teachings can provide the further direction and education which the prophets of our orthodox world religions originally hinted at many millennia ago..
Rather than break with tradition and orthodox religion, as some Spiritualists have done, or as Mao Tse Tung tried to do in China, with devastating effect, with his Cultural Revolution, banishing the four “Olds,” I will try here to combine and reconcile the efforts of my two apparently incompatible Weatherhead forebears, and show how religion and mediumship support each other, being inter-dependent, rather than co-dependent. One grew out of the other, and vice-versa. Another Weatherhead who took a midway position between the Church of England and Spiritualism was the Methodist minister, Leslie Weatherhead. A number of his books discuss life after death, and how spirit influences our lives.
The meeting point is in the field of Spirit Guides, which is precisely what this website devotes itself to. Our Spirit Guides originally provided us with our Bibles, Sutras, Ancient Wisdom, and many other Scriptures. The word of God or a prophet divinely inspired became the shared belief, the faith of a tribe or nation. Now, in our Global society, we are coming to see that the human race shares one Divinity, whatever different names our separate faiths and nations may call Him or It. All the Spirit Teachings we have received from our different guides over the past 160 years are in agreement over this.
So now we can start to review these teachings from our Spirit Guides. The spirit teachings from guides and entities discuss the Two Worlds of mind and matter, or spirit and physical experience, the latter derived from and originating in the latter. These teachings may be given in public, dictated to a medium in a trance, as in the case of Ivy Northage, David Jevons, Estelle Roberts, Jane Roberts, Jach Pursel, Maurice Barbanell, Stainton Moses and many other mediums and channels over the years, or they may be presented more privately in the form of automatic or inspirational writing. The authenticity of the teaching can be assessed by the quality of the material, its evidential nature, its relevance to our own lives and current events, and its compatibility with other spirit teachings.
I am starting this series by looking at teachings received from the spirit guides of H.S.W. a medium or sensitive, who presented them in three volumes between 1959 and 1970, voumes 1 and 2 published by Sidgwick and Jackson Limited, London and volume 3 by the Regency Press, . The title is “The Eternal Resurrection,” by Agresara (the collective name for H.S.W.’s several guides). Agresara has the meaning of “pioneer.”
In the first volume released in 1959, the publisher announced that the teachings range over a wide field, from the origin and nature of God, to life in Spirit, faith, prayer, Christianity, the after-life reincarnation, the power of thought, spiritual evolution and other related subjects presented to meet the needs of humanity in this critical age.
This work was a timely occasion, to offset the Church’s indifference to Spiritualism. Two Archbishops had quashed the findings of their Committee’s own report on Spiritualism, but they had been leaked to the press, At the time of our present Queen's Coronation in 1952, some Anglican priests, a number of journalists and service personnel, a nun and a medium came together to found the Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies, and it was officially inaugurated in 1953 and started publishing many books on Spiritualism, research and mediumship. Its good work continues to this day, and independent researchers such as Sir Alister Hardy and Frances Banks also published their own collections and reviews of religious experiences. The Church is still generally unaware of the valuable work of our mediums, in spite of this small organisation within its own borders, but hopefully the work being done here on TheSpiritGuides.co.uk website is beginning to break through the boundaries of this orthodox inertia.
I am unable to quote at length from the Agresara volumes, beyond including a short paragraph discussing the nature of Spirit, as an illustration of the style and quality of the writing.
"Certain mysterious happenings cannot so far be explained by scientific knowledge...... you can guess what this mysterious agent is that is operated by the Superlatively Supreme Intelligence. But when you are asked where Spirit is located, and how it is formed, it is difficult for any of you to answer those questions; unless by practice you have succeeded in actually identifying yourself with this Spirit, by having temporarily surrendered that human conception of being an independent entity, so as to become part of that far Superior One, which actually comprises every human quality, and likewise, every other quality in animal, bird, fish, and everything that grows. So let us ponder on what this means. Then everyone and everything that lives and breathes contains this mysterious entity, and it continues to be present in all these things, as long as they evolve in accordance with the Laws of Cosmic Evolution. And should those laws be broken, that immediately sets up a barrier between this ever-present entity and whatever creature or creation has disobeyed those laws, which were ordained for no other purpose than the gradual development (which must be voluntarily accepted), of everything in which it temporarily resides. And when these different objects are sufficiently evolved, to develop consciousness, naturally they fully understand their relationship and responsibilities towards this entity. And, what is more, there also develops a feeling, first of respect for this guiding principle, and later on, a genuine devotion to what they have come to recognize as their actual Creator - the Superlatively Supreme Intelligence."
Agresara then goes on to discuss how this Spirit which exists in every living thing came into existence, and what it is made of? It is certainly very real, and present in all our lives. A clairvoyant can see it, when a person is about to die. The ernergy of the Spirit leaves the dying body, and more often than not, turns into an orb of light before gradually fading and vanishing, often accompanied by other kindred spirits, taking the person "home."
The 36 short chapters of Volume One provide excellent starting points for group discussion, or personal meditation, so I would encourage interested readers to obtain copies of these volumes. The next article will review Volumes 2 and 3, but to conclude this review, I will summarise the topics presented in Volume One, from the page of Contents, as follows:-
The Nature and Origin of God; the Absolute; Conditions of Mind throughout Evolution; Progressive Evolution of the Divine Ordinances; the Maximum of Development; Spiritual Values as compared with Earthly ones; Forces controlling the Human Mind; Spirit in Creative Thinking; the Potentialities of Thought; Telepathy and Thought Transmission; Life in Spirit; Entry of Spirit; Spirit: its Nature and Operation; Spirit in Action; Introduction to Spiritual Studies; a Flashing Revelation of Spirit; Christianity; Religious Intolerance and Errors; Christianity and the Chief World Religions; The Birth of a Religion; the Power of Faith; Death and Rebirth; Paradise, Purgatory and Forgetfulness; Heaven; Future Soul Experiences; the Astral Plane; Reincarnation; Karma - Cause and Effect; Soul Emancipation; an Explanation of Prayer; Prayer and Meditation; Ghosts and Possession; Spirit Guides and Angels: Spirit Entities; Development of Moral Character; Free Will and Self-Determination; Aspects of Prayer.
[further review of the subsequent volumes by “Agresara” to tollow]
R.T.C. Rowley
A Review of Psychical Research - Part Ten Gladys Childs sums up her life's work.
A Review of Psychical Research - Part Nine. Explorers on both sides of the veil.
A Review of Psychical Research - Part Eight. Spiriit Release, and How Long have we been here ? Al
A Review of Psychical Research - Part Seven. Reginald Lester
A Review of Psychical Research - Part Six- Heart Attacks, NDEs and James Peebles
A Review of Psychical Research - Part Five. James Van Praagh
A Review of Psychical Research - Part Four. Implications of the evidence for the afterlife
A Review of Psychical Research - Part Three. Frances Banks (cont.)
A Review of Psychical Research - Part Two
A review of Psychical Research - Part One
We are immortal (part one)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4530
|
__label__wiki
| 0.982746
| 0.982746
|
March 3, 2016 Nintendo Direct Recap
Cory Clearman 3 years ago
Now this was an unprecedented action by Nintendo. Two Nintendo Directs within the same week? Who could've guessed that? This Direct in question was much longer than the Pokemon Direct that aired on February 26 and revealed information for upcoming games for this spring and summer. A lot of what was shown was already known about or had been leaked the day before the direct, but some new stuff that had yet to be announced was revealed as well. Let's take a look.
Now because the last direct was exclusively Pokemon themed and announced the new Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon games, this one had no Pokemon related news to speak of. Instead a bunch of equally exciting information was shown off.
Star Fox Zero was shown off again and was officially announced that it would be released in tandem on April 22 with a secondary game called Star Fox Guard. The Fox amiibo was also shown off in the game to show that it would unlock the Retro Arwing for play.
Splatoon will be receiving a balancing patch on March 8 along with some new weapon sets that will be released in two separate updates in the near future.
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was shown off a bit with the addition of a release date for both versions. Wii U is June 24 and 3DS is March 18.
New construction features in the form of Pink Coins, Keys, Locked Doors and Skewers will be added to Super Mario Maker in its next update (Still no sloped platforms though...). In addition to these, a new Super Expert 100-Mario Challenge game mode will also be added which can be played to try and earn new Mystery Mushroom costumes.
The Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover game for Wii U now has an official English name and a release date. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE will be released June 24.
Paper Mario: Color Splash was unexpectedly revealed for the Wii U and will be released some time in 2016. No other specifics such as amiibo support or a demo were announced for it.
Pokken Tournament recapped some if its features and reconfirmed its March 18 release date.
Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge was revealed and would be released as an early access title, with the purchase of a compatible amiibo, on March 25 and with a free public release on both Wii U and 3DS on April 28.
Super NES titles were announced for Virtual Console on the New 3DS and will be incompatible with the older hardware.
Hyrule Warriors Legends was announced to be getting a Season Pass of DLC and a free downloadable character in the form of Medli from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The Season Pass will be released on the same day as the game on March 25.
Monster Hunter X was revealed to be coming stateside with the name Monster Hunter Generations and was shown to have Fire Emblem DLC as well. It should be released some time in the summer.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force showed off some new gameplay and some details about the game's story was explained. It has a projected release of late spring.
Fire Emblem Fates had some DLC shown off in addition to the final downloable story line, Revelation.
Dragon Quest VII was announced for a stateside release some time in 2016.
Bravely Second: End Layer was announced for an April release with the addition of a rather impressive collector's edition to pre-order.
The Free-to-Play Lost Reavers was announced to be released as an open beta on April 14 with the full version being released two weeks later.
A rather unusual new game called Pocket Card Jockey by Game Freak was announced for the 3DS and will be released in May.
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 was announced for a summer release on the 3DS eShop.
In addition, Disney Art Academy was also announced for the 3DS. It will be released on May 13.
Rhythm Heaven Megamix was announced to finally getting released overseas after being in Japan for nearly a year. It will be released some time in 2016. I'm estimating a summer launch.
A brand new Kirby game for the 3DS called Kirby: Planet Robobot was announced for the 3DS and will include amiibo support and a brand new sub-game called Team Kirby Clash. In addition to this, a brand new series of amiibo based on the Kirby series was announced. The game will be released on June 10, but the release date of the amiibo has yet to be confirmed.
And finally, the My Nintendo loyalty program was officially launched and will also allow you to preregister Nintendo's first smartphone app, Miitomo.
Being the Nintendo fan that I am, I will most definitely be trying to get most of these games and I am extremely excited for the new Kirby game that will soon be released. I wish I didn't have to repurchase all of those SNES games though, but I'm sure My Nintendo will be able to remedy this in the future. But until then, I'll be seeing you.
Nintendo Direct News March 2016 WiiU 3DS
Chronicles of Elyria - The MMO of Dreams.
Anon E. Moose 3 years ago
10 More Games that I Personally Think the Switch Needs to Have
Tips for Surviving Breath of the Wild's Master Mode
Cory Clearman 1 year ago
Analyzing the Nintendo Switch Super Bowl Commercial
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4532
|
__label__wiki
| 0.657207
| 0.657207
|
Lawmaker bashes creation in pro-Darwin resolution
Bob Kellogg (OneNewsNow.com)
In an attempted slap at Christianity, a Democratic congressman wants to recognize "Darwin Day" to honor the man behind the theory of evolution.
Rep. James Himes, who represents Connecticut's 4th District, introduced House Resolution 548 in anticipation of Charles Darwin's birthdate on February 12.
This year marks the second time Himes has introduce the resolution, which is intended to celebrate Darwin's scientific discoveries as well to as knock so-called creationism teaching.
The original resolution complained that approximately one-third of U.S. high school biology teachers are "advocates of creationism," and further complained that some states are allowed to teach intelligent design.
What the congressman is attempting, says Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis, is to teach kids "there's no meaning in life ultimately. There's no ultimate hope. Life is hopeless, purposeless, meaningless."
Ham, a "Young Earth" creationist, uses his Answers ministry to defend the biblical account that mankind was created by God, with Adam and Eve as the first humans, and mankind is unique from all other creation.
Atheists, meanwhile, have seized upon Darwin and his theory to conclude that mankind is a soulless creature that evolved to his present state through millions of years of evolution, an undirected process that Darwin refers to a "natural selection" in his works.
Darwin, however, was not as anti-religious as many of his present-day acolytes. He studied theology at Cambridge University, and a 2011 American Thinker story points out that references to "Creator" and "God" are sprinkled throughout Darwin's sixth edition of his Origin of the Species.
"Toward the end of his life," writer Michael Bargo Jr. writes, "Darwin's reluctance to discuss God diminished."
Darwin used the word "Creator" nine times and "God" twice in that final edition, and the closing paragraph suggests a world of natural selection that was "breathed by the Creator" into forms of life.
Darwin's theory has been criticized by "Old Earth" proponents, too. They use the argument of "irreducible complexity" in the human cell, and the Cambrian Explosion that shows complex creatures, to argue that life has design and therefore a designer.
"Secular humanists talk about the separation of church and state," Ham observes. "They want their religion of evolution, their religion of naturalism, atheism, imposed on generations of our kids and our tax dollars are being used to do that."
Positives to the pipelines
There may be an environmental benefit to the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4534
|
__label__cc
| 0.706818
| 0.293182
|
NS Records
What are NS records? Why are they fundamental for your website?
The NS (Name Server) records of a domain point out which DNS servers are authoritative for its zone. In simple terms, the zone is the group of all records for the domain, so when you open a URL in a browser, your personal computer asks the DNS servers world-wide where the domain is hosted and from which servers the DNS records for the domain name must be retrieved. With this a browser finds out what the A or AAAA record of the domain is so that the latter is mapped to an IP and the web site content is requested from the right location, a mail relay server discovers which server takes care of the e-mails for the domain (MX record) so a message can be sent to the needed mailbox, and so on. Any modification of these sub-records is done with the help of the company whose name servers are used, allowing you to keep the web hosting and change only your email provider for instance. Every Internet domain has no less than 2 NS records - primary and secondary, which start with a prefix like NS or DNS.
NS Records in Hosting
In case you register a domain name within a hosting account from our company, you will be able to take care of its name servers without difficulty. This can be done through the Registered Domains section of the in-house built Hepsia hosting Control Panel and with just a couple of clicks you are going to be able to update the NS records of one or even a number of domain names simultaneously, which could save you a lot of time and efforts in case you have a lot of domains you want to point to another service provider. You can enter a number of name servers depending on how many the other company gives you. Additionally we enable you to create private name servers for every domain address registered using our company and unlike many other providers we don't charge anything more for this service. The newly created NS records can be used to point any other domain name to the hosting platform of the provider whose IP addresses you have used during the process, so if you use our IPs for instance, all domains included in the account on our end can use these name servers.
NS Records in Semi-dedicated Hosting
The name servers for any domain which is registered through our company could be changed with no more than a few clicks using the innovative, although easy-to-use Hepsia Control Panel included with all semi-dedicated server plans. It is just as simple to see the current NS records for a given domain name and to check if they are the ones that are required for the domain to be directed to your hosting account. The Domain Manager tool, which is a part of Hepsia, is user-friendly enough to allow you to handle any domain name effortlessly even if you have never dealt with such matters before. If you would like, you may also register private name servers ns1.your-domain.com and ns2.your-domain.com and use them not only for the domain address under which they are set up, but also for any other domain that you might want to host within the very same account. This option is very useful when you have customers of your own and you wish their web sites to use your own name servers in lieu of our default ones. The service is absolutely free.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4537
|
__label__wiki
| 0.741028
| 0.741028
|
Your browser is OUT OF DATE! For a better experience, use Chrome browser. Download Chrome
Members who liked
OceanHub > Feed > Industry Veterans John Abisch and Bob Goldenberg Join Cro...
Crowley Maritime Corp UNITED STATES
Industry Veterans John Abisch and Bob Goldenberg Join Crowley Logistics
To better serve customers with integrated supply chain solutions across the globe, Crowley Logistics announced today that John Abisch and Bob Goldenberg have both joined the company as vice presidents. Abisch, vice president of global supply chain solutions, and Goldenberg, vice president, global business development, will be based in the company’s Miami office.
Abisch will report to Steve Collar, Crowley’s senior vice president and general manager, logistics, while Goldenberg will report to Abisch. Ken Black, Crowley’s Miami-based vice president, NVOCC and warehousing, will also report to Abisch.
“Both of these men are industry veterans with stellar reputations for adding value to their customers’ supply chains,” said Collar. “Their addition to our team will allow us to further realize our global growth opportunities while continuing to provide an elevated level of service to our customers throughout their logistics processes.”
Abisch joins Crowley following a successful career with Econocaribe Consolidators in South Florida. During his 30-year tenure, he served in accounting, operations and sales before becoming president of the company in 1999. Subsequently, he was part of a management buyout of the company that made him part-owner. In 2013, Econocaribe was acquired by ECU Worldwide. At that time, Abisch was named regional chief executive officer of USA, Caribbean and Central America, the position he held until his move to Crowley.
Abisch has also served the industry as past president of the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association (FCBF), for which he was later inducted into its Hall of Fame;
Southeastern Representative and NVO Committee Co-chair for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, Inc., (NCBFAA); and NVO Chair for the Caribbean Shipping Association.
Goldenberg also joins Crowley following a successful 30-year career with Econocaribe. He began in the traffic department before advancing to operations and sales, including national accounts. He became chief operating officer for the export division, a position he kept after the management team buyout that also made him part-owner. In 2013, following the ECU Worldwide acquisition, he was named chief procurement officer, the position he held until his move to Crowley.
Both men hold bachelor’s degrees from the University of Florida - Abisch in finance and Goldenberg in management.
During their tenure at Econocaribe, Abisch and Goldenberg helped to expand the business beyond limited warehousing and less-than-containerload (LCL) ocean exports within a small Caribbean footprint to global imports and exports for both full and LCL cargo, airfreight, customs brokerage and truck brokerage. Additionally, the company expanded from a single office to nine across the U.S.
“The addition of Abisch and Goldenberg provide Crowley the opportunity to offer a wide variety of global supply chain solutions to our customers,” said Frank Larkin, senior vice president, commercial services. “Their experience will have an immediate impact on the velocity with which our customers move their goods to market around the world.”
customers Supply Chain Business Maritime Logistics
Reply Reply
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4538
|
__label__wiki
| 0.955535
| 0.955535
|
The race to preserve a B.C. First Nation's history and the village where there is only one couple left
Disease and migration turned the village, sometimes called the 'birthplace of British Columbia' into a ghost town
Douglas Quan
On the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, crescent-shaped Friendly Cove serves as a welcome mat for a former First Nations village called Yuquot. In 1778, Captain James Cook’s arrival here represented “first contact” between Europeans and First Nations on the west coast. Once home to a village of Mowachaht people, today only one couple remains, elders Ray and Terry Williams. Their only neighbours, Mark and Joanne Tiglmann, run a lighthouse at the cove’s entrance. As National Post reporter Douglas Quan discovered, each couple represents unique parts of the Canadian story.
Sitting on a log on the cobbled shores of Friendly Cove along northwest Vancouver Island, Ray Williams is eager to share a story.
The retired logger and fisherman is holding a six-inch fishing spear, believed to be 500 years old, made from an elk antler. A visiting nine-year-old boy found it earlier this summer while sifting through pebbles on the beach.
“It was an incredible find. … He discovered a special thing for our people,” says Williams, 75, an elder of the Mowachaht First Nation, one of 14 related tribes whose people are known collectively as the Nuu-chah-nulth.
Ray Williams of the Mowachaht First Nations is pictured near his home in Friendly Cove, British Columbia Ben Nelms for National Post
It is hard to picture now, but this remote bench of land called Yuquot, which translates into “where the wind blows from all directions,” was once home to an entire village of Mowachaht people.
But disease and migration turned the village, sometimes called the “birthplace of British Columbia,” into a ghost town. Today, Ray and his wife, Terry, are the only permanent residents left, save for a couple of lighthouse keepers who live at the cove’s entrance.
In the summer, you can usually find Ray, who calls himself the area’s “protector,” happily sharing stories of the village’s past as he collects fees from hikers and campers who come by seaplane or boat.
Ray Williams shows off a fishing spear made of Elk antler Ben Nelms for National Post
But as Ray and Terry get up in age, there’s growing urgency to find ways to preserve and promote Yuquot’s rich history before it is lost forever.
Over the years, Mowachaht band leaders, who are based in Tsaxana, B.C., have talked about building a “world class” interpretive centre and seeking the return of a sacred whaling shrine that had been spirited away in the early 1900s to a museum in New York.
But progress has been slow. Evidence of the former village today is limited to an abandoned Catholic church, decaying gravesites and a fallen totem pole from 1923 shrouded in a thicket of blackberry bushes.
A totem pole that was carved in the early 1900s sits on the forest floor in Friendly Cove, British Columbia Ben Nelms for National Post
Ray, who, along with Terry, are among a handful of people left who speak the traditional Mowachaht language, worries time is running out.
“Most Canadians don’t know about the history of Yuquot,” he says. “We need to tell it to the world.”
The history of Yuquot, which is nestled between the Pacific and old-growth forests, is often framed in the context of the arrival of British and Spanish explorers in the late 1700s. But the presence of indigenous people goes back more than 4,000 years.
In the “pre-contact” days, hundreds of Mowachaht people occupied the village in the summer, taking advantage of the area’s abundant marine resources, including fish, seals and sea otters. Rows of cedar longhouses lined the spit of land.
Yuquot village as seen in the 1920s Vancouver Public Library
“Imagine dozens of dugout canoes beached in the cove and the smell of salmon smoking between cedar sticks,” Ray’s son, Sanford Williams, a master carver, writes on his website. “In the summer, it would be alive with the sound of drums and people singing.”
The village was also the reputed epicentre of the Nuu-chah-nulth people’s storied whaling culture. Generations of whale hunters are said to have performed secret purifying rituals at a shrine behind the village before heading out to sea.
The arrival in 1778 of British explorer, Capt. James Cook and his crew ushered in a period of dramatic change. Villagers eagerly traded sea otter pelts, fish hooks and carvings for knives, nails and anything else with metal.
The natives left a favourable impression on the Europeans, who dubbed the harbour “Friendly Cove.”
Tourists and hikers are pictured aboard the MV Uchuck III from Friendly Cove to Gold River in Nootka Sound, British Columbia Ben Nelms for National Post
As the fur-trade era ended, natives turned to other pursuits, such as seal hunting and commercial fishing. The 19th century, however, saw a sharp decline in the native population due to disease, inter-tribal warfare and the advent of residential schools.
Against this backdrop, museums began to see value in collecting native artifacts. When Franz Boas, an anthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, laid eyes on a photo of the mysterious whaling shrine in Yuquot in 1903, he leaned on one of his collaborators, George Hunt, to try to salvage it.
The shrine consisted of dozens of wooden human-like figures without arms, as well as a row of human skulls, tucked inside a small shelter. Anthropologist Aldona Jonaitis has written that Hunt was able to quietly secure release of the shrine from the two chiefs for $500.
“It is the best thing that I have ever bought from the Indians,” Hunt later wrote to Boas.
1904 picture of the Whalers’ Washing House taken by George Hunt in 1904. Image shows details of figures at the back of the house Courtesy American Museum of Natural History, New York
In the mid-1900s, Yuquot still buzzed with about 300 residents, some having returned after the closure of a nearby cannery. But by the late 1960s, the numbers dwindled. With the closure of a day school and little federal support for the unemployed, villagers began moving to Gold River, B.C., with promises of pulp mill jobs that largely went unfulfilled.
Ray and Terry quickly returned to Yuquot and decided to stay put.
“We didn’t have to discuss it,” Ray says. “Our heart belongs here.”
Eventually, they were the only ones left.
Imagine dozens of dugout canoes beached in the cove and the smell of salmon smoking between cedar sticks
In the 2008 book Havens in a Hectic World, Terry tells author Starr Weiss the isolation doesn’t bother her because she can feel the presence of her ancestors.
“Living here all these years alone, it doesn’t matter where we go now, because they’re here. The connections are here.”
Sanford, who returns to Yuquot in the summer for the quiet, says he’s proud his parents stood their ground.
“They held on to this land for so many years,” he says. “It’s going to be a shame when my parents are gone.”
Sandford Williams of the Mowachaht First Nations carves in his shed where he resides during the summer in Friendly Cove, British Columbia Ben Nelms for National Post
In an effort to preserve the area’s indigenous heritage, Ambrose Maquinna, late chief of the Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nation, laid out a plan in the early 1990s.
It began with a group pilgrimage to New York to inspect the pieces of the whaling shrine that, to some community members, had been “taken” from them.
“It hit home in my heart,” Ray says. “When I touched them I reconnected with our ancestors. That’s how powerful it is.”
Upon their return, Maquinna launched an annual summer campout called Summerfest — consisting of salmon barbecues, storytelling, singing and drumming — to reacquaint younger generations with the area’s history.
The community also applied to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board to re-designate Yuquot as a national historic site. It had received such a designation in 1923, but from the point of view of European colonization.
Ray Williams of the Mowachaht First Nations near his home in Friendly Cove, British Columbia Ben Nelms for National Post
“From our perspective, Europeans did not ‘discover’ this part of the world, nor is the European arrival the singlemost important event in our history,” the application asserted.
“The Mowachaht-Muchalaht seek to be acknowledged as being in a position of authority … concerning the history of our part of the world.”
Their application was approved in 1997.
Other projects have been slower to get off the ground. In 1996, local chiefs committed to building an interpretive centre in Yuquot and bringing home the whalers’ shrine.
But fundraising for the centre has been tough, and not everyone is onboard with repatriating the shrine. At least one elder held the view that because whaling is no longer practised, Mowachaht do not possess knowledge of the rituals to control the shrine’s power.
A gravesite dating back hundreds of years is pictured inland from Friendly Cove Ben Nelms for National Post
Even if the artifacts are returned, there is no consensus if they should be put on display.
The American Museum of Natural History said it has not received any official requests for the shrine’s return. “Each situation is unique – particularly with international inquiries – and we review them when we get them,” a spokesman said in an email.
University of Victoria historian John Price wrote in the Victoria Times-Colonist last year that an interpretive centre in Yuquot is “an idea whose time has come. It is but a small step along the road to justice and reconciliation in this province.”
Until that day comes, Ray says he will continue greeting visitors on his quad, imparting some of the history, and maybe teaching a word or two of Mowachaht.
“We have history plaques made by the government about Cook’s arrival here. But nothing about us,” he says.
“It’s not right.”
Yuquot village and Friendly Cove filed with boats in undated photo Vancouver Public Library
Retired U.S. Justice John Paul Stevens dies, leaving liberal legacy
Trump administration plans to divert $40 mln in aid to Venezuela's opposition
Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens dies
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4542
|
__label__cc
| 0.6281
| 0.3719
|
Congratulations to the people of Darfur
Despite the fact that your men are being slaughtered, your women are being rounded up and gang-raped by arab militias to produce lighter skinned people, and your villages are being driven from the arable farmland they have lived on for generations into the wilderness, the UN has determined you are not experiencing a genocide. So that's good news, isn't it?
Whispering Legs
True to form, the UN is once again encouraging the most terrible in human nature.
Ask the people in the former Yugoslavia how efficient the UN was at arriving in time to help people.
Or ask some Rwandans.
We could have asked the 300,000 people shot into open pits in Iraq by their own leader, but the UN has never acknowledged that this even happened, and the hectares of bones aren't able to speak.
Come to think of it, they didn't do anything about the Khmer Rouge massacres, either.
The UN is incapable of stopping anything except a slice of money out of a corrupt aid program. That slice goes into their own pockets. As for its effectiveness at stopping anything else, they are really good at stopping anyone from doing anything. If we went now and helped the people of Darfur, Europeans would accuse the US of doing something without UN approval.
So, I'm sure that the Europeans would like for the Sudanese in Darfur to quietly expire. They should see that God is trying to kill them, and they should have the good manners to line up in neat rows so that the Sudanese militias can more easily shoot them and hack them to death.
Corneliu
What in the Name of the Lord is the UN THINKING?
What is going on in Darfur is Genocide!!! Nothing less! If this is what the UN is thinking, then I think it is time to come up with a new organization!
According to UN rules if the UN doesn't label it genocide it isn't compelled to take action against Sudan.
Yes, it IS time for a new organisation...the UN is completely corrupt and well, let's say it...pathetic. We need a democratic organisation with NO veto power, and one that does not allow a small group of countries to dictate international policy. One country, one vote (unless we plan on using representation by population which would just swing things in favour of China and India...). Each country pays dues based on their national GNP, and each nation 'donates' soldiers to be used in an international peace-keeping force that actually GOES OUT AND KEEPS SOME DAMN PEACE!
I guess they'll only call it a genocide once it's been completed.
And many more people will die and the world will scream that that US isn't doing anything about it.
Yea, now we'll be on the receiving end of more anger. Well guess what. It is the UNs Responsiblity to take care of this. If they do not then it proves that the UN just doesn't care at all about the state of the world.
That's convenient. Obviously not something the US agrees with, because Powell said it was genocide when he visited there.
Must be the other members of the Security Council. You know, the ones who want to stretch the Geneva Conventions to apply to non-signatories who don't follow the Conventions, and want "enemy combatants" to be "prisoners of war" even when the Conventions explicitly say that's not so.
Looks like some selective reading of the word "genocide" by some Europeans.
The Americans have only had experience with the Native Americans on the genocide front. Europeans have had a lot more experience at it, and I surmise that's the reason that Sudan isn't a genocide.
Maybe that's what we did wrong in Afghanistan. If we had just committed genocide instead of rounding up a few hundred enemy combatants in Guantanamo - if we had just shot every man, woman, and child there, the UN would probably have overlooked the whole thing until we were actually finished.
Of course, if we left a handful of people alive, then it wouldn't be defined by the UN as genocide.
Myrmidonisia
I guess one question that should be asked is, who profits from this at the UN? That's clearly what drives the body, now. Corruption and profits from any sanctions that might or might not be in place.
Iztatepopotla
My guess is that this time it is China and Russia that have stopped the word genocide from appearing in the UN report. Both countries have strong economic interests in Sudan.
As long as there are countries in the Security Council with veto rights and not willing to follow UN resolutions (including the US that has rejected resolutions on Israel and Central America in the past, and prevented the UN from taking action in Rwanda) the UN will continue to be an uneffective body.
A reform of the UN is needed, but to give it real influence the powers will have to give it real authority and power, and I'm pretty sure none of them will want to do that.
Arammanar
One country, one vote? Hardly. Unless it's one country, 1% of the budget. One country, 1% of the peacekeeping forces. Etc., etc.
The Infinite Dunes
Any old reason to throw insults at the UN?
Sudan's government and the Arab Janjaweed militia are not guilty of genocide, but committed mass killings, torture, rape and other crimes meriting trial before the international criminal court (ICC), a UN report said today.
Although the US has described the killings in Sudan's western Darfur region as genocide, the report by a UN-appointed panel of five lawyers said there was no clear evidence meeting the legal definition of genocide, which means there is intent to destroy a population group.
However, the report said the atrocities committed in Darfur were horrific, with some probably amounting to war crimes. The lawyers stressed the fact that they were not calling the attacks genocide should not be interpreted as detracting from their gravity.
The UN report spread the blame for the violence and other crimes among the government, the militias - alleged to have been backed by the government - and the region's rebels.
The lawyers have compiled a list of suspects encompassing government officials, militia members, rebels, and "certain foreign army officers acting in their personal capacity". The names had not been made public to ensure that due process was carried out and to protect witnesses, the UN said.
Its call for the use of the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, sets up a possible showdown with Washington, which opposes the court and has called for trials under the aegis of the African Union instead. White House officials fear that the ICC, based in The Hague, could be used for politically motivated prosecutions of US troops.
The UN report said there had been systematic violence and "there was no military necessity for the destruction and devastation caused". The targets were "exclusively civilian", it said.
<snip>http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,14658,1403309,00.html
Then how should the votes be divied up? If people don't pay their dues, should they keep their vote (in that case, the US wouldn've been kicked out long ago:))?
No, really...what do you think would work in terms of votes?
The other thing the UN would have to give up is this central idea of the sovereignty of individual nations, which it is bound to respect (it's in writing).
On the day that all nations give up their individual sovereignty to a central world government, then you'll have an effective body.
Until then, get used to watching someone stupid like Kofi Annan on television switching from one hand up his own ass to another.
I think a big part would be to not let every despotic, genocidal country join. Syria on the human right's commission? What?
I absolutely think every country should join and have a vote, no matter how despotic. How can you hold a country to an international standard if they aren't part of your international organisation? And who would determine which nations were 'unfit' for this new and improved UN? Let them join, but be prepared to intervene in cases of genocide (as an international body, not unilaterally).
I agree with Whispering Legs that sovereignty is an issue that must be addressed. It is problematic to allow an international organisation to supercede sovereignty and intervene directly in 'domestic affairs'. That is why I think the regulations and definitions have to be very well thought out and democratically adopted. We already have nations who do not respect the sovereignty of some countries, while ignoring other nations in crisis. We should not let individual nations make these decisions. The current UN is terrible at getting anything done, and I'm not saying a one nation, one vote would inherently be any better, but the rest of the world should have a say in what is going on too. It would be a legal nightmare, but we should be trying to do SOMETHING better rather than sticking with the pathetic remnants of a glee club that we call the UN.
Zeppistan
As the legal definition of genocide is the intent to completely eradicate a group of people, besides Powell using that word can somebody here point me to a reputable link that shows such an intent?
I mean, as long as you are slamming the UN for saying "It's nasty shit that needs dealing with but it ain't genocide", please comment as to why it really IS genocide (besides a quote from the guy who also told the UN that Iraq really had WMD in that bunker right there in the pictures. )
I stated yesterday that the world inaction on this issue was deplorable, however if you are going to slam the UN administration for a specific syntactic definition, then please give a source as to why they were incorrect. I think it would be better to direct your bitching at the correct problems which are those members of the security council who are not getting behind action inthe Sudan rather than the administration of the UN who has no say in such things.
And for the record, I DO subscribe the the US position which is that the Sudan needs military intervention to fix this issue - and needs it yesterday! And I think that most Canadians feel that way. Unfortunately we don't have the manpower to commit right now due to the heavy (for us) rotations we have been doing in Kabul.
Zepp, what's your opinion on how we could improve the UN and possibly get action going in situations like this?
And SUDAN is the CHAIRMAN of said commission!
http://www.savedarfur.org/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3918765.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3641820.stm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64425-2005Jan10.html
http://www.genocidewatch.org/SudanTwelveWaysToDenyAGenocidebyGregStanton.htm
This should suffice for now. Read especially the last link!
Invidentia
Why stop there.. the UN identified ethnic cleansing in Bosnia yet it could do nothing... and solved the genocide of IRAQ with 12 years of sanctions in which corruption ran rampent.. (funny who is blamed ? the US .. even though France was the big winner in that corruption scandel )
So what is the point of the UN anymore ?
I think that the current limited group of five with ultimate power to decide security issues is to locked in existing politics, and the single-country veto option needs to be addressed. Also, there is always the issue of who has to go in and do the job. Currently the western world is abdicating it's responsibilities all to often and it is third-world armies picking up the slack because their country gets a break on UN dues - often with poorer results than might be possible otherwise.
If the permanent membership got increased to 15 with five rotating members from other countries, then you could implement a system whereby diferent vote thresholds needed to be met for certain results.
e.g) 15 of 20 to get economic sanctions and 18 of 20 for military intervention.
Or something along those lines. I'm not absolutely sure of what the better size membership should be or about the rotating membership idea either as there are too many chances of winding up with a bad group of five dictatorships aboard. But the current group of five is obviously unworkable, and to get all five votes too many resolutions have been watered down to buy off a holdout.
Regarding the issue of who does the work, I think that a lottery (or rotational) system needs to be in play where each country that wants to be involved in the UN puts up a certain chunk of their military to be available for UN duty. If a need for peacekeeping is voted on, and it's your turn to get your hands dirty then there is no shirking your responsibility. You go. Members of the security council will be required to be more active in this regard as they are the ones voting upon such actions. So for the shirkers out there, if you don't want to be active in solving the problems, don't get active in thinking that you have a say in deciding about them. Member nations may, therefore choose not to be involved in the security council should they so choose. But abdicating from the security council while living under it's benefits should not give you a free pass either. There should be a financial disincentive for UN membership without obligation.
Actually, I kind of prefer the lottery idea as people would have to vote their conscience before finding out if they need to put their soldiers where their mouths are.
No matter what there will never be a perfect system as self-interest between countries and elected officials is always a factor. But the existing system clearly needs to find ways to work faster and more effectively.
I did. Now then, the legal definition of Genocide noted therin includes the phrase "in whole or in part", which in this case would support a notion of genocide. Checking the UNHCHR I concur that this is the exact phrasing of that convention.
And clearly, as I have mentioned, I support action in the Sudan.
What I found most interesting in that last article though was the following text:
A. Among journalists, the general public, diplomats, and lawyers who haven’t read the Genocide Convention, there is a common misconception that a finding of genocide would legally require action to suppress it. Under this misconception, having been informed that the U.S. would take no action in Rwanda in 1994, State Department lawyers ordered avoidance of the word. They made their legal conclusion fit the Procrustean bed of U.S. policy. They committed legal malpractice.
Unfortunately, the Genocide Convention carries no such legal compulsion to act. It legally requires only that states-parties pass national laws against genocide and then prosecute or extradite those who commit the crime. Article VIII of the Convention says they also “may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide.” But they aren’t legally required to do so. Article I of the Genocide Convention creates a moral obligation to prevent genocide, but it does not dictate military intervention or any other particular measures.
So then, if the Genocide Convention does NOT compel the UN to act, then surely this then dismisses the initial claim of the originating post which is that the UN report refused to call it genocide to avoid having to act.
So, given that (according to your links) failing to call it genocide would no more compel the UN to act than if they did call it genocide, then the political motivations being put forth for this report just evaporated. Which is to say that this in-depth investigation had no reason not to call it genocidea s it would not have mattered, and so their decision that it was not genocide was the true and impartial results of their investigation.
Well, that or your last link is wrong on this basic fact which then throws all of it into a pretty dim light as being of suspect quality.
None of that would ever pass.
The worst part would be the lottery thing for providing military service.
Most militaries aren't worth spit.
Technically, the US can get the job done faster, quicker, with fewer civilian casualties.
Few other nations have the logistical train, the sophisticated weapons, or the willingness to expend them. Most militaries have, at least from the US perspective, become lucrative targets that won't exist in the second week of a real war.
Most nations, presented with such a lottery, would probably slash their defense budgets.
The poor assumption made by the UN is that it is composed of peers. It most definitely is not.
The EU had to get its individual nations at a relative economic peer level before unification could work.
The UN is nowhere near close.
I think that the major nations of the world (probably the G-8 as a start) would be better off forming its own organization and funding a common military. They would probably share major economic objectives at the very least.
Also, you just can't randomly combine military forces from different countries. Most have no ability to interoperate or communicate. The US at this time has trouble communicating with NATO forces in combat because most EU nations haven't spent the money to upgrade their radios. And forget communicating with a third-world military.
I think the UN should be dissolved. I think the idea of a combination of the EU, US, Russia, China, Japan, and India (and a few other major developing nations) would be a good idea. They would have to form a military alliance first - and assure interoperability - at the same time as forming an economic alliance. After that, the political commonality would follow - and the rest of the world would have to obey.
If you think that defying the US military is impossible - defying such an alliance would be absolutely impossible. If they told you to stop massacring your own people, you would have to stop, or face a fairly rapid invasion and occupation.
You're right. And right now those are the countries volunteering peacekeepers to get a break on their dues. The western countries lobby for peacekeeping efforts and then abdicate their responsibility.
Except that technically they don't. The political will for such things in your country when not clearly demonstrable to be in your national interest was weak after Korea, poor after Vietnam, and nonexistant by the time Lebannon and Somalia had passed. Even now the general complaint about the Sudan is: "This is horrid, Somebody ELSE should go do something. We would, but we're busy"
You can;t afford to police the whole world. No single country can. That is why you need ways to get others to step up to the plate.
And few peacekeeping tasks require all of those things. Putting people on the ground in harms way with the promise of retaiation if those people get harmed is usually enough.
Mos countries still have their national interests to defend.
Agreed. However that doesn't change the current situation where there are things like the Sudan happening with no-one stepping up to the plate. The lottery lets people vote, and then somebody HAS to go. Right now even after a resolution it sometimes takes a long time (and a lot of lives) before enough countries volunteer to chip in. This setup clearly does not force a response.
Won' happen. Why? Because each and every one of them refuses to put their own people under the command of someone else. The US won't, and the others won't go along with what would look to their citizens like them providing bodies for a larger US-commanded force. Surely you can see how that would not fly in Britain just as it would not fly in the US if it turned out that a foreigner was to head up the military.
US troops will never go into the field under anything but an American commander. To suggest otherwise would get an American leader tarred and feathered.
*Newsflash* - you aren't the only country who feels that way.
Oh c'mon. It was worked out in WWI, WWII, Korea, Desert Storm, Afganistan, IRaq.... it CAN be done if there is the will. Indeed, it IS done today as it is generally thrid world countries doing the work - often under a command structure from a western country. e.g. the Kenyan troops operating under Dallaire in Rwanda.
Overly optimistic and simplistic. After all, this very coalition you name would have still refused to work with you in Iraq. They still comprise the permanent members of the security council who aren't doing shit about the Sudan now. What guarantee do you have that your rebranding with a smaller group will change their minds?
And if all those people agree with the US on a matter of principle today then they still provide the same unified front on that given issue as they would as members of yuor smaller group.
What you have failed to do is give any procedureal reason why your smaller group would be any more likely to agree and to work well together than they currently do in the UN.
For the same reason that the G-8 and NATO work better than the UN.
Who actually intervened in Kosovo first? NATO or the UN?
If you compose the membership of a small group of elite nations, they are more likely to decide to do something than some crap organization that is full of crap nations.
We might not have gone in on Iraq if that alliance had been in place. Not just because the others wouldn't go along, but because that alliance would have a value of its own.
Being a member of the UN doesn't have a demonstrable value to the US.
It's also possible to make the militaries operate under common command if you give them a common mission like NATO.
Maybe we could start by slowly expanding NATO and redefining its mission.
Because there is no international standard if you let everyone make it. Sudan's standard is considerably lower than the U.S., than Canada, than the E.U. If the other countries don't like it, nuts to them, we don't need to make every dictator feel warm and fuzzy.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4543
|
__label__cc
| 0.68138
| 0.31862
|
Girl denied passport because of photo showing bare shoulders...
Aryavartha
In the Islamic Emirate of UK, a girl's passport application was rejected because the photo shows her "bare shoulders".
And the offending photo is.....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2006/08/14/npassport14.jpg
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/14/npassport14.xml
A five-year-old girl's passport application was rejected because her photograph showed her bare shoulders.
Hannah Edwards's mother, Jane, was told that the exposed skin might be considered offensive in a Muslim country.
The photograph was taken at a photo-booth at a local post office for a family trip to the south of France.
Because of the way the camera was set up, the picture came out showing Hannah's shoulders.
The family had it signed and presented it at a post office with the completed form but were told that it would not be accepted by the Passport Office.
A woman behind the counter informed them that she was aware of at least two other cases where applications had been rejected because a person's shoulders were not covered.
Mrs Edwards, a Sheffield GP, said: "I was incensed. I went back home and checked the form. Nowhere did it say anything about covering up shoulders. If it had, I would have done so, but it all seems so unnecessary.
"This is quite ridiculous, I followed the instructions on the passport form to the letter and it was still rejected. It is just officialdom pandering to political correctness.
"It is a total over-reaction. How can the shoulders of a five-year-old girl offend anyone? It's not as if anything else was showing, the dress she wore was sleeveless, but it has a high neck."
one-off incident involving an idiotic clerk? dhimmitude?
Turquoise Days
Passport photo is supposed to be just your head and neck, I belive.
Super-power
Hurrah for appeasement of Muslim fundies! We must give into their demands and remove the scandalous passport photo :rolleyes:
Baguetten
Actually, the EU has pretty strict standards on passport photos. (http://www.swedenabroad.com/pages/general____8486.asp)
Click the "Nya Riktlinjer för Passfoton" to see what they are (the file is in English). That girl's photo clearly does not adhere to them.
JiangGuo
Ironically, British Customs Officemay care more about it than Saudi or Indonesian Customs Office.
That's a bit overboard. Why would someone go to Iran or Saudi Arabia anyway, non-Muslims can't even go to Saudi Arabia.
Fartsniffage
Ummm, I says quite clearly on the passport form what is and isn't accepted. That the parents of this girl can't read is their problem.
Londim
I have to say this but man she has big eyes. Anyway you can nly have head and neck in shoulders. believe me last month I had to go through 4 different forms before they finally accpeted the damn photo
Too much shoulders, head too close to the top, head too small....the photo was going to be rejected for all those reasons anyway.
I take and print about 100 passport photos a week, none of which get rejected by the passport service...I know what's acceptable and what isn't...
Kinda Sensible people
Keep in mind that part of the job of the Customs Office is to keep the people it represents alive when they go overseas.
Yes, it's silly, but if it saves her life, who gives a fuck?
Hydesland
If only everyone thought that way instead of whining all the time.
Republica de Tropico
Heh. Any excuse to criticize Islam.
I have to say this but man she has big eyes.
That was my first reaction as well. I didn't think "human child" I thought "poorly disguised alien."
Rubiconic Crossings
Huh????
Kerubia
The girl's photo, as has been said before, clearly is unacceptable based on the rules.
When you go to another nation, you have to obey its laws and morals, no matter how phucked up they may be.
It's not a question of obeying Saudi rules. The photo didn't obey British rules.
The Alma Mater
European in fact. Not just British.
LiberationFrequency
It says she was told that it may offend people in the middle east, thats it. This person was probably from Britain and certainly had no idea what they were talking about.
Yesmusic
I can't speak for all Muslims, of course, but when I lived in the Emirates, people didn't seem to mind children under, say, age 12, wearing shorts or that kind of shirt. But I went to an American school over there, so it might have been a compromise between the American and European families and the locals. And the UAE isn't the strictest state when it comes to dress.
They told her odd things, I agree. However, the picture still does not conform to the very clear requirements for a picture on an European passport or ID card.
Actually, I have to retract everything I've said on this thread. Just looked up the leaflet issued with passport application forms and nowhere on it does it say that shoulders must be covered. The photo may have failed on something else but that definatly isn't the reason.
http://www.passport.gov.uk/downloads/PLE_04Eng-Photo.pdf
Ifreann
That child terrifies me. Her eyes are looking into my soul........:(
I V Stalin
The person was probably from Britain and as such hadn't bothered reading the instructions on taking a passport photo because he/she didn't think they would apply to him/her.
The story is in the Daily Telegraph...not as rapid as the Daily Express but nonetheless a right wing paper given to inane screeching concerning subjects that, after a little digging turn out to be non stories.
The reason the photo was rejected is because it does not conform to legal standards (as many posters here have already pointed out).
Of course I find the OP's screeching to be quite amusing in a sad kind of way...
She's reading your mind and reporting everything to MI6.
*dons tinfoil hat*
Not again!
Is it just me or reading the article I got the impression that the girl was not actually DENIED a passport … rather counseled by a post office worker that she had seen others be denied?
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11573464&postcount=20
I was paraphrasing the quoted post for satirical purposes. British people never think the instructions apply to them. I'm amazed Ikea is so successful here.
So which one of them is you?
I'm betting the fat guy with the beard. He's doing a sexy 'come-hither' look in the first pic, much as I suspect you practise in front of the mirror before heading out.
Indeed, but why let that get in the way of a good story? Besides, the mother is clearly lying as she says she 'followed the instructions on the form to the letter', which she didn't because the photo doesn't comply with the regulations clearly set out in the form.
I'm amazed more Britons haven't died due to poorly constructed IKEA furniture.
I linked to the form. Where on the form does it say that shoulders are not to be exposed?
So she is all up in arms about a kindly post office worker’s opinion about passport acceptance
Is this really news worthy?
Lunatic Goofballs
This is why all passport photos worldwide should be full-body and naked.
Why? To maximize identifying characteristics and to minimize cultural favoritism. :)
Who says the shoulders would have been even a problem at all? either on the british or other side?
So far all we have is the opinion of a post office worker that there is a rejectionable picture and on what basis it is going to be rejected
That wouldn't be such a creepy comment if this whole subject came up cuz of a like 6 year old girl...
Also minimise hijackings.
Hard to conceal weapons while naked.
LG is making sense..........
The end is extremely fucking nigh!!!!!
Well they wouldn't. It's within the rules and the family were travelling to France, I doubt the French would have a problem with it. I was merely pointing out to all the people saying its the mother fault, she should have read the rules that she did and the photo was within them.
That depend on how determined you are :D
Why does a 6 year old girl need a passport of her own anyway?
I don't believe it does. However, if you take a look at the EU regulations (which come with the form) which Fass linked to earlier, you'll notice it says that the head must take up a specific proportion of the photo - a regulation that the photo in question is in breach of.
Slow news day, plus it's the Daily Telegraph. They like to denounce political correctness almost as much as the Daily Mail.
Everyone who travels needs a passport, even newborns.
Trying to prevent kidnappings and baby-trading I guess.
Which is why it is also known as the Maily Telegrah. *nod*
As are some of the fotos that are stamped as "ok" in the UK leaflet by the way. Which means that they are still right to reject it, but we cannot really blame the parents.
Oddly enough, I prefer to use the British regulations that come with the British form. The photo even confroms to the regulations about a neutral expression and looking directly into the camera that are waived for a child this young. The reason quoted was the shoulder thing and not anything else.
The Black Forrest
non-Muslims can't even go to Saudi Arabia.
Actually, non-muslims are welcomed in Saudi Arabia.
They are not allowed in Mecca and Medina.....
You can use British regulations if you wish, but the fact is that any passport belonging to an EU citizen must comply with EU regulations. Which the photo doesn't.
But the woman probably did not recieve those rules - just the British ones.
Celtlund
"A five-year-old girl's passport application was rejected because her photograph showed her bare shoulders.
Hannah Edwards's mother, Jane, was told that the exposed skin might be considered offensive in a Muslim country." :upyours:
This political correctness bullshit has gone two damn far. British citizens traveling to France denied a passport because it might be offensive to some some Muslim country. Pure unadulterated bullshit. :mad:
It could just be me being dense, but I'm struggling to see the problem with the photo according to either the EU of the British instructions. The two are pretty much the same.
Correction: Opinion of a PO worker as to what might be a rejectionable pic and on what basis it might be rejected.
All they were trying to do, seems to me, is help the mother out by giving her some advice. Last thing you want to happen is wait a couple of weeks for a passport and then be told the photo's been rejected and as a result you can't go off on holiday.
The mother could have then called the Passport Office ppl herself and checked that the pic was suitable, or simply handed it over in the hope it would pass.
However it seems she felt it was easier to call the newspaper and have a big whinge to them over it.
Not my fault. When I last applied for a passport (three years ago) I received both British and EU information packs.
The article said it was rejected because it might be offensive to some Muslims, not because it didn't meet the standards. A big difference.
A spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service said it was not its policy to reject applications with bare shoulders.
"The guidance set out on the application form doesn't include it, this picture should have been absolutely fine," she said. "If people follow those rules there should be no problem.
From the article.
The photo is acceptable.
You don't know what you are talking about. Many non-Muslims live and work in Saudi Arabia. :rolleyes:
EU instructions state the face should take up approximately 70-80% of the photo. The girl's face takes up perhaps 50% of the photo.
That's just a happy twist of fate. :)
YAY! :D
Since when? I've travelled on my parents passport before, as has my sister. I've only had a passport for about 3 years.
The Five Horesmen of the Apocalypse cometh, Famine, War, Pestilence, Death, and most poweful of all, Mud.
It depends on the rules of the country you are visiting:
http://www.passportsandvisas.com/passport/faqpassport.asp#ca2
In the scheme of things, it's a good idea to have one.
Silliness.
War, Famine, Pestilence, Death and Silliness. :)
Yes, the first "good" photo of a kid is very similar to the one rejected because of political correctness.
And ironically this first "good" photo is just as unacceptable under EU regulations due to the low % of the picture actually used by the face.
Britain needs to start paying more attention.
Fine, but following EU regulations to the letter, it wouldn't be. Frankly, the woman shouldn't have kicked up such a fuss anyway. It should have been a case of get another photo taken, or use the one already taken. If she was in a Post Office, chances are there was a photo booth nearby where she could easily have had another photo taken. In a matter of minutes she could have had in her hand a passport application form that would definitely been accepted.
The child is 5, which isn't young enough to waive the rules regarding expression etc.
There are several regulations that the photo in question breaks; the parents were probably told these and the PO worker in question probably added "oh yeah, and I've heard once or twice about someone getting their photo rejected because of bare shoulders; you might have trouble with that, I'm not sure."
Then you need to get the photo resigned by a respectable member of your community who has known the child for 2 years adn refill the form as the other photo is glues to the first one. It's not as easy as you make out.
Has anyone even bothered to read the leaflet I posted? It states that expression restrictions are waived for children aged 5 and under.
Nope, because 99% of photo booths do not produce photos that are acceptable for a passport. They always come out too bright (from the flash), with reflection on glasses (again, from the flash), shadows, head to small/big, head to far from/close to the top of the pic etc...
They're very rarely acceptable. The only way to definitely get one that will be accepted is to get one taken by a human who kows the regulations, takes acceptable photos regularly as part of their job, and can make sure that you're set right.
Frankly, the woman shouldn't have kicked up such a fuss anyway.
Why not? The reason she was given for the rejection is pure and simple reverse discrimination and just plain bull.
What the leaflet says and what the desk people at the passport office accept are different. It's my job to take acceptable passport photos of customers; I deal regularly with the Passport Office, I know what they do.
And as I posted above, a spokeperson for the passport office said this photo was fine.
Copenhaghenkoffenlaugh
Frankly, I've had it with having to adhere to the fucking over-zealous douche bags of the middle east. They need to get over themselves.
Which it isn't. It would have been rejected at some point anyway.
The application was not rejected. It wasn't even made. The woman at the post office said that the photo 'may' be rejected because of the photo. As Nadkor said, chances are that that was an add-on to other possible reasons for the application being rejected.
So you now not only know better than the official documentation issued with the application forms, you know better than the passport office themselves. I don't know what you do for a living but you must be very important, being able to tell important government institutions what the should and shouldn't be doing :rolleyes:
In fact, if you read the article properly it's clear that this wasn't the only reason given. The story leads in with "A five-year-old girl's passport application was rejected because her photograph showed her bare shoulders", but when it comes to telling us what actually happened, it becomes clear the situation was a little different:
It says there that the woman behind the counter told them it wouldn't be acceptable.
In the second paragraph it then says that the woman behind the counter said she had heard of two cases where bare shoulders led to the photo being rejected.
Nowhere does it say that the woman said it was the only reason, or that the photo with bare shoulders would be rejected even if every regulation was met.
The Torygraph is trying to lead the careless reader into making a connection that simply isn't there.
So you now not only know better than the official documentation issued with the application forms, you know better than the passport office themselves.
I did not claim to know better than the documentation; my point is based entirely round what is contained within the documentation.
The photo would not have been acceptable for a passport because it breaks at least two regulations concerning head size and placement; the head is too close to the top of the photo, and it's too small. In addition, there is too much of the shoulders in frame.
Under the regulations (http://www.passport.gov.uk/downloads/PLE_04Eng-Photo.pdf) published by the Passport Service this photo was unnaceptable.
I don't know what you do for a living but you must be very important, being able to tell important government institutions what the should and shouldn't be doing :rolleyes:
If you don't know what I do for a living then you haven't been reading the posts you've been quoting very well:
It's my job to take acceptable passport photos of customers; I deal regularly with the Passport Office, I know what they do.
"The Post Office obviously has its rules and we can't comment on that. We are aware of a case in the past where an error was made involving similar circumstances, although I don't know the exact details. Staff should be aware of the rules."
The article then goes on to quote the Passport Service saying 'this photo should have being absolutly fine'. This allows the reader, careless or otherwise, to draw the conclusion that due to the pulicity about the case a member of the passport office has seen the picture and declared it acceptable.
If the photo did have other defects then the quote from the passport office would have been more along the line of 'we accept photos with bare shoulders but this picture was unacceptable for X reason'.
No, what is much more likely is that the person from the Passport Service was asked "should a photo be rejected if it contains bare shoulders?" and the person gave an answer without having seen the photograph.
I can guarantee you right now that this photo is unacceptable regardless of her shoulders.
The use of the phrase 'this photo' implys that the photo is in the possesion of the speaker.
Nowher on that document does it give a rule as to how close the head can be to the top of the photo and the size of the head has only to be 21mm to be big enough.
The diagram in the regulations shows it to be too close to the top of the picture.
In addition, we (in work) were sent a guide, from the passport office, about how to take photos that are acceptable, and how to make sure they are printed correctly. This guide is for takers/printers, and isn't sent with a passport application form.
It says that the head should be in the centre of the photo. The printing machine we use has dimensions put into it by a passport office employee and it automatically positions the head once we click to locate the top and bottom. The head is always lower than that.
Graham Morrow
The preceding posts cinch something I've been thinking of for a while.
I've noticed that every Brit I've ever spoken to or heard speak bellyfeels Parliament's policies. For those of us who haven't read 1984, bellyfeel was a Newspeak word. It means, in the sense that any Newspeak word can be put into normal English, an enthusiastic, unquestioning, brainwashed acceptance that in America is practically unimaginable.
It puzzles me that whenever I've seen a group of Americans and a group of Brits debate(not as teams) about something the British government is doing, there is never, ever a single Brit who opposes Parliament's policies. In America, with an at least *semi*-reasonable government, many of the things that have happened of late in England(gun control reminiscent of Hitler, "Islamic banking", "deferred success", and of course this), would be considered abominations, and yet I see their citizens accepting them unquestioningly. Can anyone explain this?
I'm not flaming, this is just my experience.
I can explain it. You haven't heard many debates involving Brits.
You clearly haven't been reading the right "debates".
WDGann
NS is not representative of the UK as a whole, I think. Anway you should check out Bogmarsh's posts. (Though he could well be a WUM),
Anway, I was out with an english freind last night. He told me that he believes the UK is on the verge of a massive crackdown on islam. Just no-one's talking about it.
The application was not rejected.
"A five-year-old girl's passport application was rejected because her photograph showed her bare shoulder"
"The family had it signed and presented it at a post office with the completed form but were told that it would not be accepted by the Passport Office."
"A spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service said it was not its policy to reject applications with bare shoulders.
"The guidance set out on the application form doesn't include it, this picture should have been absolutely fine," she said. "If people follow those rules there should be no problem."
"Bare shoulders don't come into that at all. We can't see any instruction to that effect so all we can do is apologise to Mrs Edwards. It was clearly a mistake made by the clerk at the post office.
"It is the first time we have heard of such a rejection and we will take it up with that particular office."
Owned.
"Nowhere does it say that the woman said it was the only reason, or that the photo with bare shoulders would be rejected even if every regulation was met.
Nowhere was any other reason given for the rejection. In fact the article goes on to say the photo should have been accepted. :rolleyes:
Did you look at the first GOOD photo in the regulations?
Technically it wasn't rejected. In the UK the post office offer a service whereby the will look over an application form at the counter before you post it to the passport office. This saves time as it means mistakes are pointed out to you there and then rather than you having to wait for the froms to arrive at the passport office, be processed and then sent back to you.
The forms weren't rejected as only the passport office can reject them and they never recieved them, all the post office worker can do is point out mistakes. I you still want to send them in then it is your choice.
Did you actually read any of my posts explaining clearly why it would have been rejected anyway, and pointing out that it's most likely that the person who made the statement was just asked about a photo which had been rejected because it had bare shoulders and they said that was no reason to reject a photo and that it shouldn't have been rejected? No? Didn't think so.
Simple fact is that the photo would have been rejected regardless of the coveredness of the girl's shoulders.
Nureonia
This is quite ridiculous, I followed the instructions on the passport form to the letter and it was still rejected. It is just officialdom pandering to political correctness.
http://www.orlyowl.com/orly.jpg
The photographs must be: close up of your head and top of your shoulders so your head takes up 70%-80% of the photograph.
I don't think this needs to be discussed anymore.
You mean the one that has the subject's head a distance from the top of the picture?
Put simply - That is utter bollocks.
Did you actually read any of my posts explaining clearly why it would have been rejected anyway, and pointing out that it's most likely that the person who made the statement was just asked about a photo which had been rejected because it had bare shoulders and they said that was no reason to reject a photo and that it shouldn't have been rejected?
The language in the quote by the person from the passport service implys that they had the photo in their possesion. 'this photo' implys it was in their hand, 'that photo' would have implied that someone was showning to them and 'a photo with the shoulders exposed' would imply that they were dicussing a photo the person had not seen.
Nowhere on the leaflet does it give a distance that the top of the head must be from the top of the photo. If it was an issue that would invalidate the picture then it would state it somewhere.
Regardless; the point that the photo would have been rejected anyway stands.
The photo would have been rejected anyway by the Passport Service. They're ridiculously anal about them.
It does state it somewhere; in the regulations sent to my workplace by the Passport Service, and in the software we use that was configured by them that automatically places and sizes the head.
Inapropria esotoria
Ah the torygraph, most moral panic loving of all the papers that try to come off as broadsheets, its blatant jingoism the reasons the photo wouldn't have been accepted are nothing to do with religion.
Just get another passport photo and stop bringing this to the worlds attention... Jesus...
-snip random quotes purporting to prove me wrong-
If you perhaps read the article properly, you may come to the conclusion, like any well-balanced, mentally competent person, that at no point was the application rejected. That line was clearly written by the journalist reporting the story. If you would care to read further down the article, as opposed to cherry-picking quotes, you may notice that the family were told, by a woman working at the post office, that the application 'may not be accepted'. Now, I accept that in some realities 'may not be accepted' = 'rejected'. However, this reality is not one of them. Perhaps the one you are currently inhabiting is.
Maurisia
The people at the post office are terrible, terrible human beings.
They don't reject applications for a passport; they're not allowed to. But they do, with cheerful visciousness, throw back applications in your face if they find anything dubious about any part of the application. That's not rejecting the application, granted, but it's not processing it, taking it from you to send on to the real passport-checkers, either. Instead, you're sent away, ashamed and embarrassed, clutching your faulty application like an unwanted baby.
It's not an official Rejection of the application, you're right, but it's an official personage telling you your application is faulty, and that you should take it away and try again.
You can see the confusion; it's not "Rejection", but it is a 'rejection'!
It wasn't really. It was helpful advice, telling the woman that her daughter's application 'may not be accepted'. More to the point, it was a polite way of saying 'Well, you can leave it with us but it might not be accepted, or you can take it away and get another one, although that could take some time'. Sadly, what the dopey mother interpreted it as was 'Eh, do you really think this pathetic excuse for a passport application is going to be accepted? Go whinge to the Torygraph about how unfair life is and how Muslims are clearly encroaching on our civil liberties by not letting us use unsuitable photographs in our passports despite the fact it has nothing to do with Muslims anyway'.
That's the other way to view the interaction, yes! Having seen the full-on, contemptuous 'rejection' style of Helpful Passport Advice (and other Helpful Advice on other topics) at the Post Office on several occasions, though, I appreciate that this seems to be how the mother perceived it.
It's a pretty minor point, but the application was clearly 'rejected' (not "Rejected", obv.), judging by the story, if the reporting's accurate.
The important point is why it was 'rejected'. Unless the Post Office worker has a clarification to make, the story says it was rejected because the "woman behind the counter informed them that she was aware of at least two other cases where applications had been rejected because a person's shoulders were not covered", and this photo showed bare shoulders.
If that is true, and that's what was actually said, then the Passport Service says "It was clearly a mistake made by the clerk at the post office... We are aware of a case in the past where an error was made involving similar circumstances, although I don't know the exact details".
Some worker made a mistake, that's all. No big deal! It's got overtones of pedophilia, different cultural mores, and a big beaurocracy (sorry for the spelling) making life difficult for people, so if it was a slow news day and there was a corner to fill, you can see why it got in the paper; but I don't think it's worth making a big song and dance about, whichever side of the debate you're on.
It's ridicolous to even make this "big news". I don't even want to know how many photographs are turned down for various reasons, simply because they do not comply with the rules set up for passport photos.
Thanks to the new passports which are supposed to be biometrically readable you must not smile on the new photos. Can you imagine what kind of impression that gives to the people who get to see your "frowning" passport? Oh. Look. Another "happy" customer.
So, little lemur-girl (those eyes!) didn't get her passport? Big deal. Make a photo according to the requirements and she'll get one. *shakes head*
What, the hitleresque gun control, the religiously sensitive banks, the euphemistic language or the "everybody agrees with the gov't"? im guessing youre referring to the fourth, but it could be to any of them.
Also, that statement was not based only on what I see in NS. My community has a lot of foreigners, particularly Brits, and none of them has ever contradicted any of Parliament's stance on the issues I mentioned.
She was not denied a passport
Read the article instead of geting mad
And yet with all this anaylasis you miss a big part of it ... I bolded the incorrect part at least according to this article
I believe the quoted person in the article was from the post office ... unless you guys do something compleatly different over at the post office (If so I apologise)
And it has worked it's magic with the rabid rightwingers on this forum, so I guess we can mark up another success for mindless kneejerk reaction.
It sure did work
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4544
|
__label__wiki
| 0.65499
| 0.65499
|
International Momentum Strategies
Yale ICF Working Paper
32 Pages Posted: 23 Oct 1996 Last revised: 22 Feb 2008
See all articles by K. Geert Rouwenhorst
K. Geert Rouwenhorst
Yale School of Management - International Center for Finance
Number of pages: 32 Posted: 23 Oct 1996 Last Revised: 22 Feb 2008
Journal of Finance, Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 267-284, February 1998
Date Written: February 1997
International equity markets exhibit short-term return continuation. Between 1980 and 1995 an internationally diversified portfolio of past short-term winners outperformed a portfolio of short-term losers by more than one percent per month, after correcting for risk. Return continuation is present in all twelve sample countries and lasts for about one year. Return continuation is negatively related to firm size but is not limited to small firms. The international evidence is remarkably similar to findings for the U.S. by Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) and makes it unlikely that the U.S. experience was simply due to chance. Because momentum strategies are relatively easy to implement, the results pose a challenge to our understanding of how information is incorporated into prices or, alternatively, how markets set expected returns.
Rouwenhorst, K. Geert, International Momentum Strategies (February 1997). Yale ICF Working Paper. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4407 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4407
K. Geert Rouwenhorst (Contact Author)
Yale School of Management - International Center for Finance ( email )
165 Whitney Avenue
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4546
|
__label__cc
| 0.613694
| 0.386306
|
Category Archives: Social change
June 7, 2016 · 12:23 pm
The background of new MSPs
There is an interesting set of stories, by David Leask and colleagues in the Herald, about the background of MSPs. I take an interest as part of a team of scholars comparing backgrounds in Westminster and devolved assemblies.
Normally, one measure uses education as a proxy for class: we look at the proportion of members who went from private schools on to Oxford or Cambridge. We then normally find that, for example, Conservative MPs are more likely than most to have come via this route.
In the Scottish Parliament, compared to Westminster, you tend to find fewer members with this background, partly because there are fewer Conservatives, but also because there are subtle differences: fewer people in Scotland go to private schools (this is difficult to gauge, but is maybe 4-6% in Scotland compared to 7% in England, and it’s higher in places like Edinburgh and Aberdeen) and places like Glasgow University are bigger recruiting grounds than Oxbridge.
But perhaps most interesting of all is the mix of state school backgrounds. Many people recently noted the stark differences in attainment between schools in the most and least deprived areas of Scotland. So, wouldn’t it be interesting to see if (as we might expect) MSPs are far more likely to come from the least deprived areas? The Herald has done the heavy lifting by providing the list of secondary schools attended by MSPs, but it will take a bit of work to get a clear picture (the SSLN is newish, and many of MSPs’ previous schools no longer exist).
Why does it matter?
With colleagues such as Lynn Bennie, I hope to go into this question in more detail. We want to speak individually to MSPs to get their individual stories, to help us build up a picture of the barriers they faced before becoming candidates with a shot of winning a seat. One key barrier relates to gender, as a traditional source of selection bias and a factor in the supply of candidates, and another is broadly described as class. It would be interesting to see how education and poverty-related factors contributed to barriers to candidacy, and if many MSPs faced them (and using proxy measures can only take us so far).
Filed under Scottish politics, Social change
Tagged as class, deprivation, education, members of the Scottish Parliament, MSP background, MSPs, Politics of Scotland, Scottish politics
Policy Concepts in 1000 Words: Feminism, Postcolonialism, and Critical Policy Studies
In the 24 other posts in this series, I know the material well and am thinking primarily about communicating it to a new audience. In this post, I would like to (a) admit my limited understanding of topics such as feminist and postcolonial studies, and concern about oversimplifying key points, but (b) set out some thoughts about the links between them and the topics I discuss on this site. I would appreciate your comments and suggestions on relevant further reading for students of public policy.
Let’s begin with a transition from two other posts: combining theories, and critical policy studies/ the NPF. Both posts raise the same basic question: what is science? This question leads to a series of concerns about the criteria we use to determine which theories are most worthy of our investment, and the extent to which social scientific criteria should emulate those in natural science.
One set of criteria, which you can find in the ‘policy shootout!’, relates to the methods and principles we might associate with some branches of natural science (and use, for example, to support astronomy but not astrology):
A theory’s methods should be explained so that they can be replicated by others.
Its concepts should be clearly defined, logically consistent, and give rise to empirically falsifiable hypotheses.
Its propositions should be as general as possible.
It should set out clearly what the causal processes are.
It should be subject to empirical testing and revision
If we were to provide a caricature of this approach, we might associate it with other explicit or implicit principles, such as:
The world exists independently of our knowledge of it, and our role is to develop theories to help us understand its properties (for example, discover its general laws).
These principles help us produce objective science: if the methods and results can be replicated, they do not depend on individual scientists.
In other words, the caricature is of a man in a white lab coat gathering knowledge of his object of study while remaining completely separate from it. Such principles are generally difficult to maintain, and relatively tricky in the study of the social world (and it seems increasingly common for one part of PhD training to relate to reflexivity – see what is our role in social scientific research)? However, critical challenges go far beyond this point about false objectivity.
The challenge to objective science: 1. the role of emancipatory research
One aspect of feminist and postcolonial social science is to go beyond the simple rejection of the idea of objective social science: a further key (or perhaps primary) aim is to generate research with emancipatory elements. This may involve producing research questions with explicit normative elements and combining research with recommendations on social and political change.
The challenge to objective science: 2. a rejection of the dominant scientific method?
A second aspect is the challenge to the idea that one dominant conception of scientific method is correct. Instead, one might describe the scientific rules developed by one social group to the exclusion of others. This may involve historical analysis to identify the establishment of an elite white male dominance of science in the ‘West’, and the ‘Western’ dominance of science across the world.
To such scientists, a challenge to these criteria seems ridiculous: why reject the scientific principles that help us produce objective science and major social and technological advances? To their challengers, this response may reflect a desire to protect the rules associated with elite privilege, and to maintain dominance over the language we use to establish which social groups should be respected as the generators of knowledge (the recipients of prestige and funding, and perhaps the actors most influential in policy).
The challenge to objective science: 3. the democratisation of knowledge production
A third is the challenge to the idea that only well-trained scientists can produce valuable knowledge. This may involve valuing the knowledge of lived experience as a provider of new perspectives (particularly when people are in the unusual position to understand and compare their perspective and those of others). It also involves the development of new research methods and principles, combined with a political challenge to the dominance of a small number of scientific methods (for example, see rejections of the hierarchy of knowledge at which the systematic review of randomised control trials is often at the top).
Revisiting the live debate on the NPF and critical/ interpretive studies
This seems like good context for some of the debate on the NPF (see this special issue). One part of the debate may be about fundamentally different ideas about how we do research: do we adhere to specific scientific principles, or reject them in favour of a focus on, for example, generating meaning from statements and actions in particular contexts?
Another part may reflect wider political views on what these scientific principles represent (an elitist and exclusionary research agenda, whose rules reinforce existing privileges) and the role of alternative methods, in which critical policy studies may play an important part. In other words, we may be witnessing such a heated debate because critical theorists see the NPF as symbolic of attempts by some scholars to (a) reassert a politically damaging approach to academic research and (b) treat other forms of research as unscientific.
If so, we have raised the stakes considerably. When I wrote previously about the problems of combining the insights and knowledge from different theories, it often related to the practical problems of research resources and potential for conceptual misunderstanding. Now, we face a more overt political dimension to social research and some fundamentally different understandings of its role by different social groups.
Can these understandings be reconciled, or will they remain ‘incommensurable’, in which we cannot generate agreement on the language to use to communicate research, and therefore the principles on which to compare the relative merits of approaches? I don’t know.
Initial further reading
Paying attention to this intellectual and political challenge provides a good way ‘in’ to reading that may seem relatively unfamiliar, at least for students with (a) some grounding in the policy theories I describe, and (b) looking to expand their horizons.
Possibly the closest link to our focus is when:
Bacchi describes ‘the politics of policy studies’ by applying insights from policy studies (including power, framing, and social construction) to the study of policy.
First, we know that policy problems do not receive policymaker attention because they are objectively important. Instead, actors compete to define issues and maximise attention to that definition. Second, we do the same when we analyse public policy: we decide which issues are worthy of study and how to define problems. Bacchi argues that the ‘conventional’ policy theorists (including Simon, Bardach, Lindblom, Wildavsky) try to ‘stand back from the policy process’ to give advice from afar, while others (including Fischer, Drysek, Majone) “recognise the analysts’ necessarily normative involvement in advice giving” (p200). Combining both points, Bacchi argues that feminists should engage in both processes – to influence how policymakers and analysts define issues – to, for example, challenge ‘constructions of problems which work to disempower women’ (p204). This is a topic (how should academics engage in the policy process) which I follow up in a study of EBPM.
For a wider discussion of feminist studies and methods, have a look at:
Fonow and Cook’s ‘pragmatic’ discussion about how to do feminist public policy research based on key principles:
‘Our original analysis of feminist approaches to social science research in women’s studies revealed some commonalities, which we articulated as guiding principles of feminist methodology: first, the necessity of continuously and reflexively attending to the significance of gender and gender asymmetry as a basic feature of all social life, including the conduct of research; second, the centrality of consciousness-raising or debunking as a specific methodological tool and as a general orientation or way of seeing; third, challenging the norm of objectivity that assumes that the subject and object of research can be separated from each other and that personal and/or grounded experiences are unscientific; fourth, concern for the ethical implications of feminist research and recognition of the exploitation of women as objects of knowledge; and finally, emphasis on the empowerment of women and transformation of patriarchal social institutions through research and research results’ (Fonow and Cook, 2005: 2213).
Lovenduski on early attempts to reinterpret political science through the lens of feminist theory/ research.
Note the links between our analysis of power/ideas and institutions as the norms and rules (informal and formal, written and unwritten) which help produce regular patterns of behaviour which benefit some and exclude others (and posts on bounded rationality, EBPM and complexity: people use simple rules to turn a complex world into manageable strategies, but to whose benefit?).
With feminist research comes a shift of focus from sex (as a primarily biological definition) and gender (as a definition based on norms and roles performed by individuals), and therefore the (ideal-type) ‘codes of masculinity and femininity’ which underpin political action and even help define which aspects of public policy are public or private. This kind of research links to box 3.3 in Understanding Public Policy (note that it relates to my discussion of Schattschneider and the privatisation/ socialisation of conflict, which he related primarily to ‘big business’).
A good way into the study of feminist activism, and to explore the fact that ‘feminism’ sums up a wide range of activity and approaches (just like, say, ‘new institutionalism’) is to read Elizabeth Evans’ The Politics of Third Wave Feminism. You might also read Evans’ discussion of method (comparing the UK and US) with my post on comparative public policy research.
See also Stevi Jackson on Women’s Studies, Gender Studies and Feminism
Of course, another good way ‘in’ to a discussion is to begin with something really well written, thoughtful, and informative. For example, see bell hooks’ Feminism is for Everybody
Then see two articles which continue our theme of combining theories and insights carefully:
Kenny’s discussion of feminist institutionalism, which seems like one of many variants of new institutionalism (e.g. this phrase could be found in many discussions of new institutionalism: ‘seemingly neutral institutional processes and practices are in fact embedded in hidden norms and values, privileging certain groups over others’ – Kenny, 2007: 95) but may involve ‘questioning the very foundations and assumptions of mainstream institutional theory’. Kenny argues that few studies of new institutionalism draw on feminist research (‘there has been little dialogue between the two fields’) and, if they were to do so, may produce very different analyses of power and ‘the political’. This point reinforces the problems I describe in combining theories when we ignore the different meanings that people attach to apparently identical concepts.
Mackay and Meier’s concern (quoted here) that new institutionalism could be ‘an enabling framework – or an intellectual strait-jacket” for feminist scholarship’. Kenny and Mackay identify similar issues about ‘epistemological incompatibilities’ when we combine approaches such as feminist research and rational choice institutionalism.
So far, I provide one link between postcolonial studies and public policy, since this seems like the best way ‘in’.
Munshi and Kurian’s identify the use of ‘postcolonial filters’ to reinterpret the framing of corporate social responsibility, describing ‘the old colonial strategy of reputation management among elite publics at the expense of marginalized publics’ which reflects a ‘largely Western, top-down way of doing or managing things’. In this case, we are talking about frames as structures or dominant ways to understand the world. Actors exercise power to reinforce a particular way of thinking which benefits some at the expense of others. Munshi and Kurian describe a ‘dominant, largely Western, model of economic growth and development’ which corporations seek to protect with reference to, for example, the ‘greenwashing’ of their activities to divert attention from the extent to which ‘indigenous peoples and poorer communities in a number of developing countries “are generally the victims of environmental degradation mostly caused by resource extractive operations of MNCs in the name of global development”’ (see p516).
It is also worth noting that I have, in some ways, lumped feminism and postcolonialism together when they are separate fields with different (albeit often overlapping and often complementary) traditions. See for example Emejulu’s Beyond Feminism’s White Gaze.
Hopefully some more suggested readings will appear in the comments section …
Filed under 1000 words, agenda setting, feminism, public policy, Social change
Tagged as beliefs, critical policy studies, feminism, framing, ideas, methods, Policy, policymaking, Political science, postcolonial studies, power, public policy, Research, Scientific method, Social Science
Women don’t understand facts (and fracking)
A recent poll suggests that women are far less likely to support commercial fracking than men. For a while, the same divide was detected in relation to Scottish independence. The common factor is that you can learn a lot from people’s attitudes to gender by how they try to explain these divides.
A common starting point is that women are less likely to take risks (quick and cheap Google examples 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Then lots of people make fools of themselves by adding to the explanation: women prefer security/ a ‘safety blanket’ because their role is to nurture, earth mothers are closer to the environment, men are buccaneers, men are more ‘rational’ when they consider risk, and so on.
Or, perhaps they are misreported. I don’t know.
For example, it is now being reported in the Times that Professor Averil MacDonald (‘the new champion of the shale gas industry’) says: ‘Vast numbers of women are opposed to fracking because they “don’t understand” and follow their gut instinct rather than the facts’ (the same interpretation can be found in the Guardian, Daily Mail, and Independent).
The message that I think MacDonald was presenting is this: people are less likely to support fracking if they didn’t study particular sciences at school; and, women are less likely to have studied those sciences at school. Maybe, at its core, is a good point about challenging the barriers to women studying, and choosing a career in, certain science subjects (i.e. these findings might give us a window of opportunity to discuss such barriers).
Turned into a newspaper headline it becomes this: “Fracking? Women ‘don’t understand the science’”.
Beyond this point, there are four other things worthy of discussion:
You can’t separate your values from your empirical studies and scientific explanations
Some people like to present themselves as objective truth-seeking scientists, but they are kidding themselves or trying to kid other people. Scientific study is infused with our values, from what is worthy of our study, to how to study it, and what counts as good research, evidence, and explanation. Normally, you just see the end without considering all the assumptions that people make at the beginning. Or, people engage in inductive science, then struggle with post-hoc explanation (‘umm, like, women are different, eh?’).
You can’t separate politics from explanation
Part of the problem with gender-based conclusions is that people jump to explanations based on the too-broad category ‘women’ (or ‘men’) without considering the political implications of treating one gender as one group of people. Maybe it gets you somewhere initially, as a way of efficiently identifying correlations, but it gets you nowhere if you then try and come up with one overarching explanation for what is going on. It’s quite bad science and it’s very bad politics, contributing to unsubstantiated stereotypes. The overall correlation also distracts us from more detailed explanations based on gender and a wide range of other factors, which contributes to a further political problem: it reinforces the argument that somehow the difference between a positive or negative political choice boils down to the attitudes of women.
People go beyond their expertise
It is common for people to develop an undeserved general reputation for expertise, built on specific expertise in one discipline or field. It’s always worth being particularly skeptical when people with a background in natural science pronounce on social behaviour, or indeed when political scientists try to explain psychology or how gravity works. Just as you wouldn’t ask me to give a lecture on the combustion engine, don’t rely primarily on STEM professors to explain the outcomes of surveys.
All people combine ‘rational’ and gut-level shortcuts
If you read something like Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow, you won’t find him saying that only women make gut, intuitive, or emotional decisions. We’re all at it. In fact, in my forthcoming Palgrave ‘Pivot’ book The Politics of Evidence-based Policymaking* I use that basic insight to explain policymaking: Policymakers cannot consider all evidence relevant to policy problems. They use two shortcuts: ‘rational’ ways to establish the best evidence, and ‘irrational’ decision-making, drawing on emotions and beliefs to act quickly.
*Yes, I wrote this post largely to advertise my next publication.
Filed under agenda setting, feminism, Fracking, public policy, Social change
Tagged as Bounded rationality, evidence, evidence-based policymaking, fracking, Government, Policy, policymaking, Politics, public policy, UK politics and policy
What can be done about the UK’s ‘glass floor’?
New research on the ‘glass floor’ presents a striking way to understand socioeconomic inequality in the UK. It also highlights ever-present problems in translating such information into policy: we understand the size of the problem well, speculate on its cause badly, and produce vague calls for government action ineffectively. Our initial shock and enthusiasm for policy change translates into disenchantment with yet another ‘too difficult’ problem.
The UK Government’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission has released new research on the life chances of the British population. It identifies a “’glass floor’ in British society” to reject the idea that people get on in life through hard work and merit. Instead, mediocre and lazy children in the right family will do better than bright and hardworking children in the wrong family.
This is horrible paraphrasing of the report, but you get the idea about how most people might notice the report in a hurry, have their beliefs about the lack of a British meritocracy reinforced, then complain that the government is doing enough about it. There wasn’t quite a public outcry (far from it), but you might be forgiven for thinking that the report gives the government plenty of reason to do something. The big question is: will it do anything new with the information?
I wouldn’t rule it out, but would exercise this note of caution: reports like this don’t speak for themselves or give governments a clear impetus to act. Instead, they form part of a larger pattern in this area (of socio-economic inequalities policy), in which we can speak with much more certainty about the size of the problem than (a) its cause, (b) how we should respond, and (c) who exactly should respond.
The size of the problem
The size of the problem is quantified well (it’s not a simple task to measure cognitive ability, class backgrounds and life chances like this) and easy to understand. For example, the commission’s press release states that:
‘Less able, better-off kids are 35% more likely to become high earners than bright poor kids … children from more advantaged social backgrounds who are assessed at age 5 as having low cognitive ability are nonetheless significantly more likely to become high earners than their high ability peers in lower income households. Children from high income backgrounds who show signs of low academic ability at age 5 are 35% more likely to be high earners as adults than children from poorer families who show early signs of high ability’.
The cause of the problem
This is when things get a bit trickier, because although the chair of the commission, Alan Milburn, describes ‘a social scandal that all too often demography is still destiny in Britain’, the commission is not entirely clear on who or what caused it. There is not one simple message about a single villain. Instead, there are at least two, and both stories are not crystal clear.
First, the author of the report, Dr Abigail McKnight, links the outcomes to the behaviour of certain parents:
“The fact that middle class families are successful in hoarding the best opportunities in the education system and in the labour market is a real barrier to the upward social mobility of less advantaged children.”
The keyword there is ‘hoarding’, which suggests inappropriately selfish behaviour. Yet, the chair of the commission, Alan Milburn, is keen not to blame parents: ‘No one should criticise parents for doing their best for their children. That’s what we all want’.
Instead, Milburn sort of blames the government for its current lack of proportionate action: ‘The government should make its core mission the levelling of the playing field so that every child in the country has an equal opportunity to go as far as their abilities can take them’.
The result is a mixed view about the cause of the problem – perhaps it’s the fault of some hoarding parents (the especially rich ones sending their kids to private schools, getting tutors and securing internships for their children) and not so much others (the ones using their own skills to secure a spot for their child in a good state school) – and maybe the solution is to give other parents some of these skills to ‘level the playing field’ a bit.
The realistic solution
This is when things get even trickier, because the report seems to call for the government to do far more than it will, while giving it the ability to say that it is already doing as much as it should.
In the ‘far more than it will’ column is the call to reduce socio-economic inequalities (through wealth and income redistribution?), remove differences in quality between schools, and remove class-based barriers to University admissions.
In the ‘sort of doing it already’ column is the call for the state to intervene early in people’s lives to, in effect, train disadvantaged parents in how to give their children things like ‘soft skills’ related to forming networks and spotting opportunities.
The ultimate complication
The final, and perhaps trickiest, obstacle is about working out who is in charge of taking the next step, to drive this new policy agenda forward. The final paragraph of the main report is instructive:
‘If politicians are serious about their expressed desire to increase social mobility in the UK they will need to address barriers that are preventing less advantaged children from reaching their full potential and remove barriers that block downward mobility’.
It doesn’t say who the politicians are – perhaps for good reason. In areas such as social and economic inequality, it is increasingly difficult to know who is responsible for policy progress. If it’s mainly about economic redistribution, you can call for action from central government – but, let’s be honest, this won’t get you very far. If it’s mainly about training and encouraging ‘soft skills’ like ‘resilience’, central government might produce a broad strategy document, but its localism agenda suggests that it expects local public bodies to take responsibility for social outcomes.
The overall message is that it takes us seconds to understand the problem and call for government action, but a lot longer to decide what we want them to do, and longer still to find the people likely to do it. By that time, our attention will probably have shifted elsewhere, until the next report comes out and we do it all over again. Maybe this time will be different.
Filed under agenda setting, public policy, Social change, UK politics and policy
Tagged as agenda setting, early intervention, glass floor, Government, Inequality, Policy, policymaking, Politics, Preventative Spending, prevention policy, public policy, socio-economic inequality, UK politics and policy
February 5, 2014 · 12:40 pm
The Gerry Adams Novelty Mugs on Twitter Test
How far ahead can we make accurate and detailed political predictions? I propose the Gerry Adams Novelty Mugs on Twitter Test. We ask: how many years ago could you have predicted that Gerry Adams would be tweeting about novelty mugs?
https://twitter.com/GerryAdamsSF/status/430801541373915137
We could probably have made that prediction, say, a year ago based on his whimsical twitter style. However, think about the difficulties in going further back, say 5-10 years, to consider the role of the rise of social media and its confluence with Adams’ new position in the political landscape. Then, consider that Adams’ case is relatively simple, compared to the interaction between a wide range of actors, institutions, socioeconomic conditions and events which produce political changes. In short, the test is there to remind us to be wary of people claiming to have the political equivalent of clairvoyance.
McBusted has been to the Year 3000 and it predicts a higher income tax in Scotland relative to the rest of the UK
In 50 years, we won’t care about North Sea Oil because we’ll be on solar jet packs
Filed under Folksy wisdom, public policy, Social change
Tagged as complexity theory, Gerry Adams, Novelty mugs, Policy, policymaking, Politics
https://paulcairney.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/podcast-power-ideas-8-2-161.mp3 (podcast download)
Policy theory is about the relationship between power and ideas. These terms are difficult to disentangle, even analytically, because people often exercise power by influencing the beliefs of others. A good rule of thumb, from classic studies, is that the more profound and worrying kinds of power are the hardest to observe.
Dahl argued that elitism was unobservable; that it was ‘virtually impossible to disprove’ the idea that inequalities in society translate into systematic advantages across the political system. Dahl’s classic statement is that, ‘A has power over B to the extent that he can [or does] get B to do something that B would not otherwise do’. To demonstrate this power requires the identification of A’s: resources, means to exploit those resources, willingness to engage in political action; the amount of power exerted (or threatened) by A and the effect of A’s action on B. Dahl identified ‘key political choices’ involving a significant conflict of preferences – suggesting that the powerful are those that benefit from ‘concrete outcomes’. He identified inequalities in many areas but no overall, coordinated, control of the policy process. His work is often described as ‘pluralist’.
Subsequent debates were based on a critique of pluralist methods. Bachrach and Baratz argued that the ‘second face’ of power is exercised before Dahl’s ‘key political choices’. Power is not simply about visible conflicts. It can relate to two barriers to engagement. First, groups may exercise power to reinforce social attitudes. If the weight of public opinion is against government action, maybe governments will not intervene. In such cases, power and powerlessness relates to the inability of groups to persuade the public, media and/ or government that there is a reason to make policy; a problem to be solved. Second, policymakers can only pay attention to a tiny amount of issues for which they are responsible. So, groups may exercise power to keep some issues on their agenda at the expense of others. Issues on the agenda may be ‘safe’ – more attention to them means less attention to the imbalances of power within society. Schattschneider argues (in A Realist’s View of Democracy) that the structures of government, such as legislative procedures controlling debate, reinforce this problem when determining which conflicts receive attention and which are ignored.
The ‘third dimension’ of power suggests that people or organizations can be powerful without appearing to act. For example, Crenson’s study of US air pollution found that regulations were relatively low in a town (Gary, Indiana) dependent on US steel. Using pluralist methods, we would witness inactivity, or overt agreement on minimal regulations. This would disguise a power relationship in which one group (US Steel) benefited at another’s (Gary’s ill population) expense. US Steel was powerful without having to act, and the town’s public was powerless because it felt unable to act. Lukes takes the idea of a false consensus further, drawing on Marxist descriptions of the exploitation of the working classes within a capitalist system: if only they knew the full facts – that capitalism worked against their real interests – they would rise up and overthrow it. In this scenario, they do not object because they are manipulated into thinking that capitalism is their best chance of increasing their standard of living. We observe a consensus between capitalists and workers, but one benefits at the expense of the other.
Foucault describes a further dimension of power, drawing on the idea of society modelled on a prison. The power of the state to monitor and punish may reach the point in which its subjects assume that they are always visible. This ‘perfection of power’ – associated with the all-seeing ‘Panopticon’ – renders the visible exercise of power unnecessary. Individuals accept that discipline is a fact of life, anticipate the consequences of their actions and regulate their own behaviour. Control may be so embedded in our psyches, knowledge and language, that it is ‘normalized’ and invisible. We ‘know’ which forms of behaviour are deviant and should be regulated or punished. Therefore, power is exercised not merely by the state, but also individuals who control their behaviour and that of others.
These arguments rely as much on the role of ideas as power. Discussions of agenda setting focus on the ability of groups to ‘frame’ issues as inoocuous or specialist, to limit the number of participants in the policy process. Bachrach and Baratz’s first barrier to engagement is the dominant set of beliefs held within society. Luke’s third dimension of power focuses on what people believe to be their real interests and the extent to which those perceptions can be manipulated. He describes Gramscian ‘hegemony’ in which the most powerful dominate state institutions and the intellectual and moral world in which we decide which actions are most worthy of attention and which are right or wrong. Foucault’s social control is based on common beliefs/ knowledge of normality and deviance.
In this context, ideas may be used:
To limit policy change by excluding participants who hold beliefs that challenge current arrangements.
By excluded groups to challenge barriers to policymaking engagement. While some studies might suggest that elite or state dominance may never be challenged, others treat established ideas as barriers to engagement which can be overcome (as in the studies by Bachrach & Baratz and Crenson).
This has been a whistle-stop tour of power and ideas. Other discussions are available, including:
We used to talk more about structural power carried out by individuals, with no autonomy or choice, on behalf of certain classes. Now, we talk about a combination of individual action and the rules they follow (see forthcoming post on institutions).
Luck. Power may be measured according to outcomes – the powerful benefit from decisions, and the powerless lose out. If so, people may be ‘lucky’ as well as powerful. They may benefit from outcomes secured by the actions of others (see forthcoming post on rational choice).
(For the source of the tables, see https://paulcairney.wordpress.com/policy-theory-into-practice/ or here)
Series: Policy Concepts in 1000 words
See also: Making Sense of Policymaking: why it’s always someone else’s fault and nothing ever changes
Filed under 1000 words, agenda setting, public policy, Social change
Tagged as 1000 words, Antonio Gramsci, Bachrach, Baratz, Crenson, Dahl, elitism, ideas, Lukes, Michel Foucault, Panopticon, pluralism, Schattschneider, Social control, US Steel
Och Aye or Och No: we don’t know
Lesley Riddoch’s piece in the Scotsman argues that the Scottish Independence campaign, so far, has been a bit crap. No one (bar the single minded numpty) is quite sure what they want and they need better information. They won’t get that if Yes/ No campaigns just invite people to vote yes or no, or if they just get ‘one-sided “propaganda”’. They ‘need an authentic choice’. That choice needs to come via something like a ‘pre-referendum Constitutional Convention’ which ‘would let voters compare all propositions before taking the plunge’:
It’s naïve perhaps to think political parties might sink bitter differences for the sake of democracy. But as things stand, this referendum may be remembered more for the chronic indecision of the Scottish people than any actual result.
For me, the naïve idea is that we can construct a commission to set out the facts in an objective way. I reckon that it comes from a romantic view of the Nordics, where many countries have this reputation for consensus-building. The problem with this idea is that consensus-seeking is also debate-stifling. It does not sit well with the UK tradition of open, often adversarial, argument in which two groups present opposing arguments and ask people to choose between them. The advantage of this system is that it is entertaining and relatively likely to capture the public imagination. The more theatrical, the better. If anything, the debate has received too much attention – it has dominated Scottish debate for ages – at the expense of more important issues. This seems, to me, to be more useful than hanging our hats on a commission – which, if it is populated by thinky-folk, could only produce an honest report if it says: “how the hell do we know what will happen?”.
Filed under Scottish politics, Social change, UK politics and policy
Tagged as Constitutional Convention, Lesley Riddoch, Och Aye, Och No, Politics, Scotland, Scottish independence, Scottish people
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4548
|
__label__cc
| 0.677283
| 0.322717
|
Who's Afraid of a PSA?
by PCRI
By Ralph Blum
The straight answer? Every guy who’s ever been told his PSA was elevated for his age, and that he needs to have a biopsy. Because from that point on, things can happen fast. It’s the prostate cancer version of baseball’s famous Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance double play—PSA Test-to-Biopsy-to-Surgery.
The PSA is a simple blood test for prostate-specific antigen, a protein produced by normal prostate cells. Cancer cells, however, produce more PSA per unit volume than benign cells, so an elevated PSA can be cause for concern. Since 1986, PSA testing, although not perfect, has served as the gold standard for widespread screening and early diagnosis of prostate cancer. Controversy arises from the fact that, at the first sign of an elevated PSA, your family doctor is likely to send you to a urologist who will almost certainly perform a biopsy—all too often opening the door to unnecessary radical treatment.
Avoiding False Readings
There are other factors besides prostate cancer that can influence PSA test results. Here are some of them:
BPH: Benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate enlargement caused by age or infection, induces an elevated PSA not indicative of cancer.
Infection: Consider the possibility of infection. Some years ago, when my PSA spiked unaccountably from 7.4 to 20.3, my wife, Jeanne, who is a medical intuitive and practices Traditional Oriental Medicine, suggested to our family doctor that he put me on a course of the antibiotic Cipro. Which he did, and after ten days my PSA had dropped back to 9.25.
The 48 Hour Rule: It is possible that strenuous exercise, heavy lifting (like lugging suitcases through airports), sexual activity, and even bicycle riding before a PSA test will negatively effect the result. However, a false elevation is guaranteed if you get your PSA checked immediately following a Digital Rectal Exam (DRE) or too soon after intercourse. So don’t have a blood test for at least a week after a DRE, and avoid ejaculation for 48 hours before the test.
Inconsistent Lab Work: Standardization of tests, or assays, from one lab to another, is still lacking. This makes comparisons between PSA tests done in different labs unreliable. If you have two or more PSA tests, make sure they go to the same lab for analysis.
If any of these factors apply in your case, ask for a repeat PSA.
When a PSA Makes Good Sense
Early PSA testing makes the most sense if you fall into any of the following categories:
Family History: If you have a family history of prostate cancer, it’s advisable to begin PSA testing at 40 and repeat the test at six-month intervals.
African Americans: All African-Americans are advised to begin tests by age 40 regardless. The death rate from undiagnosed prostate cancer for African-Americans is currently two-and-a-half-times that for Caucasian men. This is partly for genetic reasons, and partly from reluctance to submit to a DRE—85% of cancers occur in the peripheral zone of the prostate gland, and therefore can be felt by the doctor performing the exam. A DRE is an essential diagnostic procedure.
Men Over 75: Nowadays, men over 75 are apt to be spared testing entirely. So you can always avoid the anxiety, and have a good time. On the other hand, you might just go for the PSA test anyway, and while you’re at it, have a thorough physical. I know a number of grateful men who never would have discovered that they had a serious heart problem or high blood pressure, if they hadn’t started with a PSA check. How long has it been since your last physical?
The Politics of PSA Testing
The best clinicians do not mindlessly screen all of their male patients. They decide which men should be tested based on age, symptoms, family history, expected longevity, general medical condition, physical examination findings, and—a significant factor—the patient's own request for the test. The goal of early detection remains to identify patients who have clinically significant cancers at a time when treatment is most likely to be effective.
Remember that, ultimately, the big decisions are all yours to make. Trust is crucial. So never hesitate to go for a second opinion. Bottom line, regardless of its shortcomings, the blood test for prostate-specific antigen is still the most useful and widely available method for detecting the presence prostate cancer. And if you want an encouraging statistic, here’s the really good news for men over fifty: 28 out of 30 of you who are reading this blog, and who do have prostate cancer, will die with it, not of it.
As you probably noticed, there is no “MD” after my name. Which means that my experience, my facts, and my emotional involvement are open to scrutiny and comment. In these blogs, I will be writing about matters that I know are of concern to men with prostate cancer, and to those who love them. You don’t need an MD after your name either, to point out something I’ve missed, or correct me if I’m off base. I welcome any PSA questions, advice or stories—reassuring or cautionary—that you’d care to share.
Article originally posted on April 12, 2011, on Prostate Snatchers: The Blog, by Ralph Blum
About Ralph Blum (1932-2016):
Ralph H. Blum was a cultural anthropologist and author, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University with a degree in Russian Studies. His reporting from the Soviet Union, the first of its kind for The New Yorker (1961—1965), included two three-part series on Russian cultural life. He wrote for various magazines, among them Reader’s Digest, Cosmopolitan, and Vogue. Blum has published three novels and five nonfiction books. He lived with prostate cancer, without radical intervention, for twenty years.
tagged with Ralph Blum, PSA, biopsy, prostate specific antigen, urologist, family history
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4551
|
__label__cc
| 0.723172
| 0.276828
|
Tag Archives: singapore
July 15, 2014 Yvonne Ng
Born and raised in Singapore, Yvonne Ng (graduate of York University, Canada) is choreographer, presenter, arts educator and artistic director of princess productions (since 1996), which houses tiger princess dance projects and the biennial dance: made in canada/fait au canada Festival. The company’s repertoire includes Yvonne’s choreographed works and commissioned works. Yvonne has created original roles for choreographers such as Bill James, José Navas, Peter Chin, Dominique Dumais, Kevin O’Day (National Theatre Mannheim Ballett), Marie-Josée Chartier, Stephanie Skura and Tedd Robinson. tiger princess dance projects has toured to Singapore, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Australia, China, Canada and the USA.
Yvonne is a certified Open Source Forms© (Stephanie Skura/U.S.A.) and Ashtanga Yoga teacher. She has trained in Partners for Youth Empowerment Creative Facilitator (Level 1& 2), C-I Training™, Senior Fitness(CCAA) and Dance for PD™ (Parkinson’s). Yvonne has taught at and created work for Ryerson and York University, and the Theatre Department, Juniata College, Pennsylvania and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and La Salle College of the Arts, Singapore and is currently at University of Waterloo’s Dept. of Drama and Speech Communication.
Yvonne is currently based Toronto. She is a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award, New Pioneers Arts Award, Chalmers Arts Fellowship, Soulpepper’s Community Artist Award and the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts – New Talent. In 2000, she was honoured with a Dora Mavor Moore Award for best performance and has received multiple nominations. Ng was the artistic director of Series 8:08 (1994 – 2015) a dance service organization that supports professional dance development. www.princessproductions.ca
arts educatorCanadachoreographerDancing for ParkinsonsDovehouse Dance Ballroominterdisciplinarymultidisciplinaryopen source formsperformerpresentersingaporetiger princess dance projectsTorontoWorkshopsYvonne Ng
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4554
|
__label__wiki
| 0.944228
| 0.944228
|
Dad-of-two, 35, dies after being told he was too young to have throat cancer
Source: www.mirror.co.uk
Author: Amber Hicks
Ryan Greenan went to his doctor in Edinburgh in September after he started having trouble swallowing, eating and drinking.
The 35-year-old from Scotland was advised his symptoms were most likely caused by reflux and anxiety, reports the Scotsman , despite his family having a history of throat cancer.
Ryan’s sister Kerry, 33, said her brother took this diagnosis at face value “because the general advice was that oesophageal cancer only really affected older people”.
However, the symptoms persisted and Ryan started to rapidly lose weight before collapsing at work in December.
He was taken to hospital and it was then that a tumour was discovered in his throat and he was diagnosed with cancer on December 28.
There was more heartache when it was revealed it had also spread to his lungs and liver and there was nothing that could be done to save him.
Three weeks later Ryan sadly died.
His sister is now calling on doctors to thoroughly test for the illness, even in younger patients.
Kerry told the Scotsman : “When Ryan first went to the doctor, he was told it was anxiety and that he was too young for it to be cancer because he was only 35.
“He just took that as his diagnosis and didn’t go back because the general advice was that oesophageal cancer only really affected older people.
“If it had been picked up earlier, they could have operated, they could have given him chemotherapy, but after three months it had spread, there was nothing else they could do at that point.
“I’m just absolutely destroyed. I’m so angry. If they had caught it earlier, my big brother would still be here today.”
It was while Ryan, who has two daughters aged eight and 11, was receiving treatment that he proposed to partner Natasha Robertson, 35, on January 11.
Heartbroken Natasha told the Evening Telegraph : “Ryan was my soulmate. We were together for eight months and he just made me so happy during such a short time.”
Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A 2019-02-05T12:55:53+00:00 February, 2019|Oral Cancer News|
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4555
|
__label__wiki
| 0.889571
| 0.889571
|
Home/Health/90 New Measles Cases, Nearing Record Since Elimination
90 New Measles Cases, Nearing Record Since Elimination
Gut Bacteria Tied to Depression
This season’s number of 555 confirmed measles cases has far surpassed last season’s 372 and is approaching the 667 cases seen in 2014 — the highest numbers since the disease was effectively eliminated in the United States in 2000.
During the second week of April alone, 90 new cases were reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Increasing numbers of vaccine refusers is believed to explain a large part of the surge, according to the CDC.
The CDC has received reports of measles in 20 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
Most of the 285 cases in New York City have occurred primarily in Brooklyn and Queens since the beginning of the outbreak in October, where there is an ultra-orthodox community of Jewish residents whose religious beliefs prevent them from getting the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination.
Most of those cases were transmitted by a child who traveled to Israel (where there are large cases of measles and unvaccinated individuals) and who brought the infection back to the United States.
Earlier this season, New York City instituted two extreme measures to tamp down the explosion of measles cases in the city, particularly among areas with low vaccine compliance, such as Orthodox Jewish communities.
Among other things, the city required only vaccinated individuals to be admitted to yeshivas (Jewish schools) and daycare centers where Jewish children attend. After earlier attempts to institute these measures failed, last week New York City officials decided it may levy fines as high as $1000 per occurrence (including for each child in a family who is out of compliance) and jail time.
Other Measles Outbreaks
Rockland County, New York, less than 40 miles north of New York City, had reported 184 confirmed measles cases since April 12.
Washington state has reported 73 cases in Clark County and one case in King County.
New Jersey has 11 outbreaks of measles, including seven in Ocean County and four in one Monmouth County household. “[T]his household has a direct epidemiologic link to the outbreak community in Ocean County. These cases, in addition to 1 highly suspect case, potentially exposed individuals to the infection in New Jersey between March 9 and March 14,” according to the New Jersey advisory.
In California, there were 21 confirmed cases across 10 counties: Los Angeles, Placer, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Butte, Calaveras, Shasta, and Tehama.
In Michigan, there have been 39 confirmed cases since March 13.
Measles remains a common infection in many areas of the world, and experts recommended being vaccinated against it before traveling internationally.
Follow Medscape on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
bioterrorism preparedness disaster planning disaster preparedness disease management emergency preparedness immunizations MEASLES measles/mumps/rubella vaccine mmr vaccine outbreak patient safety public health preparedness vaccination vaccine
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4556
|
__label__wiki
| 0.71237
| 0.71237
|
For all future content, please see: http://ucbfa.org
Author tylerleedsPosted on November 14, 2017 November 14, 2017 Categories UncategorizedLeave a comment on A New Home
Media coverage of UC continued to focus on free speech as the university system launched a DC-based center to study the First Amendment and the Daily Cal took heat for a cartoon many called anti-semitic. In an interview with the LA Times, UC President Janet Napolitano explained the thinking behind the center, saying, ““The students themselves are raising questions about free speech and does it apply to homophobic speech, does it apply to racist speech? We have to consider the student concerns but return to basic principles about what free speech means and how do we better educate students about the extent of the 1st Amendment.” The advisory board of the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement (to see the center’s website, click here) includes former US Senator Barbara Boxer, conservative columnist George Will and Tamara Keith, NPR’s white house correspondent, among others.
In related news, the Daily Cal removed from its website and apologized for a cartoon that depicted retired Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz. The cartoon reportedly intended to depict the hypocrisy Israel-supporters display toward Palestine. In a letter to the editor, Chancellor Christ asked, “Are you aware that its anti-Semitic imagery connects directly to the centuries-old ‘blood libel’ that falsely accused Jews of engaging in ritual murder?” The far-right website Breitbart called the cartoon Nazi-themed, a claim echoed by Dershowitz.
In other news, the melodrama within the Berkeley College Republicans continued to unspool in reporting by the San Jose Mercury News. Meanwhile, an internal audit found Berkeley is not in compliance with its $15 minimum wage. We also revisit a Daily Cal piece from last week that takes a deep dive on Cal Athletic’s debt, the largest burden of any American university athletics department.
Continuing this blog’s focus on the debate over free speech, five pieces on the topic are highlighted, including commentary from Yale Law Professor Robert Post, part of a back and forth debate with Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. In the piece, Post argues, “Underlying Chemerinsky’s [claim that free speech must be protected vigorously on campus] is the assumption that speech within the university (and outside the classroom) is the same as in the public sphere. But the root and fiber of the university is not equivalent to the public sphere. ” A piece in the New Yorker explored the controversy stemming from an invitation Bard College extended for a conference at its Hannah Arendt Center to a member of Germany’s far-right AfD party (which recently won seats in the Bundestag). Other pieces touch on the First Amendment in the digital age and a congressional hearing on campus speech.
Free Speech Center & a Cartoon
10/26 – UC, roiled by 1st Amendment controversies, to launch national free speech center (LATimes): The article frames the center’s launch as a response to political clashes at and around UC Berkeley, though the piece notes such controversies are happening across the country, though Berkeley has become a symbol of the times.
10/26 – University of California to open free speech center in Washington DC (SFGate): The center will be funded with donations and fundraising.
10/27 – Editorial: University of California’s commitment to free speech is badly needed (SDUT): The paper’s editorial board, often critical of Napolitano, praises UC’s president for her leadership on free speech.
10/27 – University of California launches First Amendment center to study free speech (Breitbart): The far-right publication’s coverage of the launch is fairly straightforward, though the organization leads its post with an image of a fire from Milo Yiannopoulos’s first aborted campus appearance.
10/26 – Cal’s student newspaper apologizes for cartoon after backlash (SFChronicle): The paper’s Editor-in-Chief wrote, “The criticism we have received reaffirms for us a need for a more critical editing eye, and a stronger understanding of the violent history and contemporary manifestations of anti-Semitism. We appreciate those who have reached out offering to help us better our understanding of these issues. We will be taking them up on the offer.”
10/29 – UC Berkeley Paper Apologizes For Anti-Semitic Cartoon (Breitbart): The article quotes Dershowitz as saying the cartoon was “a hard Left neo-Nazi cartoon,” thus continuing a trend of the right turning the criticism’s of the left back on the left.
10/28 – Bitter feud divides Berkeley College Republicans as the club’s future hangs in the balance (SJMN): According to the piece, “In the past, the student club was a quiet group of Ronald Reagan admirers who talked about issues such as free trade. In the last year or so, however, a vocal contingent of members have sent the club lurching to the right and into the spotlight.”
10/25 – UC Berkeley not in compliance with 2015 fair wage plan, internal audit finds (DailyCal): The issue was not limited to Berkeley, but appears to be a problem across the UC system.
10/19 – ‘An impossible situation’: Cal Athletics gets $20M bailout from chancellor’s office (DailyCal): Cal Athletics will receive $20 million from the chancellor’s office, which pushes the total amount of bailout funding to $100 million since 2010. According to the piece:
According to a department financial report, Cal Athletics expects to pay about $18 million annually in interest until 2032, when the principal of the debt kicks in. Payments will then jump to more than $25 million per year and gradually inch close to $40 million. For reference, the total revenue for Cal Athletics in the 2016 fiscal year was about $86 million.
In total, Cal Athletics holds more than $400 million in debt, the most of any athletic department in the country, almost entirely from the renovation and seismic retrofitting of the stadium and construction of its athletics complex. Bloomberg News has called the debt “crippling.” Deadspin ran a piece this summer with the headline, “Cal Is Fucked Because Of Its Stupid Stadium Deal.”
10/25 – Op-Ed: There is no 1st Amendment right to speak on a college campus (Vox): To drive home his point, Post shares the following example, “To give a simple example, students are free to march with candles chanting, “No means yes, yes means anal,” in a park. The First Amendment gives them the right to do so. But no sane university would tolerate a student group marching through its campus shouting this ugly slogan (as some male students once did at Yale). ”
10/26 – Column: Does the Far Right Have a Place at Academic Conferences? (NewYorker): The piece argues that making room in academia for far-right thinking could be dangerous.
10/27 – Op-Ed: How Twitter Killed the First Amendment (NYT): The author, a professor of law at Columbia, considers the inadequacy of the First Amendment for our Internet age.
10/27 – Congress Rallies Around Campus Free Speech (IHE): The article covers a congressional hearing that touched on the Charles Murray fiasco at Middlebury college.
10/29 – Blog Post: The Problem with “Taking Offense” (Academe): The post considers the way framing student activism as a matter of “being offended” undersells the legitimate complaints of students.
Author tylerleedsPosted on October 29, 2017 Categories Media CoverageTags berkeley college republicans, First Amendment, Free SpeechLeave a comment on Media Coverage 10/30/17
Over the week, the student journalists at the Daily Cal published a number of well-reported pieces, including an article on a power struggle within the Berkeley College Republicans student organization. The group is marred by a split between a rising “alt-right” wing and those who claim fidelity to established Republican doctrine, a divide that resembles what the GOP is facing nationally. In a separate piece, the paper reported that Cal Athletics will receive $20 million from the chancellor’s office, which pushes the total amount of bailout funding to $100 million since 2010. In another piece, the paper documented how severe the university’s reliance on corporate research sponsors has become: industry funds have grown from $32 million in FY 2007 to $72 million in FY 2017, a figure that accounts for around nine percent of all new research awards. Among the donors are Altria, which owns Philip Morris. The online version of the article has a very detailed visualization of funding sources and receiving departments, which is worth taking a close look at (scroll to the bottom of the article).
In other news, UC President Janet Napolitano emphasized the university’s commitment to survivors of domestic abuse in a Huff Po op-ed and an interview with the Daily Cal. In the op-ed, Napolitano writes, “UC is setting clear expectations, demanding accountability, communicating about services we provide for survivors of violence, and much more.” The interview is worth a close look, as Napolitano also touches on recent security costs for right-wing speakers and the possibility of tuition hikes.
Gov. Jerry Brown surprised a number of commentators when he vetoed a bill that “would have codified into law controversial guidance issued by the Obama administration’s Department of Education on Title IX,” according to the Atlantic. Brown said his veto was driven by concern about due process rights for students accused of sexual misconduct, a concern more often voiced on the right than left. In a less surprising move, the governor signed a bill that covers tuition for first-year community college students.
Gainesville, Florida became the focus of the campus free speech debate last week, as white supremacist Richard Spencer made an appearance at the University of Florida. After his talk was cut short by hecklers, The Chronicle of Higher Education published a piece exploring how some campuses have made moves to limit heckling, which is often employed to silence speakers. UF President W. Kent Fuchs called the costs of providing security “unfair,” though he looks wise for taking the threat of violence seriously, as Spencer supporters allegedly fired a gun at protestors. Away from the Sunshine State, the University of Chicago hosted a closed-door session for campus leaders to discuss free speech.
Daily Cal on a Roll
10/15 – Berkeley College Republicans president impeached by secretary amid power struggle (DailyCal): The student who led the ouster of the organization’s president accused his colleague of turning the organization into a “troll factory.”
10/19 – ‘An impossible situation’: Cal Athletics gets $20M bailout from chancellor’s office (DailyCal): As Cal Athletics struggles with its debt, the article notes, “Major cuts to Cal Athletics could be on the way in the coming months. Teams might be removed, rosters may be reduced and Edwards Stadium could be turned into housing.”
10/13 – Industry-funded research takes on a larger role on a cash-strapped campus (DailyCal): According to the piece, “For every dollar that was awarded to STEM recipients from 2014 to 2016, less than 3 cents were awarded to non-STEM recipients.”
President Napolitano
10/18 – Napolitano: University of California and State Leaders Work to Enhance Public University Support for Survivors of Domestic Violence (HuffPo): The piece makes the case that UC is making progress on the issue.
10/13 – Transcript: Napolitano talks DACA, sexual harassment and tuition (DailyCal): Napolitano calls the aborted “Free Speech Week” at Berkeley exceptional:
(My) thought process was that the campus was making the right decisions. In other words, even though the campus and its leadership disagreed vehemently with the views of the speaker, they were still views that were entitled to First Amendment protection, they were speech. But it seemed that the expenses that were being borne by the campus were exceptional. Normally, campuses pay for their own security expenses — we don’t pay for that as the Office of the President.
But there’s always room for exceptions to the general rule, and the combination of Shapiro plus Milo (Yiannopoulos) and “Free Speech Week” seemed to me to be a set of exceptional circumstances where we could — the Office of the President should — pitch in and help.
10/19 – An Unexpected Ally for Betsy DeVos on Campus Sexual Assault (Atlantic): The article quotes Brown as noting, “(T)houghtful legal minds have increasingly questioned whether federal and state actions to prevent and redress sexual harassment and assault—well-intentioned as they are—have also unintentionally resulted in some colleges’ failure to uphold due process for accused students.”
10/13 – Jerry Brown signs bill to make community college free statewide for first year (SFGate): The bill will save students about $1,000 their first year.
10/18 – University Chief: Security Cost for Spencer Speech ‘Unfair’ (NYT): Costs were estimated to be $600,000.
10/19 – Heckling Is a Staple of Controversial Campus Speeches. Should Colleges Intervene? (Chronicle): The University of Wisconsin disciplines students who heckle speakers.
10/20 – White nationalist shot at protesters after Richard Spencer speech in Florida, police say (LATimes): The alleged shooters were quickly arrested driving away from the scene.
10/16 – Presidents and Provosts Gather to Consider Free Speech Issues (Inside|HigherEd): Some attendees pushed against the portrayal of college students as sensitive “snowflakes,” a term popular on the right.
Author tylerleedsPosted on October 22, 2017 Categories Media CoverageTags BCR, Free Speech, Gov. Brown, NapolitanoLeave a comment on Media Coverage 10/23/17
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law this weekend which imposes strict new budget transparency rules on the University of California, a response to a highly critical state audit that argued UC hid $175 million in reserves. The UC system disputed the audit’s framing, conceding the budget may have been hard to read, but resisting the characterization that money was concealed. In response to allegations UCOP interfered in the audit, the bill also prevents campuses from coordinating with UCOP when the state auditor’s office requests information.
In a follow-up to a piece from last week, Fox News reported on the harassment of conservative students on Berkeley’s campus. This week’s article frames such students as a persecuted minority, writing, “(Conservative Berkeley undergrad Jonathan) Chow is not like most of his fellow students. He’s part of a small minority of seemingly marginalized students at one of the largest universities in the U.S. He’s a conservative.” The article quotes Steven Hayward, a senior resident fellow at the Institute for Governmental Studies.
“It’s certainly not easy,” Hayward, a conservative, told Fox News. “There are not many conservative students — and those that are conservative are, many times, afraid to speak for fear of being mocked or trolled by their fellow students.”
In other news, UC Berkeley’s endowment office hired a new chief investment officer, who comes to campus from the University of Washington. At UC Davis, a professor was forced to return $1,000, which he had received as reimbursements for limo rides.
In the realm of free speech, Wendy Brown and Judith Butler both published reflections on the path forward in the Trump era as part of The Big Picture, a symposium organized by Public Books and NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge. Brown considers what the definition of freedom promoted by the right conceals, while Butler explores the repercussions of Antifa’s tactics on the broader left community. Meanwhile, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra was prevented from speaking at Whittier College by right-wing protestors, flipping a script that usually pits left-wing campus activists against conservative thinkers. Meanwhile, the White House suggested UNLV investigate a professor who linked the shooting in Las Vegas to Trump’s election. And at Drexel, a professor whose outspoken positions have earlier attracted controversy was suspended for what the university claims is his own protection.
10/14 – After scathing audit, UC will have to be more transparent in reporting costs (LATimes): The bill will further require UC to “use publicly available financial information when it publishes its biennial report on the costs of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees.”
10/12 – Conservative students at UC Berkeley face everything from insults to threats of violence (FoxNews): The article ends with a nice glimmer of productive introspection:
(“Free Speech Week”) also highlighted a divide among the school’s conservatives that some blame for the ramping up in the harassment aimed at the group.
Chow, who has been a member of BCR for two years, said the organization’s new leadership is taking the group in a different direction – now it focuses on bringing in provocative speakers with far-right views and creating pet projects like the Berkeley Patriot. He said the group now seems more interested in sparking controversy than making positive changes.
“They are all about creating outlandish remarks and trying to pull off these outlandish events,” Chow said, “… there is hypocrisy on both sides.”
10/11 – UC Berkeley Finds New CIO at University of Washington (Institutional.Investor): The Berkeley Endowment Management Company oversees $1.8 billion.
10/12 – UC Davis professor charged school almost $1,000 for limo trips, audit says (SacBee): The audit report into the matter does not name the professor.
10/10 – Wendy Brown – The Big Picture: Defending Society (PublicBooks): UC Berkeley Professor Wendy Brown argues that the political right’s embrace of a neoliberal conception of freedom has obscured the connection between the broader social good and freedom. In particular, she is critical of the right’s move to cover white nationalism and patriarchy in the guise of free speech. In response, she argues:
…we may still want to extend to all the right to speak and assemble. Or we may want to consider that the West’s first known democracy, in ancient Athens, did not feature free speech but isegoria, equal speech, the right of every citizen to be heard in assemblies concerning public policy. It did not feature freedom from state interference but isonomia, equality before the laws of the state. It did not feature managed and bought elections, but isopoliteia, equally weighted votes and equal access to political office. Democracy in its cradle was not rooted in individual license but in freedom resting on three pillars of political equality.
If we cannot afford stupidity about how profoundly neoliberalism has stripped freedom of the context and culture that make it an element of justice and popular sovereignty, we also cannot cede freedom to the right, to neoliberalism, and to the white nationalism daily attracting new recruits in the Euro-Atlantic world. Plutocrats, nativists, and fascists have grabbed freedom’s mantle to attack democracy, but we cannot fall into the trap of opposing it in the name of other values—security, safety, inclusion, or fairness. Rather, our task is to challenge the neoliberal and right-wing discourse of libertarian and market freedom with a discourse that relinks freedom with emancipation (and thus with social justice) and with democracy (and thus with political equality).
10/13 – Judith Butler – The Big Picture: Protest, Violent and Nonviolent (PublicBooks): UC Berkeley Professor Judith Butler argues that debates over the appropriateness and effectiveness of Antifa’s violent tactics fail to consider the “radical exclusions” from American democracy that contributed to Trump’s rise. As Butler contends:
A minority elected this government, which means that the electoral result signifies a crisis in democratic politics. Violence only compounds the sense of hopelessness and skepticism about the possibility of practicing democracy, when that is precisely what we need most: the exercise of judgment, freedom, and power within the sphere of politics that can activate the true majority to drive Trump and his crew out of office.
Again, one can argue against violence both on principle and on practical grounds. It is of course ironic, if not appalling, that the members of the Black Bloc, a group of mainly white men emphatically able-bodied, decided to turn the police barricades into instruments of violence and destroyed part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union on the UC Berkeley campus last spring. Did they think in advance about how painful it would be for many people to witness an attack on the building on campus that symbolizes and honors the struggle for civil rights?
10/10 – A college professor criticized Trump. Now the White House wants an investigation (Salon): The publication accuses the Trump administration of hypocrisy for criticizing the professor while also promoting free speech on campus.
10/15 – Who’s Exercising a “Heckler’s Veto” Now? (Academe): The hecklers have frequently sought attention by disrupting appearances by Democrats.
10/15 – On Missing the Point About Academic Freedom and Free Speech (Academe): The post wades into a debate about the suspension of a Drexel professor who was threatened after expressing views on the Las Vegas shooting. The AAUP weighed in to criticize Drexel for suspending the professor without due process.
Author tylerleedsPosted on October 16, 2017 Categories Media CoverageTags Audit, Free Speech, UCOPLeave a comment on Media Coverage 10/16/17
Last week the student group responsible for the flubbed “Free Speech Week” asked the US Department of Justice to investigate UC Berkeley’s administration for what they claim is retaliatory behavior. The group’s lawyer alleges in a complaint that Chancellor Christ threatened conservative students with a criminal investigation based on comments she made in reference to hateful messages that appeared in chalk and on posters ahead of the planned event. Berkeley Patriot, the student organization, interpreted Christ’s insistence that the campus would investigate the messaging as a veiled threat at conservative students broadly. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “Campus spokesman Dan Mogulof called the allegations ‘utterly unfounded’ and said the complaint ‘seems like a desperate attempt to avoid any responsibility for the collapse of the events.'” In an op-ed, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley’s law school, praised Christ’s handling of the “Free Speech Week” controversy. In the op-ed, Chemerinsky wrote:
Be clear, if Chancellor Christ were to prevent particular speakers because of their offensive message, she would get sued. The speakers would win and get an injunction to allow them to speak. The campus would have to pay their attorney fees and perhaps money damages as well. The excluded speakers would be victims and martyrs. And nothing would be gained because they would get to speak anyway.
Overall, media coverage of Berkeley and debates about free speech on campus were quieted as attention once again turned to gun control following the tragedy in Las Vegas. Nonetheless, an event at the College of William & Mary sparked debate. At an event focused on the First Amendment, a member of the ACLU’s Virginia arm was prevented from speaking by Black Lives Matter protestors who were critical of the organization for its commitment to defending the First Amendment rights of white supremacists. An op-ed in the New York Times struck a sympathetic but critical tone, noting, “someone should tell (the student protestors) that if the principle of free speech is curtailed, those with the least power are most likely to feel the chill.”
“Free Speech Week” Fallout
10/4 – Conservative Berkeley students ask US Justice Department to launch investigation (SFChronicle): The article notes that Berkeley Patriot claims they cancelled the event due to the perceived threat of an investigation.
You can read the complaint here.
10/3 – Op-Ed: Why UC Berkeley was right not to ban Milo, and other lessons from Free Speech Week (SacBee): Chemerinsky also dismissed Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ assertion that free speech is imperiled on campus, saying such events as “Free Speech Week” are intentional spectacles.
10/3 – Op-Ed: Millions for security, cuts to critical theory program underscore need for transparency (DailyCal): Two doctoral students bemoan cuts to the Program in Critical Theory and the obscure decision-making that led to the downsizing. The authors contrast the decision with the public affirmation the university made to fund security for the recent string of right-wing appearances.
9/20 – UC system will chip in at least $300,000 to help Berkeley pay security costs for controversial speakers (LATimes): In a news item this blog originally missed, the UC system chipped in $300,000 to help Berkeley pay its recent security bill.
10/5 – Antifa stalking UC Berkeley’s conservative students, group says (FoxNews): Berkeley College Republican members have had their locations Tweeted by Antifa-affiliated accounts.
10/6 – Op-Ed: The Worst Time for the Left to Give Up on Free Speech (NYT): The author contends, “When disputes about free speech are adjudicated not according to broad principles but according to who has power, the left will mostly lose.”
10/5 – ACLU Speaker Shouted Down at William & Mary (IHE): Students reportedly chanted “ACLU, you protect Hitler, too.”
Author tylerleedsPosted on October 9, 2017 Categories Media CoverageTags antifa, Black Lives Matter, Carol Christ, Free Speech, free speech weekLeave a comment on Media Coverage 10/9/17
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4557
|
__label__wiki
| 0.668246
| 0.668246
|
Hospice: An End-of-Life Journey
“She is very, very independent.”
Mary Coyne has always been someone who has known her own mind.
“She’s ‘Charles in charge,’” her daughter, Maureen Mehlhorn says. “She’s a fighter. She’s always been a fighter.”
The daughter of Irish immigrants, Mary inherited a strong will and work ethic. At a time when postsecondary education wasn’t common for women, Mary attended business school.
“I generally went for typing jobs, but I wasn’t that great a typist, so I always ended up working on figures,” she says.
Mary’s jobs included working at Fort Preble, in the accounting department at A & P, and for what is now Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Health insurance policies, she recalls, were much cheaper then.
“What it cost for a single subscriber was 85 cents a month,” she says.
Even after leaving the workforce to raise four children, Mary would get a job when there was something she wanted to buy.
“If I wanted a dishwasher, I went and looked for a part-time job in the dishwashing department. I applied, and most of the time, I got the job,” she says.
Born in 1922, Mary grew up in Portland, attending Saint Dominic School. When she was age 12, her family moved to South Portland where her father had built a house. It would be where she would live most of her 93 years. Although she married and started her own family, she returned to care for her ailing mother and remained there after her mother died.
“It was a very happy neighborhood. It really was. The children could go out if they wanted. You didn’t worry about them. You opened the door and the kids went flying out, and the dogs went with them,” Mary recalls.
Mary enjoyed riding her bicycle to yard sales or taking daily walks to the grocery store or bank.
“She knows everybody in South Portland, everybody. She’s a fixture,” says Maureen.
It is little wonder then that when Mary learned in December that she was suffering from lung cancer, she knew, without hesitation how she wanted to spend her remaining days. She didn’t want aggressive treatment, and she wanted to remain at home.
Mary and her family connected with VNA Home Health Hospice, which is affiliated with Mercy Hospital and is part of Eastern Maine Health System. VNA Home Health Hospice works in partnership with patients and their families to provide end-of-life care and support.
“Hospice is really a philosophy of care about caring for individuals and families when their physician has determined they have a less than six-month-prognosis,” says Christine Turner, director of Hospice and Palliative Care. “That philosophy of care focuses on the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the patient.”
“When someone elects their hospice benefit, they’ve come to a point in their illness that they are very clear that they are not having benefit from aggressive intervention,” says Robin Hirsch-Wright, palliative care coordinator. “The goal is never to hasten death, but the goal is to journey. Hospice’s goal is to journey with the patient.”
Hospice care offered through VNA Home Health Hospice takes place in the home, as long as a patient’s condition can be managed there. The family remains the center of care but receives support from an interdisciplinary team that includes nurses, social workers, chaplains, home health aides, volunteers, bereavement counselors, the patient’s own attending physician, and the hospice director.
“The benefits to the patients are access to a team of highly trained, skilled professionals in end-of-life care, so the staff that are taking care of you have been trained in symptom management, trained in death and dying, trained in grief. This is what we do,” says Christine. “We’ve walked this walk with other families, and many of us have walked it ourselves in our own families.”
“Hospice nurses are trained in a different way. They specialize in end-of-life symptom management, end-of-life cases. We want patients to die with comfort and dignity,” says Dr. Lalaine Llanto, medical director. “We don’t want anyone to suffer.”
Each member of the team has a role to play. Nurses assess the patients’ needs in terms of symptom management; home health aides assist with personal care including bathing; chaplains provide spiritual support; and social workers help patients and families sort through details and make sure needs are being met.
“The hospice team can help families find joy in what is extreme sadness,” says Christine. “It can be a really beautiful time.”
The frequency of visits depends on the needs of the patient. In Mary’s case, a nurse stopped in twice a week.
“She just kind of checks with her, if my mother has any questions. She is very open with her, very open, and that’s what my mother wants,” says Maureen.
A social worker also visited, as have home health aides, and a volunteer.
“We had a volunteer come who was going to sit with her for a couple, three hours, and I felt funny leaving her. But then, I was immediately comfortable with the girl who came, and we hit it off, and it was very, very nice,” says Maureen.
Volunteers provide companionship, give caregivers a respite, and will also sit vigil if a patient is actively dying and has expressed a wish not to be alone.
“The family has been there all day, is exhausted. They’ve gone home, and our volunteer will go and sit for a while in the evening,” says Christine.
Some volunteers also bring Communion, and there is a prayer shawl ministry run by volunteers.
Hospice care is covered by Medicare, as well as many other insurance policies. In addition to the team of caregivers, the benefit covers medication related to the terminal illness, as well as medical equipment and supplies that are needed, for instance special beds or wheelchairs.
Maureen says cost was a concern for her mother who wanted to be sure she was able to leave something for her children.
“That’s a big plus, especially for this generation. I was very, very surprised about that. You know, they say, ‘You need this; you need that.’ And they kept saying, ‘We’ll pay for it.’ And I said, ‘Wait a minute. Who is we?’” says Maureen. “I don’t think people realize it’s covered by insurance.”
Despite the benefits of hospice care, many people don’t take advantage of it or wait until they are in the final days of their lives to do so.
There is fear that being referred to hospice means I’m dying right now. One of the things that we, as an industry, struggle with nationally is that the amount of time people are in hospice is still relatively short because referrals are made so late. When the team of people has time to develop relationships and allow the patient and the family to let us know what their preferences are, to know what their goals of care are, and for them to get to know us and trust us, that’s when we do our best work.”
Christine says it is not uncommon for patients to express regret they didn’t enter hospice sooner. And some studies have shown hospice care can prolong life.
“What happens is that less is more,” says Dr. Llanto. “The focus is more towards comfort so, sometimes, they’re not facing the side effects of the chemotherapy or those aggressive medications, so they come to live better, and sometimes live longer than expected.”
Dr. Llanto emphasizes that being in hospice care doesn’t mean giving up.
“It doesn’t mean that once you’re on hospice, you’re not going to be able to get off hospice. Because, once you’re not declining and you stabilize, you’re not eligible anymore,” says Dr. Llanto. “You can come off any time and come back at any time, as long as you meet the requirements.”
While hospice care depends on having a family caregiver present, that can take many forms.
“Sometimes, it’s the neighbor. Sometimes, it’s the kids. Sometimes, it’s a combination of people from church,” says Christine. “Many ex-spouses come back to be primary caregivers when their former husbands and wives are dying. It happens frequently.”
Those who don’t have nearby family members may be able to get assistance through VNA’s LifeStages.
“Our LifeStages division is a private pay, non-medical companion service to provide those supports for patients who might not have an intact caregiving system. Or, our social workers will work with the patient’s family to try to help figure that out,” says Christine.
Hospice care is a subset of palliative care. As with hospice care, palliative care looks the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the patient, but those receiving palliative care do not need to be at the end stages of an illness.
“Palliative care is appropriate for anyone who has been diagnosed with a chronic and progressive illness that is life limiting,” says Robin. “In palliative care, you could be talking with a palliative care provider but also continuing with aggressive treatments.”
As with hospice care, Robin says the sooner patients look into it, the better.
“I’ve had providers sometimes say, ‘I would like you to see them, but it’s too early for a palliative care conversation.’ And, I always say, ‘Is it? Is it too early for a thoughtful conversation about what it’s like to navigate these sort of unsteady waters?’”
Robin says most palliative care connections are made in inpatient settings, but she wants to reach out to more primary care providers.
“There will always be a role for palliative care in an inpatient setting, but it should be part of that continuum of palliative care, part of the continuum of care in general,” she says.
Those working in palliative and hospice care say they are able to provide patients with something many providers cannot – time. They say a patient should never just be known as his or her diagnosis.
“Nowadays, with the kind of medical care where you need to see 20 patients in a day, you don’t have time to even ask, “What is the name of your cat at home? What is the name of your dog? What did you do for fun before you got sick?’ We do that. We spend time just talking with them,” says Dr. Llanto.
“It’s an interesting analogy to me that palliative care works so well because it is about making these kind of connections, and really, that just sort of mirrors why people want to be on this planet longer. They want to make those human connections,” says Robin.
“When someone gets a serious diagnosis, often, people run. I like to be that person, and I take pride in it honestly, who walks toward that situation. Where I found, in my time in this work, that I learn the most is when I sit and say the least and just listen to someone tell me their story,” she says.
“Most of the people who do this work feel called. It’s not a job. It really isn’t. It really is a calling,” says Christine. “The one regret that I have about doing this work is not having had the opportunity to know these people when they were in the prime of their lives. We’ve taken care of ballerinas, and opera singers, and WWII veterans, and Wall Street bankers, and farmers from Maine. And they all have a fascinating and interesting story.”
And, in some cases, another chapter in those stories is written while the patients are in hospice care. One woman always wanted to go up in cherry picker. A man wanted to visit Branson, Missouri.
“The Medicare benefit allows us to contract with other hospices if our patients are traveling out of state, so we contracted with a hospice in Branson, Missouri,” says Christine. “He got there. He went to a show, had a great time.”
“This hospice benefit provides people the time to do the things they want to do, so these wishes that you have in life,” says Lisa Fuller, vice president of Business Development and LifeStages.
Mary’s wish was to remain at home where her children and grandchildren could drop by, and, perhaps, surprise her with raspberry-filled cookies from the Cookie Jar Pastry Shop. It was a wish that was fulfilled. Mary died less than a week after her interview with Harvest in the place where she felt most comfortable, surrounded by those whom she most loved.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4563
|
__label__cc
| 0.5858
| 0.4142
|
Tag Archives: creation
The Evolution of the Concept of God: From Hesiod to Plotinus
Hesiod’s Theogony is a pre-philosophical recounting of the birth of the gods, describing how the gods, goddesses and titans created the intelligibly ordered kosmos. The principle of order framing all that exists makes possible man’s understanding of the world in which he lives, and allows Hesiod to render an intelligible account of the kosmos. The account of the birth of the gods and the generation of the kosmos in the writings of Hesiod is not the product of original speculation or invention, but rather a re-handling of myths already familiar to the Greeks.
The pantheon of deities that appear in the Theogony neither operate according to, nor abide by any principle that is of the nature of necessity, but act, instead, according to the dictates of anthropomorphized passions and desires. Unlike the later pre-Socratic philosophers, Hesiod does not attempt to account for the discernable principle of order in the kosmos in terms of a metaphysical first principle; however, it is the operative principle of order in the kosmos that allows Hesiod to describe and communicate the myths of the god’s activities, as well as the myths of the god’s dealings with humankind.
As a pre-philosophical account of the kosmos, the forces that brought the totality of existence into being remained unexplained by Hesiod; only nature, which is not a self-explaining fact, does he attempt to account for. The principle of order in the kosmos is not a result of the activity of the gods, but stands outside as a “causal condition” for how the gods act, or the end to which their activities incline. Even though Hesiod observes order in the kosmos, the question that was to later become imperative in philosophy, viz., “why something rather than nothing exists,” Hesiod gives no answer to. The phenomenal world is accounted for inductively through pre-existing myths only because it is an a posteriori fact that invites investigation.
Rather than the incidental deeds of so many gods, the divine exploits that comprise Hesiod’s account of the kosmos underwent a kind of gradual abstraction in the hands of the pre-Socratic philosophers, who posited in their turn one of the four elements, or a combination of those elements as being the arche of all things. Prior to Parmenides’ investigation of Being qua Being, the logical gap between a kosmos full of plurality and change, about which nothing can be meaningfully asserted or denied, and the necessarily immutable foundations of Being itself, went unnoticed by early Greek philosophers.
Parmenides begins his considerations of Being by rejecting myth, opinion, and man’s trust in the elemental world of appearances as erroneous views of reality. In place of a kosmos full of plurality and change, Parmenides holds that what exists, exists of necessity, and cannot be otherwise — anything that does not exist of necessity does not exist at all. Hence, Being qua Being must be a single principle that does not alter, is impassible and ungenerated; in other words, there must be sufficient reason for why something is thus and not otherwise, or else nothing positive can ever be established about any thing’s existence or essence.
Parmenides’ monistic principle of necessary Being is incompatible with the world of appearances, which is subject to generation and corruption. Because no single principle can give rise to plurality or change without ceasing to be what it is, Parmenides’ dualistic cosmology accounts both for what exists of necessity (Being), and what only appears to exist (the phenomenal world), but has no ontological status whatever. The historical transition from Hesiod’s world full of gods to Parmenides’ conception of Being, which is the supreme reality, but not, properly speaking, any kind of god, underwent a full transitional step with Plato’s conception of the Good and the Ideas.
The demiurge in Plato’s Timeaus, who creates the world from pre-existing matter, is ontologically inferior to the Ideas, which supply the form or condition for what it is to be or exist as an object in the phenomenal world at all. Plato’s demiurge is neither the supreme reality, nor the ultimate principle of intelligibility, whereas the Ideas are the necessary condition for reality and intelligibility as such. Plato extends Parmenides’ ontological conception of Being to include the Idea of the Good, which is beyond, or higher than Being. The Good, according to Plato, must be postulated as the Idea of the Ideas, or the guarantor of the qualities of what it is to be an Idea. Neither the Good, nor Plato’s Ideas are gods as such, since the god who fashions the world in Timeaus does so because he himself is but one manifestation of the Good, and desires all things to be like him, which is to say, like the Good.
As respective contributions to a philosophical account of the foundations of reality or existence, the first principle of Being in Parmenides, and the Ideas in Plato’s account are nevertheless independent of the philosophic notion of god as exemplifying or providing the necessary conditions for ultimate reality. Aristotle’s conception of the prime mover, or unmoved mover, is arguably the first instance where the first principle is united to the concept of god, and god becomes the supreme uncaused-cause of reality.
This transition raised god, as a philosophic entity, to an explanatory object of the highest degree of intellectual refinement; and god, as an object of thought, became the culminating point for speculative philosophy rather than a step several times removed from the postulated first principle. A purely rational theology was made possible by Aristotle’s fusion of the first philosophic principle — Thought, in this case — with his conception of god as “thought which thinks itself,” establishing a single unified nature that is mirrored or manifested in the intellective soul of man.
By driving a wedge between that which is unchanging and imperishable, and that which is subject to the forces of generation and corruption, the metaphysical problems of Parmenides and Plato remained problematic to the degree to which the postulated first principle always preceded the method of investigation.
Aristotle abolishes this procedural distinction by collapsing the first principle into the concept of god, which renders god the terminal point of metaphysical speculations that begin with the material world as it is apprehended through the corporeal senses. His rational theology answers the question of why something rather than nothing exists by asserting the eternity of the kosmos; no act of creation or framing of the world from pre-existent matter was necessary, only the prime mover as the source of continual movement was required as the apex in a hierarchy of objects of intelligibility. As a pure act of intellection, Aristotle’s god has no capacity to impart existence; hence the ideality of Though-thinking-Itself as an object of speculative philosophy.
Plotinus’ contribution to the concept of god involved subsuming in his hierarchy of principles Plato’s conception of the Good, Aristotle’s conception of Thought-thinking-Itself, and Parmenides’ conception of Being. Plotinus’ hierarchy of abstractions is crowned by the One, which is beyond Intellect and Being, and is thus not a philosophically intelligible object in any sense. As was the case with Plato’s conception of the Good that exists above the Ideas, Plotinus’ One is both the foundation and the apex of ultimate reality, while remaining beyond intelligible reality altogether.
As a modification of Plato’s conception of the Good, Plotinus’ One functions as the unity from which all unity derives its essence: “Whatever is not one, but multiple, needs something else. Its being needs unification.” Beneath the One is Being, “the self-sufficing and unflagging begetter of every being,” from which the One is wholly independent as the uncaused immanent cause of Being. Beneath Being is Intellect, which again is not constitutive of the One because “The One is not an intellective existence.”
As a crowning contribution to the Greek conception of god, the significance of Plotinus’ thought lies in the fact that his conception of the One was an attempt to overcome all philosophical dualisms. The One, according to Plotinus, stands as a single unified principle above all dualities, particularly Parmenides’ dualism of Being and non-being, and Aristotle’s intellectual god that takes himself as his own object of thought; the One is above Being and Thought, and above the duality of Being and Thought. Plotinus asks the question of “what is it to be?” His answer is, “that which exists, or is,” or that which gives structure to all reality while remaining motionless and beyond any reality whatever.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged ancient, aristotle, cosmos, creation, god, gods, greek, hesiod s theogony, kosmos, lovalon, matter, metaphysics, parmenides, philosophy, physics, plato, pre socratic, pre socratic philosophers, presocratic, religion, science, socrates, theogany, theology, universe, world on December 9, 2012 by philosophymajor.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4564
|
__label__cc
| 0.556249
| 0.443751
|
20150426 - Lacross CLC_CLS
Crystal Lake Central's Matthew Boyd (10) has the ball knocked loose by Crystal Lake South's Corey Sheehan (34) during the first quarter of their lacrosse game at Sunset Park on Sunday, April 26, 2015 Lake in the Hills. The Gators won the game 10-9. John Konstantaras photo for the Northwest Herald
Crystal Lake Central's Cory Chlebicki (7) celebrates a goal during the first quarter of their lacrosse game against Crystal Lake South at Sunset Park on Sunday, April 26, 2015 Lake in the Hills. The Gators won the game 10-9. John Konstantaras photo for the Northwest Herald
Crystal Lake South Jason Van Dyck (left) and Sam Klinsky (88) celebrate a goal during the second quarter of their lacrosse game against Crystal Lake Central at Sunset Park on Sunday, April 26, 2015 Lake in the Hills. The Gators won the game 10-9. John Konstantaras photo for the Northwest Herald
Crystal Lake South Andy Weber (10) celebrates his goal with Nathan Olsen (left) and Max Klinsky (center) during the third quarter of their lacrosse game at Sunset Park on Sunday, April 26, 2015 Lake in the Hills. The Gators won the game 10-9. John Konstantaras photo for the Northwest Herald
Crystal Lake South's Nathan Olsen (6) takes a shot for a goal over Crystal Lake Central's Matthew Boyd (10) and Dylan Ray (right) during the second quarter of their lacrosse game at Sunset Park on Sunday, April 26, 2015 Lake in the Hills. The Gators won the game 10-9. John Konstantaras photo for the Northwest Herald
Crystal Lake South's Sam Klinsky (88) is fouled by Crystal Lake Central's Matthew Boyd (10) during the second quarter of their lacrosse game at Sunset Park on Sunday, April 26, 2015 Lake in the Hills. The Gators won the game 10-9. John Konstantaras photo for the Northwest Herald
Crystal Lake South Corey Sheehan (left) celebrates his goal with Crystal Lake South Sam Klinsky (88) during the fourth quarter of their lacrosse game against Crystal Lake Central at Sunset Park on Sunday, April 26, 2015 Lake in the Hills. The Gators won the game 10-9. John Konstantaras photo for the Northwest Herald
Crystal Lake Central goalie John Stroud (78) looks into the net after giving up a goal during the third quarter of their lacrosse game against Crystal Lake South at Sunset Park on Sunday, April 26, 2015 Lake in the Hills. The Gators won the game 10-9. John Konstantaras photo for the Northwest Herald
Crystal Lake South's Sam Klinsky (88) is fouled by Crystal Lake Central's Matthew Boyd (10) during the second quarter of their lacrosse game at Sunset Park on Sunday, April 26, 2015 Lake in the Hills. The Gators won the game 10-9.
John Konstantaras photo for the Northwest Herald
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4567
|
__label__cc
| 0.582267
| 0.417733
|
Tag: mike rowe
Steve Morris from the Cine-Files podcast made a really great observation during their discussion of the movie Psycho: for a while, you’re on Norman Bates’s side. It’s after the scene when he discovers Marion, dead, in the shower (“Mother! Oh God, Mother! Blood! Blood!“) and before the scene of the car sinking into the bog (while Bates chews candies, nervously, before expressing a smug satisfaction when the car’s fully swallowed). Both of those scenes show Bates’s arrested development (the candy, the way he cries “mother” over and again…) but what happens in between (and I couldn’t find a clip for this to my shame. DAMMIT PIERRE!) is the meticulous cleaning Norman Bates performs on the murder scene. Without knowing the ending (as I somehow didn’t on my first watch all those years ago, through some miracle), we assume Bates feels compelled to protect his mother. But it’s being alongside him as he washes away the blood and carries the body to the car that we actually root for the villain, ending reveal notwithstanding. As Morris puts it, “Whenever we watch somebody in a process, we end up on their side.”
I think there’s a lot to that.
Watching somebody work gives you a different, occasionally more insightful, look into their personality than simply talking to them. You ever hire somebody? Or be involved in the hiring process? You can talk to a person and get a performance highlighting all of their best attributes but the day they show up to work, they’re a shitshow. Watching someone wash their hands before handling food is ultimately more important than them saying “I’m a good cook.”
Which throws us back to the old writing adage, “show don’t tell.” With which, I’ll refry this down into two questions: why is it effective to show a process in narrative and why does that gain audience sympathy?
The immediate answer is that work is common. On the grand scale, few people have actually cleaned blood in any real sense (side note: I interviewed some folks who worked in some bath houses and found that cum, piss and vomit were no issue. Blood, however…) but they have had to deal with mess. Few people have actually carried a body and shoved it into a car but, most people have carried an awkward TV, couch, or bed frame and have tried to make it work spatially in a van. Not everyone cleans, but everyone works. That alone makes you empathize, on a dark level, with Norman Bates.
There’s an oft mentioned study about how reading fiction makes people more empathetic. The casual explanation is that by reading with someone else’s brain for 300 pages, one tends to carry that perspective along with them back into the real world– or at least, the learned ability to entertain notions that are not their own. I’d agree with that assessment, but I also think there’s something to be said about any and all media that challenges the audience to ask themselves, “what would I do in this situation?” or perhaps, “what would I ideally to do in this situation?”
See, if I was Lewellyn Moss in No Country for Old Men, I would probably spend the entire book not hunting and eating chips on the couch as a seedy world of intrigue and carnage obliviously passes me by. Luckily, for art’s sake, I’m not Lewellyn. Cormac McCarthy (and the Coen’s faithful film adaptation) does something simple and brilliant: we’re shown characters of few words and inner reflection simply work through solving problems step by step without us being told what the problem is.
Moss is carrying a bag filled with two million dollars. He rents a motel room and stashes the money in a vent. He suspects (correctly) that the cartel is waiting to murder him and reclaim the money. So he rents another motel room behind his current one. Then he buys tent poles, leaving the audience going “buh-why?” It’s only when he tapes a bunch of coat hangers to the end of it that we realize that he intends to snake the bag of money through the vent and reclaim it in the new, parallel room. Similarly, we see Anton Chigurh use a bag of gas station sundries to blow up a car, only to find that that it’s a ruse to steal anesthetic drugs so he can perform self-surgery.
Scenes like these build tension because you have to wonder “the hell does he need a lid to a box of cotton swabs for?” Once you’ve been shown the reason, or the problem solved, you like it for a different reason: the characters’ intelligence is fully illustrated. Whether it’s Moss blowing water out of the chamber of a gun so it’ll ignite a bullet when he shoots a dog in the face or Chigurh turning off the light in the hallway so his feet won’t shadow under the door, we see something being worked out during the action of the story and we double-down on our admiration/respect for these characters because we’re either thinking, “I wish I had thought of that,” or “Yes. That is what I would ideally have done in the same scenario.”
The reason why heist movies like Oceans 11 (or Hereditary, a heist movie) are so engaging is because it’s 90% process. We like seeing a plan come together even if we don’t know what the plan is. Ocean’s 11 is primarily about a bunch of criminals, doing crimes. Or, rather, a bunch of criminals executing a convoluted strategy to pull off one crime. The actors are charming, which helps, but robbery usually isn’t that sexy of a crime (see: Raising Arizona, Reservoir Dogs). But if you add a sequential series of fancy pranks, some glib banter shared between 13 Hollywood stars, and a grand revealing of a few red-herrings, you get a competent, satisfying story– but only because you watched the characters earn it step by step.
Ocean’s 11 is an oddly apt example because, just as you don’t know what the plan really looks like, you also don’t know what Danny Ocean’s true motivation is as it could be revenge against the man who’s dating his wife, an attempt to get back with his wife, or pure greed. Surprise! It’s all three! But that only comes together in the very end when the audience is led to believe that he would betray one motivation for another. It’s not high-cerebral storytelling here, but it does work, and it is clever in its own right (for a movie I watched with my mom while my brother was at a youth group superbowl party 18 years ago that I wasn’t invited to).
The obfuscation of motivation is important when showing a process. In Psycho, no matter what we’re led to believe, we want Bates to succeed in hiding that body. In No Country, we want Chigurh to heal his leg because we suffered through watching him tweeze buckshot from the meat of his thigh. What a character wants is an integral part of writing but it’s something that drives a character throughout an entire arc and is only understood in retrospect. In fiction and cinema, we’re only exposed to these characters scene by scene and those characters have very immediate needs despite their longterm desires. Hey, kinda like life, ya know?
Showing a process of action is not unlike showing a thought process, brought to you by this new-fangled technology of first person narrative, where the reader is up against the grain of a character’s decision making. It’s a more intimate relationship, to be sure, as the reader might stop thinking “that’s what I would do,” and instead entertain, “this is what I did,” but the story itself shouldn’t be too different. And the reason, with, you know, good fiction, is a certain with-holding of motivation.
It’s noir time.
Phillip Marlowe is a pretty damn good chess player. He strategizes, he thinks, he mulls, he makes decisions. Even still, he bumbles into situations making him a hapless sap that often leaves him bloody and bruised with yet another body laying in the next room. Homeboy once smoked a laced cigarette and spent three hours on a floor. Sometimes he has a theory about how everything shakes out only to find that all of his instincts were wrong. Then he makes some plays against the antagonist and the truth finally outs. There’s a disconnect there, yeah? Even though he’s telegraphing his story to you, he isn’t going to tell you how he brought everything together until the very end, because it’s very likely that Marlowe is flying without a map until all the pieces are aligned and even then you’re still taken aback that the bastard fit it all together. It’s a bit of a motherfucker to know the narrator’s opinion about a secretary’s dress and not know the plan. That’s part of how story works, sure, but it’s also an example of how the narration itself is a strategic process– the narrator decides what to tell you and when, despite the narrator living in your brain.
It’s the whole principle behind Dashiell Hammet’s Red Harvest, wherein our Continental Op is dropped into a corrupt town, expected to pick sides between the corrupt cops and the criminals. The Op plays off of ALL of those expectations and nets so, so many bodies. Only it turns out, The Op’s motivation was to simply stir chaos on both sides, not necessarily knowing that they would murder each other– he had no plan, he’s just a drunk fucking psychopath. Still, he tells us every decision he makes as he systematically destroys the institutions and crooks, but he never tells us why, likely because he doesn’t know or doesn’t remember. He’s driven, in his own words, “blood simple.”
And we’re in their corner, despite them being monsters or virtuous, if occasionally inept, troublemakers. What people respond to are decisions, whether that’s shown through cleaning blood from a bathroom or scheduling a massacre of the police force with a phone call.
With the advent of reality television and video games, I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that we find routine processes humanizing. We watch entire blocks of entertainment dedicated to showing us the machines that make taffy, step by step. We follow Alaskan fishermen into the waves, cops into the streets, chefs into the kitchens. We come home from work to watch someone else do their job. We’ve attached so much personality to an Italian plumber because of the personal satisfaction of bringing him from the left side of a screen to the right (and we’ve apparently made so much goddamn pornography from a blue hedgehog, simply because he had to go fast).
It’s not surprising, but it’s something that I consider often when writing. I utilize “showing the process” of a character regularly, for the reasons I’ve explained: it illustrates intelligence, it creates tension, and it can exist outside of the over-arching motivation and focus on the immediate’s scene’s needs. There’s a delicate balance at stake here, as a reader’s attention-span is only so thick, and I sometimes worry that I’m tugging the boat a little too far. Truth be told, sometimes I think tugging the boat is pretty funny. Sometimes you need to “yada-yada” the reader along. But in writing The Fish Fox Boys Part Three: Ballad of the Badger Knights (which is free for Kindle until 3/15), I found that exploring the process in how someone builds or grows things provides several opportunities to further explore setting (In FFBIII, we get a better sense of the geographical landscape when Anne puts her mind to mutating corn. We get inside the old dilapidated schools, twice, when Fred and Adam go scavenging for parts, once in a rural school and again in an inner city one and there should be a difference felt between the two). I found that there’s an opportunity for characterization when the process frustrates the hero and we get to see how they handle that frustration. And while I tried to keep the flow of information economical, hints of motivation are indeed present, although mostly through subtext. Anne’s obsession with winning the Corn Festival had less to do with her justification of philanthropy and more to do with vain ambition just as Adam’s willingness to scavenge has more to say about his need to please a new friend, instead of serving his old friend’s needs.
And then there’s the logic itself: the simple satisfaction one receives from solving a problem, even if the character was responsible for the problem in the first place. It doesn’t matter if the reader themselves never invented a Zamboodlator, they’ll still listen to how you made it. I know this, because every time I pop the hood of my 1984 Volvo, there’s suddenly six dudes from no-where, peering over my shoulder, examining something that they do not understand yet have advice anyway.
Makes me think if I ever discover a body in my shower, the same audience will appear and one would say, “Clean the bathroom.” Another, “Put it in the trunk of a car.”
And another would agree, saying, “That’s what I would do.”
I just officially released The Fish Fox Boys Part Three yesterday. If you catch this blog before 3/15/2019, you can get a free copy of the book here. If paperback’s your game, as is mine, get that shit here. It’s a fairy-tale about the end of the world, what’s not to like?
By Pierrein Books, On Writing, Podcasts, TV and Film March 13, 2019 March 13, 2019 2,247 WordsLeave a comment
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4569
|
__label__wiki
| 0.751869
| 0.751869
|
As avid podcast listeners will know, the New York Times recently wrapped up its binge-worthy 10-part podcast series, Caliphate, which delves into the inner workings of the billion dollar operation that is/was the Islamic State.
With thousands of 5-star reviews on iTunes, this dramatic podcast has hooked people by sharing unique, first-hand insights into what life is like inside the Caliphate, the terror they have inflicted on local populations, and what motivates people to travel to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS.
Caliphate’s producers have received a tumult of praise and accolades for the podcast, but also their fair share of criticism from those who question the ethics of their journalism, particularly regarding the treatment of their subjects.
The addictive podcast has also raised a number of key issues including the role that journalism should play in society and in conflict zones, the fragile situation in Iraq, and the difficulties facing Western governments in apprehending and bringing to justice the former ISIS fighters who have returned home.
“Fat-shamed by ISIS”
Caliphate was produced by Andy Mills and follows the work of Rukmini Callimachi, an award-winning Romanian-American journalist and NYT foreign correspondent reporting on Al Qaeda and ISIS.
Callimachi’s coverage of the group has brought her notoriety among their ranks, and she discusses on the podcast how she has received various threats from the group’s members, who have even targeted her weight. The podcast follows Callimachi in her reporting over a period of months as she interviews a young Pakistani-Canadian who goes by the name of Abu Huzaifa.
Huzaifa was radicalised online and left Canada for Syria in 2014 to join ISIS. He speaks to Rukmini about his time there, explaining how he worked in the Caliphate’s law enforcement department as a policeman. Disillusioned by the systematic violence committed by ISIS members – including himself – he returned to Canada filled with remorse.
Huzaifa’s conversations with Callimachi are somewhat confusing to listen to. One minute, he sounds like an ordinary Canadian kid talking about school and his parents. The next, he’s detailing how he killed someone in Syria. It forces the listener to see commonality with young the recruits who are radicalised and consider how ISIS manages to justify the violence its members commit.
Dabiq, ISIS’s Engish-language media publication
After speaking with Callimachi, Huzaifa was apprehended by the Canadian police, but to this day they have been unable to prosecute him due to lack of evidence. When speaking to the Guardian, Callimachi explains that Huzaifa initially seemed remorseful, but later seemed to dig back into the radical ideology that led him to join the group in the first place.
“I think he started to get really cocky. And to go: ‘Oh, they can’t have me. They’ve got nothing on me, I’m totally free.’ I actually think he’s more radicalised now than when we started.”
Mills and Callimachi also travel to Mosul, where they follow the trail ISIS left behind as areas of the city are liberated by Iraqi forces. Here they find documents explaining how the group managed its bureaucracy and finances. They travel across Iraq, interviewing family members of former ISIS fighters and Yezidi women who were held in captivity and systematically raped and abused.
The podcast, which raced straight to the top of the iTunes chart, has shot Callimachi rather unexpectedly into the spotlight. She has since been hopping between talk shows and interviews discussing her work, Abu Huzaifa’s controversial case and the inner workings of the Islamic State. The podcast has been widely praised for its unique insight but it has also received strong criticism from those who question its ethics.
A fair price to pay for a ‘scoop’?
Possibly the most controversial issue raised by Caliphate is the treatment of subjects and victims of violent crime by journalists in the name of getting a good story. The podcast’s harshest critics have even gone as far as to suggest that its producers used the victims they interviewed for fame and accolades.
One of the episodes hears the story one of thousands of Yezidi women who was kidnapped, held captive, raped and sold by ISIS fighters after the group’s brutal siege of towns in northern Iraq in 2014. During the episode, Callimachi and Mills interview a fighter who supposedly bought, enslaved and repeatedly raped a young Yezidi woman. When he denies abusing the woman, Callimachi puts her on the phone to talk to her former captor and confirm his crimes.
What is unclear during the episode is how willing the woman was to speak to her captor and what support, if any, she received from the New York Times after what was inevitably a hugely traumatic experience.
A war correspondent in Iraq (image: The Odyssey)
This raises the long-debated issue of how journalists operate in conflict zones when dealing with victims of violence and trauma. Critics of the podcast have suggested that the incident reflects a pattern of Western reporting on conflict zones, where the humanity and agency of survivors are sacrificed in the name of getting ‘scoops’.
Since the plight of the Yezidis rose to prominence in the Western media, a number of Yezidi women have spoken out about their treatment by journalists, some saying that their privacy was violated by interviewers while others said they had been coerced into telling their stories and reliving their traumas.
“They take our stories and they don’t do anything for us. They come here and they take videos, take pictures, ask questions, and then they go.”
Ensuring no further harm comes to victims of trauma is a difficult issue not only for journalists seeking to share victims’ stories, but also for healthcare professionals, law enforcement officers and judicial officials. It is one of the many issues the Iraqi Government is currently grappling with as it seeks to identify victims of gender-based violence and bring perpetrators to justice.
A displaced Yezidi girl near the Iraqi-Syrian border (image: Ahmed al-Rubaye)
Endangering Iraqi lives?
Another challenge Iraq faces in the wake of the Islamic State’s reign of terror is weaving fractured societies back together and preventing violent acts of revenge, as was also highlighted by critics of Caliphate.
In another episode of the podcast, Callimachi visits the family home of an ISIS bureaucrat and interviews his mother and his wife. She states his full name and also refers to the family’s tribe, where they live, and details of their wealth and social standing.
Critics have slammed this move as careless and dangerous, saying that identifying them like this exposes the family to possible revenge attacks by Iraqis who opposed ISIS. Such attacks against the families of former fighters have increased in Iraq since the Iraqi army recaptured Mosul from the militants, as some Iraqis choose to take justice and revenge into their own hands.
This is a poignant reminder of how fragile Iraqi society is today – ISIS may be gone, but the wounds they inflicted on Iraq are still well and truly open.
The Iraqi government now faces the daunting task of rebuilding the infrastructure and societies destroyed by the group. One of the greatest challenges is transitional justice. It is extremely difficult for the Iraqi authorities to identify former ISIS fighters and even more difficult to find enough evidence to convict them. Prisons are filled with suspects, while worrying stories of torture and summary executions continue to circulate in the media.
The terrorist next door
Though the situation is very different, Western law enforcement and justice systems face similar challenges. Former fighters like Abu Huzaifa continue to trickle back to their home countries, whose governments have little hope of finding the evidence to convict them.
Just this month the BBC reported the story of a Yezidi victim of ISIS who was resettled in Germany, only to come face to face with her former captor on the street near her new home.
Journalism vs law enforcement
Finally, one of the fundamental issues the podcast unintentionally raises is the overlap of investigative journalism with law enforcement and public policy. As the podcast highlights, one aspect of Callimachi’s work over the last year has been entering recently-liberated Iraqi areas and searching through the troves of documents ISIS have left behind for insights into the way the group manages itself.
She has reportedly taken over 15,000 pages of documents out of Iraq, instead of handing them over to the security services. Not only are these documents potentially historically significant, but experts warn that when journalists fail to share such information with the authorities, they risk compromising the workings of the judicial system and preventing due and fair process.
Experts have also warned that Caliphate, along with other crime dramas like the wildly popular Serial, are also blurring the lines between narrative fiction and reality and drawing the wrong kind of attention to violent crimes.
(image: Ozy)
Despite criticisms, Caliphate is a must-listen for anyone interested in ISIS, terrorism or the Middle East. It not only provides a fascinating account of life inside the Islamic State, but it also raises important issues about journalism, ethics, and the challenges of reconciling and rebuilding after conflict – something a number of regional countries will likely be dealing with for a long time.
If you found this interesting, you might also enjoy:
15 essential podcasts to help you understand the Middle East
Fauda: The Israeli Netflix drama that’s got the Middle East talking
Iran’s City of Lies: Extraordinary stories of love, sex and death in Tehran
Posted in: Politics | Tagged: conflict, Foreign Policy, ISIL, ISIS, journalism, media, news, podcast, Politics, social media, technology, Terrorism, war
Socotra: Conflict and climate threaten Yemen’s “alien” island paradise
One thought on “Caliphate: The addictive ISIS podcast that’s causing controversy”
Pingback: Revolution for Dummies: The Egyptian heart surgeon exiled for making jokes – Pink Jinn
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4570
|
__label__wiki
| 0.601426
| 0.601426
|
Changemaker | Social Affairs
Looking Back on One Woman’s Journey
Monday, 28th November 2016 at 11:22 am
Andrea Mason is an Indigenous advocate and the CEO of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council in the Northern Territory. She is this week’s Changemaker.
Monday, 28th November 2016
The NPY Women’s Council is a community organisation that provides a range of community, family, research and advocacy services to the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara women in the Northern Territory and Central Australia.
Since 2010 Mason has led the organisation and committed to delivering long-term positive change to the communities across the NPY Lands.
She has both a personal and professional connection to the organisation, as her aboriginal identity is Ngaanyatjarra, “the N in NPY”, and she has previously said, as an Aboriginal woman, it was a career highlight to work in an Aboriginal women’s member-led organisation.
Prior to joining the council she dedicated her career to reconciliation and self-determination for Aboriginal people and in 2004 became the first Indigenous woman to lead a political party in Australia as the head of Family First.
In recent weeks she was named both the NT’s Australian of the Year as well as the 2016 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year.
In her acceptance speech for the latter she said: “It’s all about relationships. It’s about me getting to know you, it’s about you getting to know me and making our world smaller. And I believe that if we all do this together, that Australia has the potential to do much good across all sectors in our community.”
In this week’s Changemaker, Mason talks about the importance of relationship building, breaking the cycle of domestic violence and how it feels to be recognised for the work she is doing.
What drew you to working with the NPY Women’s Council?
My Aboriginal identity is Ngaanyatjarra. So the N in NPY, my Aboriginality comes through that nation, which is the Ngaanyatjarra nation. So I’m the chief executive but I am also family to the membership and to the communities where we work.
What does a typical day for you look like as CEO of the NPY Women’s Council?
So I am a problem solver. I am an advocate. I am often called upon to be an inspirational leader. I am often interpreting and translating concepts and ideas from English to women whose English is sometimes the third or fourth language that they speak, so having to think about a complex idea but to explain it in a very simple way. Sometimes I might be asked to see a member who is in hospital. So everyday is different.
Sometimes I set a plan at the beginning of the day, sometimes I get some of the things done but there are often requests and challenges that come up during the day which I don’t plan for, but that’s the nature of working for an NGO in the not-for-profit sector.
What are some of the greatest achievements the council has made in the time you have been there?
So quite simply, the women look to extend, across the region anything that is going to be adding value to the quality of life for people and they’re also as committed to removing anything that’s going to hurt or harm families.
So in terms of harming families, the achievement of addressing petrol sniffing in our region, is seen as the organisation’s greatest achievement, in the fight to get opal fuel, a different type of fuel, to stop young people, particularly young men, petrol sniffing.
And also recently the women have been so pleased to see the increase of renal dialysis machines in bush communities because they’ve been absolutely despondent about the number of men and women who’ve had to leave bush communities to come into Alice Springs or to go down to Adelaide or to Perth to undertake renal dialysis treatment. So the effort to get more machines into our communities is the women’s commitment to try and keep people on Country so that they can continue to be part of daily life, to be able to deliver their responsibilities as senior men and women in the community, whether it is to do with sorry business or supporting young people to find their place. And so I think that’s a recent achievement that the women are very, very proud of.
What are your current priorities?
So, there’s been a growing understanding across the membership, but particularly with senior women membership, around the impact that trauma is having in people’s lives and it has been a growing understanding, particularly over the last three or four years. And so that understanding is opening up a whole range of actions, that we hope in time will help to both support people who are in trauma but also to reduce the number of people who are traumatised in our communities by the connection of emotional and physical wellbeing. That’s well known within the health sector. In our communities, our women are using that basis to extend it to try and add the cultural knowledge to that, to try and drive some due targeting of supportive services to people who are unfortunately… struggling in their life because of the impact of trauma and also what they see around them, I’m talking about the trauma that happens when people are living in homes where there is domestic and family violence.
You have received a lot of recognition for your work in breaking the cycle of domestic violence. How much further is there still to go in tackling this issue?
It is still an area of great concern… in 2014, the Women’s Council marked 20 years of its domestic and family violence service having its doors open and I said at the time that for me the goal is to close the door of this service and never open it again, because by that action, we’re acknowledging that we’ve seen the end of violence in our community and we’re nowhere near that.
There is both necessary work to support women but there is also I believe an increase in energy to do work in the area of early intervention and crime prevention. Well I have to say, it is reaching out to men and challenging men around changing their behaviour and their attitudes around violence. And one of the programs that has been being delivered in our region, the NPY region, is the men’s cross-border program and they work with men as part of their parole processes, they get referred to and are required to do that program, and our service in terms of working with the women who are victims, we work very closely with that program and they are really doing wonderful work and they just need to have more programs like that. Whether its behavioural change, attitudinal change and also acknowledging that we need to be doing it, not just at kind of the correctional end but we need to do it through all the stages of the young man’s life right through to entering into a relationship. And as that relationship is forming and growing and children coming along, those constant messages around what it means to have a healthy, safe relationship and family life. And so I think that’s also growing. I think it is necessary because just working with victims of domestic violence is not going to stop the violence, you have to have a real kind of plan but also allocate resources, so that we are giving that same message to the men, and calling men to abolish the violence, but also that the change needs to happen within as well.
A large part of your career has been dedicated to reconciliation and you have spoken a lot about the value of relationships, why is relationship building so important?
Because in Australia, it is a simple kind of statement but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people we [don’t] make up a large percentage of the Australian population. So to get things to happen for the good, we need to reach out and work with the broader community and be able to tell that story so that people actually understand how they can support, but also how… our communities are very much at the core of the identity of what it means to be Australian. So, I had great role models growing up who demonstrated [this] through opening up their homes to people of all backgrounds. And I believe that that’s the way to go and it’s been something that I have always focused on, whether it’s been at work or in my personal life or in my social life, is that by having a wide range of people from all backgrounds it makes me a better person as well. I really do believe that.
You are the NT’s Australian of the Year and the 2016 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year. How does it feel to be recognised for the work you are doing?
So the Telstra Women’s Awards is one of the most prestigious women’s awards in Australia, it is the longest running, I think it is over 20 years. So to be recognised by business women is very humbling but also I feel an immense level of pride in that. And I think also coming from the not-for-profit sector and to be given that acknowledgement above women who work in other sectors. Where sometimes, working for profit is a real focus, we know that in the not-for-profit sector… really the focus of that money is to always improve the lives of our members, and their families. So to me the growth that we have experienced at Women’s Council, particularly over the last seven years, I’m so proud that all that money is going out into the regions to support our families and to get that better deal, to get a better quality of life.
With the NT Australian of the Year I was very surprised, firstly because someone in Alice Springs spent time writing out an application to nominate me for that award. And so I think it’s one of those things where really often we celebrate our achievements in the home, as a collective team, so to be singled out and to be recognised as doing something for Australia to me I feel an incredible amount of pride but also of gratitude that people have seen the work that I have been doing and have commended me for it.
Who or what inspires you?
That’s a really interesting question, because this year I turn 50 and what inspires me particularly is the women that I work with and the staff that I work with, both men and women. People talk a lot about trust but what inspires me is that lots and lots of people have put their trust in me and have decided to come and work at Women’s Council because they believe in my leadership. That trust, that faith in me, is what inspires me to continue to push and to really pull for better quality of life for our members and our families.
But I also believe that I am a sum total of all the non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal men and women who have believed in me and sponsored me and who have encouraged me over the years. So it begins in the family, that strong domestic relationship that my parents had growing up was a very strong influence on me, but it was definitely that starting relationship that is about them that allowed me to be comfortable in really reaching out and developing a lot of relationship across the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community.
Do you have a favourite saying?
Sure. well I have got a number of sayings back on my whiteboard back at work and one of my favourites, the favourite I think at the moment is: “We live life looking forward but we understand it looking back.”
And that is really resonating with me at the moment, obviously during this period of personal recognition but also as a strategic executive, like myself, as chief executive officer, we always, people who have got my personality we’re always looking forward, we’re always reaching forward and planning but there is an incredible reward in honest reflection and that’s in looking back to see what have we done, what have I done and wanting to improve that. So that’s my favourite saying at the moment.
Wendy Williams | Editor | @WendyAnWilliams
Wendy Williams is a journalist specialising in the not-for-profit sector and broader social economy. She has been the editor of Pro Bono News since 2018.
Tags : Andrea Mason, Indigenous, Ngaanyatjarra, NPY Women’s Council, Pitjantjatjara, Reconciliation, Telstra Australia Business Woman of the Year, Yankunytjatjara,
Voice. Treaty. Truth.
‘Have you been feeling your spirit was sad?’ Culture is key when assessing Indigenous Australians’ mental health
Tuesday, 2nd July 2019 at 8:52 am
Move over Jemima, there’s a new toy on Play School
Saturday, 29th June 2019 at 11:00 am
‘If you’re not there for the cause, you need to get out of the way’
Wednesday, 26th June 2019 at 6:23 pm
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4574
|
__label__wiki
| 0.884419
| 0.884419
|
Tech Takes Over Lead After 36 Holes at NCAA Championship
GT Photo Gallery
Milton, Ga. – Paced by a 3-under-par 67 from Anders Albertson, Georgia Tech matched its opening round of 6-under-par 274 Wednesday and captured the lead after two rounds of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship.
Live Leaderboard and Tee Times | Heppler Interview | Schniederjans Interview
Ollie Schniederjans shot a 2-under-par 68, Seth Reeves added his second straight 1-under 69 and freshman Shun Yat Hak posted an even-par 70, helping the 7th-ranked Yellow Jackets ascend to the lead after the morning wave of teams completed their rounds on the 7,319-yard, par 70 Capital City Club Crabapple Course.
Tech completed 36 holes at 12-under-par 548, one shot clear of top-ranked California (11-under 549), which reached 19-under with a blistering front-nine performance before settling back to an 8-under-par round of 272. No. 4 Texas turned in the best score of the morning with as 9-under 271 and wound up in third place after two rounds at 10-under 550. No. 2 Alabama, after a 4-under round of 276, is in fourth place at 551 (-9).
First-round leader Arizona State started its round hot and regained the lead briefly, rising to 14-under-par at one point in its front nine, but the Sun Devils lost six shots and fell back to fifth place at 8-under (round in progress). Rounding out the top 10 (as of 6 p.m.) were Arkansas (-3), Illinois (-3), Oklahoma (-1), Tennessee (-1) and Texas A&M (+1).
“They played well today. They got off and played two, three, four, five and six really well,” said Tech coach Bruce Heppler. “There are stretches in here where there are five or six that you have to get in and hang on. I was really pleased with how we played the last four holes. Sixteen was into the wind, 12 and 18 were into the wind. When I walked by the scoreboard I guess on 13, we were at 12 so to play those eight under was really pretty good.
“We’re playing five guys who have never played in the national tournament before. I think that familiarity helps; that they know what’s out there. They know the shots that are there. It’s not like they’re uncomfortable. There’s no question that it’s helped a lot.”
Tech, bidding to qualify for the match play portion of the tournament for the third time in five years, will be paired with Cal and Texas for the final round of stroke play Thursday, with tee times from 1:10 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. The top eight teams in team score following 54 holes of stroke play will advance to the match play portion of the NCAA Championship which begins Friday.
Arkansas surged with a 9-under 271 Wednesday, matching Texas, and moved into a fifth-place tie with Illinois (+1 for the round) at 3-under-par 557.
First-round leader Arizona State started its round hot and regained the lead briefly, rising to 14-under-par at one point in its front nine, but the Sun Devils lost 12 shots after that and fell back to seventh place at 2-under 558. Rounding out the top 10 were Texas A&M (E), UCF (+1) and Oklahoma (+2). The Golden Knights moved into contention for a match play spot by shooting 6-under for the day.
Schniederjans, a sophomore from Powder Springs, Ga., who opened the tournament with four birdies en route to a 67 Tuesday, is tied for fourth place in the medal race with a 5-under-par total of 135. He is two shots back of first-round leader Jon Rahm of Arizona State, who followed his course-record 61 Tuesday with a 72 Wednesday, leaving him with a 7-under-par total of 133. Arkansas’ Nicolas Echevarria bolted into second place with a 6-under-par 64 Wednesday, while UCF’s Greg Eason shot 66 and are tied for second at 134 (-6).
The top 15 players are within two shots of each other. The individual NCAA champion will be crowned after 54 holes are completed Thursday.
“Fourteen through 18 were playing really hard,” said Schniederjans. “It was awesome to play one under on the last four holes. On 15 you have to strike an iron, then have a good two-putt. Sixteen is ridiculous. On 17 it’s just that the pin is really hard. I just hit a good drive, then a sweet shot. Eighteen is always a tough hole. We’re just going to have to come out and make birdies and shoot well. Hopefully, we’ll have a nice cushion for those four holes left.”
Albertson, a sophomore from Woodstock, Ga., is in a tie for ninth place at 4-under 136. The ACC Champion opened the tournament with a 69 and birdied five of his first eight holes Wednesday before leveling off. Reeves, a junior from Duluth, Ga., who tied for second place in the PING/Golfweek Preview Invitational on this course in the fall against a loaded field (13 of 15 teams in that tournament are in the field this week), is tied for 24th place at 2-under 138.
In the four years the NCAA has used the match play format to decide its men’s Division I champion, Georgia Tech has qualified for match play twice – in 2010 at the Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn., and in 2011 at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla. The Yellow Jackets finished third and second, respectively, in the stroke play portion of those championships. Tech tied for 10th in 2009 at Inverness in Toledo, Ohio, and did not advance to the championship last year.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4577
|
__label__wiki
| 0.610737
| 0.610737
|
Research Article|March 01 2017
Gendering Landscapes of War Through the Narratives of Soldiers’ Mothers: Military Service and the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey
Senem Kaptan
SENEM KAPTAN is a PhD candidate in anthropology at Rutgers University. Her dissertation research is an ethnographic study of the treason trials of military officers in contemporary Turkey. Her work has previously been published in An Anthropology of Mothering (2011) and Militarism, Nationalism, and Masculinities in Turkey (2013). Contact: skaptan@rutgers.edu.
Journal of Middle East Women's Studies (2017) 13 (1): 47-68.
Senem Kaptan; Gendering Landscapes of War Through the Narratives of Soldiers’ Mothers: Military Service and the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 1 March 2017; 13 (1): 47–68. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/15525864-3728635
Despite being exempt from compulsory military service, women have been indispensable in their roles as mothers of conscripted soldiers in the conflict between the Turkish military and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Based on in-depth interviews conducted with twenty women in Istanbul whose sons were deployed to the conflict zone and returned home without any injuries, this article examines how the conflict has impacted the mothers’ perception of national service, of the Kurdish conflict, and of the “East.” I argue that the women start to partly question the obligation to serve once their children are asked to become the potential victims, and perpetrators, of the conflict. But this questioning does not develop into a full-fledged critique of the service and ends up reinforcing the tropes associated with Kurds and the “East” as backward, unruly, and resistant to change. Thus they mostly justify the modernizing mission of the military.
military service, motherhood, East, Kurdish conflict, space, nationalism, Turkey
Copyright © 2017 by the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies
Is Hope More Precious than Victory?: The Failed Peace Process and Urban Warfare in the Kurdish Region of Turkey
“War Is like a Blanket”: Feminist Convergences in Kurdish and Turkish Women’s Rights Activism for Peace
Philippine Indios in the Service of Empire: Indigenous Soldiers and Contingent Loyalty, 1600–1700
The Ottoman Empire from 1923 to Today: In Search of a Usable Past
Kurdish conflict
Introduction Dalit Studies: New Perspectives on Indian History and Society
The Woman beneath the Myth
Toward a Critical Place Perspective on Social Movements
At Home in the Market
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4580
|
__label__cc
| 0.691549
| 0.308451
|
Search Results for word
Public Policy (331)
World Policy Journal (352)
Europe's Last Word
World Policy Journal (1 March 2011) 28 (1): 119–126.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0740277511402806
... considers itself—reality perhaps notwithstanding—the heart and soul of the continent. The book is titled Vous N'aurez Pas le Dernier Mot (You Won't Have the Last Word ), and its authors are the writer-actor Jean Piat, of the Comédie Française, and Patrick Wajsman, the founding editor of Politique...
Last Word: What does “hospitality” really mean
Antjie Krog
... the concept of hospitality? That is, the original meaning of the word, derived from the Latin hospes , meaning both “host” and “guest/stranger.” In South Africa we are very familiar with the word thanks to the hospitality industry, which is a massive creator of tourism jobs. We are indeed very...
A Word with Ninety-Nine Meanings
World Policy Journal (1 March 2007) 24 (1): 39.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/wopj.2007.24.1.39
Turks, Armenians, and the “G-Word”
Belinda Cooper, Taner Akcam
World Policy Journal (1 September 2005) 22 (3): 81–93.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/07402775-2005-4009
... and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (Metropolitan Books, forthcoming). Turks, Armenians, and the “G-Word” Belinda Cooper an d Taner Akcam History has its long-buried minefields the accession of a nation with a Muslim posted with warnings that trespassers...
In His Own Words: Jordan’s Security Backbone: The Thoughts of His Majesty King AbdulahII of Jordan
King Abdullah, II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
... general in the Jordanian Army. During his 14-year reign, the kingdom’s economy has flourished, and he has played a major role in encouraging an Israeli-Palestinian peace process. World Policy Journal editors asked His Majesty to illuminate, in his own words, the roots of Jordan’s extraordinary record of...
The Words are Maps: Two years after an outbreak devastated Sierra Leone, an anthropologist returns to the country in search of a rumored Ebola museum
Adia Benton
World Policy Journal (1 December 2017) 34 (4): 76–86.
... headed off to find a rumored Ebola museum some 140 miles outside Freetown. I first learned of the museum from a vaguely worded Sierra Leonean newspaper article back in 2015. Then I forgot about it until two years later, when I had an intriguing email exchange with another anthropologist who had worked in...
The Fog of Words
Benjamin Pauker
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/wopj.2007.24.1.103
War of Words: Rodrigo Duterte’s violent relationship with language
Glenda M. Gloria
World Policy Journal (1 June 2018) 35 (2): 9–13.
... corruption, there’s no poverty.” Yet none of these leaders have used their words to greater effect than Duterte. And none have put their words into action nearly as much. The 73-year-old mayor burst onto the national scene in 2016 at a transformative time for his country (and for the world, for that...
Susan Benesch
World Policy Journal (1 March 2012) 29 (1): 7–12.
... with journalists who had made Afrikaners aware of the song by translating its words. He failed to convince the judge, but unwittingly put his finger on a deep change taking place in communications worldwide, which demands new policy, especially since law is inadequate to deal with it alone...
An Exiled Leader Breaks His Silence: A Conversation With Thaksin Shinawatra
World Policy Journal (1 June 2016) 33 (2): 57–61.
... Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, is one of the world’s most polarizing figures, whose words still reverberate across Southeast Asia. His tenure at the helm of the Thai government in the early 2000s marked a growing rift between Thailand’s urban middle class and the rural...
The Freedom Train
Outspoken, Verity Norman
World Policy Journal (1 March 2012) 29 (1): 16–18.
... reached our destination … Freedom! Verity Norman Tongai Leslie Makawa, known throughout the rap world by his performance name Outspoken is one of Zimbabwe’s leading spoken word poets. His poem “The Freedom Train” addresses the inaccurate use of the term “Freedom” in today’s Zimbabwe...
L’Immortelle: A Conversation with Assia Djebar, A guardian of the French language
... the Académie Française today? Djebar: I was wondering that myself. They come for me every week, and I don’t know what this role even means. I participate in the discussions—we take a word and we begin to detail it, use it in context, employ it in some sort of expression. WPJ: On the...
The American Empire? Not So Fast
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
... not a foot ther has any doubt. Commentators make of land or territory annexed to the emperor’s comparisons to the great empires— to the title.” Roman Empire; to the nineteenth-century “Imperialism” did not appear as a word British and French empires. Is the so-called until the nineteenth...
Index, Volume XXII
World Policy Journal (1 December 2006) 22 (4): 94.
...) Kipling, Rudyard; “Mesopotamia” (XXII: 3) Akcam, Tañer, and Belinda Cooper; “Turks, Armenians, and the Klausen, Jytte; “Europe’s Muslim Political Elite: Walking a Tight * ‘G-Word (XXII: 3) rope” (XXII: 3) Allen, Charles; “The Hidden Roots of Wahhabism in British India” Kiip^u, Maria...
World Policy Journal (1 June 2012) 29 (2): 97–103.
... out of Hindustani, and distinguish themselves from each other by the script (Nagari versus Nastaliq), vocabulary (Sanskrit versus Perso-Arabic), and the religious identity of users (Hindu versus Muslim). Violent efforts at purification, which involved purging the languages of “foreign” words and the...
From Andijon to Bowling Green: Fabricated Terrorism in Uzbekistan and the United States
Sarah Kendzior
... the encyclopedia, after giving a fictional rendering of Yo’ldoshev’s tract, Husniddinov outlined Akromiya’s nefarious plan to carry out civilian attacks—a plan that, again, did not exist. (Yo’ldoshev’s actual text was a set of musings on Islam that did not even contain the word “Uzbekistan,” much less...
Nicholas X. Rizopoulos
... elite the White House to mount a full-throttle —understand that (in the words of the edi public relations campaign in favor of “re tor of this magazine) “being grown up about gime change” in Baghdad, by military force power politics does not mean that we have if need be. to pretend that all our...
The Big Question: Abusing Language: When Should Language Be Restricted
Mahmoud Salem, Anatoly Liberman, Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Saksith Saiyasombut, Lee Bollinger ...
... discourse. The same phenomenon took place in Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, and Syria. And here we are now, Arab Spring and all, led by bloggers. Regardless of how grating a writer’s words, grammar, or syntax may appear, the use of language should be at the writer’s discretion. So, the answer is...
... connotations of the word “freedom” in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Addressing another of our core themes, the Map Room diagrams the forced migrations of the Soviet-era that left scores of languages in Russia on the brink of extinction. Hopping between Germany and Turkey, James Angelos details the ever higher linguistic...
David Rieff, Shashi Tharoor, Sam Daws
World Policy Journal (1 September 2001) 18 (3): 101–102.
... the words of Kofi Annan may be the closest young Somali boy. That soldier was in So secular equivalent there is to Holy Writ, malia in the name of humanitarian inter but that is no reason for the rest of us to vention. So were the Nigerian troops who, take them at face value. It is not a...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4581
|
__label__cc
| 0.72687
| 0.27313
|
Exclusive Blog Interview with Australian Author: Tara Eglington
Posted on May 29, 2017 by Read3r'z Re-Vu
Best selling Australian Author, Tara Eglington is a dear friend of Read3r’z Re-Vu and the author of 3 amazing YA novels:
How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You, How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You and My Best Friend is a Goddess.
Here, is our exclusive blog interview with Tara!!!
Tara at Read3r’z Re-Vu as special guest
When did you first get inspiration to write?
It’s hard to actually remember when it officially started. I was obsessed with reading when I was a kid, and I remember writing my own little ‘spin-off’ stories that were inspired by my favourite characters. I know my teachers in high school always assumed that I would do something related to writing for a career, but it was only when I was around 20 that I became obsessed with building a story around a girl who didn’t want to be kissed! I played around with the idea in my mind for around six months, before I officially declared at 21 that I was going to write a book. I then sat down at the computer every day for about 10 months, until I had a finished manuscript. That was How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You, which was published by Harper Collins Australia seven years later.
What is the title of your debut novel and what inspired you to write this book?
My debut novel was “How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You”, which was followed by a sequel “How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You”. My third and most recent novel is “My Best Friend is a Goddess”. “My Best Friend is a Goddess” is the story of two best friends, Emily and Adriana, who in alternating chapters. I was inspired to write Goddess because I wanted to write about the ups and downs of female friendship, as well as touch upon some topics like envy, self-esteem, the pressure on women to be ‘pretty’, first love, and grief. It was also inspired by a painful falling out with a best friend in high school, at the end of Year 10.
Is there any particular reason you chose this genre?
I love writing Young Adult books – I read a crazy amount of YA when I was a teenager, and still read this genre. It’s a fascinating period to write about because the characters are in the process of discovering who they are in terms of their identity, their passions, hopes, and goals, and are experiencing so many things for the first time. I kept a diary from ages 12-22, and I have drawn upon some of these experiences (like the lost friendship) in my novels. I love re-reading these diaries as there are so many emotionally charged entries! The diary entry in Goddess where Emily talks about how frustrated she is because she feels like she’s always being judged by her appearance – ‘I want to believe that ‘Pretty’ isn’t everything’ – was inspired by a very similar diary entry I made at 15.
What’s the name of your favourite book?
“Anne of Green Gables.” I first read it at 14, and I still love it. Anne and Gilbert were one of the inspirations for the Aurora/Hayden dynamic in “How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You”. Another favourite is “I Capture the Castle” – it’s the story of a 17 year old girl, Cassandra, who lives with her artistic, eccentric family in a decaying English castle – the story is told through Cassandra’s diary entries, and it’s a coming-of-age story set in the 1930’s. There was a film a few years back, but the book is far, far superior.
What’s the first book you ever read?
The first book would have been a picture book, but I can’t recall what one! I do remember reading “Heidi” at age six, and I became obsessed with it. I desperately wanted to live in a cabin in the mountains of Switzerland!!!
Where is your favourite place to read?
In bed, on the weekend. When I’m not writing a new novel I really take the opportunity to indulge in reading. When I’m in writer mode, most of my weekend is spent at the computer, so I go through long periods where I don’t have time to pick up a book. When I’m on break, I start trying to make my way through the stacks of TBR’s that I’ve acquired from online buying sessions via Booktopia.
If you’re not reading or writing, what would you be doing?
Cooking! Or watching a cooking program – my favourite way to relax is to watch “Master Chef” or Netflix’s “Chef’s Table.” Some of the chefs are so incredibly clever and creative – if I wasn’t an author, I would love to do something with food.
If you had the chance to have a dinner date with any fictional literary character, who would it be, where would it be and why?
L M Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables) – she is my favourite writer, and there are so many questions I would like to ask her about her characters and her experience as a writer in another era, when being a female writer was incredibly unusual (she lived from 1874-1942). I’d love the dinner to be on Prince Edward Island, Canada, which is where Anne of Green Gables was set, as I have always dreamt of visiting!
What was the last book you read? (title/genre/author/rating out of 5 stars)
The Golden Child by Wendy James (Australian author). It was a real page turner – I’d rate it 4.5 stars!
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever received from a fan?
The coolest thing I ever had a reader do was when Amanda, The Bookish Manicurist created nails that were How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You themed! They were amazing and even featured little Aurora’s! Photo Courtesy: The Bookish Manicurist
If your life was turned into a movie, who would you like to play you?
Hmmmm. Tough one. I can’t think of an actress that looks similar to me….my husband suggested Blake Lively, which was unexpected and flattering, so I’ll go with that!
As an author, what was the best piece of advice you were ever given?
The advice that I would pass on to anyone else who wants to write, is to have confidence in yourself. Listen to constructive feedback from those within the industry, and work on becoming a better writer, but you also have to cultivate a fierce inner determination and optimism.
The other advice I would give is that writing requires sacrifice. Generally that sacrifice is time – and unfortunately, unless you write full time, you’ll have to carve out writing time from what remains after a full working week. Sadly, this is often time that you would spend relaxing, seeing friends or family. I try to juggle what I can, but some area always suffers, it’s unavoidable. You can’t manage everything. Each novel I write is two years of work, and I do have to say ‘no’ and even though I feel guilty about it, I make sacrifices in my personal life to make deadlines, and to achieve big goals. If your family and friends love you, and value what you are trying to achieve, then they will understand. I then try to give more to these areas when I’m on break between novels.
Hmmm. Rather than a particular statement or piece of advice, I think what helped me the most was the confidence that my English teachers in high school, instilled in me. One of my English teachers was formerly an editor at quite a few of the well-known Publishing houses in the UK and Australia, and when she learned through the grapevine that I hoped to be a novelist one day, she actually approached me after class and said seriously ‘I think you can achieve that goal.’ That was huge for me. After I wrote my first novel (which was at that point, un-signed) and other people would tell me that the odds of being published were close to impossible, I always still had that quiet confidence within me that said ‘No, I will be published.’
The Top 10: This or That
Ice cream or Ice Block?
Library or Bookstore?
That’s like choosing your favourite child! Libraries I think, because they were my saving grace growing up in a small town – a portal to a myriad of different worlds!
Vegemite or Peanut Butter?
Vegemite! I wouldn’t cope without it! I feel like it’s one of those ‘cure all’s for any ailment 😉
Chicken or Beef?
I’m a vegetarian actually! ;-/
Winter or Summer?
Tough one. Used to be summer, but now that I ski, winter has become more of a favourite. I have to have mountains around – snow and mountains make winter magical!
Coffee by a mile! My husband is an amateur barista, so we drink a lot of it!
Favourite Chocolate:
Haighs
Burgundy!
Ultimate Holiday Destination:
The Maldives! I’m obsessed…mostly because I love snorkelling and spying on fish “Under da sea, under da sea….”
When reading, I love to eat/drink:
Summer fruits – peaches, nectarines, apricots…
Famous last words:
“Imagine if” – that’s the writer-brain in action!
Make sure you get a hold of Tara’s books.. they’re a lot of fun to read!!!
They are the pinnacle of contemporary YA reads!!!
Tara would love to hear from readers, so please feel free to say hello via:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taraeglington/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/taraeglington
Twitter: https://twitter.com/taraeglington
Special thanks to Tara Eglington for spending her time with Read3r’z Re-Vu, we hope to see you again and best wishes for your next project!!! Please keep in touch!!!
-Interview compiled by Annie
Posted in Australian Author, Australian Young Adult, Author InterviewsLeave a comment
← Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde BLOG TOUR
Kingmaker Chronicles by Amanda Bouchet →
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4582
|
__label__wiki
| 0.701776
| 0.701776
|
NCSBE policy using bounced mail to remove people from voter list should be revised
Republican legislators in North Carolina have enacted a wave of policy measures since attaining a supermajority that cut corporate tax rates, denied Medicaid expansion, stagnated teacher pay, and jeopardized clean air and water through regulatory reform. Yet no issue has haunted Republican politicians more so than the specter of voter fraud.
Professing a desire to guard democracy in the state, Republican politicians have expressed an increasing amount of alarm at the threat of voter fraud. Of course, it is far more likely that politicians elected in a Tea Party backlash to the first Black president are troubled by the new demographic realities of a polarized purple state. To maintain power, they have erected a series of barriers to voting during their tenure that disproportionately affect black, latinx, and college-age voters of all racial demographics, all of whom are more likely to vote Democrat.
After the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, North Carolina was limited in its ability to intentionally disfranchise its people. Five years ago, however, Shelby County v. Holder gutted two sections of the Voting Rights Act that dealt with states’ (mostly in the South with long histories of voter disfranchisement in service of white supremacy) legal mandate to get advance approval before they changed any law that dealt with elections. North Carolina was one of those states. With that provision now gone, North Carolina Republicans swiftly passed a controversial voter ID law and maintained that voter ID was an important requirement for election integrity. However, according to the ACLU, millions of Americans lack ID; obtaining ID with an updated address costs money, a significant expense for lower-income Americans who move frequently. Minority voters lack ID in greater rates and states often exclude forms such as student ID cards. North Carolina, for example, prohibited public assistance IDs and state employee ID cards, types of ID disproportionately held by Black voters. Finally, voter ID laws are enforced along racial lines. A study found that minority voters are more often questioned about their ID. (ACLU Fact Sheet, retrieved 3/8/18)
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court eventually struck down the North Carolina legislation. Noting that North Carolina did not provide any evidence of voter fraud, the court declared that the law was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black voters. In 2015, the law was amended to provide a way for people to vote without ID.
North Carolina Republicans, facing a contest in every legislative seat in the fall of 2018 and perhaps anticipating a reckoning, have recently proposed putting up voter ID for a constitutional amendment. Republican Representative Bob Steinburg recently stated that voter ID is “extremely popular” in North Carolina and is something that “transcends race.” Acknowledging that the courts struck down voter ID, he countered, “if we could show the court that 70 or 75 percent of the voters were in favor of voter ID” it would be very difficult for judges to circumvent that or strike it down. Yet Steinburg seems to be missing that the original point of the Voting Rights Act was to protect minority voters from the unjust laws of the white majority in the South. The law exists the stave off the oppression of the majority. Steinburg and the rest of North Carolina Republicans’ motivations are clear: consolidate power through recent loopholes in the Voting Rights Act by sacrificing democracy in the state.
Yet Voter ID is just one mechanism used to purge people from the voter rolls.
The board of elections also removes voters’ whose addresses are not up to date by sending out cards. If the North Carolina State Board of Elections sends a voter registration card to an address and it bounces back, the voter is then purged from the rolls.
Some legislators and candidates, both Republican and Democrat, whose names are listed below, might want to take heed of this mechanism of enforcement, as their mail bounced back after efforts to reach them. If mail bounces back for the lawmakers of the state, perhaps legislators should consider less punitive and more expansive visions of voting justice in North Carolina.
We mailed two letters to lawmakers, once in May and again in February as lawmakers and candidates filed for office. In February we included anyone who filed for office in our list at the address they were filing from, the following folks had mail bounce back:
Bob Rucho (R) - Candidate for Senate District 34
Bill Brisson (R-HD22)
Justin Burr (R-HD67)
Kevin Corbin (R-HD120)
Warren Daniel (R-SD46)
Rodney Moore (D-HD99)
David Rogers (R-HD112)
Lee Zachary (R-HD73)
Chance Harris (D) - Candidate for House District 100
Nathan West (R) - Candidate for House District 115
Jerry Langley (D) - Candidate for House District 79
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4583
|
__label__wiki
| 0.918497
| 0.918497
|
Miley's Mystery Meet-n-Greet
Become A BBQ Master!
Commando's Ride At 5
Iowa 2019 Summer Guide
Download The Q App!
Alexa, Play Q92.3
Follow Q on Instagram
All DJ's
PopCrush Nights With KT
Waterloo Black Hawks
Sales Job
Work At Q92.3
One Year Later: Prince’s Shocking Death
Bryan Wawzenek
On April 21, 2016, the body of Prince Rogers Nelson was discovered in an elevator at his Paisley Park complex in Minnesota. He was the victim of an accidental overdose of the drug fentanyl, a synthetic opioid pain medication. Prince was 57.
The multi-talented musician was a star for more than four decades, earning his greatest fame in the ’80s as he crafted countless rock, pop and R&B hits, starred in feature films and dominated MTV. His androgynous look made him a style icon – blending masculinity and femininity with his persona in the same way he blended different genres in his music. As such, his appeal was massive. Prince reached fans of soul, rock, pop and funk, breaking down artificial barriers between musical styles and between what tunes white kids and black kids were “supposed” to listen to.
Even as Prince’s popularity dipped in the ’90s (not long after he infamously temporarily changed his name to a symbol), he remained prolific, slowly easing into his status as an elder statesman – gaining lifetime achievement awards and getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But he was still an incendiary concert performer, capable of enrapturing an entire arena with a guitar solo, a soulful vocal or a couple tightly wound dance moves. Prince’s 2007 Super Bowl halftime show instantly became mythical. His passion for music – all music – was infectious.
Although Prince was past his commercial peak when he died, he was still relatively young and increasingly active as a musician. In the two years before his overdose, he had released four albums, was planning on putting together a deluxe anniversary edition of his best-known LP Purple Rain and was touring the world (Prince’s final show was in Atlanta just a few days before his death). Just a month before the overdose, he announced he was writing his memoirs, to be titled The Beautiful Ones – after a Purple Rain track.
But by April 2016, Prince was not well. Announcing he was suffering from the flu, he postponed a pair of concerts for a week later – the Atlanta shows that would be his last – and performed anyway even though he hadn’t recovered. While flying back to Minneapolis, he became unresponsive on the plane, which made an emergency landing in Moline, Illi., for Prince to receive treatment at a hospital. Doctors discovered the singer’s opioid addiction and treated him with a medication intended to block their effects. Prince quickly returned home, against the wishes of the medical staff.
In the days before his death, Prince was seen out and about in Chanhassen, Minnesota – where he had established Paisley Park, 20-some miles southwest of the Twin Cities. Residents witnessed him bicycling and fans saw him at a record store or at a performance by Lizz Wright. Prince said he was feeling fine, but it was later revealed that members of his staff had been in contact with Dr. Howard Kornfeld, a specialist in treating people addicted to pain medicine such as opioids.
The California physician was set to meet with Prince on April 22. But it was his son, having flown in the day before to begin the treatment, who called authorities about finding Prince dead in the Paisley Park elevator. A little more than a month later, the county examiner’s office announced the musician had perished as a result of his addiction. There was no evidence of suicide or anything suspicious.
There was also no will, a fact that would complicate the handling of Prince’s estate for his loved ones. Because the star had no living children (his son, Ahmir, had died a week after his birth in 1996), Prince’s earthly possessions passed to his sister, Tyka, and his five half-siblings Sharon, Norrine, John, Alfred and Omarr. It became even messier when more than two dozen people filed to be included among Prince’s heirs, although most of these cases (including a woman who claimed she secretly married him in 2002, but could provide no proof) were thrown out of court.
Before Prince’s loved ones could sort out the tangled financial necessities, they were grieving. So were Prince’s fans. Upon hearing of his death, MTV pre-empted programming to show his many famous videos as well as the film Purple Rain. Saturday Night Live quickly presented an episode dedicated to his many performances on the show (and some Prince-related skits) over the years. His Minnesota fans created impromptu shrines on the fences of Paisley Park and near the outside walls of Minneapolis���s First Avenue club, where some of Purple Rain had been shot. Various locations around the world were lit up in purple lights in tribute. Prince’s influence and legacy were even honored by the United States Senate and President Barack Obama.
“Today, the world lost a creative icon,” President Obama said in a statement. “Few artists have influenced the sound and trajectory of popular music more distinctly, or touched quite so many people with their talent.”
Meanwhile, Prince’s music became as popular as it ever had been. In the week following his passing, his records sold almost 4.5 million copies in the U.S. Prince became the first artist to have five albums appear simultaneously in the Billboard Top 200, with three hits collections as well as Purple Rain and 1999 all landing near the top.
And, of course, musicians from Bruno Mars to Bruce Springsteen honored Prince’s life and music with live and televised tributes. Madonna sang “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “Purple Rain” at the Billboard Awards in May. Longtime collaborator Sheila E., Erykah Badu and the Roots paid tribute at the BET Awards in June. Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan led an October tribute show in St. Paul. Morris Day and the Time and Mars celebrated his legacy at the 2017 Grammys. Prince’s friend Lenny Kravitz honored the musician at the 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
And only a few days after Prince’s death, the musician’s early ’80s backing band, the Revolution, announced they would be reuniting, which led to a few trio shows and a short 2017 tour, including a run of appearances from April 20-23 at Paisley Park for an event called Prince’s Celebration 2017. The four-day event will commemorate the anniversary of Prince’s passing with panel discussions, presentations and live performances from Prince’s friends and backing bands over the years – including the Revolution, Morris Day and the Time, the New Power Generation and 3rdeyegirl.
Celebration 2017 is being held at Prince’s mansion because Paisley Park was opened for tours a little less than six months after the star’s death. Although Prince didn’t leave behind a will, he had reportedly documented wishes (including specific plans) to allow fans to visit his home, studio and performance space – much in the style of Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion. It was only fitting that Graceland Holdings (which runs tours of Elvis’s famous home in Memphis) was hired by Prince’s estate to present tours of Paisley Park. The family members approved of the plans, not only to honor their deceased sibling’s wishes, but also to help pay for the lavish facilities.
“We don't want the place to be known as something that’s a memory or is dead,” Omarr Baker, Prince’s half-brother, told Rolling Stone. “As long as Paisley Park is kept alive, my brother is kept alive.”
And visitors to Paisley Park can actually pay their respects to Prince, who was cremated. His remains are located in the building’s atrium, placed in an urn, intricately designed to look like his home, and adorned with the likeness of his purple piano and his “love” symbol.
Paisley Park is also home to Prince’s famous vault (not a stop on the tour, reportedly), which the artist always claimed contained stacks and stacks of never-released tracks and unseen footage. In the year since Prince’s death, his estate has begun to present some of these rarities to the public. First entering into a deal with Universal Music, then re-entering into deals with streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify, the estate signed off on the best-of compilation 4Ever. Released in November 2016, the 40-track set featured the never-officially released “Moonbeam Levels” song from 1982. There are plans to release a collector’s edition of Purple Rain in June, with two discs of bonus audio and two concert films. Earlier this month, a six-song EP entitled Deliverance was released, although a legal battle over ownership and control of those masters quickly emerged.
Given the amount of music filling Prince’s vaults, fans could be seeing new releases from the legendary artist every year for the foreseeable future. Even after death, Prince might stay incredibly prolific.
Prince Tribute Magazine Covers
Next: Revisit Prince's 'Sign 'O' the Times'
Source: One Year Later: Prince’s Shocking Death
Filed Under: Prince
Marshalltown Woman Charged With Insurance Fraud
Waterloo Business Listings
2019 Q92.3 is part of the PopCrush Network, Townsquare Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4587
|
__label__cc
| 0.624984
| 0.375016
|
← ANZAC: a day in the life of…
Preservation planning →
“I got a bit tired at the last”
Posted by Dr Melanie Piddocke
Langenbaker House, Ilfracombe
In the dusty back blocks of the tiny hamlet of Ilfracombe in central western Queensland sits a small house with a big story. Known as the Langenbaker House, this modest timber and corrugated iron dwelling is not only a remarkably preserved example of life in the central west from the late 19th century, but also of one particular family who called this place home for over 100 years. MDO for Central Queensland Melanie Piddocke recently had the opportunity to get to know the house, its contents and its previous occupants while making an inventory and condition assessment of the objects inside the house.
Harry and Mary Ann Langenbaker were married in Barcaldine in January of 1890, when Harry was 31 and Mary Ann just 18. Harry was a teamster, earning his living transporting goods (especially wool) between the central rail line and outlying towns and sheep stations. Teamsters went where there was work, and when the central rail line was extended to Longreach in 1892, nearby Ilfracombe developed as a strategic place from which teamsters could operate. Harry and Mary Ann accordingly packed up their house and belongings and moved everything to Ilfracombe in 1899. By this time the couple had had five children, only one of whom had died in infancy, and were to raise six more in the tiny house.
Mrs Langenbaker’s piano
Once a common style of workers dwelling in the area, the Langenbaker House is now the only surviving example of its kind. It demonstrates once typical features of teamsters houses, such as the lattice work around the front and rear verandas, made from the iron hoops originally used to bind wool bales, and the easily dismantled and erected timber frame design. But what makes this house even more remarkable is what is inside.
The last Langenbaker child, Bernard, grew up and lived in the house until his death in 1991, at which point the house and all its contents was transferred to the ownership of the then Ilfracombe Shire Council for preservation and interpretation for the public. The three family members who spent the most time in the house – Mary Ann and two of her sons, Leslie and Bernard – are most in evidence in the house as it is today.
Mrs Langenbaker’s wardrobe door
Mary Ann, reported to have been a “real lady…very dainty”, can be discovered through the copious amounts of needlework around the home and great care and thought given to window and table dressings. Mrs Langenbaker also taught piano to local children and provided the music for local dances to help supplement the family income, and her upright Beale piano still sits in pride of place in the living room.
Most touchingly though, Mrs Langenbaker listed her children and their ages on the inside of her wardrobe door, at which time the eldest was 28 and the youngest just 6. She ends the list with “I got a bit tired at the last”.
Les’s window
The relatively undisturbed quality of the house is largely thanks to Leslie Langenbaker, who became blind around the age of 17 as a result of a neurological injury sustained in a riding accident. From that time, furnishings were left unaltered to allow Leslie to find his way around. According to contemporary accounts, after his accident Les became afraid of the idea of people putting their hands through his bedroom window at night, so chicken wire was nailed across the outside of the window to put his mind at rest. This is still in place.
Mary Ann Langenbaker lived in the house until she died at the age of 92, and is buried in Ilfracombe cemetery along with her husband and four of her children. While the Langenbaker House story is notable as much for its representativeness of ordinary life, it is at the same time about the extraordinary lives of women like Mary Ann Langenbaker who created stability for their families in a remote and challenging environment.
Posted on 8 April 2015, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4589
|
__label__wiki
| 0.71015
| 0.71015
|
freeskai000
A policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities.
Bill of Attainder
a law that punishes a person accused of a crime without a trial or a fair hearing in court.
A formal statement of the fundamental rights of the people of the United States, incorporated in the Constitution as Amendments 1-10, and in all state constitutions.
Constitutional freedoms guaranteed to all citizens.
Clear and Present Danger
Government can interfere with speech if it will lead to evil or illegal acts.
De facto discrimination
Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, ethnicity, and the like that results from social, economic, and cultural biases and conditions.
De jure discrimination
Racial segregation that is a direct result of law or official policy.
An administrative agency decision-making, notice of charges or potential rule making coupled with opportunity to appear, present evidence, and confront witnesses if warranted.
Equal Protection Clause
14th amendment clause that prohibits states from denying equal protection under the law, and has been used to combat discrimination.
Clause in the First Amendment that says the government may not establish an official religion.
Ex Post Facto Law
a law that would allow a person to be punished for an action that was not against the law when it was committed.
Exclusionary Rule
a legal principle in the United States, under constitutional law, which holds that evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is sometimes inadmissible for a criminal prosecution in a court of law.
Free-Exercise Clause
The second clause in the First Amendment, which prevents the government from interfering with the exercise of religion.
A written defamation of a person's character, reputation, business, or property rights.
Miranda rights
A list of rights that police in the United States must read to suspects in custody before questioning them, pursuant to the Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona.
Prior Restraint
A government preventing material from being published. This is a common method of limiting the press in some nations, but it is usually unconstitutional in the United States, according to the First Amendment and as confirmed in the 1931 Supreme Court case of Near v. Minnesota.
Probable Cause
reasonable grounds (for making a search, pressing a charge, etc.)
Procedural Due Process
legal doctrine in the United States that requires government officials to follow fair procedures before depriving a person of life, liberty, or property
Right to a fair Trial
Best means of separating the guilty from the innocent and protecting against injustice. Without this right, the rule of law and public faith in the justice system collapse.
Right to a jury Trial
Jury decides whether a criminal defendant did whatever it takes to satisfy the elements of a charged offense
Right to counsel
A defendant has a constitutional right to be represented by an attorney during trial.
Personal information is protected from public scrutiny. U.S. Justice Louis Brandeis called it "the right to be left alone." Not directly stated in the Constitution
a legal document authorizing a police officer or other official to enter and search premises
the crime of saying, writing, or doing something that encourages people to disobey their government
Selective Incorporation
Constitutional doctrine that ensures states cannot enact laws that take away the constitutional rights of American citizens that are enshrined in the Bill of Rights
"Pleading the fifth" protects citizens from this -- exposing yourself to criminal prosecution
the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation
Symbolic Speech
legal term in United States law used to describe actions that purposefully and discernibly convey a particular message or statement to those viewing it
Academic Word Lists - AWL Sublists
Shea_Gaumont3
AP Gov Key Terms - Chapter 4
hellostudy101
Political Science Chapter 4
Frechet4
Holocaust Terms
Public Policy Terms
Unit 4: Congress
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4590
|
__label__wiki
| 0.527276
| 0.527276
|
Stars Over Clear Lake Hits Shelves Today!!
By Misty@ Red's Romance Reviews - Tuesday, May 02, 2017
Stars Over Clear Lake
By: Loretta Ellsworth
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Red's Rating: 5 Touching ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐!
For the first time in decades, Lorraine Kindred has returned to the ballroom where she was swept away by the big bands during the 1940s - and by a star-crossed romance. As she takes in the magnificent energy and brassy sounds of her youth, the past comes to life, along with the fateful decision all those years ago that forced her to choose between personal conviction and social expectations, between the two men who had captured her heart. It had been a time of great music and love, but also of war and sacrifice, and now, trying to make peace with her memories, Lorraine must find the courage to face buried secrets. In the process, she will rediscover herself, her passion, and her capacity for resilience.
Set during the 1940s and the present and inspired by a real-life ballroom, Stars Over Clear Lake is a moving story of forbidden love, lost love, everlasting love - and self love.
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Google
Loretta Ellsworth
Loretta received her BA from the University of Northern Iowa, and an MFA from Hamline University in writing for children and young adults. A former middle and high school teacher, she's the author of four young adult novels, The Shrouding Woman, In Search of Mockingbird,In a Heartbeat, and Unforgettable. Her WWII historical novel, Stars Over Clear Lake, will be published in 2017. She has four children and six grandchildren, and lives in Minnesota. Follow her on Twitter @lellsworth.
Her Links:
Goodreads | Website | Twitter | Facebook
I haven’t been inside this place in fifty years,” I say softly as I pause in front of the sand-colored brick building. The outside of the Surf Ballroom hasn’t changed from when it opened in 1948, its rounded roof making it look like a roller derby from the outside. A bedrock of Americana tucked in a small town in north central Iowa, the ballroom is often overlooked, despite its contribution to musical history. But to me it’s so much more. The memories are like seaweed, pulling me down and threatening to suffocate me. It’s only because they’re honoring my late husband that I’m here tonight. The marquee above me reads Fireman’s Ball. Underneath the marquee is the empty ticket booth where bobbed-haired Violet Greenwood used to work. She’s been dead for twenty-five years, but the image of her dispensing tickets with a cheery smile and pop of her gum is as fresh in my mind as this morning’s coffee. I take a breath and reach for the handle when the door bursts open. My daughter stands on the other side, her blue eyes wide at the sight of me. “Where have you been? I called your cell phone five times!” Daisy’s red sleeveless dress shows off her thin frame and healthy tan, and complements her highlighted blond hair. Botox treatments have eliminated the inherited crease between her eyebrows. No one would guess she’s in her forties.
But Daisy is standing stiff-necked, her veins sticking out on her throat as though my presence here is stressful. “I had it turned off. Didn’t want to run the battery low,” I say evasively. “Mother, what’s the use of having a phone if you never have it turned on?” She shakes her head. “You shouldn’t even be driving.” “What do you mean? I’ve never had an accident.” “That’s because Dad did all the driving when he was alive. A person’s reflexes aren’t as good at your age.” “Why does that make me unfit for driving? Isn’t that age discrimination?” She lets out an exasperated sigh. “Oh, never mind, Mother. Come in before you melt out here.” I suck in a breath, blinking out the sunlight as my eyes adjust to the darkness. The expansive lobby holds a gift shop, offices, a small hallway filled with pictures to the right, and the main hallway leading to the dance floor. The old coat check sits off to the left; a long counter with a red laminate top glistens in front of the numbered rows that lead to the deep recesses of hangers. I gape at the lobby’s blue walls, the ones with the painted yellow pineapples. I’d forgotten about them! And the multicolored carpeting beneath my feet, bright colors that practically shout to be seen. I grab Daisy’s arm. “It’s just like I remember it. The fancy lobby and swanky coat check room . . .” “Yes, it hasn’t changed,” Daisy replies. “We had a terrible time trying to decorate. We couldn’t use colored paper and the lighting was a nightmare, but I think it turned out okay. The bathrooms could use a renovation, though, and my husband is already on his second drink.” We pass a table full of paper flyers. I pick up one that advertises the Winter Dance Party next February, a show honoring the original in 1959 when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson gave their last performances. They died a few hours later when their plane crashed just north of Clear Lake. “Kind of early to be advertising, isn’t it?” I ask. “It’s only August.” “Not really. The tickets go on sale in October and they sell out every year. Harry and I went in costume last year. We had a blast.” I crinkle my nose. “Almost seems morbid to celebrate their final performance.” “I don’t think so,” Daisy says. “You know what the Bible says: time to mourn and a time to dance.” “Yes, it does,” I say, keeping to myself the irony of my daughter quoting Scripture when she only attends mass on scheduled holidays, and as far as I know, hasn’t cracked open a Bible since her youth. “Besides,” Daisy says, “we went with the mayor and his wife. They might hire me to redesign their bathroom. I think they’re coming tonight, too.” “The mayor? Isn’t he related to Lance Dugan?” “Yes. Lance is Chad’s uncle.” “I went to school with Lance.” I let out a soft sigh. “That was ages ago.” I take a tentative step onto the wooden floor of the ballroom, and despite all the people mulling about, the conversations and music around me, I feel as if I’m the only person here. Off to the left is the stage, the heavy red velvet curtains drawn back. It’s flanked by fake palm trees trimmed with tiny white lights. I remember waiting for those curtains to part; how the stage would come into view, glowing under bright lights that dissolved everything else, as though I’d been hypnotized. A band is playing a soft tune from an earlier era, “String of Pearls.” One of Glenn Miller’s hits. My kind of music. “Did you know the Glenn Miller Orchestra played on that very stage? And Jimmy Dorsey?”
“Lots of people have played here. Come on.” Daisy pulls on my arm as though I’m an errant child. Tiered wooden booths occupy one side of the ballroom and are tucked under green-and-white-striped awnings, each booth numbered for reservations. I search for booth 110 and when my eyes settle on it I have to fight back tears. I take in a breath to calm myself. The walls above the booths are painted with oceanfront murals that used to whisk me away from the cold Iowa nights. I get a vague whiff of salt air and see the waves washing against the shore. I blink and look away. How easy it is for my mind to travel back in time. It must be this place. The clouds that float across the arched ceiling to look like the night sky. The ocean waves on the back wall. The wooden booths and the lighted palm trees. Nothing has changed. Tables with white linens occupy the center of the floor. Filling them are framed pictures and posters showing the development of the fire department, including historical fires in the community. I’m drawn to a photo of the original Surf Ballroom, which burned down a year before this one was built in 1948. Next to it is a newspaper clipping showing a crowd gathered around the burned remains. My throat tightens and I can almost the feel the smoke choking me again, my helplessness as the ceiling collapsed. Memories have a way of doing that to you, resurfacing despite time and distance and attempts to forget. “Arson or natural causes?” I jump and take a step back. “What?” Harry, my son-in-law, hands me a glass of champagne. “I noticed you looking at the pictures of the original building. We were talking about it down at the firehouse, debating whether we could still solve the puzzle of that fire sixty years later. You were what, about eighteen when it burned down? Do you remember it?” I fan myself with the flyer, feeling suddenly hot. “Vaguely. I heard it was bad wiring.” My voice sounds tinny, higher than it should.
“I’m not so sure about that. I think by using modern technology and interviewing people who still remember the event, well, we might figure out what actually caused it.” As the town’s fire chief, my son-in-law has a fascination with talking about anything fire-related. He has a receding hairline and hair that’s turned mostly gray, a nice, firm chin, and a manner that puts everyone at ease. But I’m shaking, nearly spilling the champagne. I take a sip of the bubbly, which tickles my nose. “You sound like an episode of CSI. You have a large crowd,” I say, derailing the conversation. “Yeah, half the town is here. Not to worry, though. We’re within the fire code occupancy limit. That’s part of the reason we chose this place.” “Why don’t you take Daisy on a nice cruise after this is over? Or at least a weekend in Minneapolis to visit your son.” Harry has two children from a first marriage. I don’t see them often enough, but have always considered them my own. Maybe a trip would put this nonsense of investigating the old fire out of Harry’s head. “We just saw John two weeks ago when we went to the Mall of America. A cruise might be nice, though.
If I could talk her into it, I’d do it in a nanosecond. But you know how she is.” He takes another swig of his drink. “If she’s worried about me, she shouldn’t be. I’d be fine.” “Maybe later. We’re both so busy right now.” He doesn’t say it, but I know I’m the reason she won’t go. “Mother,” Daisy taps my arm, and I’m grateful for the distraction. “I was just telling my friends that you and Dad met here.” Her friends are all tanned and wearing dresses similar to Daisy’s, like a high school clique thirty years later. And Daisy, just as she was then, is still at the center. “Um, yes, we did,” I say, not meeting her eyes. I feel twenty again, like I was at the grand opening of the Surf, just rebuilt after the fire. I’d worn a forest-green dress that had a tight waist and flared at the bottom. The place had been packed. I’d sat in booth 110. Our booth. I look down, breaking the spell. Maybe it’s too much being in this place again. Or maybe it’s this particular occasion, seeing photos of the burned-down Surf, reliving the memories of that day. “Did you spend every anniversary here?” one of Daisy’s friends asks. Daisy turns to me. “I don’t remember you two ever coming here. Why not?” “We came here before you were born.” I clear my throat. “The farm took all our time later on.” Harry picks up a portable microphone from the center table and speaks into it as a wide circle of people forms around him. “Thank you all for coming tonight. We wanted to have the Fireman’s Ball at the Surf because it holds a special place in the community. It’s a piece of our history and, let’s face it, a place where a lot of people have hooked up over the years.” The crowd laughs. “Some of you may know that there was another Surf Ballroom, one that burned down sixty years ago. As an engineer, I’ve always thought that studying past fires can help us learn about fire dynamics. I spent the last few years in the fire investigator training program in Des Moines. And with the help of my squad, we’re going to examine the file from the original Surf fire to see if we can use modern technology to determine what caused it.” The sound of clapping fills the ballroom and I bury my face in my glass of champagne. The bubbles no longer bother me. “This also happens to be where my in-laws met. We lost Sid last year. He was a volunteer with the department for many years, and even though I wish he could be here with us, I’m sure he is in spirit.” More clapping. I nod and finish my drink. A shadowy figure standing near the stage waves at me and I squint into the darkness. It’s a young man, but I don’t recognize him.
“Do you have anything to add, Lorraine?” Harry motions to me to step forward and hands me the microphone. Maybe it’s the bubbly, but I’m overcome with an urge to set the record straight. “I didn’t really meet Sid at the Surf.” I glance at my open-mouthed, wide-eyed daughter. I pause, wondering if I should say more. The young man is no longer there, but the attendance in the room has multiplied as people from my past mingle with the present guests. I see my brother Pete, looking like he did sixty years ago, swaying to the music. And now I see Pete’s buddy Mike Schmitt, drinking his beer off to the side, a shy smile on his face. I shake my head. What kind of illusion is this? They can’t be here, of course. But I can see them as surely as I see Glenn Miller standing on the stage. And is that Roy Orbison? And that boy playing a guitar, I’m sure he’s Buddy Holly. They’re here, all part of this place, just as much as the maple hardwood dance floor beneath my feet. The voices and songs crowd my head and suck all the air away, making it difficult to breathe. Flashes of light go off as people snap pictures. The room is hot and spinning. I try to fan myself but both hands are full. If only I could just breathe. The glass of champagne somehow slips from my hand. Then the microphone falls. I’m faintly aware of the shattering of glass on the wooden floor, the banging of the microphone as it hits, sending an explosion of high-frequency sound through the crowd. My weight gives way as I fall into the arms of my son-in-law, who catches me just before my head hits the floor.
In a time where it was expected for a woman to only marry and provide a good home for their spouse and family, Lorraine Kindred had other aspirations for her life, to become a well known singer. Everyone was encouraging of her dream, except her mother, she on the other hand wanted Lorraine to follow in her footsteps, and marry a local boy and settle down. The problem was then men on her mother's approved list didn't hold a candle to the man she loved with all her heart, a man that she knew that her mother would never approve of, nor let her marry. So she is left to decide whether she should follow her heart and be disowned by her family, or do what is expected and settle for a life she knows she will never be happy with...
After reading the synopsis for this one I was immediately taken with what I found, there was just something about it that spoke to me and had me wanting to dive in and devour every last page... and what a story it turned out to be!! From the very first page I was hooked, wrapped up in the touching story line, feeling the emotion behind every word, and left completely mesmerized. This was my first experience with Ms. Ellsworth's work, and I have to say I was quite pleased with what I found, she kept me completely enthralled from start to finish with this beautifully written tale, and turned me into a lifelong fan!
Highly recommend this one, Lorraine's heart wrenching journey is sure to touch the recesses of your heart, and move you beyond words!!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this title.
ARC Provided By (via NetGalley):
Thomas Dunne Books Website
Check Out The Cover For Full Count By Lynn Stevens...
The Blog Tour for TOUGHEST COWBOY IN TEXAS by Caro...
The Release Day Blitz Tour for MAYBE THIS LOVE by ...
The UNTIL YOU Blog Tour Is Making A Stop Here Toda...
Turn Me Loose Hits Shelves Today!
Check Out This Suspenseful & Sexy New Read From D....
First In A New Series From Nicole Helm!!
The Second Chance Cover Reveal Tour Is Stopping By...
The Release Blitz Tour For Goaltending by Jami Dav...
The CHEATERS REGRET BLOG TOUR IS MAKING A STOP HER...
The Mistaken Identity Blog Tour Is Making A Stop H...
The Release Boost Tour for Curveball by Mariah Die...
The DONOVAN Release Week Blitz Tour Is Making A St...
The Release Blitz Tour for THE LINE Is Making A St...
The Release Day Blitz Tour of DISTANT ILLUSIONS, b...
The Grand Slam Release Week Blitz Tour Is Stopping...
Down & Dirty Hits Shelves Tuesday!!!
Bliss has two new releases from NYT Bestselling au...
THE FAVOR HITS SHELVES TODAY!
The RISKING IT ALL Tasty Virtual Blog Tour Is Maki...
The Curveball Release Blitz Tour Is Making A Stop ...
The Trusting Tanner Blog Tour Is Making A Stop Her...
Don't Miss this Fantastic 20% Discount from Inside...
The LETHAL LIES Blog Tour Is Making A Stop Here To...
Check Out These New May 2017 Indulgence Releases F...
Don’t miss these Mother Day steals!
Check Out This New Release From Eve Dangerfield!
ONE LITTLE KISS IS NOW LIVE!!
GOING IN DEEP IS NOW LIVE!!
The SCORE Release Week Blitz Tour Is Making A Stop...
So Wicked Hits Shelves Today!
Confessions Of A Former Puck Bunny Hits Shelves To...
Check Out This Sexy New Novella From Jillian Quinn...
New Upcoming Release From J.C. Valentine!!
Risking It All Hits Shelves Today!
The Release Blitz Week Tour For FINDING YOU Is Mak...
In Skates Trouble Is Re-Releasing Today!!
Release Day Blast for Entangled's May Romantic Sus...
The Negotiator Blog Tour Is Making A Stop Here Tod...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4593
|
__label__wiki
| 0.590155
| 0.590155
|
« FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF
DAVID FEHERTY LIVE OFF TOUR! »
with Special Guest The Mastersons
Tickets start at $30
additional fees may apply
S.T.A.R. Presale: Tuesday, April 30
Public On Sale: Friday, May 3
Steve Earle & The Dukes return with GUY in 2019. A return to New West Records, the 16-song set is comprised of songs written by one of his two primary songwriting mentors, the legendary Guy Clark. GUY appears ten years after his Grammy Award winning album TOWNES, his tribute to his other songwriting mentor, Townes Van Zandt. Produced by Earle and recorded by his longtime production partner Ray Kennedy, GUY features his latest, and possibly best, incarnation of his backing band The Dukes including Kelley Looney on bass, Chris Masterson on guitar, Eleanor Whitmore on fiddle & mandolin, Ricky Ray Jackson on pedal steel guitar, and Brad Pemberton on drums & percussion. GUY also features guest appearances by fellow Guy Clark cohorts Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Terry Allen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Mickey Raphael, Shawn Camp, Verlon Thompson, Gary Nicholson, and the photographer Jim McGuire.
Steve Earle is one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation. A protégé of legendary songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, he quickly became a master storyteller in his own right, with his songs being recorded by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, The Pretenders, and countless others.
The Suite Life is Available for this show
Enhance Your Rialto Experience in Our New Hospitality Suite for this show!
The Suite Life is a service upgrade which can be purchased in addition to your ticket regardless of your seat location!
Learn more about the amenities and how you can upgrade your show experience.
Rialto Square Theatre
102 N. Chicago Street
Joliet, 60432 United States + Google Map
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4598
|
__label__wiki
| 0.516473
| 0.516473
|
← Sarees, bottles, airplanes…
Tales from the Mumbai Trains →
A New Symbol for the Rupee
Posted on July 15, 2010 by webmaster
For decades, India has represented its currency, the Rupee with “Re” for Re 1 or “Rs” (for multiple rupees). Other sources clarified it to things like “INR”; after all, the Rupee is the currency of several South Asian countries including Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Now, the Indian Rupee has a shiny new symbol, which I can’t type because it’s not on the keyboard. I like it, though I can’t tell how practical it’s going to be or whether it will in fact get used. [ETA in Feb 2011: It does seem to have caught on; I saw it everywhere when I visited India.]
Some while ago, India’s Finance Ministry decided that the rupee deserved a symbol of its own, the way the UK pound has, or the Euro; and in February 2009, it held a design competition. It wanted a symbol that would represent the “historical and cultural ethos of the country.” This is the winner, from D. Udaya Kumar. He’s a post-grad student from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi, now going to teach at IIT Guwahati.
The new symbol comes with a lot of design analysis, presumably to demonstrate that historical and cultural ethos. Given that it’s India, we also have a controversy. (As I said in my book, India Business Checklists, controversies can blindside people doing business there. This time, no companies were involved in the making of this dispute.) But first, the design.
It’s based on the Devanagari symbol for the “ra” sound (shown in the second square in the picture.) Devanagari is the name of the script in which India’s official language, Hindi, is written. Hindi can actually be represented in other scripts as well, but this is the official one. (Quite incidentally, this is also how my name Rupa, written in Devanagari, starts. Rupa and Rupee are both derived from the word for silver.)
It also incorporates the letter R of the Roman alphabet.
And then there are the more fanciful explanations: That the two parallel lines at the top recall the Indian flag. That they also resemble the “equals” sign, representing balance in the economy.
According to www.saveindianrupeesymbol.org/ the winning candidate broke the rules, submitting four designs when the rules specified two. There was also something about being applicable to a standard keyboard in the Indian National Language script. And there’s been some buzz about an inadequate selection process.
It’s also true that the design doesn’t closely resemble any of the Government’s finalists.
The Rupee-symbol Finalists?
But I have to say I like the final one better than any of those. The process may have been broken, but the result seems okay. May be better than the other way around?
This entry was posted in Doing Business in India and tagged Doing Business in India, India Business Checklists. Bookmark the permalink.
2 Responses to A New Symbol for the Rupee
Pingback: World Wide News Flash
Rohan says:
[Slightly edited]
Delhi High Court has already allowed RTI activist to file PIL [Public Interest Litigation] in “Indian Rupee Symbol Scam” as DMK leader’s non-eligible son won the competition.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4604
|
__label__cc
| 0.629575
| 0.370425
|
Tag: sony computer entertainment
Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Can you make an Uncharted game without Nathan Drake? Hell yes.
Most Uncharted games have represented a big step forward in both gameplay and story-telling from Naughty Dog. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is only a step sideways. But when you’re still on the same level as Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, that’s not at all a complaint.
The Lost Legacy stars Chloe Frazer, Drake’s once partner-in-thief who was conspicuously absent from the otherwise all-encompassing finale that was Uncharted 4. Her absence is never really explained, as The Lost Legacy takes place after Uncharted 4 along with her new partner, Nadine Ross. Continue reading “Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted: The Lost Legacy”
Author roguewatsonPosted on August 21, 2018 Categories blog, Final Thoughts, GamingTags chloe frazer, Gaming Backlog, nadine ross, naughty dog, sony computer entertainment, uncharted, uncharted: the lost legacy2 Comments on Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Nathan Drake’s first official outing on PlayStation 4 was easily his best.
Playing every Uncharted game (+ The Last of Us) within the last few months has been a fascinating exercise. It’s a deep dive into a single developer’s strengths, weaknesses, and passion throughout two generations of consoles. And no where is the leap more pronounced than with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
It would have been easy (well, easier) to drudge out Nathan Drake for yet another globe-trotting adventure of light-hearted hi-jinks, death-defying action, and mustache-twirling villains. In some ways Uncharted 4 doesn’t rock the franchise boat too much. Yet it’s also an emotionally satisfying end to a larger-than-life character, providing a rich story with a hefty amount of character growth, while also improving every aspect of a series that defies fossilization. Continue reading “Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End”
Author roguewatsonPosted on August 7, 2018 Categories blog, Final Thoughts, GamingTags Final Thoughts, Gaming Backlog, naughty dog, sony computer entertainment, uncharted, uncharted 44 Comments on Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
This time around Drake and company are back to investigating Nathan’s namesake, Sir Francis Drake, and the lost City of Iram of the Pillars. If you’re thinking this is very much like finding the lost city of Shambhala last game, you’re correct. A running theme here is that it apes much from the last game, but frankly does everything a bit better. Continue reading “Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception”
Author roguewatsonPosted on July 8, 2018 Categories blog, Final Thoughts, GamingTags backlog, Gaming Backlog, Nathan Drake Collection, naughty dog, sony computer entertainment, uncharted, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception2 Comments on Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Does Uncharted 2 remain one of the greatest games of all time?
Release Date: October 2015 (Originally Oct 2009 on PS3)
There was a time when Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was considered one of the best video games ever made, and certainly one of the best to emerge from the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era (it comfortably sits at a remarkable 96/100 on MetaCritic).
To me it’s mostly the sequel to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Uncharted 2 is an improvement over the original in many ways, yet still hampered by some of the same flaws, including a horrendously awful final boss fight that’s even worse than the original.
*Note* – since I’m playing the remastered edition from the Nathan Drake Collection on PlayStation 4, I haven’t played, nor cannot comment on the multiplayer components of Uncharted 2. These Final Thoughts are based entirely on the single player campaign. Continue reading “Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves”
Author roguewatsonPosted on June 29, 2018 Categories blog, Final Thoughts, Rogue's AdventuresTags Gaming Backlog, naughty dog, sony computer entertainment, uncharted, uncharted 2: among thieves4 Comments on Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
How well does the original Uncharted hold up a decade later?
Release Date: October 2015 (Originally Nov 2007 on PS3)
And so begins my grand backlog adventure into the Uncharted series.
I’ve never held any dedication or fandom toward Sony or Microsoft. I dabbled in the PS1, loved my PS2, and then skipped the entire PS3 generation in favor of the Xbox 360.
With this console generation I’ve returned to Sony with noticeable gaps in my gaming history. Thus much of my current backlog gaming will be dedicated to playing catch up some of the biggest PlayStation games of the last and current generation.
You already read my Final Thoughts on The Last of Us: Remastered. Now it’s time for Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, beginning with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Continue reading “Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune”
Author roguewatsonPosted on June 7, 2018 Categories Final Thoughts, GamingTags backlog, Backlog Gaming, naughty dog, playstation 4, sony computer entertainment, uncharted, uncharted: drake's fortune9 Comments on Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – The Last of Us Remastered
How does one of the most beloved PlayStation 3 games hold up?
Release Date: July 2014 (Originally June 2013 on PS3)
When playing through my backlog I occasionally reach a game whose reputation is impossible to ignore. It becomes an interesting exercise to see whether a beloved classic still holds up, particularly if I lack the nostalgia factor.
My experiences with such games have been all over the place. I’ve gone back and played classics like Half-Life 2, The Longest Journey, Baldur’s Gate 2, and both Portal games, and come away with just as much respect and admiration as their ardent supporters.
Yet a few beloved cult classics, such as Psychonauts, The Witcher 2, and Beyond Good and Evil mostly fell flat for me. Their aging graphics and clunky gameplay not quite able to keep their memorable qualities on a high enough pedestal.
Despite not being all that old, The Last of Us Remastered falls somewhere in the middle. Continue reading “Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – The Last of Us Remastered”
Author roguewatsonPosted on May 27, 2018 Categories Final Thoughts, Gaming, Rogue's AdventuresTags Backlog Gaming, Final Thoughts, naughty dog, sony computer entertainment, the last of us, the last of us remastered4 Comments on Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – The Last of Us Remastered
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4607
|
__label__wiki
| 0.958703
| 0.958703
|
Why the Persons Case Matters
No one had yet coined the term “glass ceiling” in 1929, but five women pushed through a barrier that had kept Canadian women out of public office since the country was created more than 60 years earlier.
Led by Emily Murphy, Alberta’s first female judge, a group of Alberta women who came to be known as the “Famous Five” challenged a part of the Constitution that had prevented women from being appointed to the Senate.
They won the so-called Persons Case, a legal challenge to a narrow interpretation of the Constitution that did not consider women to be “persons.”
Women had been allowed to run in federal elections beginning in 1921. Agnes Macphail, the Progressive candidate in Grey South East, a riding centred around Guelph, Ont., became Canada’s first female Member of Parliament.
But the government resisted pressure to appoint women to the Senate, arguing the British North America Act (now known as the Constitution Act, 1867 ) didn’t recognize women as “qualified persons” — the Act used the word “persons” in the plural sense but when it referred to an individual person, it used the word “he.”
The prevailing attitude: men were the only “qualified persons” who could be appointed to the Senate.
Murphy was outraged. She had been subject to sexism since 1916. On her first day on the bench, a lawyer challenged one of her rulings. As a woman, Murphy wasn’t a “person,” so how could she be expected to be taken seriously as a judge? It was a recurring argument she heard throughout her legal career.
In 1927, Murphy and four other women leaders in Alberta (Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby) asked the Supreme Court of Canada whether the British North America Act’s (BNA) section 24 included women in its definition of “persons.” Five weeks later, the Supreme Court reached a verdict in Edwards v Canada, the official name of the case.Its conclusion? Under Canadian law, women were not “persons.”
The Famous Five (Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby) were undaunted. They took their case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, England, which was then the last avenue of appeal. On October 18, 1929, it overruled Canada’s Supreme Court, clearing the way for women to serve on public bodies, including the Senate. October 18 has come to be known as Persons Day.
The Famous Five were rewarded on February 15, 1930, when Cairine Wilson became the first Canadian woman named to the Senate.
A sculpture honouring the Famous Five was unveiled on Parliament Hill in 2000.
PARL 42-1
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4610
|
__label__wiki
| 0.588337
| 0.588337
|
How a GOLIATH Act Could Restore Consumer Rights
By Joe Valenti, Center for American Progress
A year ago this month, David Dao, a then-69-year-old doctor, was forcibly removed by police from an overbooked United Airlines flight in Chicago. Graphic video footage of his severe injuries prompted an immediate backlash against the airline, changes to airline procedures across the industry regarding oversold flights, and an eventual settlement for Dao. In 2017, partly in response to customer complaints, the airline industry as a whole kicked the lowest rate of passengers off flights since 1995. Yet a single incident, even one as severe as what Dao endured, may not effectively change corporate policy; everyday incidents don’t always go viral and lead to relief. To that end, consumers rely on federal regulators to protect them from mistreatment by major companies that are only getting bigger and less accountable.
This lack of accountability can even extend to cases where consumers have no choice at all. Last year’s Equifax data breach is a prime example of a market that just doesn’t work for consumers. No one actually picked Equifax to store their data. In this particular case, consumers are not the customer—rather, lenders who provide and obtain personal credit information from Equifax are the company’s customers. Yet nearly 148 million Americans’ financial records were compromised in its data breach. Victims who sought the free monitoring services Equifax provided in the wake of the breach were initially told they would need to sign away their right to sue the company for damages, in favor of mandatory consumer arbitration: a process where the company picks and pays for a private judge and jury. Ultimately, this stuck victims between a rock and a hard place: They potentially could not get help from Equifax without committing to handle further complaints in arbitration, and as they weren’t customers, they could not choose to work with another company instead—but they still had to deal with the consequences.
For more than a century, the federal government has attempted to improve corporate accountability so that everyday consumers are protected from incidents like Dao’s forced removal off his flight or Equifax’s data breach. Congress created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1914 with power to restrict unfair methods of competition, and in 1938, Congress clarified that it also had the power to address unfair or deceptive acts or practices not involving competition; these two functions go hand in hand. Most recently, following the 2008 financial crisis, Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to ensure that an independent agency would hold the financial industry accountable. During its first six years, the CFPB largely exceeded expectations, returning approximately $12 billion to 29 million wronged consumers. It even attempted to restore consumers’ ability to band together and take financial companies like Equifax to court—an effort overturned by Congress and President Donald Trump in fall 2017. Weakening the CFPB, as its acting director has proposed, would only turn back the clock to a time when consumers had to contend with greater financial recklessness with no federal oversight. Today, as industries become increasingly concentrated, federal regulation is more important than ever.
In recent decades, there has been a conspicuous lack of federal competition policy, which has allowed a wave of consolidations within major industries, including the airline industry. Of the planes that travel out of 93 of the nation’s 100 largest airports, the majority of airplane seats are on flights controlled by one or two airlines. At 40 of these airports, a single airline holds the majority of seats. And it’s not just airlines that are consolidating. An analysis by The Economist looked at approximately 900 different U.S. industries, concluding, “Two-thirds of them became more concentrated between 1997 and 2012.” This not only means that customers have fewer choices but also that companies have fewer incentives to do the right thing because they are unlikely to be held accountable. Part of the solution is for the government to play a greater role in antitrust enforcement by taking a more critical eye toward company mergers and other forms of concentration.
Reviving antitrust enforcement is important, but it is not enough. Policymakers should also expand consumer rights and enforcement to ensure that no matter how large a company may get, its obligation to treat customers fairly never goes away. Creating and passing legislation such as a GOLIATH Act—a Center for American Progress proposal that is short for Government Oversight of Large Industry Activities That Harm Americans—would do just that. Like David’s slingshot, which took down a power-hungry giant, the GOLIATH Act would protect individuals from mistreatment by concentrated corporations. While some provisions require federal investment and enforcement, others would simply restore the rights of individuals to take action themselves without requiring government intervention. A GOLIATH Act could start with the following four consumer rights:
The right for consumer complaints to be heard, publicly posted, and responded to. Multiple agencies take complaints from the public, but only some agencies publish these complaints. Federal complaints to the Consumer Product Safety Commission about household products and to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about automobiles are publicly available. And the CFPB has made its complaint database public, including narratives of specific incidents, where possible. The CFPB’s public complaint database, and others, enables regulators, researchers, and even companies themselves to get detailed snapshots of problems in the marketplace. Yet the U.S. Department of Transportation’s monthly Air Travel Consumer Report only shows total counts of complaints by airline and category. Greater transparency is key to accountability.
The right to take companies to court. Large companies should be prohibited from using pre-dispute arbitration clauses that prevent consumers from taking companies to court before they even have a complaint against the company. Additionally, statutes should explicitly create private rights of action so that consumers can take cases directly to court for legal violations. The courts play a crucial role not just in making victims whole but also in deterring future wrongdoing.
The right to appeal to regulators in a public forum. Federal agencies should not shy away from meeting with the public. Agencies should be required to hold periodic public hearings around the country on unfair, deceptive, or abusive business practices. Again, in its early years, the CFPB set a positive example. From the time it opened its doors in 2011 to the end of 2016, the agency held 38 field hearings, meeting with and listening to communities.
The right to efficient, meaningful, and data-driven rulemaking and enforcement. In order to truly protect consumers and respond to market development, agencies must be free to propose and consider rules featuring public input—but not public stonewalling. Yet current trends run in the opposite direction. This Congress has taken up legislation, such as the Regulatory Accountability Act, that creates new rulemaking hurdles and moves toward more delays and less responsiveness. The FTC’s experience shows the dangers of imposing these heavier procedural requirements. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 and Federal Trade Commission Improvements Act of 1980 required the FTC to undergo a more lengthy rulemaking process involving extensive consultation and review. As American University Washington College of Law professor Jeffrey Lubbers notes, from 1964 to 1978, FTC rules on average took just less than three years to finalize; more recent FTC rules, except in cases where Congress waived these heightened requirements, could take 5 to 10 years or ultimately be dropped even after years of development.
The focus of these consumer rights should be on large companies in consolidating industries, not on small businesses, just as federal financial regulations are already tailored to have greater burdens for larger banks than smaller ones. Federal regulators could set thresholds based on revenue or market share so that these rules and rights primarily affect the largest or most concentrated firms in an industry. Customers of local, independent businesses already have many ways in which to make their voices heard and ensure that companies are responsive, including simply by taking their business elsewhere. But while they may be able to pick their coffee shop, they can’t always pick their supermarket, airline, or credit reporting agency. It is essential, then, that federal regulators keep concentrated corporations accountable to their consumers.
Restoring consumer rights is an uphill battle, but it is an important one in order to bring back both trust in business and trust in government. Antitrust policy must go hand in hand with enhanced regulation for the largest companies so that everyday Davids across America have a chance at successfully—and sustainably—taking on Goliath.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4611
|
__label__wiki
| 0.887946
| 0.887946
|
First 1000 Days Australia
Save the Children and the University of Melbourne have joined forces to create a transformational change program with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples called First 1000 Days Australia.
International evidence on the life-long importance of the first 1,000 days of a child's life, from conception through to the child’s second birthday, already informs maternal and child health practices; however, the First 1000 Days Australia model is unique in including the pre-conception environment and incorporating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and leadership.
This evidence-driven approach to family and community strengthening, entrepreneurship and nations-building is not a single program, but a coordinated, comprehensive strategy for systemic change.
The model integrates activities such as community sector worker training, regional planning and service cooperation, policy advocacy and household-level longitudinal research.
Save the Children's Chief Executive Officer, Paul Ronalds, said the evolving partnership is an innovative approach and an exciting development for the organisation. He said it will leverage Save the Children’s operational strengths, while supporting the integrity of community-led implementation.
“With Save the Children’s national scale and strong experience working with communities, and the University of Melbourne’s research expertise and existing work in this space, we can make a real difference,” he said.
“This unique approach to development in Australia will support the aspirations of families and communities to improve their own wellbeing and opportunities.”
First 1000 Days Australia Executive Director and University of Melbourne Professor, Kerry Arabena, said the ongoing work that will be facilitated by this collaboration aims to create generational health gains.
“We need an approach that strengthens culture starting with women of child bearing age, their partners, extended family, and communities, to ensure our children are given the best possible start to life.”
Call Alex Sampson on 0429 943 027 for interviews.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4612
|
__label__wiki
| 0.856502
| 0.856502
|
Katherine Langford Won’t Return For 13 Reasons Why Season 3 If It’s Renewed
by Carolyn Burke
Katherine Langford is ready to move on from Netflix's hit teen drama, 13 Reasons Why. The Aussie actress isn't considering a potential Season 3 return. She believes Hannah Baker's story has been told in full. Beware of (minor) spoilers ahead.
Langford is only 22-years-old, and already tops many people's fantasy casting lists, especially those hoping for a solo Batgirl film. Despite her skyrocketing fame, Langford's Hollywood experience is quite brief. The actress was cast as Hannah Baker in 13 Reasons Why at the age of 19. The harrowing story of a girl struggling with depression and sexual assault was her first ever role. She is now ready to move on to new experiences in the industry.
Related: 13 Reasons Why Season 2's Biggest Problem Was Keeping Hannah
While speaking with EW, Langford admitted that, should 13 Reasons Why be picked up for a third season, she has no plans to reprise her role as Hannah Baker. She feels that Baker's story has been fully told already, back in Season 1. However, she had no qualms about coming back to the role for Season 2, as she saw it as a way to give Baker's would-be boyfriend, Clay Jensen, a sense of closure. During the course of the season, Jensen is essentially haunted by visions of Baker. He eventually comes to terms with her demise and allows himself the right to move forward during her eulogy, resulting in her vision making a heavenly exit from the church.
Langford went on to say that she did not feel the need to say goodbye to her first ever character. She felt like she had already done that with the graphic bathtub scene at the end of Season 1. In fact, Langford felt as though the character she portrayed in Season 2 was not actually Baker at all. According to Langford, every time her character is depicted throughout the sophomore season, it's through flashbacks and retellings seen from other people's perspectives. Her tapes may have been problematic, but they were still from her own point of view. They were unequivocally her. The Hannah Baker depicted in Season 2 is a figment created through the memories of those she knew.
Having to portray the same character in what she felt was a somewhat false light was difficult for Langford, harder than portraying the pain her character felt in Season 1. With that in mind, it's not hard to see why she would rather not come back for another batch of episodes. In the eyes of many, Hannah's somewhat forced return for season 2 didn't really add much to the story anyway, so should 13 Reasons Why be renewed, perhaps it's best for all involved if the series and Katherine Langford go their separate ways.
More: What 13 Reasons Why Season 3's Story Will Be About
Tags: 13 reasons why
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4616
|
__label__wiki
| 0.841963
| 0.841963
|
Will Midtown Sacramento Tree Fall For Housing Project?
Filed Under:City of Trees, Midtown Sacramento, Sacramento News
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A group is taking a stand for a tree in Midtown Sacramento that is threatened by development plans.
More than 70 trees were removed in Sacramento in 2016, but cutting down this one walnut tree, in particular, is being met with strong opposition.
The tree at the corner of I and 23rd streets has a 47-inch-wide trunk and is on the city’s private protected list. But that didn’t stop the preservation commission from approving its removal. Plans for a seven-unit apartment complex are the reason.
ALSO: 3 Minors Linked To Nut Tree Village Burglaries Arrested After Chase, Crash In Vacaville
Neighbors reached out to Kate Riley with Trees for Sacramento who filed an appeal to speak on behalf of the tree.
“It’s basically our last resort, our only way we can save this tree,” she said.
The advocacy group protects the urban canopy. This tree, in particular, Riley says, has shaded the historic neighborhood for decades.
“It’s a native tree,” she said. “It’s an unusual tree to be surviving in this urban environment and it’s gorgeous.”
But the city says it’s well within its rights to remove the tree.
ALSO: Ghostbusters Take Down Old Sacramento Ghosts With Modesto Boy’s Wish
Removal of the private protected tree is necessary to develop the property for a multi-unit residential development as allowed within this zone. Moreover, the extensive root system of black walnut trees extends outward two to four times the tree’s canopy, making development of the parcel, while preserving the tree, unfeasible.
That zoning argument isn’t sitting well with Riley, who says the city is looking too broadly.
“This particular tree is an example of how we don’t agree with how the city has interpreted that code section—build whatever you want because he’s got the zoning,” she said. “It’s like not having a tree protection ordinance.”
Riley suggests downsizing the plans and preserving the tree.
“The City of Sacramento is the City of Trees, it’s got a reputation,” she said. “We’re asking them to live up to it.”
The Sacramento City Council will make its final decision at the meeting that starts at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4620
|
__label__wiki
| 0.583846
| 0.583846
|
Walk Dont Run
By Jonathan Bauer
Jonathan Bauer tour dates
Multi-talented trumpeter and composer Jonathan Bauer, most notably of the Grammy award-winning New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, bursts onto the scene with his highly anticipated debut album, Walk Don’t Run. An internationally recognized and touring artist, Jonathan is widely acclaimed for his dark and dynamic sound. While earning his Master’s at the University of New Orleans, Jonathan quickly became a rising talent in one of the world’s most important musical communities, earning him the opportunity to study and perform with living legends Nicholas Payton, Robert Glasper, Jeremy Davenport, Adonis Rose and Ashlin Parker among others. A versatile musician, Jonathan regularly crosses genres performing with R&B titans, such as Sheila E., Ledisi, and Eric Benét.
Walk Don’t Run celebrates the past while looking to the future; showcasing the range of musical influences, from Art Blakey to Roy Hargrove, that have shaped Jonathan’s worldview. Walk Don’t Run fulfills a desire for the satisfyingly familiar, while keeping the listener enthralled by its fresh perspective. Inspired to create by the vibrant community in New Orleans, Jonathan’s compositions are about learning to slow down on life’s journey, striving to be more grateful, and paying dues to those who came before him.
The Jonathan Bauer Project comprised of saxophonist Alexander Geddes, pianist Ryan Hanseler, bassist Alex Dyring, and drummer Gerald Watkins, Jr., showcases some of New Orleans’ hungriest young lions. Individually, the artists all stand on their own merit, with credits ranging from Ellis Marsalis to Slum Village. As a collective, the quintet builds on Jonathan’s compositions, using them as a vehicle for expression and creation in its purest form.
Born and raised in Northern Alberta, Canada Jonathan is proud to be an ambassador for Divitt Trumpets.
Follow Jonathan Bauer
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4622
|
__label__cc
| 0.651154
| 0.348846
|
And to Dust Shalt Thou Return
I just merged my mom’s and dad’s ashes, putting them back together in this plane. I know they’re together on the other.
It’s been her wish since he died. It was deeply relieving and healing to do it, painstaking and requiring full presence. They’re sharing a lovely cigar humidor which has been my dad’s solo resting place for 32 years, and I put just a little of each into a small brass aftaba from India that my sister gave me, a symbol of the larger one that held my dad’s ashes in our mom’s house.
She takes up the lion’s share of the box they’re in, and it’s fitting in a way. She was here longer, and we had a more complex journey. It’s weighty now. Mom’s ballast mixing with Dad’s fine dust. Maybe this is how they’re mixed in me, too.
A few years ago, I had an Akashic Channeling from a lovely woman named Jen Eramith, and I asked about my relationship with my parents. The message rang deeply true for me and came at a time when I was undergoing some deep healing around my relationship with my mom. She said that the soul contract with my father was very brief. We were friends, peers, it was light and easy, and when he died, our work together was done.
My mother was another story. Ours was a long and complex relationship spanning many lifetimes, and we had a lot of work to do in this one. This came around the time that I moved 3000 miles away from my mother, to whom I had more or less promised that I would stay close throughout the end of her life. She was already fairly diminished at this time, but still, she was a far stronger presence than she was in the last year.
I remember going to see her and sitting on the floor at her feet. She had one of those automatic lounge chairs that lift up to help the sitter stand. It was where she spent most of her day–all of her day except for meals. I felt such a pain in my heart to tell her that I had been invited by my partner to join her in Washington State. It was something that she had dreaded and referenced frequently. But at this time, when I told her that I wanted to go, she said “Of course, I will miss you, but I understand that you need to go.”
Her blessing was important to me. I knew that I was leaving her as she was entering the last of her days. I continued to call her daily and visited twice a year. I had undergone a healing in our relationship, letting go of the story I had lived with in which my mother was somehow to blame for my discomfort in life. There’s a way, of course, that our stories are both true and untrue. We are born into families and social, economic and cultural situations that shape our experience. We may be a disappointment, an inconvenience, a challenge. And yet, in all but the most extreme circumstances, we are still loved.
My mother grew up under Hitler. She was born in 1929 in Bavaria. She came to consciousness under Hitler, and she embodied the German style of child-rearing that is so well dissected in Alice Miller’s book The Drama of the Gifted Child. She was not one for coddling, cuddling or compliments. It was not her nature.
She gave her love in very tangible ways; she was fierce and she was always working, both in the home and out, to provide for us the best that she could. And yet, the parts of me that needed to be seen through my own lens remained invisible to her, or at least unrecognized.
Longevity is a gift in so many ways. If we live long enough, we mature out of the various stages of our own development to a clarity and wisdom . In my fifties, I found my way onto the path of awakening through what was then called Waking Down in Mutuality. I fell deeply into the wounds of my childhood, which are the doorways to freedom. I fell into various circles of hell-fire experiencing and burning away my attachment to the shadow story of my life. I was a disappointment. I was a freak. I was an outsider. I was unloved.
I don’t remember my mother ever saying that she loved me. Once, early in my spiritual path, I confronted her about his (over the phone–not recommended), and she said “I love you but . . .” at which I cut her off. “There is no but after that mom.” She was stalwart: “I love you but you’re different.” Back and forth we went. It did not help either of us to feel closer.
As she aged, like me, the shells of her personality fell away. What was left in the last few years was a sweetness, a presence and relaxation with what was. Sometime in the last year, when I said, as I sometimes did at the end of our call, “I love you,” she said “I love you, too.” And once, only a few months ago, when I told her I was coming to see her before Easter, she said it unprompted. It was pure nectar.
In April of this year, at a workshop with Trillium Awakening teacher Rod Taylor on “The Personal, Interpersonal and Impersonal Dimensions of Love,” I spoke this truth from the core of my being: My mother has always only loved me.
What a great blessing and relief.
When it became clear that she was declining, I flew out to see her the week before Easter. She was already turning away from the world of the living. Two weeks later, we signed her up for hospice care. And two weeks after that, going on my intuition, I flew home to stay with her until her passing. My sister had told her just the day before that I was coming. Hours after I arrived, the facility called to say that she was laboring–shallow breath and apnea. Laboring is my word. The vigil we sat with her from 3:00 Saturday morning until her passing the following Monday at 8:30 am was so like a birth. The long slow waiting for revelation, for transition.
It was a gift and a blessing to be with her, to share those fifty hours with my sister and her. We slept in chairs with our heads on her bed, our hands and arms holding her the best we could. We ate our meals, checked our emails, told stories, talked to nurses and family visitors, cried, slept, watched, waited.
And then, as Yeats said in a different context “A terrible beauty was born.” Her breathing fell into troughs of stillness. It was only a touch to feel her pulse that would start her up again. Ten seconds, fifteen, twenty. Touch. Breath. Then she took one gasp, paused another half a minute, took another one, and that was the end.
I don’t know when I have felt such pure tenderness and compassion as in those fifty hours. I don’t know when I ever touched my mother so much or so lovingly, like a child, both her and me.
It took me sixty years to come to know the dimensions of her love, which are the dimensions of all Love. It is all encompassing, multi-faceted, sometimes painful and sometimes blissful. It is the nature of God, the absolute. There is nothing that is not part of it.
Grief is a natural part of the death process. It comes over us, comes out of us in the face of death’s mystery. It has its own rhythm, its own logic, its own mystical healing powers. It’s a force to be surrendered to. It’s part of the transformation, the ongoing cycle of integration and disintegration that we may see what is ahead of us and embrace it without fear.
She is at rest, and she is at source. She is mingled in the ashes of my father, and mingled in the air. Remember, o man that thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return. It’s a useful remembrance. What lives in us is eternal.
Tagged Akashic Channeling, cremation, death, Drama of the Gifted Child, German child rearing, mothers, Rod Taylor, transformation, Trillium Awakening, Waking Down in Mutuality
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4631
|
__label__wiki
| 0.554104
| 0.554104
|
Category: Nora Lefurgey and L.M.Montgomery
So Many Unexpected Connections
Published on November 24, 2014 by Emily MidorikawaLeave a comment
As we mentioned in our first post of the month, it was one of our blog readers, Sarah Emsley, who told us about the friendship of L.M. Montgomery and Nora Lefurgey.
We’d got to know Sarah through her website and her support of Something Rhymed. Forming this kind of unexpected connection, often across the seas, has been one of the real pleasures we’ve encountered as a direct result of setting up our project.
Since beginning Something Rhymed at the start of this year, we’ve profiled the friendships of eleven pairs of female authors. But, of course, these women’s relationships with other writers didn’t stop with a single friend. Through our research we’ve learned about other important connections between different authors we’ve featured on this site.
Winifred Holtby, lovingly memorialised by Vera Brittain in Testament of Friendship, had earlier written a biography of her own: a book about Virginia Woolf. George Eliot, often believed to have been scornful of Jane Austen’s work, in fact studied the novels of her forebear in preparation for beginning to write her own fiction.
One of this month’s authors, L.M. Montgomery, felt a sense of affinity with Eliot. Mathilde Blind’s early biography of Eliot had such an impact on the then young and aspiring Montgomery that several of its words and phrases found their way into her own journals.
Elizabeth Gaskell was friends, not just with Charlotte Brontë, but also with Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe, as we wrote in October, was such an admirer of Charlotte Brontë that she once asked a medium to help her try to make contact with the late author’s ghost.
A planchette – the kind of device once used by Harriet Beecher Stowe, to try and make contact with the ghost of Charlotte Bronte. (Creative Commons licence)
One half of next month’s pair of writers was also greatly influenced by Brontë, but she adopted a less other-worldly approach. Jean Rhys’s most famous book Wide Sargasso Sea resurrects the story of Antoinette Cosway, her reimagined version of the character of Bertha Mason, the ‘madwoman’ who’d previously languished in the attic of Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre.
We look forward to sharing more of Rhys’s own story with you in our first post of December, next week, and also continuing to discover many more important links between the great female authors – connections that often transcended their historical eras.
Categories Nora Lefurgey and L.M.Montgomery•Tags Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, female friendship, female writers, George Eliot, ghosts, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jane Eyre, Jean Rhys, L.M. Montgomery, Mathilde Blind, Nora Lefurgey, Testament of Friendship, Vera Brittain, Virginia Woolf, Wide Sargasso Sea, Winifred Holtby
From Literary Protégée to Competition Rival: our interview with Madeline Miller
Published on November 17, 2014 September 24, 2015 by emmaclairesweeney1 Comment
We were drawn to the friendship between Nora Lefurgey and L. M. Montgomery because it endured despite marked differences in their literary standings: while Anne of Green Gables propelled Montgomery to international fame, Lefurgey’s novel gathered dust in the proverbial drawer.
Of course, the prospect of rivalry does not end when both friends are published. Then there are questions of sales and reviews and awards. We’d been intrigued, therefore, when it was announced that both debut novelist, Madeline Miller, and multi award-winning author, Ann Patchett, had been shortlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize since Madeline had previously been one of a Ann’s protégées.
Ann Patchett. Creative Commons License.
We met Madeline to ask her about the transition from literary mentorship to competition rivals.
Madeline explains that she had always been a great fan of the established author’s work, and that she counts Truth and Beauty, Ann’s memoir about her friendship with fellow writer Lucy Grealy, as one of her favourite books of all time.
Early in her career, Madeline had been thrilled to receive a glowing blurb from Ann for the publisher’s proof copy of her debut novel, The Song of Achilles. At this stage, Madeline had never met Ann, this novelist who had unexpectedly done her such a good turn. Evidently still touched by the older author’s generosity, she tells us about how they finally came face-to-face.
Fortuitously, Ann had been due to give a reading at Madeline’s local book store, and so Miller bought tickets, intending to introduce herself after the event. When, on the night, an audience member asked for a reading recommendation, Madeline was delighted to hear the celebrated author single out the forthcoming Song of Achilles for praise. She was even more surprised when Ann suddenly looked up, right into Madeline’s eyes, and introduced her to the crowd.
Ann proceeded to share the limelight with the younger author, who couldn’t fathom how she had been recognised. She jokes that she had been ready to put it down to Ann’s magical powers until her fiancé later confessed that he was the one to have pointed her out. ‘But she does have magical powers,’ Madeline laughs, ‘I stand by that!’
Ann’s kindness didn’t stop there. The pair struck up an email correspondence, and Ann generously shared the benefits of her own longer experience as a published author. Madeline is particularly grateful for Ann’s advice to steer clear of reviews, which give an exaggerated sense of both the positive and the negative, encouraging the writer to focus on the outward expressions of literary “success” rather than drawing on internal inspiration. Ann also shared her secret to a fulfilled writing life: There are times for writing and times for living, Madeline remembers Ann once saying, and one feeds the other.
The next time the pair met in person, it was on Ann’s instigation: she invited Madeline to read at Parnassus Books – the independent store that she co-owns in Nashville, Tennessee. It was there the two novelists discovered that they’d both made it onto the short list for the 2012 Orange Prize (now the Baileys Women’s Prize) – an award that recognises the work of female novelists.
It could have been a situation fraught with stress: although a game-changer for the debut author, Madeline now found herself pitted against her mentor.
But, instead, Ann, who had already won the prize back in 2002, took great pleasure in the opportunity this time to share the limelight with her protégée. When the date of the prize ceremony was announced, Ann realised that she couldn’t make it over to Britain at that time. She was glad that Madeline would be able to attend, and she even loaned her competitor one of her own outfits that she felt might be particularly suitable for the Orange Prize do: a beautiful dress of tangerine silk.
Madeline Miller wearing the dress she loaned from Ann Patchett.
When the judges revealed that they were awarding the prize to Madeline Miller for The Song of Achilles, the young writer keenly acknowledged her indebtedness to her mentor in her acceptance speech. ‘I got to go and help represent her book as well,’ she says.
The competition seems to have actually strengthened their relationship. In fact, Madeline tells us that Ann was not the only one eager to congratulate her. The award, she says, ‘fostered a sense of collegiality’ amongst all its female nominees.
The friendship of Lefurgey and Montgomery taught us that creative rivalry can be endured, while the example of Miller and Patchett shows that it can even be enjoyed.
A shorter version of this interview was originally included in our feature in Mslexia Issue 57.
Categories Guest posts, Nora Lefurgey and L.M.Montgomery•Tags Ann Patchett, Baileys Women's Prize, female literary friendship, L.M. Montgomery, literary mentor, Literary Protégée, Lucy Grealy, Madeline Miller, Mslexia, Nora Lefurgey, Orange Prize, Parnassus Books, rivalry, The Song of Achilles, Truth and Beauty
Diaries, Diversions and Double Beds
Published on November 10, 2014 November 11, 2014 by emmaclairesweeney5 Comments
As a young woman, L.M. Montgomery, the woman who would later publish the famous Anne of Green Gables series, kept a giddy collaborative journal with her writer friend and housemate, Nora Lefurgey. Inspired by them, we have written a joint diary post about a trip we made together to Ilkley.
Emily: We get off to a slower-than-expected start when, on arriving at King’s Cross railway station, the board tells us our train has been cancelled. But it doesn’t ma tter: our Something Rhymed event at the Ilkley Literature Festival isn’t until tomorrow – we’ve allowed ourselves an extra day for lots of rehearsing – and even though we’ve arranged to meet our friends at the town’s Playhouse bar later, we still have plenty of time.
Plus, with the two of us together, these things are always all right; they would be even if we were cutting it fine.
An hour or so later, we are on the train making our journey north. I plan to work on a blog post that’s set to go live tomorrow, while Emma Claire puts the final touches to an article we’ve written for Shooter Lit Mag. But we keep talking, and so we don’t get as much done as we’d have liked.
Emma Claire: The article is about Emily Dickinson, and so I have been reading her letters and am itching to share my findings with Em: the only friend who I know for sure will find Dickinson’s love life as fascinating as I do. Despit e at least one proposal of marriage; a darkly mysterious correspondence with someone she called ‘Master’; and a late-life erotic liaison with a man eighteen years her senior, Dickinson famously never married. And yet, as an adolescent, she had harboured such high hopes of romance. I can’t help disturbing Em from her blog post to share this snippet from one of Dickinson’s letters: ‘I am growing handsome very fast indeed! I expect I shall be the belle of Amherst when I reach my 17th year. I don’t doubt that I will have perfect crowds of admirers at that age. Then how shall I delight to make them await my bidding and with what delight shall I witness their suspense while I make my final decision’. Who would have thought that such a sociable creature would have become mythologised as a crazed recluse?
Emily: When the man with the refreshments trolley reaches us he says ‘What can I get you, girls?’ We wonder for how long people will keep calling us that. We are almost thirty-five.
Emma Claire: Now that Emily has pointed it out, I keep noticing people’s tendency to refer to us as ‘girls’. We got to have a brief chat with Edna O’Brien at t he Small Wonder Festival recently and, although we were there in our role as lecturers accompanying our New York University students, she greeted us affectionately with the words: ‘Two girls!’ Both with Edna O’Brien and with the man on the train, I found myself quite enjoying the image of us as young friends – perhaps because, in both cases, their tones seemed wistful rather than patronising. Life’s thrown quite a lot at Emily and me during the dozen or so years since we first met, beating much of our youthful naivety out of us. And yet, now that we’re far closer to forty than twenty, I feel as if my friendship with Emily has helped me not only to mature but also to prolong my girlhood.
Emily: Through the window, we pick out places that bring back lots of memories: towns I remember from days that seem distant, when I used to commute to London from my old flat in Leeds every week. As we pull into Grantham, Emma Claire says she always recalls switching trains here, stepping down to take the much slower service to the village in Lincolnshire where I lived in my mid-twenties. Ever since I first got to know her, Em has been a regular house guest.
Emma Claire: During the years when I was living in central London and Emily and her partner were moving between various towns and villages, my visits to them always felt like mini-holidays. By the time I reached Grantham, I would already have begun to unwind. My memories of those weekends are full of small pleasures: picking rocket from t heir back garden; mixing gin with triple sec and a squeeze of lemon; shopping for sushi-fresh fish in their local market.
Since they moved to London and we started SomethingRhymed.com, I have become a far more frequent overnight guest – something that particularly struck me this weekend when Emily and her partner came over to my place for breakfast on their way to other friends. It had been five years since Emily’s partner had visited my house, and yet these days he welcomes me into theirs on an almost weekly basis.
Emily: When we arrive in Ilkley at last, we find our hotel with minimal trouble. Phone maps have made everything easier than it used to be, but it’s still far from unusual for us to get lost, particularly when we are chatting as we wander.
Through the front door, in the narrow corridor, Emma Claire, who’s made the two-night booking, gives her name to the man on reception. He nods, but seems strangely reluctant to show us to our room, and so we wait with our bags while he disappears out the back. We can hear the hum of his voice. He seems to be trying to find someone, anyone, else to show us to where we will be sleeping.
When he emerges at last, unsuccessful apparently, he leads us up the stairs. In the room, we see a large bed for two. The man talks us hurriedly through the facilities, his eyes focused away.
Once Emma Claire has explained that she’d requested a twin, our host visibly relaxes. He insists on showing us to three different rooms, asking us to take our pick. On our own again, with the door closed, we laugh about what’s just happened.
Emma Claire: But we also feel that we’ve been given an insight into what it could be like for gay couples on their travels, and the way that such situations could become far more tiresome than funny. But we keep on laughing, wondering if there’ll ever come a day – now that we’re really no longer girls – when we might feel flush enough to book separate rooms.
Emily: It’s not long before we have to get back out to meet Gail and Irenosen, also in town for the festival. The sky is dark and brooding and we are walking along the sloping streets, neither of us entirely sure where the Playhouse is, despite having been to Ilkey before – and in my case to the theatre itself.
Over the years, Em and I have got ourselves lost in so many locations: along the country roads of Japan’s Ehime Prefecture, circling the streets of Barreiro in Portugal, and on several nights out in London. This time, though, we keep up today’s earlier form and find our way fairly quickly – not that it would have mattered if we hadn’t, not really, with the two of us together.
Categories Nora Lefurgey and L.M.Montgomery•Tags Collaborative diary, Edna O'Brien, Emily Dickinson, Hay Festival, Ilkley Literature Festival, Irenosen Okojie, New York University, Shooter Lit Mag, Small Wonder
Nora Lefurgey and L.M. Montgomery
Published on November 3, 2014 November 3, 2014 by Emily Midorikawa14 Comments
Image used with the kind permission of ARose Books.
As girls, we were both great fans of the Anne of Green Gables series. Though we grew up in different towns on opposite sides of the Pennines, L.M. Montgomery’s fictional Canadian community of Avonlea was a haven we each knew well.
It was after we began Something Rhymed at the start of this year that we began to look back on those books. We remembered feisty Anne’s longing for a ‘kindred spirit’ and ‘bosom friend’, and wondered whether there was a real-life Diana Barry in her creator’s life.
We have one of this blog’s readers, Sarah Emsley, to thank for putting us on to this particular friend. Knowing of her interest in all things Montgomery, we asked Sarah if she had any ideas. She was kind enough to come up with a couple of possibilities, although it was Lefurgey that really captured our interest.
L.M. Montgomery (left) and Nora Lefurgey in 1903. Image used with the kind permission of the Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph Library, and Heirs of L.M. Montgomery Inc. L.M. Montgomery is a trademark of Heirs of L.M. Montgomery Inc.
She and Montgomery became pals in 1902, when Lefurgey was a young schoolteacher working in Cavendish, on Prince Edward Island, where Montgomery had spent most of her childhood and recently returned to care for her grandmother.
This was still some time before the publication of the novel that would catapult her to stardom, but her short stories were being regularly published by then and her literary earnings were beginning to grow.
Unlike Maud – as she was called by those who knew her – Lefurgey was not a professional writer. But she did produce an unpublished novel, belong to a writers’ club, and, like her new friend, keep a journal throughout her life. Most thrillingly for us, over a five-month period, when she’d left her previous lodgings to board with Montgomery and her grandmother, the two women kept a collaborative diary.
Whereas Montgomery’s personal journal entries of that time were often melancholic in tone, a very different side of her emerges in her lighthearted published writings of the era, and another side again in this joint-diary.
Here, she and Lefurgey indulge in tales of flirting with young men, and exaggerated neighbourhood gossip. They often use their separate entries to tease each other, seemingly in anticipation of how the other will react when she takes up the story. They decorated the book’s cover with interlocking hearts, perhaps a reference to their shared closeness or to the giddiness of the heightened romantic contents within.
A more naturally gregarious personality than Montgomery, Lefurgey seems to have filled a void in the life of an author who’d experienced a sometimes lonely childhood living under the strict care of her grandparents.
Her early impressions were that Lefurgey was ‘a positive godsend’. Although they were forced to part when Lefurgey left Prince Edward Island to be married, she re-emerged in Montgomery’s life twenty-four years later, and soon established herself as the main confidante of a woman who was by then one of Canada’s best-loved authors.
In their diary entries, L.M. Montgomery and Nora Lefurgey often reported on the same incidents from their differing points of view. This month, we’ll recall a day spent together and each write it up in our own style.
Categories Nora Lefurgey and L.M.Montgomery•Tags Anne of Green Gables, Cavendish, diary, L.M. Montgomery, Nora Lefurgey, Prince Edward Island, Sarah Emsley, writer friends
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4632
|
__label__wiki
| 0.905736
| 0.905736
|
You are at:Home»News»The Devil Wears Prada release new track ‘Alien’ from upcoming album ‘Space’
The Devil Wears Prada release new track ‘Alien’ from upcoming album ‘Space’
By Danny Peart on August 4, 2015 News
Fresh off the main stage from this summer’s Mayhem Festival in the USA, The Devil Wears Prada is giving fans another sneak peek of its forthcoming concept EP “Space,” due out August 21st through Rise Records. Today, the band is making the track “Alien” available on its YouTube channel and as an instant-grat download on iTunes with a pre-order of the EP here: http://tdwp.merchnow.com
Musically relentless and lyrically terrifying, “Alien” tells the tale of an encounter with extra-terrestrial monsters:
Each ten feet tall without remorse
Crawling along the walls
I see the eyes, I see the teeth, see the monster coming through the window
Game over, we’re done for
The thematic six-song “Space” EP weaves together a cinematic intergalactic soundscape bolstered by vivid dialogue samples, ethereal textures, thick guitars and entrancingly brutal vocals. “Space” is TDWP’s second EP, the first, 2010’s critically-acclaimed “Zombies,” was a Top 10 Billboard hit.
On the just-wrapped Mayhem shows, Prada’s live sets consistently hit home runs, earning reviews like Fuse’s “...the ferocity of a 13-minute punk set and the endurance of an hourlong metal gig…the best of both worlds…” and “[TDWP] opened the Main Stage with a siege of chugging, drop-D riffage, seismic breakdowns and brawny polyrhythms” from Metal Hammer.
TDWP – Mike Hranica (lead vocals, guitar), Jeremy Depoystner (clean vocals, guitars), Andy Trick (bass), and drummer Daniel Williams – has graced the covers of Alternative Press, Revolver, AMP, HM, and Outburn, and continues to be at the forefront of a movement that bridges the gap between Mayhem and the Van’s Warped Tour. The Devil Wears Prada will play RiotFest & Carnival in their hometown of Chicago on Saturday, September 12.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4635
|
__label__cc
| 0.700814
| 0.299186
|
Sour to Sweet Stories of Individuals Who Turned Their Financial Lives Around by Following Their Passion
Sensational Cuisine, Suburban Hospitality and Love of Family Fuels Fusion
Posted by sourtosweet in Uncategorized. Tagged: bad economy, career change, career changer, dream, entrepreneur, financial success, Fusion, Fusion Cafe and Wine Bar, happiness, inspiration, inspire, job loss, Kathy Egan, Mark Crescenzo, Monroe, New York, Orange County, recession, reinventing, success stories, unemployment. Leave a comment
Meet Mark Crescenzo, General Manager and Host of Fusion Café and Wine Bar in Monroe, New York. Opened in January of this year, the family-friendly restaurant offers high end and reasonably priced American cuisine featuring Latin and Asian influences.
“There are a lot of great restaurants in Monroe, but most are Chinese or Italian,” explains Mark. “Nothing like this. No place offering a good quality, freshly prepared, light meal at a great price.”
The food is prepared by Chef and Owner Kathy Egan who trained with Daniel Boulud and Peter Kelly. Appreciating the qualities of the Chef/Owner, Mark comments, “Kathy’s food is very clean. You can leave stuffed but it’s fresh and light and everything is cooked to order.”
While Kathy oversees the smooth running of Fusion’s kitchen, Mark ensures guests receive a warm greeting and excellent service. “I like to host, I like to throw a good party – I want people leaving the restaurant to feel like they just left a really good house party. When guests return a second time, we’ll remember their names, remember their drinks, remember if they are gluten-free.”
Mark’s career in restaurants began at the age of twelve when he was hired as a bus boy by Cranberries, a restaurant in his hometown of Stony Point, New York. Four years later, Mark walked into Lynch’s, another nearby restaurant, seeking a job.
“Alice Lynch (the owner) handed me a Duke pad and told me to write down my name. A week later, she called me in, gave me an apron and the Duke pad, and elevated me to waiter.” Mark continued working in restaurants throughout high school and college.
A restaurant has served as a backdrop for important events in Marks’ life. He met his future husband at The Hudson House in Nyack, New York.
Mark left the restaurant word to pursue a corporate career but gave up that job to raise the couple’s daughter. He was not out of the workforce for very long. “I was home for nine months. At that time, real estate was taking off and I obtained my real estate license. I worked in real estate for just under ten years.”
Their daughter was eight years old when the real estate market collapsed and Mark took a part-time job at Ravi, another local restaurant. This is where Mark and Kathy met. The collaboration to create Fusion began.
Fusion is located on MillPond Parkway in Monroe. The 800 square foot restaurant has a 15 person bar and intimate tables seating an additional 46.
The location underwent extensive renovations prior to opening which locals could monitor through the restaurant’s front windows. “People would walk by, read the menu and give us a thumbs up through the window. They couldn’t wait for us to open.”
The final result is a restaurant that feels urban despite its suburban location. “When you walk in, everyone says they feel like they are in Manhattan. It’s a very clean, very sleek environment.” It’s a very good fit for Monroe’s population, young and old, families and singles, many of whom commute to work in New York City.
Fusion’s Grand Opening took place on January 27th and things have been busy. New customers as well as returning diners are contributing to the restaurant’s immediate success. The repeat business is encouraging to Mark.
“We’re not the only place serving good food, but diners will come back because of how we make them feel. They will remember that.”
Mark is passionate about family and community and his work at Fusion reflects and feeds these passions. “My family is involved in the restaurant. They have all been there and been involved in this. The community is becoming our family, guests are greeted on a first name basis, the diners are part of our extended family now.”
Sourtosweet had the opportunity to dine at Fusion. The cuisine is delicious and beautifully presented. The wait staff is friendly and professional. If you arrive for an early dinner around 5 or 5:30, you watch as the tables and bars slowly fill with smiling, relaxed and satisfied diners enjoying their evening – exactly as Kathy and Mark intended.
To everyone involved in creating and operating Fusion, best wishes for continued success!
If you are, or someone you know is, pursuing a passion despite this tough economy, please contact me here.
© sourtosweet
Passing through Schenectady? Visit DCP
Posted by sourtosweet in Uncategorized. Tagged: bad economy, Ben Sadler, Cassius, DCP, Downtown Custom Printwear, entrepreneur, financial success, happiness, New York, Schenectady, success stories, Union College. Leave a comment
Meet Ben Sadler, owner of Downtown Custom Printwear. Downtown Custom Printwear (“DCP”) provides exactly the kind of service that its name indicates. DCP specializes in the creation of custom screen-printed and embroidered products manufactured in the company’s downtown Schenectady, New York location.
Ben graduated from Union College in the Spring of 2007 with no real plan for what to do next. “I graduated and was sort of lost not knowing what I wanted to do with my future.”
He decided to stay in Schenectady. “I made the decision to rent a house with my friend and drive an ice cream truck around for a summer.” He was feeling very discouraged. “Many of my friends seemed to have big important jobs already, investment banking in New York, that kind of thing.”
One thing Ben did know was that he wanted to be his own boss. “I always knew I wanted to own my own business.”
While studying at Union, Ben and a friend began their own import/export printwear business. The business ultimately failed, but it provided Ben his first exposure to printing. Ben attributes the import/export venture’s failure to the business plan itself – specifically the export of the clothing for printing.
“The whole reason I started learning how to print myself was that the problem with the import/export venture was having the printing done overseas. The overseas printing was the real problem with the business.”
Ben determined that success in the printwear business would require learning how to print himself. In the summer of 2007, Ben purchased printing equipment on e-Bay. When he wasn’t operating the ice cream truck, he was printing on his own in the attic of his apartment. Just a few months later, Ben was filling t-shirt orders for local businesses and other organizations.
As Ben describes, his printwear business “just sort of snowballed.”
DCP’s clientele is varied. “A lot of our bigger customers are yearly charity events where they’ll order thousands of thousands of shirts. We do a lot of work with colleges, student organizations, athletic teams, some retail stuff, and clothing lines.”
Reinvestment in the company has helped DCP expand rapidly. “I own all of my equipment,” Ben explains. “I have put all of my money back into the business.” DCP’s current printing equipment is a significant upgrade from Ben’s initial e-Bay purchases and the company has added embroidery machines to its arsenal.
Only one year into operations, the company moved from Ben’s attic apartment to a location on Erie Boulevard in downtown Schenectady. In the Spring of 2010, Ben realized his business operations required more space. The company expanded once again, occupying a second floor at the Erie Boulevard location. DCP now occupies a space more than five times the size of the attic where it was born.
Ben currently shares DCP’s operating space with four employees and Cassius, DCP’s resident canine. This is actually the smallest staff for DCP in some time, Ben explains, because DCP’s work is seasonal and big orders don’t tend to come in during the winter.
Ben admits that owning his own business is not EXACTLY as he had imagined.
“I always thought that when you own a business you get to kick back and only work when you feel like it and live the life. First of all, I can’t do that because things will fall apart. Second, when you’ve created something all by yourself you want to commit to it. I didn’t think it would be this hard, but I also didn’t realize how important it would be.”
Ultimately, it is Ben’s passion for printing that keeps him going. ““This is my entire life. I’m definitely into it. I’m striving to be a master of this trade.”
Sometimes Ya Gotta Go Off Track To Get Back On
Not Your Grandmother’s Garage Sale
Out With the Old Year, In With the New
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4636
|
__label__wiki
| 0.770833
| 0.770833
|
Related Article Part 1: Framing the 8th Amendment referendum debate
Part 2: Framing the 8th Amendment referendum debate
Prior to the referendum, Jenny interviewed campaigners from both sides about their approach to the referendum
Written by Jenny Murphy Byrne and posted in opinion
This is part two of a two part series interviewing campaigners from both sides of the debate about their approach to the issue prior to the referendum. The first part is here.
The 8th Amendment Referendum was decided on Friday 26th May 2018. But how each campaign framed and communicated its message in the final days was likely instrumental in swaying the vote. And no one understands the gravity of tactical framing and engagement than the people representing each side of the abortion discourse.
In the final weeks leading up to the referendum result, we spoke to two people from each side of the debate to gauge the arguments, and issues, within their respective campaigns.
“We want to love both, the mother and the baby. At the end of the day, there are two people involved and that’s what we really want to focus on,” says LoveBoth campaigner, Roger Berkeley.
“Together for Yes is the big branded message now, which is to encompass everyone to show that we are all together as a society and can make this change for everyone,” adds Linda Kavanagh, an activist for the Repeal movement.
When each representative was presented with the same question – ‘What’s the main message of your campaign?’ – their responses were the stock messaging we heard throughout the campigns. That’s because these mantras have been carefully cultivated and moulded around their cause. And while perspectives on their own campaign are obvious, it’s what they have to say about the opposition that is truly compelling.
“It’s always interesting to look at any campaign and how they run themselves [Repeal]. There have been certainly good things I’ve seen, but also plenty of bad things that have benefited us a lot. The Katie Ascough impeachment that happened earlier in the year has really benefited LoveBoth,” says Mr Berkeley.
But Ms Kavanagh believes the LoveBoth’s campaign methods have been subtly deceiving: “I think they’re being very clever in framing what they want [retention of the 8th amendment]. They’ve posited it has something very loving, protective and safe, when in fact it’s completely the opposite. They’ve cleverly grabbed onto celebration and this positivity, but in reality, we’ve seen what the 8th amendment can do,”
The origins of a campaign can often dictate how the message will take form. For the Repeal side, the death of Savita Halappanavar proved to be a major turning point.
“After her death, we’ve asked for not just a little bit of change, but quite a significant shift. And that is the message we’ve pushed all along: it isn’t enough for us to put restrictions in that will mean only some people will get the healthcare they need,” Ms Kavanagh adds.
For LoveBoth and Pro-Life, the message has been cemented throughout history, and remained the same all the way to the voting podium on May 25th.
“When you think about it, the Pro-life’s message has always been about loving both. Obviously, we didn’t start talking about LoveBoth project until a year and a half ago. But it encapsulates the message that’s always been there,” says Mr Berkeley.
Reflecting on the campaign, both sides have profited from their relentless framing, but it hasn’t come purely from the spoken word. Supporters have taken Repeal’s and LoveBoth’s messages and adapted them in different in persuading the undecided to vote.
“Of course, the Repeal jumpers’ movement gripped the nation and internationally also. The March for Choice, where we saw 40,000 people on the street campaigning. Also, In Her Shoes Facebook page which has over 50,000 likes is an incredible piece of media,” remarks Ms Kavanagh.
“Again, a lot of people were awakened by that whole impeachment scandal; we got so many people signing up in the Pro-Life society in UCD, and just generally to support LoveBoth, simply because how Katie was treated,” adds Mr Berkeley.
When thinking about how the day would unfold, Mr Berkeley said “I absolutely have no idea. Of course, it’s going to be tight, we’re going to have no nails left, but we’ll see how it goes. The LoveBoth project is doing everything it can to save the future children of Ireland. But one thing I do know is that this is the last time we’ll get to have a say on this”
“I genuinely can’t picture it. I was talking to Colm O’ Gorman recently about what his experiences was of Marriage Equality. And he was very certain that it would win, and of course he was nervous, but he feels the same way about the 8th Amendment.
“Maybe it won’t be emphatic as Marriage Equality, but I think some constituencies are going to absolutely surprise people, in a positive way. On the 26th [May], when that count is finished, I think Ireland will be able to hold its head up high in the world, and say we support women,” adds Ms Kavanagh.
Published May 30th, 2018
Tags referendum opinion voting
Referendum on the 8th Amendment: What are we voting on?
Voting for the first time
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4638
|
__label__wiki
| 0.676078
| 0.676078
|
Sri Chinmoy on Ukraine’s Art TV Channel
This video was broadcasted three times in April 2015 in Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) on the 51st Channel TV station (Art-Zone section). Vera Savina, a disciple of Sri Chinmoy and member of the music group “Eternity’s Smile”, speaks about his music, art and sports activities.
© by 51st Channel TV station, Dnipropetrovsk
English translation: Vera Savina
Post-Editing by kedarvideo, Switzerland
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4639
|
__label__wiki
| 0.949531
| 0.949531
|
50 years later: Astronaut Michael Collins returns to the Apollo 11 launch pad: 'It's a wonderful feeling'
Instagram faces criticism after leaving gruesome images of teen's corpse on platform for hours
August 20, 2018 - 12:52 pm
Lawyer: Arrested migrant may have been mistaken for brother
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Mexican migrant detained by immigration agents in California while driving his wife to a hospital to give birth may have been mistaken by authorities for his brother, the man's lawyer said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Joel Arrona Lara was wanted on...
FILE - In a Monday, July 30, 2018 file photo, Michael Cohen, formerly a lawyer for President Trump, leaves his hotel, in New York. Attorney Barbara Jones revealed in a letter filed Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, in Manhattan federal court that she has completed her review of designations by lawyers for attorney Michael Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organization. After the April 9 raid of Cohen’s office and residences, Cohen asked a judge to give him a role in deciding what seized items were privileged and could not be seen by prosecutors. The judge appointed Jones. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
AP sources: Prosecutors preparing charges against Cohen
NEW YORK (AP) — Two people familiar with the federal investigation of Michael Cohen told The Associated Press prosecutors are preparing criminal charges against the former personal lawyer of Donald Trump that could be brought this month. These people confirmed reports Cohen could face charges...
The damage to a security booth by a shot fired, is seen outside the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Aug. 20, 2018. Shots were fired at a security booth outside the embassy in Turkey's capital early Monday, but U.S. officials said no one was hurt. Ties between Ankara and Washington have been strained over the case of an imprisoned American pastor, leading the U.S. to impose sanctions, and increased tariffs that sent the Turkish lira tumbling last week. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
August 20, 2018 - 11:55 am
2 detained after shots are fired at US Embassy in Turkey
ISTANBUL (AP) — Shots were fired from a moving car at the U.S. Embassy in Turkey before dawn Monday, an attack that came during heightened tensions between the two NATO allies. Officials said two people with criminal records were detained. There were no casualties in the fleeting attack, in which...
Ugandan security forces briefly beat then detain a protester in downtown Kampala, Uganda, Monday, Aug. 20, 2018. Ugandan police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse a crowd of protesters demanding the release of jailed lawmaker, pop star, and government critic Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, whose stage name is Bobi Wine. (AP Photo/Ronald Kabuubi)
Uganda police battle protesters seeking release of pop star
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan police fired bullets and tear gas Monday to disperse a crowd of protesters demanding the release of a jailed pop star who is a prominent critic of President Yoweri Museveni. There were no deaths in the riots in a downtown market in the capital, Kampala, as the...
Police probe stun gun use on man who had been holding child
WESTLAND, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit police department is investigating the arrest of a combative father who may have still been holding his 2-month-old son when an officer shot him with a stun gun. Westland police said in a statement Monday that the man grabbed his son after the officers told...
Paint covers the name of Cardinal Wuerl at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School, on Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, in Cranberry Township, Pa. Wuerl, a Roman Catholic Cardinal, and the archbishop of Washington, D.C., has come under fire from revelations in the Pennsylvania grand jury report about his actions while bishop of Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
August 20, 2018 - 9:34 am
Sign at high school named for Cardinal Wuerl is vandalized
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A sign at a Roman Catholic high school in Pennsylvania named for Cardinal Donald Wuerl has been vandalized with paint. Monday is the first day of school for North Catholic High School. It is part of the Pittsburgh Diocese, where Wuerl was bishop from 1988 to 2006. Wuerl is now...
FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2017, file photo, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer stands along the sideline during the first half of the team's Big Ten championship NCAA college football game against Wisconsin in Indianapolis. The investigation of how Meyer handled domestic violence accusations against an assistant has drawn attention to his contractual obligation to report violations of Ohio State’s sexual misconduct policy. It’s a type of specificity becoming increasingly common in college athletic contracts, especially for highly paid coaches who are standard-bearers for their universities. Sports law experts say such provisions clarify expectations for those employees and can make it easier for schools to fire them without compensation if they fall short. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
That scrutinized bit of Meyer's OSU contract may be new norm
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The investigation of how football coach Urban Meyer handled domestic violence accusations against an assistant has drawn attention to his obligation to report violations of Ohio State's sexual misconduct policy — a type of specificity becoming increasingly common in college...
Austria spy agency denies that it's being frozen out
BERLIN (AP) — The head of Austria's BVT spy agency is denying that there has been any significant reduction in cooperation with its foreign partners following a misconduct probe that sparked a political storm earlier this year. Police raided the BVT on Feb. 28 in an operation reportedly triggered...
President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the White House in Washington, Sunday, Aug. 19, 2018, after spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Trump rages on Mueller following Times report:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday railed against special counsel Robert Mueller in a second day of angry tweets that drew comparisons to Watergate, insisted his general counsel isn't a "RAT" like President Richard Nixon's and accused Mueller's team of "looking for trouble." "If you...
South Africa man denied appeal on ax murder convictions
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African man found guilty of murdering three of his immediate family members was denied the opportunity to appeal his conviction and life sentences on Monday. South African media report that the Western Cape High Court dismissed the application of Henri van Breda, 23, to...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4644
|
__label__wiki
| 0.960742
| 0.960742
|
Women are in charge: how TV production is evolving
4th April 2018 @ 16:15
Recent years have shown that TV programmes focused on female experiences can be as lucrative as they are timely, and a focus on this notion must be maintained if movements such as #TimesUp are to make a long-lasting change in the business, as Kaltrina Bylykbashi reports.
Recent events have seemingy led to a wave of new female-fronted and female-focused production companies. In the US, Nina Tassler has created content biz Patma, Double Yay Productions appeared out of a Kickstarter campaign in the UK, and over in Scandinavia Bigster was born out of a TV royalty trio, including actor Alexandra Rapaport and senior regional producers.
Certainly, after the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein saga began late last year and the emergence of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, it may seem like a no-brainer that women would want to climb to the helm of their industries and use the resultant spotlight on female experiences to project their creations forward. There’s one thing to remember, though: women have been leading production companies for years now anyway.
Many of the various female production power brokers interviewed for this feature have witnessed women leaders in action for many years. The difference is that projects led by women are finally being recognised as lucrative.
“Having films like Lady Bird or Wonder Woman do well is going to help more in making this change permanent,” says Lauren Grant, producer and creator of Clique Films. “It’s the projects that make money that do, because then the people who don’t care about ‘what’s right’ are going to be motivated by that bottom line.”
In the TV business in recent years, no one has shown the potential for successful projects that detail the female perspective more than Reese Witherspoon.
Her HBO series, Big Little Lies (left), has received many accolades, including 16 Emmy Award nominations in 2018, which in turn won eight, including Outstanding Limited Miniseries. The series also reached 1.9 million people for the Time Warner premium network on its final episode, making it a smash hit.
The high regard for the series has also led to Witherspoon scoring deals with streaming giants such as Apple and Hulu through her new Hello Sunshine label.
Partly, the success of such projects has been down to gradually changing attitudes, but they have also been helped by the #MeToo movement and, ultimately, big names such as Witherspoon that have backed projects.
Julia Sereny of Cardinal producer Sienna Films says: “There’s always been a tradition of producers who are female. There’s now certainly a rise in Hollywood of women actors using their influence, and insuring that there’s material that has meaning and significance for them. It’s fantastic.
“I’m not sure that the kind of shows that they develop would be made otherwise – Big Little Lies being a perfect case in point. It really was a unique and wonderfully-made show and it’s continuing, which is great. Reese Witherspoon, specifically, has been very vocal.”
The dramedy genre has particularly seen a wealth of titles emerge from female voices –shows such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag and Issa Rae’s Insecure (left) have achieved critical acclaim and ratings success.
These titles have almost created a form of sub-genre that is hyper-real, funny but dark, and caters to specific young adult audiences. They have also opened doors for newer shows such as Derry Girls and Can’t Cope Won’t Cope (right).
Such titles are also helping other deals close. Merman co-founder Clelia Mountford says this is one of the core reasons that Amazon this January struck a deal with her prodco, which she formed with Catastrophe’s Sharon Horgan.
“They like the fact we do tell female stories because it needs more of them and has told us that, so that genre is something we’re actively developing for them.
“It’s early days, and it’s a back and forth dialogue about what fits and what suits their sensibility, but I think we’re in the right place,” she says.
While the sources TBI has spoken to are hopeful about the increasing number of titles highlighting authentic female experiences, they are also cautious that it doesn’t become the ‘hot topic of the moment’. The execs are yet to see some markers of change that would ensure truly equal representation for years to come.
The TV production business has been welcoming to women, but there are disparities in the industry: there are still fewer female directors than men, fewer projects led by female writers picked up, fewer women at the helm when it comes to financing projects, and a lack of true representation for women aged 50 or over.
Mountford (left) says: “In terms of behind the camera and crews, there is definitely some work to do for parity in the TV business.
“Sharon [Horgan] talks about this in directing. A lot of men have this in-built confidence, where they’re like, ‘I can pick up a camera, I can learn, I can do that’, whereas women are a little bit more hesitant and want to get some more training. There are also issues about having kids, taking time out, not having enough childcare, and the unsociable hours.”
Such topics require work. At Merman, the co-founders have been tackling the issue at hand by helping yet-to-be-established female directors find projects, just as they did with a series of Halloween-themed shorts for the UK’s Sky late last year. Kate Heron, Emily Greenwood and Nida Manzoor all landed work out of the project.
Sienna co-founder Jennifer Kawaja, meanwhile, believes unapologetically that until ageism for women is addressed on TV, the #MeToo movement will have been fruitless.
“I will only believe that there’s change when we see women on screen that have not altered their faces with plastic surgery,” she says. “I have nothing against surgery, but I feel until older women over 50 are on screens as legitimately as men over 50 that #MeToo has had only had limited impact because it all ties together.
“Sexual objectification, sexual harassment in the work place, how we view women, what women we put on screen, how we ask them to behave on screen, how we ask them to dress, the consistent and relentless portrayal of older men with younger women, and what we see as feminine beauty versus male handsomeness –they can all be related to this age gap.”
None of this will be possible, however, until those financing the projects believe that audiences want to see women on screen and will buy into these stories. Part of the ongoing problem, according to Clique’s Grant, is that a lot of major financiers are still male and don’t.
“In TV and film, so much decision-making power rests in the hands of men,” she says. “Even in Canada, where the creative heads of our networks are women, the bosses that allow for the final greenlight are all men.”
Part of the solution to these problems is to keep valuable conversations going, and Mountford says its also about being “pushy”, which some women can still be hesitant about.
Zoe Rocha (left), who was recently brought in by Fyzz Facility to lead its TV production arm admits she has experienced this in the past. She explains that as co-founder of LittleRock Productions, which she set up with Ralf Little, investors always deferred to him, despite the fact she had the strong financial background.
She says this happened partly due to her having a feeling of ‘imposter syndrome’, which she has since addressed. Things have changed significantly since she has started going into meetings more confidently.
Overall, despite these aspects, the former boss of Stephen Fry’s production company believes that there has been gradual progress for change in the industry. “I really feel that, from ground level, the conversation is starting to sway, as a lot of these companies are now set up by women,” says Rocha. “I’ve come into Fyzz after formerly being on the financing side of show creation to really drive forward projects. I’m really looking at female-driven projects, both because that’s what I’m interested in and also where I see that things are moving.
“With our projects, I want to make sure that we’re employing women behind the cameras, so I’m looking at writers, directors and crew. We’re addressing that at every level and that’s what a lot of people are doing. I really feel the tide is turning and it’s quite exciting actually.
“We have to be cautious, but I think that the changes are definitely here to stay.”
Tags: Clelia Mountford, Fyzz Facility, Jennifer Kawaja, Merman, Zoë Rocha
In the spotlight: Simon & Stephen Cornwell
The Ink Factory founders, and sons of author John le Carré, discuss the changing face of television and bringing their father’s stories to new audiences. Andy McDonald reports Stephen and Simon Cornwell set up production company The Ink Factory in 2010, with a core part of their strategy to adapt the work of their father. LA-based […]
30 years of TBI: The TBI 100 (1994)
TBI turns 30 this year, and to celebrate we will be publishing a series of archive articles chronicling the evolving television and entertainment landscape since 1988. During the early-to-mid 1990s TBI published The TBI 100, a labour of love that ranked the active media and entertainment companies of the day in order of their scale. […]
Fremantle rolls out global event titles
Fremantle is taking buyers around the world with a slate of scripted and unscripted titles that touch on experiences across continents, this morning at London’s Ham Yard Hotel in Soho. Jens Richter, Fremantle’s International CEO, says the business will bring a packed slate of programming to London to get ahead “in a market where more […]
Romper Stomper: the Wright time to revisit history
Geoffrey Wright’s earth-shaking 1992 movie Romper Stomper redefined representations of violence on the big screen, and now the Australian director is bringing the title to TV sets as a drama series for SVOD service Stan. Jesse Whittock meets him to find out why. There’s so much crazy shit going on these days you really can’t […]
The vast Arctic Circle: a copro set to put Finland on the drama map
The ascent of Aussie drama
VOD complex – the story of video-on-demand so far in figures
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4646
|
__label__cc
| 0.724786
| 0.275214
|
Wearable numbers get a bump, as consumers shift focus to smarter devices
Brian Heater @bheater / 2 years
The wearable space seems to still be figuring itself out — though in spite of some reports about the death of the category, overall growth remains one of the few constants. According to the latest numbers from IDC, the global bump was pretty modest for Q3 of this year, at about 7.3-percent, year over year.
More interestingly, the numbers point to a larger overall trend of consumers moving from dumber, low-end devices to smarter ones. The study defines the latter as devices that are capable of running third-party apps — so pretty much smartwatches, at this point.
That trend does seem to lend some credence to Fitbit’s recent decision to go all-in on smartwatches with multiple high profile acquisitions that led to the creation of the Ionic. That device was something of a mixed bag, though its release did go a ways toward bolstering the company’s sales in recent months.
Fitbit’s fortunes appear to be a mixed big as well, in this latest report. The good news is that the company caught back up to Xiaomi, after the Chinese hardware company surpassed it for a bit, thanks to some seriously low cost devices. The two are basically tied for first according to IDC’s chart.
The one time far and away leader in the space experienced a steep drop in shipments, with a 33-percent year over year decrease. Of course, the Ionic is considerably more expensive, which means the company doesn’t have to ship as many units to make the same revenue — even so, it’s going to have to start selling a lot more smartwatches to make up for those declines.
And while this quarter points to a growth in higher end devices, other recent trends have focused on cheaper devices. That’s certainly driven Xiaomi’s growth, though the company did suffer a slight year over year decline, due perhaps in part tot the fact that the company hasn’t made much of a dent outside of its native China. That hasn’t really hurt Huawei’s growth, however. The company shot up 156-percent year over year, blowing past Garmin to capture fourth place on the chart.
Apple also had a nice bump at 52-percent year over year, thanks to the company’s decision to push back the announcement of the Apple Watch 3. That jump likely also had something to do with this recent shift toward smart device purchases.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4648
|
__label__wiki
| 0.545011
| 0.545011
|
New York City report pins millions in rent hikes on Airbnb
Devin Coldewey @techcrunch / 1 year
A report from the New York City Comptroller’s office asserts that New York residents are paying hundreds of millions in extra rent linked to the effects of Airbnb . Naturally, the company bitterly rejects these findings.
(Update: Airbnb and AirDNA, the source for the study’s data on hosts, strenuously object to the study, saying the data has been interpreted incorrectly. Specifically, the latter says that the report considers all listings as the same regardless of type and activity, which obviously would paint a biased picture of their effects. I’ve asked the Comptroller’s office for comment and left the post as-is for now.)
The report, which you can read here, is fairly straightforward. It looks at hundreds of neighborhoods and their various demographics and characteristics, along with how much their rents rose over the last 10 years or so. It finds that when controlling for other variables, Airbnb contributes to a part of the rise on its own:
We find that as the share of units listed on Airbnb goes up by one percentage point, rental rates in the neighborhood go up by 1.58 percent, after controlling for neighborhood level demographic and economic changes. The result is statistically significant at the 1-percent level.
By the researchers’ calculations, the total cost of these increases across the city amounted to about $616 million. That came from running their numbers with Airbnb rentals set to zero instead of the actual tens of thousands of listings and seeing what rents would be in that alternative universe.
The amounts of rent increases and the number of Airbnb listings are tightly and reliably correlated, the Comptroller’s office explained. They were careful to control for other factors, for instance a neighborhood becoming trendy or new housing changing the supply. The hypothesis is that Airbnb listings, contrary to the company’s assertions, do in fact reduce housing supply, which has a knock-on effect on rent in remaining rentals.
The increases, the report and its accompanying press release say, are concentrated in midtown and lower Manhattan, where 20 percent of the rent increases were attributed to Airbnb effects. The effect was much weaker in the outer boroughs, as you might expect, where density is lower and fewer listings are available.
Airbnb, of course, calls it a pack of lies and takes the opportunity to pontificate a bit (which, to be fair, Comptroller Stringer did too):
Unfortunately, this report is wrong on the facts, falsely asserting that middle class New Yorkers who share their space are responsible for the rising cost of housing in New York… Pandering to the powerful by attacking middle class families won’t do a thing to make New York more affordable. It’s time to stop the scapegoating and work with us on a solution.
Its criticisms are a mix of reasonable objections and straw men. It rightly points out, for instance, that Airbnb hosts are most frequently just renting out a room a few nights a month for some extra income, which logically should improve affordability, not harm it. Then there’s the idea that Airbnb units tend to pop up in fashionable areas, which are inherently more likely to see rents increase.
Some of Airbnb’s gripes are less reasonable, however.
“The notion that less than 1 percent of housing stock — much of which is only occasionally shared with short-term renters — is the sole source of New York’s housing affordability challenge is simply not credible,” the company writes. That’s true — which is probably why the report doesn’t say anything like that.
“We never blamed the whole increase in housing costs on one factor – we quite clearly said that Airbnb was just one factor and explained that it’s 9.2% of the increase,” wrote Tyrone Stevens, the Comptroller’s press secretary, in an email to TechCrunch.
Airbnb also criticizes using 2009 as the starting year for its data, saying the financial crisis changed the whole housing market. Then it cites a report showing that a one bedroom in Williamsburg cost the same in 2018 as it did in 2011.
“We picked 2009 as our base year because that was the year prior to Airbnb’s presence in NYC, and it made sense to measure the full impact of the rise of Airbnb. But the choice of base year is utterly irrelevant to measuring the contribution of Airbnb to rent increases,” Stevens wrote. “And randomly picking an industry report on 1-bedroom apartments in one neighborhood over a different time period doesn’t refute a citywide analysis.”
The fact that rents are leveling out lately doesn’t hold much water, either — arguably that might have occurred sooner but for Airbnb’s alleged contribution to their increases in the first place.
Ultimately the difference comes down to whether or not Airbnb effectively removes housing from the market. The company swears up and down that isn’t the case, and cites user numbers to support that position. The city says there’s little other possible explanation for the close correlation between listings in certain neighborhoods and the specific rent increases it sees in them.
Both, however, seem to agree that the lack of regulation puts everyone at risk. Hopefully that common ground will lead to a fruitful collaboration on new rules in the future.
Update: Airbnb has filed a Freedom of Information Law request for “any and all communications regarding the conception and development” of the report, which it calls a “snow job” and alleges “was influenced by powerful special interests,” namely the hotel industry.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4649
|
__label__wiki
| 0.536911
| 0.536911
|
Bethesda E3 2016 – Prey
Steven Ramos / June 12, 2016 at 10:52 PM / Gaming, Gaming News / Comments
In 2006, Human Head Studios’s Prey rocked the first person shooter genre with its impressive graphics and gameplay. It seems that fans will finally be able to return to the adventure in the form of the newly developing game of the same name. Multiple reports for a sequel to Prey have surfaced over the last decade. After the rights to Prey 2 were acquired by Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax Media, hopes of receiving a sequel were crushed by an official report of cancellation in 2014. Fans were, thus, undoubtedly overjoyed by Bethesda’s announcement that a new Prey is on the way. A trailer shown at Bethesda’s E3 conference demonstrates the stunning visual quality that this new iteration of the popular game will have. By nothing short of design ingenuity, the image of Prey alone is enough to warrant applause. However, this version seems to be a reboot of sorts. Set in the year 2032, Prey will be a first person adventure that will feature a psychological twist on the genre. The player will control a test subject, named Morgan Yu, for a program that will prove to be revolutionary to human life. Unfortunately, the theme quickly becomes survival, as the threat of being hunted by an alien will require players to use all of their resources and skills. With no official release date, those who have been long anticipating a successor to the original will have to be satisfied with the official reveal trailer.
Find more of our E3 coverage at our E3 2016 Coverage Hub!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYO5Q0BJx8w]
Steven Ramos
A fanatic of all things human, Steven spends an alarming amount of time researching untrue facts. Did you know that the Trojan horse was nicknamed “Tro-jo”? Just like you, he loves video games, movies, “the telly”, and all sorts of wacky thingamajigs. Ask him a question about anything and he’s sure to start a conversation somehow! Also he lives in that Texas part of America! Though writing about games is his current side hustle, Steven hopes to create an impactful journalism career by turning his thoughts into words, sounds, and images.
E3 2016 - Yooka-Laylee Presentation and Interview
E3 2016 - Outlast 2 Preview and Interview
E3 2017 - Hunt: Showdown Interview and Impressions
Bethesda E3 2016 - Bethesda VR
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4650
|
__label__cc
| 0.653543
| 0.346457
|
Listen: Shining a light on environmental injustice in the colonias
TxLIHIS staff members work on a wide range of issues across the state. To highlight some of that work, I’ll occasionally record brief conversations with our staff on the issues with which they’re currently engaged. This week, I spoke with our co-director John Henneberger and Rio Grande Valley director Josué Ramírez about the longtime contamination of a popular community fishing spot (pictured above) – and the lack of environmental protection from the local, state and federal governments. The roughly 15-minute conversation is also viewable as a transcript posted below the audio recording. The transcript has been lightly edited.
Will: As the Texas Tribune recently reported, the fish in Donna Reservoir and Canal in Donna, Texas contain PCBs, very dangerous chemicals that have been proven to cause a serious risk of cancer for people who eat the fish. The problem is that Donna Canal is a popular source of fishing for local residents from all around the Valley.
Federal and state officials have known that the fish in Donna Reservoir and Canal have been contaminated for decades. It has been a Superfund site for nearly a decade. Despite this, people continue to fish every day. There have been occasional signs posted warning about the fish, but those are easily ignored or removed and very few other enforcement efforts have been made by the State of Texas, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the private irrigation district which owns the site. The lake is easily accessible by residents who come to fish every day.
Local community organizing groups have been trying to get government to do something about this environmental contamination issue for some time. Thanks to their efforts, the EPA has now re-investigated the site and is determining where the contamination comes from. However, as this is all going on, fishing continues unabated with very little enforcement from any government agencies.
John, what does this issue have to say about justice for low income people in the Rio Grande Valley, and housing and neighborhood issues more specifically?
John: The situation with Donna Lake and the PCB contamination that’s literally killing people in the Rio Grande Valley sort of perfectly summarizes the failure of government agencies to adequately protect the lives of people in highly impoverished colonias. We worked for several decades with community organizations like LUPE and ARISE to try to get justice in the colonias. But justice really requires that government work. And I think this whole situation, where this contamination has been known now for decades and where people continue to this day to eat contaminated fish, get cancer and die, because the government has failed to protect people, is a perfect example of the problems that beset the colonias.
Will: Josué, what does your work with some of the people who live in these colonias entail, and how do they approach this problem?
Josué: I work very closely with A Resource in Serving Equality, or ARISE as you mentioned, and they are a colonia-focused organization providing services for the communities, specifically for women and children. And this issue has been on their radar since the problem was discovered. They were outreached to do some flyering and pamphleting.
My role at TxLIHIS is really as a resource role for ARISE. So that means being a liaison between the community, colonia residents, and the agencies in charge and who need to be held accountable, such as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the EPA, local mayors and city officials. And really TxLIHIS’ role has been as a facilitator of those conversations. We’ve held community meetings with colonia residents and these staff members, including the regional director of the EPA, having direct conversations about what colonia residents’ problems were, from colonia residents. And I don’t think that necessarily is something the regional director feels or the staff of these agencies have to deal with a lot of the time. So I think my role is to provide a space for the community up front and make sure their voices really get heard, to make sure what they’re saying is heard and actually done.
John: And I’d just add that I think a light has to be shined on these failures and that’s part of our role. It’s also our role, as Josué says, to help the community organizations, the people most effected, get in front of this issue and expose it to the general public. The solution here is only going to come when people become outraged and demand that their government do right by them. And that’s the role of community organizing. That’s the role of the media and engaged citizens. It’s our job to support the community organizing at the grassroots and then get the facts out. All of us should be concerned about these types of failures.
Will: So what is going on now that the EPA has released a preliminary report, again finding contamination in the fish and possibly finding the source of that contamination? I know that they put up a few more signs to try to stop people from fishing. Has there been any change?
Josué: The change that has been happening at the EPA level is very bureaucratic. At this point they’re still trying to identify the source of contamination, with 23 years of knowing that it’s been contaminated. And so the process has been very slow. At this point the EPA has released some initial reports including the risk assessment, the health assessment and the ecological assessment that give the community more detailed information about what the problem is, what the contamination is and where it is. This is good progress that we’ve been seeing, but it really has come from a lot of community pressure.
Will: John, besides the technical elements of where the contamination is coming from, the fact is that federal, state and local officials have known that there is contamination for at least 23 years, probably longer. As they figure out the technical solutions, what are some things they could be doing right now, and why aren’t they doing them?
John: What needs to happen right now is that either somebody needs to drain the lake and stop people from eating the contaminated fish, or someone needs to enforce a fishing ban. For some reason or other, government seems incapable of getting that job done. The game wardens have stopped enforcing the fishing ban. Up until the other day, like last week, there weren’t any signs warning people not to fish – the signs had been torn down. This has been going on now for more than 23 years, and it’s just not adequate protection to say that people ought to know because we’re passing out some leaflets and we’re doing some PSAs on the TV stations.
I drove down there the other day with officials from the EPA. We passed people on both sides of the road with fishing poles in the lake. And every time you drive down the road – and this is a state highway that leads to the lake and through the lake on a causeway – there’s people on both sides almost every day taking fish from this lake, and nobody stopping that from happening. I think we really expect government to do a much better job of making sure that people are protected.
The ramifications of this are not simply for the people who are directly fishing themselves, but in some cases people are fishing for sustenance. They’re low income, they don’t have adequate food sources and they’re eating the fish out of economic necessity. In other instances, we’ve had reports that people are actually selling the fish to local restaurants or to neighbors, or giving the fish away. And the EPA report basically says that the cancer risks are not simply risks; they border on certainties for people who eat significant quantities of this fish. From all appearances, it seems that a whole lot of people in the Rio Grande Valley are eating high quantities of this fish.
Will: In the Texas Tribune story, they spoke with Kelly Haragan, who is the director of the Environmental Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law. She asked a rhetorical question that I want to ask you both: If this was happening in Plano, or an upper-class, majority white community, would it have taken this long for government to do anything to protect residents?
Josué: No, short answer. I honestly believe that most of the environmental justice issues that we see are focused on communities of color. In my opinion, the environmental issues that arise in places like Plano get taken care of fairly quickly or don’t even become issues to the extremes that these environmental justice are in the colonias or other low income communities of color.
John: I agree with Josué. I think this situation would have been taken care of a long time ago. There is no equivalent situation to the Donna Lake Superfund site in higher income neighborhoods and this is, in my opinion, virtually textbook environmental racism, meaning that in low income communities of color people are treated substantially differently in terms of the type of government services and protection that they get from their government.
Will: Josué, moving forward and acknowledging the difficulties of getting government to pay attention to communities like Donna, what are the organizers on the ground thinking and what are their goals for now?
Josué: Their main thought is really on the community, the well-being of their friends and families. That’s what they’re thinking about and that’s what’s driving them to educate people around the lake and the surrounding communities about the dangers of eating contaminated fish. Not only to community members, but also to elected officials and to the agencies. The organizing groups have been very, very good at maintaining focus on this issue. They’ve made it part of the Texas state environmental justice agenda. It’s a priority now, and they’re going to keep pushing for solutions. They understand that there is a process going on and they understand that they need to be educated to be a part of that process in terms of providing solutions that make sense and that work for them.
John: This situation is just one example of these type of environmental problems in the colonias. The colonias are arguably the most concentrated, highest poverty region in the United States today. It all boils down to people getting treated differently, both because they’re poor and because they’re Hispanic, and also because many residents in the area are immigrants. If we look at other issues in the colonias, many of them are environmentally related.
Problems like flooding – the colonias are often located in low-lying areas and generally government has failed to provide that developers build adequate infrastructure to prevent them from flooding. So we have continual flooding. We have lots of standing water issues and mosquitos, and with the Zika virus coming to the United States this is going to be another public health catastrophe. We’ve had years of problems trying to get adequate wastewater disposal into the colonias, and we had a scare back in the ’90s about a potential cholera outbreak because people weren’t connected to sewer systems. It’s just one continuing environmental crisis after another, and we trace all those problems back to the fact of this differential treatment. The fact that our federal government, state government and in the Rio Grande Valley the county and local governments, often treat poor people of color, and especially poor people of color who are recently immigrants, fundamentally differently and deprive them of essential public serviced. And in this case, essential protection of their lives.
This is really the work today that our partners and we are dedicated to trying to advance in the Rio Grande Valley. It’s about equality. It’s about making sure that government does what it promises and is responsible to do – protect the lives of its citizens.
TagsARISE • Colonias • Environmental justice • Rio Grande Valley
4 comments on “Listen: Shining a light on environmental injustice in the colonias”
Pingback: Colonia youth take charge to protect neighbors from contamination | Texas Housers
Pingback: A call to confront segregation in colonias: Addressing development and civil rights | Texas Housers
Pingback: EPA summit a chance to highlight environmental injustices in colonias | Texas Housers
Pingback: Announcing the 2016 Texas Houser Awards | Texas Housers
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4653
|
__label__wiki
| 0.983728
| 0.983728
|
Sabourin wins “Baz” Bastien Award
April 11, 2006 theahl
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Dany Sabourin of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins has been named the winner of the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender for the 2005-06 season, as voted by players and members of the media in each of the league’s 27 cities.
A 2005-06 First Team AHL All-Star, Sabourin has anchored the AHL’s top-ranked defense this year, backstopping Wilkes-Barre to its best regular season in franchise history and its first East Division championship. With his record of 28-14-4 in 47 appearances this season, Sabourin ranks first among active goaltenders in goals-against average (2.30), second in save percentage (.921), third in victories (a team-record 28) and tied for fourth in shutouts (three).
Sabourin, who won his first nine starts of the season, represented the Penguins at the 2006 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic, and was named the Koho/AHL Goaltender of the Month for January.
A native of Val d’Or, Que., the 25-year-old Sabourin was a fourth-round draft pick by Calgary in 1998. He has compiled a career record of 61-50-12 with nine shutouts in 133 AHL games. Sabourin has played five career NHL games, including one this season with Pittsburgh.
The Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award, which was first presented in 1984, honors the late “Baz” Bastien, who played four seasons in goal with the AHL’s Pittsburgh Hornets (1945-49) before suffering a career-ending eye injury. Bastien would go on to serve as head coach and general manager of the Hornets, leading them to the 1967 Calder Cup championship.
Previous winners of the award include Sam St. Laurent (1986), Mark Laforest (1987, ’91), Felix Potvin (1992), Manny Legace (1996), Jean-Francois Labbe (1997), Martin Biron (1999), Dwayne Roloson (2001), Martin Prusek (2002), Jason LaBarbera (2004) and Ryan Miller (2005).
In operation since 1936, the AHL is celebrating its historic 70th anniversary this season, and continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams. Over 80 percent of all NHL players today are AHL graduates, and more than 350 AHL players have been recalled to the NHL this season alone. Sixteen clubs will continue to vie for the league’s coveted championship trophy when the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs get underway next week.
Award history
Previous PostPirates setting sail towards Calder Cup dreamNext PostAHL announces suspensions
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4656
|
__label__wiki
| 0.735527
| 0.735527
|
Tag Archives: Originator
Marshall Curry
Marshall Curry has been selected by Filmmaker Magazine as one of “25 New Faces of Independent Film”. He was awarded the International Documentary Association (IDA) Jacqueline Donnet Filmmaker Award and has received the International Trailblazer Award at MIPDOC in Cannes.
Curry has appeared as a guest on television and radio numerous times, including NPR’s Morning Edition, ABC’s Nightline, PBS’s The Tavis Smiley Show, and others. He has been a guest lecturer at Harvard, Duke, Columbia, NYU, and other colleges, and he has served on juries for the International Documentary Association, the Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs Film Festival, Full Frame Documentary Festival, AFI/Silverdocs, and the Gotham Awards.
All three of Curry’s films have been a part of the American Documentary Showcase, a program sponsored by the U.S. State Department to share the art and practice of documentary filmmaking with the international community. As part of the Showcase, he has traveled to Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, and Ukraine to lead classes and discussions about documentary filmmaking.
Of Curry’s films, S.T. VanAirsdale (Movieline) said, “From vérité campaign-trail flashes in Street Fight to intimate dinner-table powwows in Racing Dreams to the candid, point-blank interviews in If a Tree Falls, his films take keen and unique advantage of both access and timing… getting down to the business of communicating without distraction, discrimination or guile. At heart, the films seek to detail the spectrum of grace.”
Before making films, Curry worked for a number of years at a New York multimedia design firm, where he produced and directed interactive documentaries and websites for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and others. Prior to that, he taught English in Guanajuato, Mexico, worked in public radio, and taught government in Washington DC.
He is a graduate of Swarthmore College where he studied Comparative Religion and was a Eugene Lang Scholar. He was also a Jane Addams Fellow at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, where he wrote about the history, philosophy, and economics of non-profits.
Films:
Curry was the director of STREET FIGHT, RACING DREAMS, IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT, and executive producer of MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS.
Links to Marshall:
Website: www.marshallcurry.com
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1903582/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Curry
This entry was posted in Interviewee and tagged Adelaide, AFTRS, DocWeek, IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT, Joost den Hartog, Marshall Curry, Masters in Screen Arts and Business, MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS, Nick Bolton, Originator, RACING DREAMS, STREET FIGHT, The Art of Perseverance, The Art of Perseverance in Documentary Filmmaking on February 3, 2014 by n1ch0la5b0lt0n.
Jakeb Anvhu
Jakeb Anvhu is a graduate of The Victorian College of the Arts. As a writer, director, editor and producer, his short films include Dan Bau Lullaby (2013) and The Marshall Cooking Show (2004). Blush of Fruit (2012) is his feature debut.
Blush Of Fruit (Documentary, 2012)
Cay Cau (The Betel Tree) (Documentary, 2005)
Marshall Cooking Show (Documentary, 2004)
Sway (Documentary, 2004)
Links to Jakeb:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JakebAnhvu
This entry was posted in Interviewee and tagged Adelaide, AFTRS, Australian International Documentary Conference, Blush of Fruit, Cay Cau, DocWeek, Jakeb Anhvu, Joost den Hartog, Marshall Cooking Show, Masters in Screen Arts and Business, Nick Bolton, Originator, Sway, The Art of Perseverance, The Art of Perseverance in Documentary Filmmaking, The Victorian College of the Arts on February 3, 2014 by n1ch0la5b0lt0n.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4657
|
__label__cc
| 0.726995
| 0.273005
|
Giving Thanks to Our Vendor Partners
June 17, 2019 /in 38 Million Dollars Donated, Fort Collins Real Estate, Windermere Foundation, Windermere Partners, Windermere Vendors /by Fort Collins
Posted in Windermere Foundation by Marilou Ubungen
Throughout the years, the Windermere Foundation has donated more than $38 million to hundreds of organizations throughout the Western U.S. We’ve helped homeless shelters, food banks, schools, hospitals, community centers, and other nonprofits that provide services to low-income and homeless families.
Most of this funding comes from our agents who give a portion of every commission they earn to the Windermere Foundation. In addition to this, Windermere has a number of vendor partners that do their part by donating a portion of the business they receive from Windermere, back to the Windermere Foundation. Examples of these partners include Bumblejax, Complete Office, Fran’s Chocolates, glassybaby, Knack, Loop & Tie, Morrison Craig Apparel, Posie Turner, Sozo, and Windsor Vineyards.
One partner in particular that we’d like to give special recognition to is trueIMAGE Publishing. Since 2007, trueIMAGE Publishing has provided Windermere agents with beautiful calendars that showcase exclusive images from award-winning photographers. These calendars are popular gift items that agents send to their clients. Through these calendar sales, trueIMAGE Publishing has generously donated over $247,000 to the Windermere Foundation! We cannot thank them enough for all they’ve done to help us continue our tradition of giving.
We are so grateful for all of our “true-ly” wonderful vendor partners who share our passion for helping those less fortunate. Their contributions have helped us continue to provide funding for things such as diapers and formula for babies, housing assistance for families with critically ill children, shoes and school supplies to students in need, and scholarships for low-income adults seeking to continue their education in order to be able to provide more for their families.
To learn more about the Windermere Foundation, or to make a donation, please visit windermerefoundation.com.
The post Giving Thanks to Our Vendor Partners appeared first on Fort Collins Real Estate | Fort Collins Homes for Sale & Property Search.
http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png 0 0 Fort Collins http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png Fort Collins2019-06-17 18:00:222019-06-17 18:00:22Giving Thanks to Our Vendor Partners
Windermere Celebrates 35 Years of Community Service!
June 12, 2019 /in community, Community Service Day, Fight Homelessness, Food Bank, Give Back, Volunteer, Volunteering, Windermere Foundation /by Fort Collins
Posted in Community by Marilou Ubungen
If you try to call or stop by a Windermere office today you’ll notice that we’re closed for business. That’s because the entire Windermere network of agents, franchise owners, and staff are volunteering for our annual Community Service Day. For the past 35 years, our agents have taken one-day-a-year off to dig into hands-on community service projects, volunteering more than one million hours of time in the process.
So, what do we do on Community Service Day? This year, we can be found doing a variety of projects, such as weeding community gardens, cleaning and landscaping at various parks, sorting donations and cleaning up warehouse spaces at local nonprofits, cleaning animal shelters, building and auctioning off Adirondack chairs to benefit school district programs for homeless students, cleaning elementary schools, sorting/distributing food at food banks, preparing land for the growing season at food pantries, and helping to build a playground at a homeless shelter for families. This is just a sample of the projects that our offices have selected to complete on Windermere’s annual day of giving.
Community Service Day is something our company looks forward to every year because it gives us the opportunity to come together as a team to make a positive difference in the communities where we live, work, and play.
The post Windermere Celebrates 35 Years of Community Service! appeared first on Fort Collins Real Estate | Fort Collins Homes for Sale & Property Search.
http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png 0 0 Fort Collins http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png Fort Collins2019-06-12 17:56:182019-06-12 17:56:18Windermere Celebrates 35 Years of Community Service!
Caring for our Communities through the Windermere Foundation
June 5, 2019 /in Blog, Foundation, Giving Back, Low Income Adults, Vendors, Windermere Foundation /by Fort Collins
Posted in Community and Windermere Foundation by Marilou Ubungen
Windermere offices have been busy this year raising money for the Windermere Foundation which provides funding to support low-income and homeless families throughout the Western U.S. Last quarter alone, the Windermere Foundation collected over $308,236 in donations, bringing our total to $38,314,364 raised since 1989 when the Windermere Foundation first started.
Each Windermere office has its own Windermere Foundation fund account that they use to make donations to organizations in their local communities. These accounts are funded by donations from owners, agents, staff, and the community, and from donations through Windermere agent commissions. The Windermere Hillsboro office in Oregon, and Windermere Coeur d’Alene Realty in Idaho, are two great examples of how our offices go above and beyond to support their local communities.
Windermere Hillsboro
Earlier this year, the Windermere Hillsboro office donated $1,500 to the Hillsboro School District’s McKinney-Vento program, a program which ensures that students who face housing instability and hardship have access to public education, despite the lack of a fixed living environment or a supervising parent or guardian. There are 20,000 students in the district and more than 400 of those students face housing instability. Every school district in Oregon has at least one designated McKinney-Vento Liaison. The Hillsboro School District has a team of three that works tirelessly to support each student and their families with rental and utilities assistance. If there is housing stability at home, then those students are more likely to stay in school.
The Windermere Hillsboro office also made a $5,000 donation to Community Action, whose mission is to lead the way to eliminate conditions of poverty and create opportunities for people and communities to thrive. The donation will go towards programs that help approximately 26,000 individuals and families: Energy Assistance, Early Childhood Development, Family Development, and Housing Stability.
Windermere/Coeur d’Alene Realty
In March, Windermere/Coeur d’Alene Realty, which has offices in Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, and Hayden, was recognized as the Best Real Estate Office by The Business Journal of North Idaho in their “Best of 2019” awards. This is the ninth year-in-a-row that they have received this honor. The brokerage was also named Idaho’s Brightest Star for their philanthropy and community involvement. Through the Windermere Foundation, they have given back nearly one million dollars to local charities and humanitarian agencies in Kootenai County, and more than 11,000 warm winter boots to local children in need.
Thanks to our agents, offices, and everyone who supports the Windermere Foundation, we have been able to make a difference in the lives of many families in our local communities. This year we celebrate the Windermere Foundation’s 30th anniversary with a renewed year-long focus on giving back, doing more, and providing service to the communities that have made us who we are.
Our goal for 2019 is to raise over $40 million in total donations. If you’d like to help us reach this goal, or learn more about the Windermere Foundation, please visit WindermereFoundation.com.
The post Caring for our Communities through the Windermere Foundation appeared first on Fort Collins Real Estate | Fort Collins Homes for Sale & Property Search.
http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png 0 0 Fort Collins http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png Fort Collins2019-06-05 17:52:232019-06-05 17:52:23Caring for our Communities through the Windermere Foundation
Windermere and YouthCare – Helping Homeless Youth
May 15, 2019 /in Blog, Tackle Homelessness, The Windermere Foundation, Windermere Foundation, YouthCare /by Fort Collins
Pictured from left to right: Cassie Walker Johnson, YouthCare Board Member & Windermere Broker; Jill Jacobi Wood, Co-President, Windermere Real Estate; Christine Wood, Executive Director, Windermere Foundation; Geoff Wood, CEO & Co-President, Windermere Real Estate.
For the past 30 years, Windermere Real Estate has supported more than 500 non-profit agencies dedicated to helping low-income and homeless families through donations from the Windermere Foundation. We have worked with many worthy organizations that provide shelter, food, youth/children’s programs, emergency assistance, education/counseling, school assistance, scholarships, and other services to those in need in our communities. One organization that we have been honored to partner with these past three years is YouthCare, a non-profit in Seattle, Washington that provides critical services to homeless youth. YouthCare works to end youth homelessness and to ensure that young people are valued for who they are and empowered to achieve their potential.
Three years ago, we embarked on a campaign to #tacklehomelessness with the Seattle Seahawks and YouthCare. Together, our goal was to bring resources to help homeless youth move forward, and to inspire our neighbors and friends to take action. Windermere committed to donating $100 for every Seahawks home game defensive tackle to YouthCare. During the three seasons of the campaign, a total of $98,700 was raised to help fund housing and residential care for homeless youth.
In addition to the #tacklehomelessness campaign, Windermere offices throughout the greater Seattle area came together each fall to hold a “We’ve Got You Covered” winter drive for YouthCare. Over three years, a combined total of over 14,600 hats, gloves, scarves, socks, and an assortment of other accessories and cash donations were collected through the drives.
“We fielded a mountain (literally!) of donated items from the Windermere Community,” said Jody Waits, Development & Communications Officer for YouthCare. “Windermere understands the power of home, and that a safe and welcoming place to call your own causes joy. We are so honored to have cheered for the Hawks and had this incredible partnership to tackle homelessness, together! While our friendship is evolving, we know that, united, we’ll always be working to help homeless youth be safe today and build a thriving future for tomorrow. Thank you!”
Although our campaign with YouthCare has come to an end, Windermere is still actively involved with the non-profit. Cassie Walker Johnson, managing broker at the Windermere Wedgwood office, is a member of YouthCare’s Board of Directors.
Windermere is proud to partner with non-profits like YouthCare, and we are thankful for all the generous donations made to the Windermere Foundation, which enable us to continue to support them.
If you would like to learn more about the Windermere Foundation, please visit windermerefoundation.com.
The post Windermere and YouthCare – Helping Homeless Youth appeared first on Fort Collins Real Estate | Fort Collins Homes for Sale & Property Search.
http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png 0 0 Fort Collins http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png Fort Collins2019-05-15 17:30:152019-05-15 17:30:15Windermere and YouthCare – Helping Homeless Youth
The Seahawks and Windermere Return for Another Season to #TackleHomelessness
September 19, 2018 /in Blog, Fun Facts, Seahawks, Windermere Foundation /by Fort Collins
All of us at Windermere are very excited to kick-off our third season as the Official Real Estate Company of the Seattle Seahawks!
Once again, our #tacklehomelessnesscampaign is front-and-center, with the Windermere Foundation donating $100 for every Seahawks home-game defensive tackle to YouthCare, a Seattle-based non-profit organization that has been providing services and support to homeless youth for more than 40 years. During the past two seasons, the Seahawks have helped us raise $66,800 through our #tacklehomelessness campaign, and this year we are looking forward to raising even more money – and awareness – for this important cause.
Our partnership with the Seahawks and YouthCare fits perfectly with the mission of the Windermere Foundation which is to support low-income and homeless families in the communities where we have offices. Through the #tacklehomelessness campaign, we hope to be able to do even more.
A “scorecard” will be posted after each home game with an update on how much we’ve raised. You can follow our progress throughout the Seahawks season on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/WindermereRealEstateand on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/windermere/.
The post The Seahawks and Windermere Return for Another Season to #TackleHomelessness appeared first on Fort Collins Real Estate | Fort Collins Homes for Sale & Property Search.
http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png 0 0 Fort Collins http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png Fort Collins2018-09-19 13:23:502018-09-19 13:23:50The Seahawks and Windermere Return for Another Season to #TackleHomelessness
Providing Scholarships and School Supplies to Students in Need
September 5, 2018 /in Foundation, Windermere Foundation /by Fort Collins
It’s that time of year again! As families prepare to send their kids back to school, Windermere agents have been out in their communities raising money to support programs that provide school supplies and scholarships to students in need.
These are a just a few examples of how Windermere agents are making a difference.
Education First Scholarship Program
Seattle, WA: For the second year in a row, agents with the Windermere Wall Street Group offices have pooled their local Windermere Foundation funds to sponsor college scholarships for low-income youth who strive to improve their lives. Through a partnership with Education First, students receive tuition assistance along with access to college coaching services to stay on track.
The Windermere Wall Street, Magnolia, and Queen Anne offices used their funds to sponsor Yosef Yirdaw, who plans to study computer science at Eastern Washington University. Originally an orphan from Ethiopia, he shined in high school with both academics and cross country.
The Windermere office in West Seattle sponsored Brandon Olivera, a Chief Sealth High School graduate heading to the University of Washington, who is setting an example for his younger brothers to follow. During high school, Brandon spent many hours working in his father’s restaurant while making sure to help his siblings with their homework.
Both scholars will be the first in their families to attend college. The Windermere Wall Street Group offices have generously donated a total of $12,000 to Education First’s scholarship program since 2016.
Equipped 4 Success School Supply Drive
Alameda, CA: Through the Windermere Foundation, Windermere Bay Area Properties offices donated $1,000 to the Alameda Education Foundation (AEF) to purchase new backpacks and supplies for their Equipped 4 Success School Supply Drive. Contributions to the drive provide homeless, formerly homeless, and low-income students with the materials they need to be ready to learn on the first day of school.
The mission of the Alameda Education Foundation is to engage the community, raise funds, and coordinate programs to support and enhance the quality of K-12 public education in Alameda.
Make The “Change” For Lewis County
Centralia, WA: On August 21, the Windermere Centralia office teamed up with KELA/KMNT Radio to host the Make The “Change” For Lewis County fundraising event. A school bus was parked next to the Windermere office to collect school supplies, checks, cash or change, and KELA/KMNT Radio was on site broadcasting live from the event. Over $2,000 worth of school supplies were collected for Lewis County schoolkids in need.
High Point Healthy Families Celebration
Seattle, WA: Approximately 830 community members attended this annual event on August 15 hosted by Neighborhood House, whose mission is to partner with diverse individuals and families to build community and achieve their goals for health, education, and self-sufficiency. With the help of a $3,000 donation from the Windermere Foundation, Neighborhood House was able to purchase enough school supplies to stuff 500 backpacks and serve 100 more school-aged youth than last year. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan was also on hand at the event to help distribute backpacks.
Thanks to the generous donations and support of Windermere owners, agents, staff, and the public, the Windermere Foundation has been able to raise over $36 million since 1989 to support local non-profit organizations that provide services to low-income and homeless families in our communities. If you’d like to help support programs in your community, please click on the Donate button.
To learn more about the Windermere Foundation, please visit WindermereFoundation.com.
The post Providing Scholarships and School Supplies to Students in Need appeared first on Fort Collins Real Estate | Fort Collins Homes for Sale & Property Search.
http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png 0 0 Fort Collins http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png Fort Collins2018-09-05 11:00:012018-09-05 11:00:01Providing Scholarships and School Supplies to Students in Need
Windermere Foundation Donates Nearly $1 Million During First Half of 2018
July 31, 2018 /in CATCH program, Press Release, Windermere Foundation /by Fort Collins
Thanks to the generosity of Windermere agents, staff, franchise owners, and the community, the Windermere Foundation has proudly donated a total of $920,351 so far this year to non-profit organizations that provide services to low-income and homeless families. This brings the total amount of money that the Windermere Foundation has raised since 1989 to over $36 million.
Each Windermere office has its own Windermere Foundation fund account that they use to make donations to organizations in their local communities. One such organization in Boise, Idaho is CATCH (Charitable Assistance to Community’s Homeless), whose vision is to end homelessness for families by providing programs that work with local resources to provide stable housing, inspire financial independence, and build on a family’s strength and resilience.
The Windermere Caldwell and Boise Valley offices have worked with CATCH for over six years, with funding support from the Windermere Foundation. These donations help pay for programs that provide hope and support to many families in Idaho’s Treasure Valley…families like Andrea’s. *
Before CATCH, Andrea had come out of an abusive relationship, leaving her to raise her three young children on her own. When they became homeless, they spent six months living out of her car, waiting until a more stable living situation became available. Finally, the call came from Andrea’s case manager that they had been accepted into the CATCH program. Through the program, Andrea had access to resources to help her find housing. After about a month, she was able to find the perfect home for her family.
During her few months in the CATCH program, Andrea said she not only gained housing, but also so much more. “I’ve gained a bigger support system, more love, and knowledge. I’ve gained more strength and responsibility. I learned how to budget, worked at bettering my career, and I didn’t feel alone anymore. But most of all, CATCH has allowed me to put my pride away at times I didn’t need it and accept what I do need, and that is LOVE. I thank the CATCH program for helping me and my family grow stronger.”
Generous donations to the Windermere Foundation over the years have enabled Windermere offices to continue to support local non-profits like CATCH. If you’d like to help support programs in your community, please click on the Donate button.
To learn more about the Windermere Foundation, visit WindermereFoundation.com.
*Name has been changed for client confidentiality.
The post Windermere Foundation Donates Nearly $1 Million During First Half of 2018 appeared first on Fort Collins Real Estate | Fort Collins Homes for Sale & Property Search.
http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png 0 0 Fort Collins http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png Fort Collins2018-07-31 14:00:422018-07-31 14:00:42Windermere Foundation Donates Nearly $1 Million During First Half of 2018
Windermere Foundation by the Numbers
April 4, 2018 /in Foundation, Windermere Foundation /by Fort Collins
For the past 29 years, the Windermere Foundation has been helping those in need in our communities through donations to local organizations that provide services to low-income and homeless families. In 2017, the Windermere Foundation raised over $2.4 million in donations, bringing the total to over $35 million raised since we started this effort in 1989. The following infographic details exactly how these funds were dispersed in 2017 and the types of organizations that benefited from them. For more information please visit windermere.com/foundation.
The post Windermere Foundation by the Numbers appeared first on Fort Collins Real Estate | Fort Collins Homes for Sale & Property Search.
http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png 0 0 Fort Collins http://thecertifiedlisting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Certified-Listing-Logo-2-300x212.png Fort Collins2018-04-04 11:00:032018-04-04 11:00:03Windermere Foundation by the Numbers
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4659
|
__label__cc
| 0.560254
| 0.439746
|
UNCG Nursing collaborates with Swiss university for nurse practitioner program
May 6, 2019 by Campus Weekly Staff
As a former forensic pathologist, Dr. Ursula Klopfstein-Bichsel smiled like a kid playing with a new toy as she performed a virtual autopsy on a digital cadaver.
To examine the male cadaver’s large intestine, all she had to do was make a few incisions by running her right hand across an Anatomage Table, which resembles a massive iPad.
Klopfstein-Bichsel, a lecturer in the Department of Health at Switzerland’s Bern University of Applied Sciences, observed a variety of new things while visiting the UNC Greensboro School of Nursing for two weeks in April. She watched nursing students attend classes, perform simulations, and take their objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). She also attended a Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball game.
Klopfstein-Bichsel’s visit was part of an international collaboration in which UNCG faculty members are helping Bern start a nurse practitioner program this fall. The partnership could eventually expand to include a global exchange program that would give UNCG nursing students the opportunity to study in Switzerland.
“I guess both sides are very excited about this collaboration,” Klopfstein-Bichsel said, “and we at Bern are very very happy for all those things we learn from UNCG because you have much more experience in nurse practitioner courses than we have.”
More than 20 students have already enrolled in Bern’s nurse practitioner program. With the first day of class quickly approaching, Klopfstein-Bichsel traveled to the United States to work with UNCG faculty members on creating the program’s curriculum. They also developed content for courses that Swiss professors will teach, including in pathophysiology and pharmacology.
Nurse practitioner is a new profession in Switzerland, and it has become a problem that there are some regions of the country where nurse practitioners aren’t available. At the same time, Klopfstein-Bichsel said some Swiss physicians have raised concerns about Bern starting a program that trains nurses to perform certain procedures that doctors have traditionally done.
“My medical colleagues, some are very excited, and the others are very critical. They say, ‘But nurses can’t do this,’” Klopfstein-Bichsel said. “They fear nurses will pick work from them, and they’re very skeptical. We have to work on that to make them confident about this new role.” As a result, there is pressure for Bern’s program to have a successful launch in a few months to avoid further criticism. UNCG’s nursing faculty have provided guidance along the way.
“Since they’re just starting the nurse practitioner role, it will not be equivalent to what is in the United States,” said Dr. Kelly Stamp, who has been instrumental in UNCG’s collaboration with Bern as an associate professor and department chair of Family and Community Nursing. “But I think giving Ursula the opportunity to see where the role will go over the years and where it will end up is important. It’s helpful for her to see how independent we teach our students to be and the level of nursing that we’re teaching.”
UNCG’s partnership with Bern is actually several years in the making. In 2013, Stamp started traveling to Switzerland to teach as a part of a global exchange program that Boston College has with the University of Lausanne. At the time, she was a faculty member at Boston College. In addition to teaching, Swiss officials asked Stamp to give talks about her research on heart failure to doctors around the country. They later asked if she would continue to collaborate with them on new projects after she joined UNCG’s faculty in August 2017. In the spring of 2018, when Bern administrators needed help starting its nurse practitioner program, they reached out to Stamp.
“We’ll be there on the side to make sure they’re sustainable,” Stamp said. “If we need to go over to Switzerland, we’ll go over. If we need to talk via Skype more often, we’ll do that to help mitigate any barriers that Ursula is having along the way.”
By Alex Abrams
Dr. Ursula Klopfstein-Bichsel in both photos, with Dr. Kelly Stamp in red jacket in the top photo. Photos by Alex Abrams.
Please indicate below the emails to which you want to send this article: UNCG Nursing collaborates with Swiss university for nurse practitioner program
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4665
|
__label__wiki
| 0.766608
| 0.766608
|
CW sets premieres for Legends of Tomorrow, Vampire Diaries and more
Sarah Fox November 23, 2015
Slanted > TV > CW sets premieres for Legends of Tomorrow, Vampire Diaries and more
From new DC Universe offerings to the wonderful world of scripted Vampire drama, the CW announced its new January 2016 schedule today, adding a few new series to the lineup. On the list of new series is the highly anticipated drama DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, also on the list are the returning favorite like the season three premiere of THE 100. The CW also confirmed that THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and THE ORIGINALS will take over Friday night when the return.
On Thursday January 21, The CW kicks off a new night of action and adventure with the highly-anticipated series premiere of DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT) followed by the return of the critically-acclaimed post-apocalyptic drama THE 100 (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT).
In DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, when heroes alone are not enough… the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat — one in which not only the planet is at stake, but all of time itself.
DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW stars Victor Garber (“The Flash,” “Alias”), Brandon Routh (“Arrow,” “Superman Returns”), Arthur Darvill (“Doctor Who”), Caity Lotz (“Arrow”), Ciara Renee (“Pippin”), and Franz Drameh (“Edge of Tomorrow”), with Dominic Purcell (“The Flash,” “Prison Break”) and Wentworth Miller (“The Flash,” “Prison Break”). Based on the characters from DC Comics, DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Supergirl”), Marc Guggenheim (“Arrow,” “Eli Stone,” “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters”), Andrew Kreisberg (“Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Eli Stone,” “Warehouse 13”), Phil Klemmer (“The Tomorrow People,” “Chuck”), Chris Fedak (“Forever,” “Chuck”), and Sarah Schechter (“Arrow,” “The Flash”).
For two seasons, the refugees of THE 100 sent to Earth have been at war. First with themselves, then with the Grounders, and finally with Mount Weather. Many have lost their lives along the way. All have lost their innocence. They have learned the hard way that in the fight for survival, there are no heroes and no villains. There is only the living and the dead. But now the war is over. The battle against Mount Weather has been won.
The prisoners have returned home to a world seemingly at peace, but can they find peace within themselves after what they had to do to escape? And is there more to life than just surviving? Unfortunately, their newfound sense of normalcy will be short-lived, and their lives will be changed forever, as threats both old and new test their loyalties, push them past their limits, and make them question what it truly means to be human. First, they fought to survive. Then, they fought for their friends. Now, they will fight for the human race. Based on the book series by Kass Morgan, THE 100 is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Alloy Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios, with executive producers Jason Rothenberg and Leslie Morgenstein (“The Vampire Diaries”).
Starting January 29, The Salvatore brothers and the First Family of vampires head to Friday nights to kick off the weekend with two hours of high-stakes drama, with THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT) followed by THE ORIGINALS (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT). This season, both THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and THE ORIGINALS are among the most heavily time-shifted series on television; both shows more than triple their audiences when viewing beyond the night of air is tallied, across DVR, digital, and VOD platforms.
The popular series REIGN will have its winter finale on Friday, January 22 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT) and return later in the season, night and time to be announced.
Following are The CW’s January 2016 premieres and scheduling moves:
8:00-9:00pm DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (Series Premiere)
9:00-10:00pm THE 100 (Season Premiere)
8:00-9:00pm THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (New Night)
9:00-10:00pm THE ORIGINALS (New Night)
Tags : CW
Sarah Fox November 23, 2015
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4666
|
__label__wiki
| 0.691178
| 0.691178
|
FDA loosens pharmaceutical regs
By Tim Devaney - 02/18/14 05:25 PM EST
© Thinkstock
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is loosening the regulatory controls for 13 pharmaceutical companies that will receive expedited entry for drugs they are importing into the United States.
As part of an FDA pilot program, these "highly vetted" companies will receive more responsibility for keeping their own supply chains in line so the agency can focus more attention on preventing other, unapproved drugs that are misbranded and adulterated from crossing the border.
In return for participating in the Secure Supply Chain Pilot Program, these companies will receive expedited entry for up to five drugs that they import into the country.
"We're still going to be looking at them, but we have a greater degree of confidence that their drugs are not going to need to be as thoroughly vetted as others," FDA spokesman Christopher Kelly said.
The FDA plans to reallocate some of the imports surveillance resources that it was using to monitor these companies to focus on catching importers that are trying to sneak higher-risk drugs into the market.
These companies that will be regulating their own supply chains have agreed to comply with requirements from the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. They will be required to maintain control of their drugs from the manufacturing process all the way through their entry into the U.S.
The FDA has certified that these companies have procedures in place to deal with problems that could arise, such as recalls and acts of terrorism against the nation's drug supply.
The pilot program will run for two years, during which time the FDA will evaluate its effectiveness. Afterwards, the FDA will consider expanding the program to include more pharmaceutical companies.
"We're still going to keep an eye on everything that's coming in," Kelly said. "We're going to maintain oversight on them. They'll still be under our regulatory guidelines. If a compliance issue comes up, we'll be able to review it immediately. And if there's a serious compliance issue, we can remove them from the program."
The FDA announced the pilot program last August, and said it was looking for a handful of pharmaceutical companies that wanted to participate.
The agency announced Tuesday which companies had been selected for the program. They include AbbVie Inc., Allergan Inc., Astellas U.S. Technologies Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Celgene Corporation, GE Healthcare Inc., GlaxoSmithKline LLC, Merk Sharp & Dohme Corporation, Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Pfizer Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and Watson Laboratories Inc.
Tags Food and Drug Administration
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4675
|
__label__cc
| 0.722246
| 0.277754
|
Tag Archives: Swimming pool
The Govanhill Baths: a successful example of community-led regeneration
Posted on November 16, 2015 by stevenmcginty
Image by Laura via Creative Commons
By Steven McGinty,
In September, the Govanhill Baths Community Trust (GHBT) was given £1.2m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The funding will enable the Trust to begin the refurbishment of the Govanhill Baths, including the ‘Ladies’ pool’, the ’Teaching Pool’ and the Turkish baths and sauna.
The Trust’s chair, Alan Walsh, highlighted that this was a ‘breakthrough’ moment, explaining that:
“This award means that we can finally confirm the long term future of the project and begin work soon that will realise the aims of our 14 year fight to bring swimming back to Govanhill.”
History of the Govanhill Baths
The fight, referred to by the Trust’s chair, started back in 2001 with the high-profile campaign to save the Govanhill Baths. At that time, Glasgow City Council had indicated that £750,000 worth of refurbishments were required to keep the Baths open. However, they argued that there was no economic case as too few people used the Baths. And although these statistics were disputed, the Baths were eventually closed in 2001.
The impact of closure
In 2009, research was carried out into the impact of the closure on black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. The Govanhill area has a higher than average BME population (approximately 34.9%), therefore addressing social exclusion is a priority for the area. The research found that:
Older people were negatively affected by the closure as they found it difficult to access other swimming pools. This occurred because of a lack of local transport to the Gorbals Swimming Pool (nearest alternative); fear over gangs and safety; and the cost of travelling.
Very few women went to the Gorbals Swimming Pool. The majority of women noted that it was difficult to find ladies’ swimming nights.
The Baths building had become derelict and vandalised.
The majority of people, including a police officer, felt that anti-social behaviour in the area had increased. One of the main reasons cited was a lack of activities and facilities, particularly for children and young people.
Govanhill Baths Community Trust ‘in the community’
In 2005, the Govanhill Baths officially became a charitable trust. The aim of the organisation was to:
“…re-open the baths as a Wellbeing Centre and at the same time contribute to the wider social, cultural and built regeneration of Govanhill as a community through a range of activities.”
Over the years, the Trust has worked in collaboration with a number of statutory and voluntary sector partners, including the Govanhill Baths Advice Centre, Govanhill Housing Association and Development Trust, and Historic Scotland.
At present, the Trust runs a variety of community-based wellbeing activities and educational and training courses, primarily aimed at the residents of Govanhill. These include:
Govanhill Baths Art – which includes using art to campaign, but also to improve the health and wellbeing of the community.
Rags to Riches – an award winning upcycling project, which reuses materials creatively to create products of a higher value. The project provides workspace and educational programmes in topics such as dressmaking, bookbinding, and home furnishing.
The Emporium – a charity shop which opened in 2011.
The impact of the Govanhill Baths Community Trust
An evaluation of Rags to Riches has shown the project to be a great success. It has brought a number of benefits to participants and the wider community, including:
Providing high-quality apparel that can be sold to generate income for the Trust.
Developing the abilities of participants and providing them with a sense of enjoyment.
Increasing the Trust’s involvement with other community groups and participating in local events. This has enhanced the reputation of the Trust within the local community.
Supporting community integration – for instance, after the event, most of the participants have kept in touch.
The Govanhill Grub programme, based in the GBCT kitchen, has proved to be successful at supporting a wide range of people in cooking healthy, affordable meals. It’s been particularly effective at bringing different members of the community together, and engaging women living in hostel accommodation or who have just moved into their own tenancy, as well as older men who live alone.
Final thoughts?
The GBCT is a great example of a community-led organisation. Although without its historic Baths, the community has been able to lead the way in delivering services to the people of Govanhill, the Trust has been able to move away from simply being a campaign group to becoming an important community asset. Hopefully, with this latest announcement of funding, the Trust will be able to reopen the Baths, and continue to be a positive force in the community of Govanhill.
If you enjoyed this blog post, you might also like to read James Carson’s post on regeneration in Glasgow’s Gorbals district
Posted in Arts, culture and leisure, Education and Skills, Regeneration and community development | Tagged assets, Baths, black and minority ethnic, BME, communities, community, community development, community-led regeneration, GBCT, glasgow, Govanhill, Govanhill Baths, Govanhill Baths Art, Govanhill Baths Community Trust, Govanhill Grub, Heritage Lottery Fund, impact, Rags to Riches, regeneration, Swimming pool, The Emporium | 3 Comments
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4677
|
__label__wiki
| 0.842297
| 0.842297
|
The Tonys Beg the Question: What's Next for American Theater?
Caitlin Cruz
Filed to: tonysFiled to: tonys
Images via AP
A conversation I find myself having over and over: What is the future of the Broadway musical? As each theater season, plays and musicals included, becomes more and more varied, I wonder if what drew me to Broadway is the same thing that will keep me there.
Groundhog Day: The Musical, nominated for seven statues at Sunday night’s Tony Awards, was the closest to a traditional Broadway show included in the category of Best Musical. If this sounds like a knock, it shouldn’t; Groundhog Day is fun as hell. Is there room to create shows like War Paint, which was shut out of the Best Musical category while its leads, Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, were both nominated in the acting category? War Paint, Bandstand and Groundhog Day are traditionally staged, in that there’s a large chorus, dance breaks, even classic swing-for-the-fence show tunes.
But their traditionalism poses a question: what should this era of Broadway storytelling look like? Is it the multi-genre music of Great Comet and Hamilton, which include all of those facets but explore almost every genre? Is it the more subdued sets of Come From Away? The comically strange Amélie and American Psycho didn’t sell, but Next to Normal and Spring Awakening, both strange and dark examinations of our minds and motivations, were critical darlings. In an era when theater can’t decide how exactly to respond to the politics of the day, what do playwrights and composers think American plays and musicals should be in the 21st century? Within five years, will we see a revival of American Idiot and the staging of a Trump-era show? Or is that already the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat, even though it’s set during the second Bush era? Is there a desire for classically conceived shows, or must a show innovate in every way beyond writing captivating new music?
I don’t have a good answer, and anyone who does is a liar. However, as someone who loves a good Michael Bennett-era musical, I would be incredibly sad if traditional chorus lines and sounds disappeared from Broadway.
While I watched last night’s Tony Award broadcast, I continued wrestling with these questions and more. What unites this art form and how can we preserve it? Complicating these questions about theaters forked road: as the Tonys were handing out accolades, two major corporations pulled their financial sponsorship of The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park staging of Julius Caesar.
Because of a Donald Trump Jr. tweet and a Fox & Friends segment, this year’s production of Julius Caesar is under fire from right wingers who chose to direct their outrage at a Shakespearean Classic that’s going to be closing in six days. Delta pulled its sponsorship as the official airline of Free Shakespeare in the Park, and Bank of America withdrew its support of the production. The bank told The New York Times that it wouldn’t end its financial relationship with the theater, so it will be interesting to see how much money the bank will be refunded for six (or seven, if you count Sunday) days of production. I never thought it would require saying, but here it goes: William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is not pro-assassination. And yet, we spent most of Sunday debating as to how far artistic expression should be encouraged, protected and nurtured. Public art should not be contingent on our individual tastes.
There were smaller disappointments that night, too. Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 went into Sunday’s ceremony nominated for a whopping 12 awards. Though the production’s nominations were not as high as those of last-season darling Hamilton (a record-setting 16 nominations), it was a perfectly acceptable amount for an ambitious retelling of one of the books of War and Peace, and could have conceivably tied The Producers’ record for most wins. Instead, it walked away with just two awards: scenic and lighting design. The scenic design award, in particular, is so well deserved; Mimi Lien turned a massive Broadway theater into an intimate Russian speakeasy.
Josh Groban & Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 at the Tonys.
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 was outshone mainly because of two shows. First, Hello, Dolly! The revival, starring Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce, won four trophies out of 10 nominations, and when Midler won for Lead Actress in a Musical, she powered through the orchestra as they played her off stage. The second reason Great Comet was edged out was Dear Evan Hansen, the story of a teenage boy (played by Pitch Perfect’s Ben Platt) who writes a letter no one was supposed to see, tells a series of lies that get bigger, and finally has a chance to fit in. It’s a show that requires remembering the hardest times of being a teenager, set to a lovely new score, and took home six trophies out of nine nominations, including Lead Actor in a Musical. (I wanted Andy Karl of Groundhog Day to win, but Platt’s excellent storytelling will do.)
The Tony Awards are about advertising your show, even if the ceremony doesn’t like to present itself that way. A great performance at the Tony Awards can give a struggling musical a boost toward solvency, or make an already-successful one an even hotter commodity. Which is all to say that David Hyde Pierce’s lackluster rendition of “Penny In My Pocket,” from Hello, Dolly!, was likely selected because it could be performed without the stage at the Shubert, which the producers preferred. After all, you don’t need to advertise the hottest ticket on Broadway—yet if Bette had performed, it could have been her entire night.
It wasn’t just Hello, Dolly!, though; all the performances seemed a bit lackluster. That feeling began with Kevin Spacey’s opening monologue about why he shouldn’t actually be hosting the Tony Awards. (He even sort of joked that he was the 15th choice.) Neither Barrett Doss nor Andy Karl of Groundhog Day: The Musical were as well-showcased in the show’s Tonys performance as they are during the musical itself. So much of Groundhog Day’s staging requires a turntable; basically, concentric circles rotate on stage to move performers and set pieces. Maybe that’s why they chose to do a rather subdued “Seeing You” for the aerobic musical—or they were trying to save Karl’s ACL from unnecessary stress. Either way, it’s worth seeing, and surprising in that it’s not just a retelling, it never—ironically—feels repetitive.
The most intriguing part of Sunday night’s Tonys came during a segment that invited the playwrights on stage to explain their work. There’s no easy way to perform a single scene from a play, as so many of the best come as the result of dramatic buildup. The ceremony has always wrestled as to how to present the Best Play nominees, but I hope this new format continues. While not everyone was great at presenting their play—playwrights are not necessarily performers, after all—it was novel to see Pulitzer Prize winners Lynn Nottage and Paula Vogel describe what drove them to write their work. (The production also noted that each nominee was an American.) Nominees making the case to the audience as to why their play matters is an important part of the conversation about what American theater’s future is. Explaining why art matters is crucial.
Here are the full awards.
Stray Thoughts:
-Despite Andy Blankenbuehler’s win in Best Choreography for Bandstand, I’m not at all intrigued by the show, which he also directed. His choreography for the revival of Cats was fun, though! I say this as someone who doesn’t really like Cats as a concept so maybe you can interpret this as more sincere.
-It’s dumb that Glenn Close can’t win a Tony Award for the same role. (She won Best Actress in a Musical in 1995 for Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.) It is also dumb that Michael Xavier and Siobhan Dillon were overlooked in the nomination process.
-This isn’t a commentary on who won the costume design awards, so much as general warning when approaching this category: Do not confuse naturally flattering silhouettes of particular eras of history with skilled costume design. Also, Catherine Zuber and Paloma Young were robbed.
-Michael Aronov won for featured actor role in a play for his part in the complicated and tension-filled Oslo, but all of the cast should have been honored. This play was really a case for an ensemble award category. Also, musicals should have ensemble awards.
-Kevin Spacey basically disappeared as a host after the opening number, and the House of Cards bit was corny, so this is the official start of my campaign for Rachel Bloom as host of The American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards for 2018 and beyond.
Caitlin Cruz is a freelance reporter and writer in Brooklyn and Texas. She frequently tweets about Bad Men @CaitlinRCruz.
Popular from The Muse
The War Over Who Will Play Elvis Presley Is Over, and It Is Not His Goth Grandson
Maria Sherman
The Only Person Who Should Play Elvis in a Movie Is His Goth Grandson
Here Are Your 2019 Emmy Nominations
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4679
|
__label__wiki
| 0.63413
| 0.63413
|
IFAMA Appoints New President, CEO
Company/products Feed and nutrition
19 June 2013, at 8:11am
US - Novus International President and CEO, Thad Simons, has been appointed to lead the Board of International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA).
The International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) has announced Novus International President and CEO Thad Simons will be the new president of the organization’s Board of Directors. IFAMA is a leading agribusiness nonprofit that brings together the best minds from all sectors of food production and consumption to improve the industry. IFAMA made the announcement at its 23rd Annual World Forum and Symposium.
Mr Simons succeeds Mary Shelman, director of the agribusiness program at Harvard Business School. During her term as IFAMA president, Shelman was instrumental in expanding the global footprint of the organization.
“Mary’s work sets an impressive standard for IFAMA’s leadership,” said Simons. “I look forward to the opportunity to build upon her initiatives and further IFAMA’s efforts to ensure the agribusiness industry will meet the world population’s need for affordable, sustainable food sources.”
During his two-year term as IFAMA’s president, Mr Simons specifically seeks to focus the organization’s efforts on global talent development for agriculture.
“From my first encounter with IFAMA, I understood the unique value that the organization creates by providing a connection to talent around the world,” stated Mr Simons. “IFAMA is uniquely positioned to serve agribusiness because we stand at the nexus of education, industry and the future – our student stakeholders.”
Mr Simons brings to IFAMA extensive agribusiness experience and industry know-how. As the president and CEO of Novus International, a global health and animal nutrition leader, since 2001, Simons pursues the company’s vision to feed the world affordable, wholesome food. Simons does this by creating an environment friendly to developing market-specific solutions based on the company’s core technologies.
Mr Simons also has been recognized as an industry leader, most recently receiving the 2013 Agribusiness Leader of the Year award from the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA).
Novus International
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4681
|
__label__wiki
| 0.855402
| 0.855402
|
Music, Singles, The Revue — July 29, 2017 at 12:10 am
Saturday Sampler July 29th
by The Revue (Staff)
Saturday Sampler July 29th has a lean 6 songs since we’re all a bit busy these days. Seems like the end of July has been the perfect storm for us, but thankfully the music out there has been the perfect tonic.
ALYESKA – “Absaroka” (Los Angeles via small town Montana, USA)
RIYL: Sharon Van Etten, Belle Mare, She Keeps Bees
It was only four months ago when Alyeska Reid released her debut EP, Crush, under the moniker Alyeska. The record introduced the world to a young singer-songwriter who wasn’t afraid to share her emotions. The EP, though, felt like a woman embarking on a new journey and discovering who she is. Like is often the case, however, the pull of home is too strong, and this is the focus of her new single “Absaroka”.
Absaroka is a proposed state comprised of territory in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota. The area never did secede, but the seeds were planted. With this in mind, Reid takes us simultaneously on a history lesson and an introspective trip. “Absolutely I’m coming home, I’m going to get back to where I started from”, she bellows out through the reverb guitar and hammering percussion. The statement could be in relation to the towns and citizens accepting the status quo and be a statement of Reid returning to her home of Montana. “I made a mistake”, she repeats later, admitting that her escape to new destinations was anything but flawless. Musically and lyrically, it’s a tantalizing number by an immensely thoughtful and gifted artist, who is one of our favorite discoveries of the year.
In addition to Reid, ALYESKA includes Ben Spear and Enzo Scardapane.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Corniglia – “I Don’t Know What to Say” (Perth, Australia)
RIYL: Beach House, Daughter
Back in November we fell under the spell of Corniglia, the indie dream pop band from Australia whose “Oh My Love” single made us swoon. With that one song, we knew we were hooked on their lush sound. Although we knew they were working on an album, not much was known in terms of a title or release date. We still don’t have that info, but this new single is enough to help temper our impatience. How can you feel anything but pure, unadulterated bliss when you listen to “I Don’t Know What to Say”? Trust us, this song has magical powers. It will relax you better than a spa treatment and unburden your mind better than your therapist. It will make you forget the world as you bask in its gently swirling layers of dreamy psychedelia.
Oh, Corniglia – where have you been all our lives? We don’t know what else to say.
I Don’t Know What to Say is available digitally on Bandcamp and iTunes via The A&R Department. You can stream all the tracks from the album here.
Corniglia are: Matthew Irwin, Mitchell Irwin, Chloe De Paoli, Scott Young, James Stevens-Cutler, and Mike Litton.
Website | Facebook | Instagram
illuminati hotties – “(You’re Better) Than Ever” (Los Angeles, USA)
RIYL: Alex Lahey, Bec Sandridge, Frankie Cosmos
We don’t know about you, but we’re all a bit tired. It’s been a busy month with so much going on and no signs of reprieve. Even the usual double espressos aren’t doing the trick to keep energy levels up. When this is the case, we need to turn to music that lifts our spirits and gives a shot of adrenaline. Answering the call is the Sarah Tudzin, who two weeks ago unveiled her musical project illuminati hotties to the world with the single, “(You’re Better) Than Ever”.
Tudzin has produced an infectious and flamboyant pop-rock tune that rivals the anthemic flair of Aussie stars Alex Lahey and Bec Sandridge. The song is fun, energetic, and just a riot, helping to perk up glucose levels without any of the unnecessary sugar. More importantly, it’s a song that will lift one’s spirits, as Tudzin reminds us that even in failure we’re all still superstars. And superstar is what Tudzin could eventually achieve if she continues to make such addictive and meaningful music.
On this track, Tudzin (vocals/drums/keys/guitars) is supported by Collin Pastore (mixing/engineering/additional production), Jett Galindo (mastering), Jacob Blizard (guitars), Billy Centenaro (guitars), Yianni Anastos-Prastacos (bass), and Hadley Kennary (background vocals).
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter (Sarah Tudzin)
Jinka – “Trash From The Past” (Berlin, Germany)
RIYL: Lykke Li, Bats for Lashes, tUnE-yArDs
Be bold, be creative. These are words that many of us have heard at least one time in our lives if not repeatedly. This phrase, though, applies best in music, especially in a day where the industry is overflowing with aspiring artists and many seem content with the formulaic. For us, though, creativity and innovation will always win out, which is why newcomer Jinka‘s debut song, “Trash From The Past”, has us buzzing with excitement.
The song is unlike anything one will hear on the radio or even streaming somewhere online. “Trash From The Past” is a cacophony of sounds that bombards you in a way that’s reminiscent of exiting a club in a big city. From the very first note to the late, the song’s disparate elements attack your senses from all angles, yet they blend together to form a moment or even experience that is pure exhilaration. And that’s one of the biggest compliments we can give to a song.
The single is out now via AWAL Recordings.
Marsicans – “Too Good” (Leeds, England)
RIYL: Palm Honey, Youth Club, High Tyde
You may not think the north of England is a hotbed of sunny indie pop, but indeed it is, as Marsicans prove with their newest single. And while “Too Good” sounds like it originated on a beach in California, the catchiness and charm of this gem will win you over in short order. We have been fans of Marsicans for a while and shared their “Friends” single early this year. These guys create irresistible music that hits that sweet spot in your musical palate. It’s no wonder they’re in such high demand for summer festival season!
But where “Friends” was more upbeat, “Too Good” has a mellower vibe. You know that feeling of satisfied exhaustion you feel at the end of a festival? When you’re surrounded by friends on the final day and you glance around as the sun sets, trying to frame those moments in your mind – “Too Good” captures that perfectly. It won’t surprise us if Marsicans close out their sets during their current tour with this tune.
“Too Good” is available now from iTunes via LAB Records.
Ty Segall – “Big Man” (Los Angeles, USA)
Fried Shallots by Ty Segall
This has been a crazy, busy, whirlwind of a week. But in case you missed it, Ty Segall dropped a surprise EP yesterday. Fried Shallots is more than just a collection of six rockin’ new tracks; it’s music for a cause. Segall is donating 100% of proceeds from the sale of this album to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
If you’re keeping score, this is Segall’s third EP of 2017 – so far. Fried Shallots is the follow-up to his self-titled EP from January and his Sentimental Goblin EP from March. He is one of our favorite (and most prolific) artists, so there is a good chance he might surprise us with even more music before year’s end.
Many of us are discouraged by the ugliness of politics. The day after the U.S. election, Segall offered encouragement on his Facebook page with these positive thoughts: “In the face of doom, I still believe in people. This world can still be beautiful.” Indeed, there is good in this world, thanks to artists like Segall who makes music that benefits others.
You can buy your digital copy from his Bandcamp page, while pre-orders for the physical album are available via Drag City. It’s due August 25th. Ty Segall is currently on tour, with upcoming dates at Pickathon Festival in Oregon next weekend and in Europe the following week.
Share This Article On...
Tags Alyeska Art-pop Belle and Sebastian Corniglia Dream Pop illuminati hotties indie punk-rock Indie Rock Jinka LAB Records marsicans Saturday Sampler Saturday Sampler July 29th tender punk Ty Segall
Author: The Revue (Staff)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4682
|
__label__wiki
| 0.666881
| 0.666881
|
The King (Amendment) is Dead. Long Live Animal Welfare Reforms.
Key leaders in the House and Senate have agreed on a series of compromises to the Farm bill and released a “conference report” today. That action is an antecedent to final up-or-down votes, expected within days, on that measure in the House and Senate. If both chambers pass the Farm bill conference report, it goes to President Trump, who can sign it into law before the end of the year.
Animal Wellness Action is extraordinarily excited about the inclusion of several broadly-supported animal protection bills in the package, including the Pet and Women Safety (PAWS) Act, the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act, and the Parity in Animal Cruelty Enforcement (PACE), which makes dogfighting and cockfighting a federal crime in the five U.S. territories if there is any interstate nexus to the activities. These important pieces of legislation were adopted as amendments to the Farm Bill, and their possible passage marks the biggest gains for animal protection advocates in the 115th Congress.
What’s more, an overreaching and dangerous attack on states’ rights, in the form of an amendment from Steve King, R-Iowa, is expected to be jettisoned from the final omnibus agriculture policy bill. Animal Wellness Action and many other animal advocates and concerned organizations and citizens fought hard against the King amendment, which was included in the House Farm bill narrowly passed during the summer. In August, California Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., released a letter this month, signed by 31 Senate colleagues, urging the Senate Agriculture Committee’s top Republican and Democrat to stand firm against the House amendment from Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, that “would undermine numerous state laws and infringe on the fundamental rights of states to establish regulations within their own borders.”
The Senators, including Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Robert Casey, D-Pa., Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., from the Agriculture Committee, noted that the King amendment is “drafted in an expansive manner” and could nullify state laws dealing with “invasive pests, infectious disease regulations, health and safety standards, consumer information safeguards, food quality and safety regulations, animal welfare standards, narcotics laws, and fishing regulations.”
There is a careful balance between federal and state authority at play in agriculture policy, but the King amendment seeks to upend that balance and usurp state authority in a dramatic way and not put in any new protective standards at the federal level. Long an opponent of any animal welfare reforms, King has worked to nullify state farm animal welfare laws while also opposing federal animal protection efforts at every turn. The King amendment, had it been adopted, would have put the federal government in charge of almost all legal standards over agriculture, making the states bystanders on key regulatory issues for commodities moved in interstate commerce. It amounted to an attempted federal hijacking of agricultural policy-making, subverting states’ rights when it comes to one of the biggest sectors of the U.S. economy.
In addition to the rejection of his amendment, King and his allies got another bale of bad news last week: the Trump Administration’s top lawyer, Solicitor General Noel Francisco, filed a pleading with the U.S. Supreme Court and urged the justices not to take up a challenge to California’s farm animal protection laws brought forward by several state attorneys general that sought to strike down California’s landmark animal protection laws and to promote King’s ideas through the federal courts.
A dozen state attorneys general, led by Senator-elect Jason Hawley of Missouri, filed an action in December 2017 in the form of a motion to the Supreme Court claiming that California’s farm animal welfare laws related to the treatment of laying hens are preempted by existing federal law and also violate the Commerce Clause.
“[C]ontrary to the plaintiffs’ assertion, California’s AB 1437 and Shell Egg Food Safety regulations are not preempted by the EPIA [Egg Products Inspections Act], because the USDA’s egg-grading standards do not address confinements conditions for egg-laying hens,” wrote the Solicitor General and his team, after they were invited by the Court to share their views on the case.
The plaintiffs filed several actions prior to this one and the federal courts denied them legal standing to bring the case. Hence, the state attorneys general brought this case and asked the Court to invoke “original jurisdiction.” The Solicitor General was emphatic in urging that the justices not take up the case because the elements of the case don’t warrant the Court asserting its authority in this way.
But Francisco and his team went well beyond arguments related to the unusual step of the Court invoking original jurisdiction. “Plaintiffs’ allegations regarding economic harm to the state residents and institutions are insufficient because they do not persuasively show price increases outside California that are directly attributable to California’s Egg Laws,” wrote the government lawyers. They added that, “States are permitted to ‘make laws governing matters of local concern which nevertheless in some measure affect interstate commerce or even, to some extent, regulate it.’”
King barely hung on in his re-election campaign, despite running in one of the nation’s most Republican districts. House Republican leaders took the unusual step of denouncing him during the final days of the campaign for his incendiary remarks on other topics, and even before that, they had denied King, a senior member of the Agriculture Committee, a position on the conference committee because of his extreme views.
In short, there have now been a series of major outcomes that offer the possibility of a more secure circumstance for the advancement of farm animal protection policies in the U.S. The King amendment has been dropped, the Trump Administration has rejected the arguments of King and several state attorneys general aligned philosophically with him, and California voters just last month approved an even more powerful animal welfare law to protect farm animals.
The states have had been the staging ground for 5 statewide ballot measures to protect farm animals. Voters have approved every one of them by wide margins, with the last four measures each commanding more than 60 percent. That message should not be lost on any politician in America, and by rejecting the King amendment, key U.S. House and Senate lawmakers seem to understand the era of denying farm animals any protections whatsoever is over.
All animals deserve humane treatment, including animals used in agriculture
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4684
|
__label__wiki
| 0.600537
| 0.600537
|
First Stage Young Company opens twelfth season with ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
December 11-20, 2015 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center – Youth Arts Hall. This play is for everyone ages 13 and up.
By First Stage - Nov 12th, 2015 12:07 pm
Milwaukee, WI – First Stage’s award-winning Young Company – the Academy’s advanced actor training program for high school students – will present ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL December 11-20, 2015 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center located at 325 W. Walnut Street, Milwaukee. Tickets are $14.
Celebrating its twelfth season, the Young Company presents one of Shakespeare’s greatest romances ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL with an all-female cast. Under the direction of veteran theatre professional Marcella Kearns, this promises to be a wild journey filled with comedy, love, bold plans, dirty tricks and brilliantly drawn characters.
“Shakespeare places quite imperfect (and therefore achingly human) characters within the confines of an impossible quest,” said Kearns. “For at least two of those characters, this story is a coming-of-age. The play is a great fit for Young Company members both for its challenges and its portrait of young people seeking their place in the world.”
The Young Company recently celebrated its fifth first place finish at the Utah Shakespeare Festival/Southern Utah University Shakespeare Competition in October. Young Company member Alison Pogorelc (who plays Helena in this production) won the Larry Lott award for outstanding performance in an ensemble and placed first in monologues.
Marcella Kearns (Director) Marcella Kearns is a Milwaukee-based actor and teaching artist. At First Stage, she has appeared in WITNESS, A WRINKLE IN TIME, ROMEO AND JULIET, and SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE BAKER STREET IRREGULARS and works regularly as an instructor with both its Education Department and Theatre Academy. She serves as Education & Literary Manager at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre and as an adjunct instructor of theatre at Carthage College. She holds an MFA in Acting from the University of South Carolina and is a former Fulbright Fellow (University of Vienna, Austria).
The Young Company cast for ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL includes: Zoey Knox (as King of Frnace/Violenta), Mary Elsa Henrichs (as Bertram), Meghan DeRoche (as Rynaldo/Ensemble), and Alison Pogorelc (as Helena) from Whitefish Bay; Maddie Mainwood (as Duke of Florence/Lafew) from New Berlin; Bree Kazinski (as First Soldier/Ensemble) from Dousman; Alex Salter (as The brothers Dumaine: First Lord), Sydney Salter (as The brothers Dumaine: Second Lord), and Kayla Salter (as Page/ensemble) from Germantown; Madison Penzkover (as Parolles) from Mukwonago; Maddy Folstein (as Lavatch/Mariana) and Cezanne Smith (as Widow Capilet of Florence/ensemble) from Bayside; Isabelle Abbott (as Countess of Rossilion/Escalus) Menomonee Falls; and Megan Watson (as Diana/ensemble) from Wauwatosa.
The Artistic Staff for ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL includes: Brandon Kirkham (Scenic Designer); Lyndsey Kuhlmann (Costume Designer); Amanda McDonald (Lighting Designer); Matt Whitmore (Sound Designer); and Marissa Raby (Stage Manager).
Tickets for ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL are $14. Tickets and more information is available at www.firststage.org or through the First Stage box office at (414) 267-2961.
PERFORMANCE DATES: ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL opens Friday, December 11 at 7:00 p.m. Additional performances will be held on Saturday, December 12 at 3:30 and 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, December 13 at 3:30 and 7:00 p.m.; Friday, December 18 at 7:00 p.m.; Saturday, December 19 at 3:30 and 7:00 p.m.; and Sunday, December 20 at 3:30 and 7:00 p.m.
About ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
She loves him. He doesn’t even notice she’s alive. And so begins one of theater’s greatest romances. It’s a wild journey of risks, magic, war, traps, betrayal and true love. A sick king is cured of a deadly disease. A brave young woman is given the husband of her choice. An unhappy groom flees for the foreign wars. A woman refuses to take no for an answer. Filled with comedy, love, bold plans, dirty tricks and brilliantly drawn characters, ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL is Shakespeare done Young Company-style. For everyone ages 13 and up. More information at www.FirstStage.org/AllsWell
About Young Company
Young Company is the advanced, college-level actor training program at First Stage Theater Academy. Students take part in course work with Associate Artistic Director and Director of the Young Company John Maclay, professional actors Matt Daniels and Marcy Kearns and others. The curriculum includes work on a variety of theater skills including Acting Theory, Shakespeare, Voice & Speech, and Movement. The Young Company has participated in the Utah Shakespeare Festival/Southern Utah University High School Shakespeare Competition for the past nine years, winning the Essex division overall sweepstakes award for highest total team score. Young Company members also appear in productions throughout the year and are student leaders in the First Stage community.
About First Stage
Since 1987, First Stage touches hearts, engages minds, and transforms lives by creating extraordinary theater experiences for young people and families through professional theater productions that inspire, enlighten, and entertain; unparalleled Theater Academy training that fosters life skills through stage skills; and dynamic Theater in Education programs that promote active learning in our schools and community. In 2012, First Stage was selected to participate in the Partners in Education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. First Stage is a member of TYA/USA, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, the Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education, Theatre Wisconsin, and Milwaukee Arts Partners, and is a cornerstone member of the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF).
Mentioned in This Press Release
People: Alex Salter, Alison Pogorelc, Amanda McDonald, Brandon Kirkham, Bree Kazinski, Cezanne Smith, Isabelle Abbott, John Maclay, Kayla Salter, Lyndsey Kuhlmann, Maddie Mainwood, Maddy Folstein, Madison Penzkover, Marcella Kearns, Marissa Raby, Mary Elsa Henrichs, Matt Daniels, Matt Whitmore, Megan Watson, Meghan DeRoche, Sydney Salter, Zoey Knox
Organizations: First Stage, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, United Performing Arts Fund
Government: New Berlin
Recent Press Releases by First Stage
First Stage Announces Expanded Playwrights-In-Residence and Commitment to New Play Development
Jun 5th, 2019 by First Stage
Three of the Playwrights-in-Residence plays will be included in First Stage’s upcoming 2019/20 season.
Associated Bank and Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. to sponsor ELF – The Musical, First Stage’s holiday production
May 13th, 2019 by First Stage
Based on the beloved 2003 holiday film, this Broadway holiday musical is sure to have everyone embracing their inner elf.
First Stage presents World Premiere production of GIRLS IN THE BOAT
Nov 28th, 2018 by First Stage
Featuring the award-winning Young Company. By Alice Austen. Directed by Marcella Kearns
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4689
|
__label__cc
| 0.627149
| 0.372851
|
Feasting off unusually warm sea surface waters, Hurricane Florence has exploded in strength – ImaGeo
National Hurricane Center: “Unfortunately, the models were right”
Astronaut Rickey Arnold took this spectacular photograph of Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station at 8:10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 10 as it moved west across the Atlantic. Please click to enlarge it. (Source: NASA)
When I woke up this morning, Hurricane Florence was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds a little above 100 miles per hour. As the storm has moved over very warm waters during the day, it has exploded in intensity to a Category 4 storm with max winds of 140 miles per hour.
As the National Hurricane Center put it this afternoon:
Unfortunately, the models were right. Florence has rapidly intensified into an extremely dangerous hurricane . . .
The forecast shows Florence strengthening even further and approaching Category 5 strength tomorrow. (Click on the thumbnail at right for the current forecast track.) It’s not yet clear whether it will maintain that strength until its almost-certain landfall on the U.S. East Coast on Thursday.
But the hurricane center was also grimly direct in this conclusion:
The bottom line is that there is high confidence that Florence will be a large and extremely dangerous hurricane, regardless of its exact intensity.
Should Florence hit at Category 3 strength or above in the Carolinas, storm surges could be nothing short of horrific — between 15 and 20 feet, and possibly more, according to meteorologist Jeff Masters, writing in the Category 6 blog.
And it gets worse: as Florence approaches the coast, the meteorological setup has begun to look just like that for Hurricane Harvey. That’s really bad news, given that Harvey is in a tie with Hurricane Katrina for costliest mainland U.S. tropical cyclone on record. Both storms are estimated to have caused $125 billion in damage.
After making landfall along the Texas coast in August 2017, Harvey meandered slowly over eastern Texas, dropping gargantuan amounts of rainfall on the greater Houston area — more than 60 inches in places, causing catastrophic flooding that inundated many thousands of homes. The storm went on to take the record for wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States.
Florence is shaping up similarly because of a ridge of extreme high pressure that is forecast to develop off the New England coast. “The strength of this ridge will be unprecedented in 30 years, according to forecast models,” writes Greg Porter at the Washington Post’s Capitol Weather Gang blog.
That will do two things, according to Porter, an atmospheric scientist and meteorologist. First, it will block Florence from curving out to sea, thereby directing it to its probable landfall in the Carolinas. Second, it should cause Florence to stall after landfall and trap it in the same general area for days.
The bottom line is that even after landfall, “the storm will still be dumping tons of rain over the same locations for several days,” Porter writes. “It could be similar to Hurricane Harvey’s impact on Texas and Louisiana in 2017.”
Back to the here and now, two factors are helping Florence grow in strength: low wind shear and very warm sea surface temperatures.
#Florence is about to spend 48+ hours in an area with low wind shear and anomalously warm ocean temperatures, which is the perfect environment for rapid intensification. pic.twitter.com/S7iPxDiN2Z
— Greg Porter (@NEWeatherRants) September 10, 2018
The low wind shear means little is interfering with Florence’s structure. And at the same time, the storm “is getting supercharged” by the very warm waters it is passing over, according to Penn State climatologist Michael Mann, writing in a Tweet today.
Sea surface temperatures have been running very high in a huge swath of the Atlantic for quite awhile now:
Using data from polar-orbiting satellites, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration created the visualization above to map areas where August 2018 sea surface temperatures have been warmer or colder than average.
I hope to follow up at some point with a post that delves into the possible connections between climate change and hurricanes. So please check back!
« Inching Toward De-Extinction: Can CRISPR Resurrect Passenger Pigeons? – D-brief
How the Bilingual Brain Switches Languages – D-brief »
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4690
|
__label__cc
| 0.668159
| 0.331841
|
A View From The Middle (Class)
Author: A View From The Middle (Class)
Hi, my name's John. I've thought about this blogging stuff for a number of years now. I got into it for real on November 10, 2011, after suddenly losing my job in late October that year. I've been blogging ever since, and I kept it up on a daily basis over a period of a year and four months of being unemployed or under-employed, to try and paint a picture of what being jobless with a family to support can be like. Finally, on February 28, 2013, I got a better job that put us back into the "middle class." But then that job went away, and I took a job as a transit bus driver that put us more in a lower income bracket. Now, I want to blog again on a more regular basis to tell of the kinds of struggles people like us go through as we work toward something better. Who knows, maybe I can actually turn this blogging stuff into a way to earn a living someday! If you go to my blog at https://viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com/ and click on my About page, it'll tell you a lot about me -- maybe more than you ever wanted to know. I'm just your average, laid-back guy who's GOING TO MAKE IT IN THIS WORLD, despite all the roadblocks thrown in the way. I also launched a "niche" blog on music at http://thecrossovermusicchannel.blogspot.com/ that I'm very excited about because of the popularity of music playlist articles here. Also, check out and "Like" this blog's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/daddysangbassdude2 for instant updates. Look forward to seeing y'all around!
Posted on July 25, 2017 by A View From The Middle (Class)
Is BSA adopting a new Scout Law?
A boy carries out suggestions more wholeheartedly when he understands their aim.
— Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts Association
I’m a former Boy Scout. In fact, my Scouting life started when my mother volunteered to be a Cub Scout pack leader. I went on to Webelos, then the Boy Scouts. I only made it to Second Class, but I had a lot of fun, made good friends, and there are memories from those days that will last a lifetime.
Donald Trump at the national Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia July 24. (Image via telegraph.co.uk)
I’m starting to feel sorry for today’s Boy Scouts after what the world saw out of the national Jamboree in West Virginia Monday, when the so-called President of the United States got up in front of tens of thousands of boys, Scout leaders and other adults and presented the statement, “… (W)ho the hell wants to speak about politics when I’m in front of the Boy Scouts?”
Then, in true Donald J. Trump fashion, he proceeded to talk about politics. A speech that could and should have been non-political, downright non-partisan, and inspirational (if that were even possible for Trump) became just another Trump campaign rally.
Sadly, tens of thousands of Scouts and adults seemed to eat it up judging by the roar coming from the crowd, such as when Trump mentioned whether his predecessor attended the Jamboree during his time as President. How many times in your life have you ever seen Boy Scouts encouraged — nay, downright set up — to boo a former President?
It broke my heart as a former Scout to hear them do it. It angered me to see some Scout leader in full uniform behind Trump appearing to go right along with it.
Did Barack Obama ever go to a Jamboree? Maybe not. Personally, I don’t give a damn. At least Obama did appear via video, and gave a better speech than the current sitting White House clown did. At the very least, he stuck to the aim and meaning of Scouting. He stuck to celebrating and honoring Scouting on its 100th anniversary instead of whining about Hillary and the health care bill and “fake news” while boasting about a “record” crowd size.
Apparently Trump felt the need to pat himself on the back for what’s a pretty typical crowd size for a national Jamboree. Again, it’s all about Trump. Some things never change.
How about a look at how it could have been if this so-called POTUS didn’t let his ego get in the way?
Instead, a lot of boys and adults fell right in line, acted out against what should have been better instincts (especially for Scouts), and cheered on a con man. Maybe that’s the problem: They were so thrilled to see and hear the con man they didn’t understand his aim.
I realize this left the Boy Scouts of America in a sticky situation. It’s an organization that’s supposed to be non-political, that’s supposed to honor the office of the President, and how’s it going to look if the BSA slams the so-called POTUS. But to my mind, as well as the minds of at least thousands of others — former Scouts and parents of current Scouts — judging by comments to the BSA on social media, the BSA’s response has been a bit weak.
As long as the con man has a place at the White House, maybe the BSA should adopt a new Scout Law. You know, something to fit the example set by the current occupant. I’ll go through each piece of the Scout Law and offer replacement suggestions, because this guy is none of these things.
A Scout is …
Trustworthy (Dishonest as the day is long)
Loyal (Demanding loyalty to himself, never willing to give it himself)
Helpful ( … Yeah, he helps himself to whatever he can get away with)
Friendly (When it benefits him, otherwise he’s a raging monster)
Courteous (Rude, disrespectful, heedless, impolite, inattentive, inconsiderate, mean, thoughtless, uncivil, unkind, unmannerly, unmindful, unrefined … take your pick)
Kind (Never one to let an opportunity go by to insult someone when the urge strikes)
Obedient (Demanding of obedience, and heaven help those who aren’t)
Cheerful (Bitter and whiny as all get out)
Thrifty (Willing to take advantage of anyone — contractors, senior citizens, etc. — if it’ll earn him more dough)
Brave (Cowardly, on a daily basis)
Clean (Someone who loves to play dirty as long as it’s to his advantage)
Reverent (Two Corinthians walk into a bar, they see an attractive woman, and the first Corinthian says to the second Corinthian, “Hey, watch me grab her by the …”)
Yes, as a former Scout, I’m weeping. And I don’t think Robert Baden-Powell ever foresaw a con man like Donald J. Trump pulling a fast one on his Scouts.
Posted on July 7, 2017 by A View From The Middle (Class)
Looking For America (Part 5 of 5): Turning things around
America hasn’t lost its greatness. Don’t let any grown child sitting in a position of power tell you otherwise.
America isn’t perfect. It has room to be greater. But if the last general election and its results have shown us anything, it’s that we’re moving in the wrong direction.
Each one of us has a responsibility in that movement toward righting this ship we call America. How do we do that?
ENOUGH WITH THE APATHY — Yes, politics can be frustrating. Yes, we feel that our representatives don’t listen to us, and we feel that way for good reason when town halls are held and people demand answers to their questions and they get roundabout answers, if those representatives bother to show up at all; or calls are made to lawmakers’ offices and answering systems inform people that mailboxes are full, or their office people take combative stances; or emails and mailed letters go unanswered or at best are answered with canned responses. But that’s no reason to give up, it’s reason to fight harder. We may not be in this position if more registered voters — especially in key states — had paid enough attention, not gotten too comfortable with poll numbers, not taken the easy way out by throwing up their hands and asking “what does it matter when they all stink?” during the last general election. Which means they didn’t show up to vote at all.
ENOUGH WITH THE SHENANIGANS — I voted for Hillary Clinton. But I wasn’t comfortable with that choice. And, regardless of what Hillary supporters have said to me and others like me who actually preferred Bernie Sanders, it had nothing to do with her gender. If Elizabeth Warren had been the candidate, I would have whooped and hollered and cast my vote readily for her. I wasn’t comfortable with the choice of Hillary because I wasn’t comfortable with how the Democratic Party conducted its primaries right up to the convention. This “superdelegate” farce has got to go. Thankfully, the DNC chair during the primaries is no longer there, but is the person in that place up to the task? Put the best candidates out there and let the people decide, not some “superdelegates.” Make the vote truly represent the voice of the people, make it fair.
SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES, PLEASE LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE AND GET CORPORATE MONEY OUT OF POLITICS — We know how attractive all that campaign money from organizations other than your electorate can be, but seriously. Click here to see just how staggering contributions can be for just one senator, Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, and why it should come as no surprise that his constituents really don’t mean all that much to him, except when it comes to election time.
AS CITIZENS, IF WE’RE GOING TO DEBATE POINTS WITH EACH OTHER, COME WELL-ARMED WITH FACTS INSTEAD OF FEELINGS — If we ever want to have that “civil discussion” we keep hearing about on the issues that face us, it does no good to ask the person on the other side for information, to ask for unbiased links to articles or any publications to back up their opinions, and have it end up with “it’s just a feeling I have,” or “I know the truth when I see things around me in everyday life,” leading to frustration which inevitably leads to personal insults. If I had $10 for every time I saw or had someone say in any way, “If you don’t like it here then leave,” then I could probably afford to leave. But, as it stands, we also won’t get to the point of having any civil discourse until we …
STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE, TURN OFF RUSH LIMBAUGH AND HANNITY AND ALEX JONES, QUESTION AT LEAST IN YOUR OWN MIND WHAT YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR NEWS AND INFORMATION IS TELLING YOU — And, yes, that includes the more liberal side too. Funny thing is, though, when I question the more liberal side and do my own research, it generally proves what I’m told on the more liberal side. Not always, but often enough.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO MAKE OUR PRESENCE KNOWN AND MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE, SOMETHING REALLY BIG? — A good friend of mine has suggested more than once that we all hop in some mode of transportation and make our way at a specific date and time and a specific location to Washington, D.C. Every one of us who’s grown tired and disgusted by “politics as usual,” every one of us who’s concerned in any way, just all get together and raise our voices and say to those who are supposed to represent us, “Do your job!!! Listen to us!!! Enough of the games already!!! Enough!!!” How could they ignore us then? If that were possible, I’d be there in a heartbeat. Until that can happen …
PAY ATTENTION, GET INVOLVED, AND VOTE FOR WHAT’S RIGHT FOR EVERYONE IN AMERICA — Not just what’s right for you and your beliefs on guns or abortion or sexual orientation or religion or nationalities or race, etc. What’s right for everyone as citizens of America, as a whole. After all …
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Part 1: It’s getting … tiresome
Part 2: A Vision of America
Part 3: Where America Is At Now
Part 4: The Fakeness of America
Part 5: Turning Things Around
Posted on July 6, 2017 by A View From The Middle (Class) · 1 Comment
Looking For America (Part 4 of 5): The ‘fakeness’ of America
Don’t tell me about “fake news.” Please don’t try and convince me what fake news is. I’ve seen it too long.
Those tabloids you see lining the aisles of the checkout stands at stores, with huge-font headlines about Bat Boy, Bigfoot, space aliens meeting with Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney being a robot … that’s fake news. Recognize it as such. Please.
Alex Jones and InfoWars … Breitbart … Rush Limbaugh … Sean Hannity … Laura Ingraham … Drudge Report … Michael Savage … nothing journalistic about any of them and their ilk. Each of them, opinionated blowhards who rake in too much money by spreading nonsense too many people eat up, too easily tempted and too easily convinced that what they’re hearing just has to be true without lifting a finger in an internet search to see whether it is indeed factual. Alex Jones can spout all kinds of conspiracy theories about all kinds of garbage, and he’ll say over and over that he’s “seen the white papers” that back up his claims. When has he ever produced those “white papers” for closer inspection by his gullible fans?
Here’s what’s not “fake news.” It’s the work that’s done by people at newspapers large and small, television stations large and small, radio stations large and small, who put aside biases and ask honest questions seeking information from all sides of a story so they can present all sides to the public. It’s a way of getting at this thing called the truth.
Such a thing does exist.
I used to be one of those people who made a modest living as a journalist asking questions to those on all sides of a story. I even discovered a bullet hole in the side of a red Ford Mustang I once owned around the time I was asking questions, and I tend to think some people didn’t like the questions I was asking. I was getting too close to the truth.
Maybe someone wanted to scare me off. Instead, I kept asking questions.
So you could definitely say it irritates me to no end when the so-called President of the United States throws more credibility to the Alex Joneses and Breitbarts of the world and calls bonafide outlets practicing the craft of asking questions and reporting their findings as “fake news.” All because they’re getting at facts, getting at truth, and he doesn’t like it.
Instead of grabbing a gun and shooting at a reporter’s car, he takes old video from his days as just a reality TV star, from a performance in which he faked taking down the head honcho of one of the fake wrestling organizations (whose wife is now in charge of the Small Business Administration), has someone superimpose the CNN logo over the honcho’s face, and posts it on Twitter.
And his followers think he’s so tough.
Instead of grabbing a gun and shooting at a reporter’s car, he just comes out and calls legitimate journalists the “enemy of the people.”
And his followers believe him.
This is the so-called President of the United States. Emphasis on so-called.
Trump supporters whine and moan about anonymous sources in reports from major outlets such as The New York Times or The Washington Post when it comes to information presented on any Trump campaign ties to Russia. Anonymous sources have been around for many, many years, and they stay anonymous for valid reasons. There’s nothing criminal about it. It’s not an act of treason.
If the use of anonymous sources was criminal, then we owe Richard Nixon an apology for sullying his image and former FBI special agent Mark Felt — known during and for a long time after the Watergate years as the anonymous source “Deep Throat” — should be posthumously executed.
Are we okay with the dirty tricks Nixon played? If not, then why hang the media out to dry for using anonymous sources in trying to dig up information that could make Nixon’s actions look like nothing more than a third-rate bungled burglary?
CLICK: A Look At Journalists’ Use of Anonymous Sources
The major media has some serious blame to share in this mess emanating from the White House or Mar-a-Lago or wherever Trump happens to open up that spoiled, childish brain of his in order to share his latest dim-witted and warped thoughts. On the television side, Trump can’t say that he was treated unfairly during the campaign. If anything, he was given gifts that kept on giving in terms of free air time and the ratings that can come from having a talkative sociopath appear or phone in.
Among the worst offenders from that time: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski from the Morning Joe show on MSNBC. I’d like to say I have more sympathy for those two after the Twitter attacks the immature so-called POTUS leveled at them on Twitter recently, but they helped create the monster.
Joe and Mika didn’t present “fake news.” They presented an open microphone and cameras and phone lines to an outright fool, a bully, someone historically unfit to claim the title of POTUS. They did it for ratings, not the truth.
We’re paying for it now. This isn’t how you make America … greater. Some of the greatest freedoms we have come through the First Amendment, including freedom of speech and freedom of the press. If you look carefully lately, you can see from Trump and his people ways in which that freedom is being threatened.
CLICK: As White House Cracks Down on Press, Calls Grow for Journalists to Fight Back
That’s how we’re going to make America … greater?
Search out the truth. Reject the real fakery. As citizens, do the job that citizens need to do to put feelings and ideologies aside and seek out the truth.
America demands it. America requires it. America deserves it.
Posted on July 5, 2017 by A View From The Middle (Class) · 2 Comments
Looking For America (Part 3 of 5): Where America is at now
Interviewer: What message would you have for the viewers of this film who will loathe you when the credits roll?
Roger Stone: I revel in your hatred, because if I weren’t effective you wouldn’t hate me.
Roger Stone (Image via “Get Me Roger Stone”)
And with those words, the longtime Republican strategist, lobbyist, Richard Nixon “dirty trickster,” and the man who helped propel Donald J. Trump into the White House — Roger Stone — looks out the window in the back seat of a limousine, a scowl on his face, and the closing credits roll on the Netflix documentary “Get Me Roger Stone.”
I watched this documentary a few weeks ago. I had to break my viewing into a couple of chunks. Never before has the experience of watching a documentary made me feel nauseous. This one did. It nauseated me because the thought struck me: This is what America is turning into, right in front of our eyes. And too many people are fine with that.
Stone is an egomaniac. He is without caring, without compassion. He is only in it to win, to advance himself and his “partners in crime,” which includes time spent lobbying for foreign nations and their leaders with less-than-savory reputations.
Roger Stone doesn’t care. He’s got what he wants. He’s been rewarded for helping to pull the wool over the eyes of millions of people who gave Donald J. Trump an Electoral College victory.
Too many people out there are still okay with that. Too many people think the so-called President of the United States is doing a great job, yet when you ask for examples of what he’s done aside from pushing out executive orders not meant for the betterment of America but to bitterly tear apart the legacy of the previous President, and you push for facts instead of feelings, the best you’ll get in response is “yeah, but Hillary …” or “yeah, but Obama …”
Where are all the coal jobs that were promised? Not coming back. What about all those jobs at the Carrier plant in Indiana that Trump said he saved before he was even sworn in? They’re still leaving.
Any jobs being created right now are coming as a result of the previous President’s policies, because that’s how the transition of power works. Trump will never tell you that, but too many will believe him when he says it’s all because of him.
And what about that “repealing and replacing” of the Affordable Care Act? It wasn’t that long ago that Sunday morning news programs had commercials from AARP reminding us with words coming from Trump’s own mouth on the campaign trail that things like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security wouldn’t be touched. Those ads have gone away, because Trump made a promise he couldn’t keep, because our lawmakers are coming up with a plan to screw over average Americans, from the oldest to the youngest.
Like I told a relative of mine a couple of days after the election, a relative who voted for Trump: “You bought yourself a lemon.”
Let’s face it, we have a Roger Stone protege in office. We also have a Roy Cohn protege in office. Remember Roy Cohn?
(Warning: The following video contains brief crude language.)
So, here we have an egomaniacal, sociopathic influencer helping to push an egomaniacal sociopath into the White House, and they both looked up to a weasel in the form of Roy Cohn.
That’s where America is at. How comforting is that?
But let’s go beyond Stone and Trump and their heroes (aside from themselves). Where are we at when it comes to representation in the halls of Congress?
For so long, American citizens have felt a disconnect with those who represent them in the House and Senate. Trump campaigned on “draining the swamp.” But out of the last election, the only result we’ve seen is choosing which alligators inhabit the swamp, and those alligators only have sharper teeth.
We’re not represented as American citizens any more. I’ve tried calling the offices of Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch a few times. On two occasions I managed to get through to live people, asking about the last Supreme Court vacancy and the lack of hearings on a health care coverage bill. Each time, Hatch’s people have refused to provide information that I’ve asked for and invited me to look it up myself. Each time it’s ended up with his people arguing my points. The last time, the “scheduler” I talked to audibly sighed like she was disgusted as I was giving my views.
That’s not listening and thinking about what I have to say. Inviting me to look up information on Hatch’s website (where I didn’t find it) about Senate health care hearings isn’t about his people doing the jobs that they’re paid to do by taxpayers, it’s inviting taxpayers to do their jobs for them.
The way it stands now, we are not represented in Congress, at least not by the majority and there are still too many questions about the minority party’s motives as well. We keep sending people to office who represent companies giving to their campaign war chests to represent their interests more than they represent citizens. Is that how it’s supposed to be?
Where is America at right now? It’s like we’re living in a three-ring circus, and Donald J. Trump is the ringmaster.
If this circus gets any bigger, a fourth ring will be required.
Looking For America (Part 2 of 5): A vision of America
My vision of what America is and should be all about was formed in my childhood years.
I’d go to school and we’d stand in the classroom, face an American flag, put our hands over our hearts, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. We’d have pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln framed and hanging from the walls to remind us of where we came from.
I came from a small town, in rural America, that part of the country that’s truly “fly-over country.” And there’s a part of that which will always be with me, no matter where I am.
In my formative years, I believed in America, with every fiber of my being. I believed in what it stood for — freedom, equality, our voices meaning something to those who were supposed to represent us, the Statue of Liberty welcoming everyone from every nation and every walk of life, a sense of compassion. I believed in that thing called the American Dream.
I believed in hard work, and being compensated fairly for that work. I’d spend childhood years driving a Ford tractor pulling a trailer through a field, hauling irrigation pipe, turning bales of hay so they could be picked up by newfangled machinery and stacked neatly, being rewarded with a cold drink of tapped well water from an old glass A&W root beer jug covered in burlap, stuck in a cold stream to keep it ultimately refreshing on a hot summer day, watching my grandfather resting on the ground in the shade of an International pickup truck after he’d finished smoking some hand-rolled cigarettes.
As my grandfather slept for a bit during some break time, I’d dream of the future.
The work included climbing the stairs of a milking shed to the top, shoveling grain into a barrel with the grain being distributed below into bins for dairy cows being milked in the parlor. In the heat of summer days, roasting under a metal roof, the work was far from easy. But it had to be done.
My grandparents wouldn’t put up with slacking off. I learned about earning your keep early in life.
On the week of July 4th, my hometown threw quite a party. Salmon River Days. Stores would display their wares on the sidewalks all along Main Street. There were parades, patriotic music, motocross races on Dump Hill outside of town, and fireworks that most small towns could only dream about because our high school band teacher was very serious when it came to pyrotechnics.
Yep, I’ve got stars and stripes and red, white and blue coursing through my veins. I’ve believed in what I believed to be American values of treating others how we’d want to be treated my entire life.
I haven’t always been perfect in that, but any mistakes I’ve made I ended up learning from.
In later years, after my grandfather had passed and my grandmother was still alive, I’d see at least one con man calling himself a politician preying on my grandmother’s conservative beliefs. I could see his games, but she couldn’t. I don’t know how much monetarily she’d bought into it, but I felt sorry for her. She bought into “patriot games.” That con man ended up going to prison for defrauding two Idaho banks and at least 100 individuals in a $30 million investment scheme.
My grandmother was among the people who helped instill values into me that were priceless — honesty, compassion, trusting to a fault, believing that everyone’s equal, regardless of religion or whatever. I saw the values of America.
Where are those values today?
Posted on July 3, 2017 July 3, 2017 by A View From The Middle (Class) · 6 Comments
Looking For America (Part 1 of 5): It’s getting … tiresome
I’m tired.
This grand American experiment is 241 years young now. It’s been quite a struggle to build it up, right from the beginning. Wars have been fought to buy and hold on to a nation’s independence, to make men and women free no matter the color of their skin, to look upon each other as being equal. That’s among the truths that are supposed to be self-evident.
It wasn’t always evident even among America’s founders, some of whom had slaves of their own. And years would pass before that practice was abolished. And many more years would pass and too many lives would be lost before a thing called the Civil Rights Act was passed.
Still, does that mean as much today as it did back in 1964? The struggle within this country for true civil rights goes on.
It goes on when the lives of blacks are lost during a traffic stop, when a black man tells a police officer he has a weapon not as a threat but as a precaution and yet he loses his life anyway, yet white men can carry around semi-automatic weapons and actually act in a threatening manner, and they are negotiated with instead of being shot. And the movement that says black lives matter is still mocked by some.
It goes on in the continuous struggle over sexual orientation, even after the Supreme Court settles the issue.
It goes on over religion, with an entire belief system being condemned because of the radical ideology and violent actions of certain groups claiming to represent that otherwise much larger peaceful group of believers, and we hear the shouts of “Bomb ’em all!”
It goes on over gender. It goes on when the vast majority of women aren’t paid on equal levels as men in the workplace for equal work. It goes on when the debate over what a woman chooses to do with her own body rages on, even after the Supreme Court settles the issue. It goes on when misogyny goes on at the highest levels of the land, yet even women of a certain ideological bent somehow see fit to defend it when it happens.
I’m tired of it. Are we a people who believe we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness? Or do we just want to force-feed a particular belief system on everyone based on our particular beliefs, and if someone doesn’t go along with our beliefs, then — by God — they can just pack up and leave or die.
Is it better to force-feed our beliefs on those who disagree with us, no matter what the highest court in the land says, or is it better to work out our differences in the halls of Congress, no matter how long it takes?
I’m tired of believing that it’s possible to work out differences that way.
I’m tired, and yet I still hold out hope.
I don’t want to believe that all the blood that’s been shed and all the lives that have been lost over the past 241 years of American history in order to make a more perfect union has been shed for nothing. I still believe there can be a more perfect union, but in order to make that happen we can’t be afraid of progress.
I believe in progress. I believe in moving forward, not backward. I believe we are still a great nation, but we can be greater still. Whether that happens is up to us as a people. We have to open our minds, to each other and the possibilities that are in front of us.
I’m tired. I’m getting more weary by the day. I’m looking for America. I’m looking for the America that I’ve believed in for a long time.
Looking For America: A special July 4th message
I haven’t been saying nearly as much lately as what I’ve been thinking. Life tends to get in the way when all you’re trying to do is survive.
The last time I published anything in this blog was President’s Day. And that’s way too long when it comes to the thoughts that have crossed my mind and what’s been happening in our American lives since then.
My lovely wife might say that I’ve been too focused lately on worldly things and current events. But to me, there needs to be a balance between focusing on what’s happening around us in the present tense and what we need to be watchful of in a more spiritual sense — what’s happening now, because if we don’t pay attention to what’s happening now, we will be deceived in a spiritual sense.
Deception is all around us. The ones who pay attention to and really think about what’s happening will come out just fine. The ones who fall into “the trap” of deception that is way too prevalent now will be in trouble.
With the week surrounding America’s Independence Day upon us, I’m taking some time to put together a series of five articles starting July 3 that take a look at where we as a nation were meant to be, where we are, and where we should be if we are going to live up to where America was designed by the founding fathers.
I encourage you to follow all five parts of my upcoming 4th of July week series. Stay tuned. Believe what you want to believe. All I’m offering is food for thought — some individual choice.
Part 1: Tired of It All
Part 2: Vision of America
Posted on February 19, 2017 by A View From The Middle (Class)
Happy Presidents’ Day, right?
Presidents’ Day has taken a hit. It’s taken a big hit. How do we celebrate it now without the guy sitting at the desk in the Oval Office for the past month thinking it’s all just about him and him alone, as he’s prone to do?
We could engage in arguments over social media with supporters of the guy at the desk. Unfortunately, no matter how many well-researched facts and articles and informative charts we present, no matter how balanced and impartially we try to present ourselves, we end up looking like dogs chasing their tails.
We can point to conflicts of interest in business dealings, we can point to the guy’s close ties to Russia and the fact that Russian officials admitted to communications with the guy’s people during the campaign, we can point out Cabinet appointees’ lack of experience in the areas they’re supposed to lead, we can point to areas where actions appear to be or are outright ruled to be unconstitutional or illegal, and all too often the responses to the well-thought-out and valid, not always barbed points we make end up in one of a few different ways:
“Yeah, but Obama …”
“Yeah, but Hillary …”
“It’s all fake news.”
Personal slams.
What’s happened to the party of Lincoln, the President who brought us a movement meant to point us in the direction of freedom and liberty for all?
What’s happened to the party of Teddy Roosevelt, who worked to fight corruption, political machines and monopolies as hard as he led the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill?
What’s happened to the party of Dwight Eisenhower, who led during a time of prosperity when taxes on the wealthy were much higher and as he stepped away he warned against a thing called the military-industrial complex, who opposed McCarthyism, continued New Deal agencies and expanded Social Security?
For that matter, what’s happened to the party of Richard Nixon, who wasn’t exactly known as the straightest of shooters but who at least saw fit to start something called the Environmental Protection Agency, only to see it being set up to be gutted today? And what’s happened to the party of Ronald Reagan, who stood so firmly against the Soviet Union only to see renewed displays of authoritarianism in present day Russia seemingly met with games of patty-cake?
What’s happened to the moderate conservatives? The ones we may not have agreed with on everything, but we could at least find some common ground by sitting down and talking together in a reasonable fashion? They’re out there, and now more than ever they need to step up, speak out, and be heard over the din of those who prefer their conservatism in loud and unreasonable doses from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, and anyone associated with Breitbart, to name just a few.
Just how many people did the guy bring to the White House from Breitbart as advisors anyway?
And when the guy holds a press conference and looks for “friendly questions” from the likes of Breitbart, you have to know the state of things in this White House.
We could celebrate Presidents’ Day by hopping on social media and engaging in useless arguments with supporters of the guy. Or we could think about doing something more positive, more constructive. We could search out any of a number of grassroots organizations that are truly “grassroots” and not some big bankrolled campaign like the Tea Party with its links to Americans For Prosperity and Freedomworks, well funded by the Koch brothers.
As for me, I’ve been looking into the Indivisible movement. I’ve gone so far as to attend the first meeting of Utah Indivisible over this weekend, a gathering that was packed with over 300 attendees of all ages, and I think it’s a safe bet that it wasn’t just filled up with liberals. They didn’t check party affiliation, but people were urged to list what congressional district they lived in. Yes, there are conservatives who are genuinely troubled by what they see coming out of the White House and beyond over the past month of the guy’s presidency. And they’re not too proud to join in raising voices and flooding the mail bags destined for their local congressional leaders, even if it means opposing someone representing their own chosen party.
That’s how it needs to be. Country over political party.
The Utah Indivisible meeting didn’t feature anything in the way of people shouting over each other. It was filled with ideas, concerns, suggestions, possible solutions, ways to work together as citizens to fight this trend of lawmakers ignoring the phone calls and letters and attempts at face-to-face visits from constituents. It featured people saying that they’d never truly been politically active before, but they are now because of their concern for the direction their country’s taking.
What it didn’t feature was someone with deep pockets willing to dig far into their bank account to pay the attendees to protest, as some congressional leaders who’ve tasted the wrath of their constituents at town hall meetings recently have sadly and wrongfully suggested.
George Soros was not in attendance.
Yeah, we can celebrate this Presidents’ Day by hopping on social media and arguing with the Breitbart and InfoWars fans. But where does that get us in the long run? And we can expect a long haul.
We need to stand united, as liberals and conservatives and independents and other political flavors to find a strong, sustained voice. Emphasis on sustained.
Posted on November 11, 2016 November 11, 2016 by A View From The Middle (Class)
Reflections on a bad dream
There are so many thoughts running through my mind after seeing Donald Trump elected as the 45th President of the United States, I don’t know where to begin. Sometimes I feel nauseated just thinking about it.
Right now as I write this is one of those times. But that’s just one of many negative adjectives that describe the feelings I’m going through.
I’ve felt shocked. Stunned. Disgusted. Amazed. Deeply saddened. Betrayed. Angry as I can be. Several hours after the victor was announced in the wee hours Wednesday morning, I went to a grocery store to buy a few things we needed. Just before approaching the cashier to pay for the items, I prepared myself for a simple question that the cashier might ask. I gave it some thought and came up with a couple of simple words close to what Read more
Posted on November 5, 2016 by A View From The Middle (Class) · 4 Comments
Oh, someone, please stop this crazy ride! I wanna get off!!!
You know the feeling, right? You’re on some crazy carnival ride that’s twisty and turny with lots of ups and downs and loop de loops, putting you upside down and sideways. The kind of ride where you get so dizzy and disoriented, you just feel a nearly overwhelming need to upchuck.
Sometimes you’ll laugh your behind off. Other times you’re teetering on the edge of being overwhelmed with fear.
The 2016 election’s been a lot like one of those crazy carnival rides. It’s at least promising to stay that way right up to the time winners are declared on Tuesday night, and the way just the presidential race has gone, the ride might not even stop then.
After all, one orangeish presidential contender even said for the world to see that he’d keep people guessing on whether he’d concede if he didn’t come out ahead.
Oh, someone, please, for the love of all that’s good and decent and holy, for cryin’ out loud, stop this crazy ride! I wanna get off now!!! Enough! Or I’m gonna hurl!
My lovely wife and I have already done our civic duty. We sat down on the same day in the comfort of our couch with black ink pens in hand and filled out our mail-in ballots.
Into the mailbox our ballots go. (Photo By John G. Miller)
The next day, during some break time from my job, I found a convenient U.S. Postal Service mailbox and dropped those ballots in, with a feeling of accomplishment and pride. Just a couple of days ago I took an extra step and checked online at my county clerk’s office just to make sure those ballots had been received.
Who did I vote for? You’d like to know, wouldn’t you? Well, I’m going to take a page from the orangeish candidate’s playbook and “keep you in suspense.” I could throw you off even more by honestly saying I was a strong Bernie Sanders supporter, and I didn’t appreciate Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s games during the Democratic primaries which helped hand a nomination to Hillary Clinton. And, no, I’m not throwing my vote to Gary Johnson when he comes across looking like an idiot by not knowing what Aleppo is, among other zany stunts Johnson’s pulled.
Here, I’ll let HBO’s John Oliver pretty much sum up my view on this election’s third party presidential candidates, including Jill Stein.
So, who did I pick for president? For all you know, it could have been Joe Exotic.
One thing you can take to the bank, though. There is no way in hell I’d vote for the orangeish candidate. That’s one candidate that truly makes me want to barf out a multicolored rainbow, one candidate I’m so sick of that I’m doing everything in my power not to even mention his name.
The reasons why I’m sick of the orange-tinted candidate increase by the day. Why, just in the last couple of days we’ve seen how this (lack of) character can take a speech where the sitting President can be interrupted mid-speech by a protester, strongly urge the crowd to show the protester some respect while having to raise his voice over the noise, and have the tangerine guy turn it into the President shouting at the protester.
But this one item is less than a tiny blip on the radar screen when it comes to why the Tang-tinged one can make me laugh and turn my stomach at the same time. Just like a wild carnival ride.
And then comes the fear. Just like the face of that kid on the roller coaster.
I fear a candidate who can pull the kind of strings that it takes to get the chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to ignore things like the Hatch Act, guidance from his superiors, and common sense in general by getting voters riled up by Anthony Weiner emails that probably have nothing whatsoever to do with the grapefruit-colored candidate’s opponent in order to try and influence the election in the final days, making puppets out of people like Rudy Giuliani and Jason Chaffetz in the process.
I fear the logic of followers of the apricot-colored one — people who once feared that the Soviet Union would swallow the world up whole, but now seem to totally ignore the growing evidence that the flame-colored egomaniac they feel so great about has been playing a bit of patty-cake with Russian leaders.
I’ve never been a fan of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, but that’s changing when I listen to what this truly successful billionaire has to say about the citrus-stained one.
“ A (Vladimir) Putin, or an (Julian) Assange, would say to him, ‘Donald, if you do this, I will give you $20 billion.’ What is 20 billion to them? What is 30 billion?” Cuban asked. “For them, that is nothing. If Donald Trump, who rips off people for thousands — do you think he is going to do what is right for the country, or do you think he is going to take the money?
“Do you think he has the temperament to do the right thing? Do you think he has the fortitude to do the right thing? Do you think he cares about you or his bank account?”
Anyone who searches for the truth and looks beyond the candy-colored one’s cons and knows his history is awfully nervous right about now. Just as frightened as they’d be if they were riding on the wildest damn roller coaster in the world.
Wild rides can make us laugh, or turn us a ghostly shade of white with fear.
Hell of an election, isn’t it?
I can’t wait ’til the ride’s over, and the joker’s fans give up any foolish notion of a real civil war should things not go their way.
This ain’t funny.
Is BSA adopting a new Scout Law? July 25, 2017
Looking For America (Part 5 of 5): Turning things around July 7, 2017
Looking For America (Part 4 of 5): The ‘fakeness’ of America July 6, 2017
Looking For America (Part 3 of 5): Where America is at now July 5, 2017
Looking For America (Part 2 of 5): A vision of America July 4, 2017
Looking For America (Part 1 of 5): It’s getting … tiresome July 3, 2017
Looking For America: A special July 4th message July 2, 2017
Happy Presidents’ Day, right? February 19, 2017
Reflections on a bad dream November 11, 2016
Oh, someone, please stop this crazy ride! I wanna get off!!! November 5, 2016
In The Archives Select Month July 2017 February 2017 November 2016 October 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 May 2015 March 2015 December 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011
Categories Select Category “The View’s BIG TALENT SHOW” Amy’s Angle Animal kingdom Business Christian/Classical Classic rock Comedy Country Current events Dad stuff Faith Family Funk/Soul/Blues Guest opinions Humor Jazz Jazz-fusion Job search Life in Utah Media Middle class life Music News News of the Weird Occupy movement Others’ stories Outdoors Photos Politics Progressive rock Road trip Satire Sports Stream of consciousness Those wacky Utah drivers Uncategorized
Crossover Music Channel (My new music blog)
Daniel Harper's "Precision Points of a Called Christian"
DoubleyooTeeEff
Earl Harris Photography
OneDrfuLife
PhotoBotos.com
ProgressiveEars.com
Randi Rhodes
The Daily Mustard
The Fifth Column
Find Blog Articles By Date
A View From The Middle (Class) on Facebook
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4691
|
__label__cc
| 0.749158
| 0.250842
|
VSOP: A Guide To The Brandy Alphabet
As you’re probably aware, liquor labels can be a bit confusing—even with the heroic regulation efforts of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, there’s a lot of information to take in. And while something like whiskey (or whisky) might confuse with its “Straight Bourbons,” “Single Malts,” “Blended Grains,” and so on, nowhere is the alphabet soup of liquor labelling so confusing as with Cognac and Armagnac, France’s two famous Brandy regions.
You’ve seen them—letters like V.S., A.C., X.O. (where it does not mean “Hug, full stop, Kiss, full stop”). So what does it all mean? Before you try to rearrange the letters like some kind of Sunday jumble, just remember this: all the letters on any bottle of Cognac or Armagnac you’ll see refer to one thing: aging.
Not that that means any of it’s simple, since aging standards really just set minimums (as in the the minimum number of years any component of the blend in the bottle). But many Cognac and Armagnac houses will age well beyond set minimums, meaning quality can vary. Best is to buy in the moderate range, read some reviews, see what you like, and go from there (that is, don’t necessarily start with anything “extra” or “superior,” unless you’ve got cash to spend).
V.O. (Very Old): Meaning the whole thing’s been aged a minimum of 4 years.
V.S. (Very Special): AKA “three stars,” means the youngest Cognac or Armagnac in the blend must be a minimum 2 years old.
V.S.O.P.(Very Special/Superior Old Pale): Means the youngest Cognac in the blend must be at least 4 years old or, for Armagnac, 5 years old (though often it’s much older); “old pale” comes from the use of caramel coloring, which can be used to color-correct, but in “Old Pale” should be omitted.
Napoleon: Apparently a favorite of Napoleon, otherwise it just designated a Cognac that’s 4 years old or an Armagnac that’s at least 6 years old.
X.O. (Extra Old): It’s fun that X.O. actually just means “extra old,” because that just seems like some straight-up street terminology. The “extra” here means at least 6 years old, though starting in April 2016 the new minimum will be 10 years old. (See, it’s a bit confusing.)
Varietal: If and when a Cognac or Armagnac is made with just one grape, it may be named after that grape varietal or include the varietal on the label.
Vintage: Much more common in Armagnac, when a particular year’s harvest is all that’s gone into the bottle. Cognacs are much more often blended, hence all the different terminology to indicate the age of the youngest eau de vie in the bottle. Vintage Armagnacs carry a hefty price tag.
Hors d’Age (“Of the Ages”): Literally a way to say “this Cognac is so old, it’d be impolite to ask.” Fair warning, Cognac and Armagnac can lose their lustre after too much aging (some say around 35 years, but Tres Vieille Cognac can be 50 years old), so do some research before any big purchases.
Cru: Not a statement of age, but place, basically the growing region, which you’ll see more often on Cognac (which has six official growing regions).
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4692
|
__label__wiki
| 0.70985
| 0.70985
|
How higher emotional intelligence will help chatbots
John Brandon@jmbrandonbb August 21, 2016 12:10 PM
Image Credit: YanLev/Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence is mostly a reaction-based technology. If the A.I. routines in a bot are not that smart, the bot doesn’t react appropriately (or very quickly). If a bot knows how to respond correctly, and with urgency, it’s due to those reactions being programmed into an interface in the best way possible.
Of course, there are two types of “intelligent” responses a bot can provide. In one, the bot simply uses data to give the correct answer to the user. The other is much more difficult and involves an emotional response — the bot understands the user and their emotional state. In a customer chat, a smart bot would know which information to relay but could also pick up on the fact that the person on the other end of the messaging app is not paying attention, has become hostile, doesn’t want to talk, or has a bad attitude.
Recently, I heard about a company called Cogito that is trying to build more emotional intelligence (or EQ) into their A.I. For now, the A.I. works by analyzing voice calls between human agents and customers. The goal is to understand how an A.I. can act more like a human and, eventually, help robotic agents.
“Our A.I. measures conversations by speech reaction patterns using real-time feedback, including how [people] talk, as a way to measure the EQ of humans,” said Josh Feast, the CEO of Cogito.
Feast explained that there is a difference between a “persona” and a “personality.” A persona is easier to build — you can teach a bot to mimic a real person using certain words and speech patterns. A personality is much harder — this requires a higher level of EQ and an understanding that any conversation — by voice or chat — has an underlying tone, narrative arc, and bias or slant. While it’s more difficult to achieve, there is something fresh and authentic about a bot that has personality, whether it’s in a messaging app or activated by voice.
Cogito analyzes a wealth of data during calls. The team looks for things like whether someone is talking quickly, if they are interrupting often, if their tone is uneven, or if they are taking long pauses. Feast says humans are amazingly good at picking up on these social signals — if someone sounds tense, for example, or if they are withdrawing from a conversation. Humans are good at adapting to tone.
One of the signals developers are looking at is when a tone goes flat. When we disengage from a conversation, we tend to speak in a boring, monotonous manner. We’re basically “done” talking. We want to finish up the conversation quickly and move on to something else. Our participation is reduced, our speech volume gets lower, and we take longer pauses in the conversation.
Cogito says this “signal score” is quantifiable, and the company uses that data to help human agents understand what’s happening during a call. Feast says that, in the future, these signals could be used for an A.I. that adapts to a voice call or adapts within a chatbot conversation. In fact, he agreed that messaging apps might have a better chance of detecting EQ than voice-enabled bots. A chatbot can detect when someone has not typed a message in a while, for example, or has started using more aggressive words.
The fact that a chatbot is expected to be “less human” could even explain why the field has exploded lately. You can teach a bot to text people more easily than you can teach a bot to speak. The data models are more widely available for text than voice. Anyone who has chatted with Amazon Alexa or Apple Siri knows the conversation ends pretty quickly. These are powerful voice agents, but they have a limited vocabulary. Chatbots have a more limited set of variables to help them detect user frustration and to provide an adequate response, but these limitations work in their favor. They can handle more EQ.
For now, the Cogito A.I. is helping human agents. Soon, it could help bots become more human. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will become incredibly important.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4698
|
__label__wiki
| 0.644335
| 0.644335
|
Pivotal Weight Loss Data for Gelesis100 Published in Obesity, Including Predictors of Response
Business Wire November 13, 2018 3:25 AM
6 out of 10 of adults with overweight or obesity had a clinically meaningful response to Gelesis100, losing on average 10% of their weight (22 pounds) and nearly 4 inches from their waists. Adults treated with Gelesis100 had twice the odds of achieving ≥ 5% and ≥ 10% total body weight loss compared to placebo
Successful response to Gelesis100 may be predicted by elevated fasting plasma glucose or weight loss as early as week 8
Gelesis100 had a highly favorable safety and tolerability profile
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–November 13, 2018–
Gelesis, a biotechnology company developing first-in-class mechanotherapeutics to treat obesity and other chronic diseases related to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, today announced expanded data from its Gelesis Loss of Weight (GLOW) clinical study, a pivotal multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the Company’s lead investigational candidate, Gelesis100, which is an oral, non-systemic approach to weight loss. The data were published this week in the journal Obesity and presented as three posters and an oral session at ObesityWeek 2018, the annual combined congress of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and The Obesity Society.
The GLOW study was designed to assess change in body weight in adults with overweight or obesity after six months of treatment with Gelesis100. Topline results of the study were announced in September 2017. In the Intent To Treat (ITT) population, 59% of Gelesis100-treated adults achieved weight loss of at least 5% (achieving one primary outcome) vs. 42% in the placebo group. The new data show that Gelesis100-treated adults fell into two groups: responders, the 6 out of 10 who lost an average of 10% of their total body weight (about 22 pounds) and nearly 4 inches from their waists; and non-responders, those who lost an average of 1% of their total body weight (about 2 pounds). The complete Gelesis100 treatment group (including both responders and non-responders) demonstrated superiority compared to placebo (–6.4% vs. –4.4%, P=0.0007), and as previously announced, did not meet a co-primary outcome of 3% super-superiority over placebo.
In addition, 27% of the Gelesis100 ITT population compared to 15% of the placebo group were super-responders, defined as achieving at least 10% weight loss. These super-responders achieved an average of about 14% weight loss or approximately 30 pounds. Gelesis100-treated individuals also had twice the odds of achieving at least 5% and at least 10% weight loss vs. placebo (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 2.0, P=0.0008; adjusted OR: 2.1, P=0.0107, respectively).
Notably, there was a clear and early separation between responders and non-responders, which may allow for an early prediction of response to therapy. More specifically, weight loss of at least 3% as early as after eight weeks of treatment predicted clinically meaningful weight loss at six months, with sensitivity and specificity levels exceeding 80%. The paper published in Obesity noted that early prediction of response to therapy could allow more efficient use of resources and provide a key treatment milestone for clinicians and patients.
The study also showed that nearly half of the adults with pre-diabetes or drug-naive diabetes were super-responders. These individuals, who typically face greater challenges to lose weight, had six times greater odds of being super-responders, compared to placebo (adjusted OR: 6.1, P=0.0071). This is the second Gelesis100 clinical study to find an association between elevated fasting plasma glucose and a pronounced response to Gelesis100.
There were no statistically significant differences in the incidence and severity of adverse events (AEs) between the two groups except for the overall incidence of GI-related AEs, which was higher in the Gelesis100 group. Of the GI-related AEs, the largest difference in the incidence between the two groups was abdominal distension (12% in the Gelesis100 group compared to 7% in the placebo group), a difference that was not statistically significant. The majority of GI-related AEs were mild and had short duration and full resolution. No serious adverse events were observed in the Gelesis100 group.
“More than 130 million Americans struggle with weight loss, making it one of the biggest public health issues facing our society. We believe Gelesis100 offers a compelling new potential approach given its strong safety and efficacy profile and, if cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it could be an important addition to the clinical toolkit for treating overweight and obesity,” said Harry L. Leider, MD, MBA, FACPE, Chief Medical Officer of Gelesis. “There are no simple and well-established predictive indicators of response to weight-loss therapeutics, so these findings that may identify individuals more likely to be responders are exciting. We are also studying how the Gelesis hydrogel technology may modulate metabolic and inflammatory systems in a number of conditions related to gut barrier dysfunction including NAFLD, NASH, and IBD.”
“This thorough and well-designed study demonstrated that Gelesis100 has a promising safety and efficacy profile, and that it has the potential to serve as an important foundational therapy for treating individuals struggling with excess weight,” said Frank L. Greenway, MD, Medical Director and Professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center of the Louisiana State University.
Gelesis has submitted a medical device marketing application for Gelesis100 with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for review and is not available for sale.
About Gelesis100
Gelesis100 is a non-systemic, superabsorbent hydrogel in development for the potential treatment of overweight or obesity. It is made from two naturally derived building blocks, modified cellulose cross-linked with citric acid, that create a three-dimensional matrix. Orally administered in capsules with water before a meal, Gelesis100 particles rapidly absorb water in the stomach and homogenously mix with ingested foods. When hydrated, Gelesis100 occupies about one-fourth of the average stomach volume. Rather than forming one large mass, it creates thousands of small individual gel pieces with the elasticity (firmness) of solid ingested foods (e.g., vegetables) without caloric value. Gelesis100 maintains its three-dimensional structure and mechanical properties during transit through the small intestine. Once it arrives in the large intestine, the hydrogel is partially broken down by enzymes and loses its three-dimensional structure along with most of its absorption capacity. The released water is reabsorbed in the large intestine, and the remaining cellulosic material is expelled in the feces. Gelesis100 is considered a medical device because it achieves its primary intended purpose through mechanical modes of action consistent with mechanobiology constructs. Gelesis100 received a Non-Significant Risk (NSR) determination by the FDA for the GLOW pivotal study.
This investigational product and its earlier prototypes have been studied in more than 450 patients (excluding patients treated by placebo) across five clinical studies throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe and in these studies has shown weight loss, increased satiety, and reduced hunger. Other than an increase in overall gastrointestinal adverse events (AEs), most of which were assessed as mild, there was no difference in the incidence and severity of AEs between the Gelesis100 and placebo groups. In both treatment groups, most AEs were mild or moderate in intensity. No serious adverse events were observed in the Gelesis100 group.
About Gelesis
Gelesis is developing a novel mechanobiology platform technology to treat obesity and other chronic diseases related to the GI pathway. Gelesis’ proprietary approach is designed to act mechanically in the GI pathway to potentially alter the course of chronic diseases. In September 2017, Gelesis completed a pivotal trial for weight loss evaluating its lead investigational product candidate Gelesis100. Additionally, Gelesis is conducting a proof-of-concept study for its second candidate, Gelesis200, which is optimized for weight loss and glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. Novel hydrogel mechanotherapeutics based on the Gelesis platform technology are also being advanced through a pipeline with preclinical studies in other GI-related conditions such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The Gelesis executive and advisory team includes some of the world’s leading experts in obesity, chronic disease research, and materials science. Gelesis was co-founded by PureTech Health (PRTC.L), an advanced, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. For more information, visit www.gelesis.com or connect with us on Twitter @GelesisInc.
Gelesis
Allison Mead Talbot, +1 617-651-3156
amt@puretechhealth.com
Tom Donovan, +1 857-559-3397
tom@tenbridgecommunications.com
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4699
|
__label__wiki
| 0.60932
| 0.60932
|
Veteran diplomat tells Duterte to stop joking about Mongolia and Turkey joining Asean
President Duterte and Mongolian Prime Minister Jargaltulgyn Erdenebat held bilateral talks in Beijing.
On the sidelines of the first One Belt, One Roadsummit in Beijing last week, President Duterte met with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Jargaltulgyn Erdenebat, prime minister of Mongolia.
In his press conference upon arrival in Davao City May 16, Duterte said he is sponsoring the application for membership of Turkey and Mongolia into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The Philippines is this year’s chair of the meetings of Asean, which coincides with the golden anniversary of the regional organization.
“Ay oo, kasi nandiyan ka sa ano…By the way, I had a talk with the President Erdoğan and the Prime Minister of—si Erdenebat sa Mongolia. They also want to… Gusto nila na magsali sa ASEAN. And since I was—I am the chair, ang Pilipinas ngayon, they wanted me to sponsor their entry and I said, “Yes, why not?,” he said.
Duterte said he mentioned Mongolia and Turkey’s desire to be a member of Asean to Myanmar State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, who was also in the Beijing meeting. Suu Kyi’s reply, according to Duterte: “Have you considered the physical—the geography whether they are part of the ASEAN or not?”
Mongolia and Turkey are not in Southeast Asia.
Duterte said, “They are. I would say that they are. Turkey seems to be ambivalent to whether, to be a bridge of Europe and Asia or being an Asian. Wala silang klaro diyan. There has always been an ambivalent view. Sometimes they say that they are part of Asia, sometimes they say that they are the bridge of Asia to Europe.”
As the name declares, ASEAN is an organization of countries in South East Asia. Mongolia and Turkey are not in South East Asia. Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia sandwiched between Russia to the north and China to the south. Turkey straddles in Western Asia and Southeastern Europe.
VERA Files asked former Foreign affairs undersecretary Lauro Baja Jr his reaction to Duterte’s willingness to sponsor Mongolia and Turkey to be members of Asean. His comment:
Former Ambassador to the United Nations Lauro Baja, Jr.
President Duterte said that out of five remarks he utter, three of them are jokes. This idea of Turkey and Mongolia into Asean may be one of them. I don't know who initiated the idea or whether there were serious discussion or only banters which happen in bilaterals.
“Asean should be consulted on matters like this. I don’t think they were because they are silent in the idea so far. Turkey and Mongolia are not in the geographical concept of Asean to qualify for membership. They may not have sufficient substantive relationships with Asean to be considered dialogue partners or even sectoral partners.
“East Timor and Papua have pending applications for Asean membership but they still remain observers only. Sri Lanka has also applied years earlier. Incidentally Mongolia is member of the ASEAN Regional Forum*.
“There are other matters more important in which the Philippines can take leadership roles as chair of the golden anniversary of Asean. Let us stop this joke about Turkey and Mongolia "joining" Asean.”
*The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) a regional security cooperation and dialogue platform. It has 27 members who include the 10 ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), the 10 ASEAN dialogue partners (Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States), ASEAN observer (Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste,), as well as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Rodrigo Duterte asean Lauro Baja Jr. Mongolia
Editor's Pick, ASEAN at 50
Aug 5, 2017, 9:01 PM
ASEAN to still engage North Korea amid US call for isolation
In a rebuff to Washington’s call to isolate North Korea, foreign ministers of the Association of…
By Charmaine C. Deogracias
Editor's Pick, Reports, Features, ASEAN at 50
VIDEO: What is ASEAN?
Ask average Filipinos what the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is, and most would…
Jake Soriano, Daniel Abunales, Maria Feona Imperial
Editor's Pick, Reports, ASEAN at 50
East Asia countries urge destruction of chemical weapons
Countries in East Asia strengthened their call to end the use and development of chemical weapons in…
Arianne Christian Tapao
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4700
|
__label__wiki
| 0.561333
| 0.561333
|
LOCAL-POLITICS
District judge says Masterpiece Cakeshop owner's lawsuit against Colorado can continue
Within weeks of winning his Supreme Court case against the Colorado Civil Rights Division, the commission accused Jack Phillips of discrimination again, this time because he would not make a cake celebrating a woman's gender transition.
Author: Jacob Rodriguez
Published: 3:10 PM MST January 7, 2019
Updated: 9:29 PM MST January 7, 2019
A federal judge ordered Friday that the lawsuit Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips filed against the state of Colorado can continue.
Phillips, who after six years of legal battles, won a Supreme Court case on June 4, 2018, after the Colorado Civil Rights Division found he discriminated against a gay couple who'd asked for a wedding cake from his shop in 2012.
The suit asks that the commission be barred from ever bringing a specific set of discrimination claims against him again, a pronouncement that the defendants violated his First and Fourteenth Amendments and compensatory, punitive and nominal damages from Colorado Civil Rights Division Director Aubrey Elenis and seven civil rights commissioners.
The court filing also says that the state ordered Phillips to either violate his religious beliefs or shut down his wedding cake business. As a result, Phillips' family lost 40 percent of their income.
This suit is unrelated to the Supreme Court case. Instead, it focuses on another instance of alleged discrimination by Phillips and his employees at Masterpiece in Lakewood, Colo., according to court documents filed on Friday.
In June 2017, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission informed Phillips that his businesses had committed discrimination against a woman who hoped to celebrate her transition from male to female on her birthday. She'd called the business a month prior, asking to have a cake made with a blue exterior and a pink interior, according to the original complaint filed by the commission against Phillips.
Phillips and his staff refused to make the cake, according to the motion from Senior Judge Wiley Young Daniel, citing Phillips' believe that "[Masterpiece] will not provide the service of creating cakes that 'promote the idea that a person's sex is anything other than an immutable God-given biological reality."
Phillips filed the suit against seven staffers of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Directory of the Colorado Civil Rights Division Director Elenis, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Aug. 14, 2018, just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in Phillips' favor.
RELATED | Masterpiece Cakeshop owner sues governor, Co Civil Rights Division over 'hostility toward his faith'
Hickenlooper and Coffman are being sued in their professional capacity, while seven members of the Civil Rights Commission and Elenis are being sued in both their professional and private capacity.
On Nov. 6 of last year, Hickenlooper and the other defendants asked for the suit to be dismissed. On Friday, Judge Daniel granted only part of their request.
According to court documents, Daniel has granted Hickenlooper's request for the claims against him to be removed and he's been dismissed from the case. Inversely, Coffman's request for the claims against her to be removed has been denied.
Phillips initially named Hickenlooper in the case because the governor appoints the members of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. However, Daniel decided in his motion that Phillips failed to show how Hickenlooper had a direct hand in the alleged discrimination and dropped him from the suit.
For Coffman, however, as Attorney General, she represents the commission in legal proceedings and therefore has a direct link to the commission's actions toward Phillips and will remain as a defendant, the motion said.
Elenis' and the seven commissioners' requests to have the claims against them for compensatory, punitive and nominal damages have been granted, the court documents say. However, the defendants' request for the suit to be tossed out for lack of standing has been denied.
Per Daniel, Elenis and the other commissioners are protected by "absolute immunity" and therefore will not have to pay for any damages. His reasoning, based on past court cases and state and federal law, is that those in a regulatory board or commission - such as medical licensing or civil rights - need to be able to do their job without fear of retribution.
Phillips, according to Daniel, has legal standing to sue the state over their enforcement of several anti-discrimination laws.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS | Local stories from 9NEWS
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4707
|
__label__wiki
| 0.654788
| 0.654788
|
AAAED monitors legal developments that affect our members’ work in EEO, affirmative action, diversity and human resources generally. The association distributes news updates via its member listserv and AAAED Blog. Legal news are also available through the EEOC, OFCCP and Google news found at the bottom of the AAAED Website. Lastly, the association’s weekly EEO Tips contain legal issues as well as developments generated by the government agencies.
In cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, AAAED has monitored the developments in the cases but in matters having direct impact on our members’ work, as in the recent Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case, the association has filed its own amicus curiae brief. Click here for a copy of the AAAA amicus curiae brief filed in 2013. http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1101929144254-110/AAAA+Fisher+Brief+080912.pdf
There will also be a brief filed in the second Fisher case before the court in 2015.
In other cases before the Court AAAED has signed on to amicus briefs submitted by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and other organizations. Included among such briefs are the LCCR amicus briefs filed in the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, et al., v. The Inclusive Communities Project Inc.; Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrants’ Rights and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary (BAMN); and Obergefell v. Hodges.
AAAED also issues press releases regarding cases before the courts that have an impact on the matters of concern to the association’s members. Click here for an example of a press release issued in the Fifth Circuit’s decision supporting the University of Texas at Austin: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/07/prweb12024772.htm
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4708
|
__label__cc
| 0.614361
| 0.385639
|
IDSC denies sale of Egyptian antiquities in US
The Egyptian cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) denied rumors circulated on social media websites that 17 Egyptian artifacts were put up for sale in the auction hall “Christie’s” in the United States.
The Ministry of Antiquities has completely denied the news, stating that no Egyptian antiquities of any kind were put up for sale in international auctions in the US or any other country, according to the IDSC.
The state is keen to preserve all Egyptian artifacts as they make up the country’s cultural heritage. The nation is keen to address any illegal attempt to smuggle antiquities, said the statement, adding that rumors in this regard aimed at provoking and angering public opinion.
As soon as rumors circulated about the sale of 17 Egyptian antiquities at Christie’s auction in the US, the General Directorate of Antiquities obtained the catalog of this auction and checked the pieces put up for sale, none of which were shown to be missing Egyptian artifacts.
The General Directorate of Recovered Antiquities announced the recent recovery of more than a thousand artifacts that were smuggled illegally out of Egypt.
The ministry stressed taking all necessary measures to protect antiquities and called on all the media outlets to be careful and accurate before spreading such rumors, which may anger citizens and confuse public opinion.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
Tags antiquities artifacts Auction General Directorate of Antiquities Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) ministry of antiquities rumors US
Former minister’s brother arrested for smuggled antiquities
'Haunted' Saudi antiquities site tries to woo visitors
Antique stone of King Amenhotep I retrieved from UK auction: Ministry
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4709
|
__label__wiki
| 0.515613
| 0.515613
|
Kaala’s Costume Designer Spills The Beans On Rajinikanth’s Look
Published on Mar 8, 2018 3:16 am IST
A lot of planning has gone into creating the right look for Superstar Rajinikanth in his forthcoming film Kaala. The film’s teaser, which was unveiled few days ago, went viral, and Rajinikanth is seen sporting kurtas and at the same time, looking quite stylish.
Revealing the idea behind creating this look, costume designer Anu Vardhan revealed, “Rajini sir wears kurtas often in real life so he is very comfortable in them. We did paneling on the shoulders to ensure the kurta fitted him well, to do justice to his physique. We also did some embroidery work. All the kurtas were linen and cotton. The goggles that he sports added to the intensity on his face.”
In fact, the toughest part was making sure that people don’t get bored of his look since it had to be consistent throughout the film. “He has worked on his fitness a lot prior to filming Kaala, and it really helped while designing the outfits for him. He was a ball of energy on the sets,” Anu added. Directed by Pa Ranjith, the film also stars Nana Patekar and Huma Qureshi. Kaala is slated for release on April 27.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4710
|
__label__wiki
| 0.802288
| 0.802288
|
Let's Talk About / Off-Topic »
Abarth: another weekend of rallies and track racing
Three Abarth 124 rallies taking part in the French, Slovenian and Czech Republic championships.
The 2018 season of the Italian F4 Championship powered by Abarth starts on the Adria circuit.
The 2018 sports season enters full swing as three Abarth 124 rallies take part in the French, Slovenian and Czech Republic championships this weekend for the Abarth 124 rally International Challenge, and more the 30 young drivers compete on the Adria circuit with the single-seaters of the Italian F4 Championship powered by Abarth.
In France, the Milano Racing team, fresh from their great triumph in the Tour de Corse world championship with Raphael Astier, takes part in the Lyon-Carbonnière Rally, the second race in the transalpine championship, with young driver Nicolas Ciamin and navigator Thibault De La Haye. The two were heroes in the opening race, the Rallye du Touquet, missing success by a whisker after a great comeback. The Lyon Charbonnières Rally takes place in two stages: the first on Friday 20, and the second on Saturday 21 April, with 13 special trials for a total of 226 km at speed.
The second race in the Czech Republic championship is for the Agrotec Team, which is competing in the Sumava Klatovy Rally with a crew composed of Martin Rada and Jaroslav Jugas. Also in this case, there are two stages, one on Friday 20 and the other on Saturday 21 April, with 14 special trials.
The Bernini Rally team is competing in the Vipavska Rally in Slovenia, with an Italian crew composed of Andrea Nucita and Marco Vozzo, who already performed brilliantly in the FIA R-GT Cup race. The race starts on Friday evening and continues throughout the day on Saturday 21 April, with 10 special trials and 94 km at speed.
Including the Slovenian championship, the Abarth 124 rally drivers are now involved in 8 national series: Belgium, France, Spain, Czech Republic, Romania, Italy and Slovenia, in addition to the most substantial participation in the world championships of the category, the FIA R-GT Cup, in which four crews were placed in the first four positions of the Tour de Corse Rally.
Abarth expresses its racing tradition with the fourth edition of the Italian F4 Championship powered by Abarth, which starts this weekend on the Adria circuit. At the starting line, there are 31 drivers from 17 different countries: Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, Israel, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Czech Republic, Russia, Switzerland, Hungary and Venezuela. All of the young drivers compete behind the wheel of Tatuus single-seaters, propelled by Abarth 160 HP T-Jet engines, which are very formative and reliable.
The weekend schedule consists of the official trials on Saturday 21 April afternoon, while on Sunday, the three races take place at 9:00 am, 1:00 pm and 5.00 pm.
Turin, 19 April 2018
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4711
|
__label__wiki
| 0.655603
| 0.655603
|
Space tour operators
The black-tie Apollo Celebration Gala is held under a Saturn V rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Saturday, July 21, 2018. The event kicked off a yearlong celebration of the upcoming 50-year anniversary of the first moon landing, and featured a panel discussion by astronauts, an awards ceremony and an auction of space memorabilia. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz)
Gala opens countdown to 50th anniversary of 1st moon landing
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Former NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin was noticeably absent from a gala kicking off a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, even though his nonprofit space education foundation is a sponsor and he typically is the star attraction. Aldrin...
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Former NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin was noticeably absent from a gala kicking off a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, even though his nonprofit space education foundation is a sponsor and he typically is the star attraction. No...
Former Johnson Space Center Director Gerry Griffin, left, a flight director for all of the crewed Apollo missions, sits next to Apollo astronauts Harrison Schmitt, Rusty Schweickart, Walt Cunningham and Tom Stafford, from second from left, during a panel discussion at the Apollo Celebration Gala at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, July 21, 2018. The event kicked off a yearlong celebration of the upcoming 50-year anniversary of the first moon landing. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz)
Aldrin skips Space Center gala amid feud with his children
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Former NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin was noticeably absent from a gala kicking off a yearlong celebration of the 50-year anniversary of the first moon landing, even though his nonprofit space education foundation is a sponsor and he typically is the star attraction. The...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4720
|
__label__wiki
| 0.931161
| 0.931161
|
What's New: July 31 to August 3, 2011
What's New? July 31 to August 3, 2011
Infectious Diseases - Diseases
Adenovirus infection Ireland
Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever < Worldwide >, Egypt, Italy
Amoebiasis Albania
Anaplasmosis China
Anthrax India
Ascariasis Albania
Bartonellosis - cat borne China
Bartonellosis - other systemic United States
Blastomycosis United States
Campylobacteriosis France
Chlamydia infections, misc. Greenland
Cholera < Worldwide >
Clostridium difficile colitis Canada
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever Clinical Notes, Kenya
Cryptococcosis < Worldwide >, United States
Cryptosporidiosis Albania
Dengue < Worldwide >, Bahamas, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Haiti, India, Panama, Philippines, Reunion, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, United States
Diphtheria Albania, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Canary Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Switzerland, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan
Diphyllobothriasis India
Dirofilariasis < Worldwide >, Belgium, Israel, Italy
Ebola Philippines
Enterovirus infection Japan, Poland
Fascioliasis Clinical Notes, Nepal
Filariasis - Bancroftian < Worldwide >
Gastroenteritis - viral < Worldwide >, Cameroon, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Netherlands, United States
Giardiasis Albania, Israel
Glanders Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates
Gonococcal infection Greenland
HIV/AIDS Spain, Turks and Caicos Islands
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome Brazil
Hantaviruses - Old World China
Hendra virus disease < Worldwide >, Australia
Hepatitis A United States
Hepatitis B < Worldwide >, Afghanistan, Albania, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Israel, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Namibia, Niger, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates
Hepatitis C < Worldwide >, China, Ireland, Russian Federation, Scotland, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
Hepatitis E Clinical Notes, Bolivia, Slovenia
Herpes simplex encephalitis Poland
Hookworm Albania
Human herpesvirus 6 infection Clinical Notes
Influenza < Worldwide >, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Rep. of Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Marianas, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peoples Dem. Rep. Korea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Reunion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands, U.S., Wallis and Futuna Islands, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Japanese encephalitis < Worldwide >, Belgium, Cambodia, Italy, Palau
Legionellosis France
Leishmaniasis - cutaneous Iran
Leishmaniasis - visceral Paraguay
Leptospirosis New Caledonia
Lyme disease China
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis United States
Malaria Ghana, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Yemen
Measles < Worldwide >, Albania, Angola, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Democratic Rep. of Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, Estonia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Latvia, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam
Meningitis - aseptic (viral) Poland
Meningitis - bacterial Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niue, Norway, Oman, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Montenegro, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Switzerland, Syria, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen
Mumps Albania, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Gambia, Georgia, Guatemala, Guyana, Italy, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mauritius, Netherlands, Niue, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Rwanda, Serbia and Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates
North Asian tick typhus China
Parvovirus B19 infection < Worldwide >, India, Mali
Pertussis Albania, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates
Poliomyelitis and acute flaccid paralysis Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates
Protothecosis and chlorellosis United States
Q-fever < Worldwide >, China
Rabies < Worldwide >, Bolivia, Germany
Relapsing fever < Worldwide >
Respiratory viruses - miscellaneous < Worldwide >, France, Japan
Rhinosporidiosis Sri Lanka
Rotavirus infection < Worldwide >, Belgium, Bolivia, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Peru
Rubella Albania, Argentina, Austria, Azores, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Fiji, France, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom
Septicemia - bacterial < Worldwide >
Shigellosis Spain
Spotted fevers - New World Brazil
Tetanus Albania, American Samoa, Austria, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, United States
Tick-borne encephalitis Poland
Trichuriasis Albania
Trypanosomiasis - American < Worldwide >
Tuberculosis Albania, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, France, Greenland, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Typhus - endemic China
Typhus - scrub China
Vaccinia and cowpox < Worldwide >, Italy
West Nile fever Clinical Notes, < Worldwide >, Canada, Greece, Spain, United States
Yellow fever Benin, Bolivia, Canada, Congo, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Kenya, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela
New Disease Synonyms Added BBLV
Bokeloh bat lyssavirus
HK23629/07
Infectious Diseases - Drugs
Interacting drugs - New Linagliptin
Microbiology - Bacteria
Bacteria Enterococcus thailandicus
New Bacteria Synonyms Added Enterococcus sanguinicola
Microbes - New Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4723
|
__label__cc
| 0.623468
| 0.376532
|
Technology >
Created in Technology
It's almost impossible to imagine the practice of dentistry without x-ray technology. Radiographs (x-ray pictures) allow dentists to diagnose and treat problems not yet visible to the naked eye, including early tooth decay, gum disease, abscesses and abnormal growths. There is no question that since x-rays first became available a century ago, this diagnostic tool has prevented untold suffering and saved countless teeth. Now, state-of-the-art digital x-rays have made the technology even safer and more beneficial.
Digital x-ray technology uses a small electronic sensor placed in the mouth to capture an image, which can be called up instantly on a computer screen. When digital x-rays first became available about 20 years ago, they immediately offered a host of advantages over traditional x-ray films, which require chemical processing. Most importantly, they cut the amount of radiation exposure to the dental patient by as much as 90%. While faster x-ray films have been developed over the years that require less exposure, making that difference less dramatic, a digital x-ray still offers the lowest radiation dose possible.
Advantages of Digital X-Rays
Besides minimizing radiation exposure, digital x-rays offer numerous advantages to dentists and patients alike. These include:
No chemical processing & no waiting. Because there is no film to process with digital x-rays, there is no waiting for pictures to develop — and no toxic chemicals to dispose of. Your dentist can immediately show you the pictures on a computer screen for easy viewing.
A clearer picture. It's possible to get more information from digital x-rays because they are sharper and can be enhanced in a number of ways. The contrast can be increased or decreased, and areas of concern can be magnified. It's even possible to compare them on-screen to your previous x-rays, making even the minutest changes to your tooth structure easier to detect.
Easy sharing and storage. Digital x-rays provide a better visual aide for you, the patient, to understand your diagnosis and treatment options. They can be e-mailed to different locations; they are also far less likely to be misplaced.
X-Rays and Your Safety
While digital technology has minimized the health risks of x-rays, it has not entirely eliminated it. X-rays are a type of radiation used to penetrate the tissues of the body to create an image. In doing so, there is always a slight possibility of causing changes at the cellular level that might lead to future disease. Of course, there are sources of radiation present in the daily environment — the sun, for example — that can also cause disease. It's important to note that the chance of this happening is thought to be cumulative and not based on a single exposure. Still, x-rays are not considered risk-free regardless of how technology reduces your exposure. That's why dentists will only use them when the benefit of obtaining better diagnostic information outweighs the procedure's small risk. This is particularly true of computed tomography or CT scans, which can raise the level of exposure, yet yield a tremendous amount of information per scan. No matter which technology is being used, each case is considered individually, and your safety is always paramount. If you have questions about why an x-ray is being recommended for you, please feel free to ask.
X-Ray Safety For Children Nearly every diagnostic testing procedure carries some risk, so it's always important for you and your healthcare provider to weigh the benefits against the risks. This is particularly true when it comes to children, who are more sensitive to x-rays than adults... Read Article
Getting The Full Picture With Cone Beam Dental Scans Dental imaging took a major leap forward at the beginning of the new millennium with a three-dimensional technology known as cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). The name comes from the cone-shaped beam of x-rays the CBCT machine projects as it rotates around a person's head, taking multiple images that are compiled into a 3-D picture by a computer. Find out what CBCT can reveal and how it helps a doctor to make a highly informed diagnosis and choice of treatment... Read Article
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4724
|
__label__cc
| 0.509465
| 0.490535
|
Tag Archives: sta ana cabaret
Filipino Entertainers in old Singapore
On my way to Mustafa (a mall popular for its low prices and 24/7 business hours) I passed by the white old gates of the ‘New World‘ located just outside Farrer MRT. I’ve seen it before but it’s only now that I decided to take a closer look. The gate appears prettier during night time when spotlights highlight its distinctive colonial art design.
I find the restoration effort impressive because not only did they retained the gate but made sure that it’s in a place where it would be seen. But more impressive is that the restoration of the gate was an entirely private venture. The gate once stood at Jalan Besar, it is now in front of the modern City Square mall as a reminder of the old entertainment business in the island.
In the 60’s, the decade when entertainment shifted to television and radio the business operations inside these amusement parks (there were three of them) was shut down. The land where ‘New World‘ once stood has long been developed. The arch and gate moved to its present location along the Kirchener Road–an acknowledgement of the amusement park’s historical significance.
Filipino entertainers pass through this gate in the 1900’s
The history of this ‘New World Amusement’ park is interesting for us Filipinos. It is the only Singaporean heritage site I know that has a marker that mentions us. Turns out that some of our countrymen in the early 1900’s managed to take part in the local show business:
“First opened in 1923 by the two Straits Chinese merchants brothers, Ong Boon Tat and Ong Peng Hock, who were sons of prominent businessman, Ong Sam Leong, the New World attracted visitors from all walks of life – from Europeans, affluent local merchants to labourers, families and local residents. New World was a destination of fund and entertainment until the 1950’s. It featured many exciting programmes and attractions from boxing and wrestling matches to variety shows, operas from various ethnic groups and a small cabaret with Filipino arstistes.”
While ‘cabaret’ is a workplace of dubious reputation in our vocabulary, working in such places in other countries meant making a living out of “performing music, dance, recitation and comedy.” A master of ceremonies introduces performers, boxers, wrestlers and just about everything people would pay to see. The Filipinos were mostly artists, as the marker states in the ‘New World’ gate.
This Filipino presence is an important reminder that we’ve always had good artists–a reputation that to this day continues–and that we’ve been coming to work in this wonderful country for centuries. Filipino migration to this island is not new. Let’s not forget about the Filipinos in Singapore in the late 19th century that attempted to save Rizal while he was detained in a ship (anchored in Singapore’s harbor) bound for Manila. The British denied the request to give the Filipino a refuge in the English colony but just imagine if they granted Rizal a safe pass!
There’s around half a million Filipino tourist that visits Singapore yearly. Last year, Filipinos ranked six among international visitors. This is attributed to increased number of flights going to the island, as well as the improving economy back home. It is a fact that a significant percentage of Filipinos who visits Singapore gives job hunt a stab but due to recent restrictions this is slowly becoming a fruitless pursuit for most Pinoys.
With this I hope Filipinos who come to see the islands explore it for its historical ties with us. But with all the other major attractions the island state offers, encouraging Filipinos to spend some time visiting historical landmarks (i.e., River Valley Rd., Good Shepherd Church) connected us is a tall order, if not impossible.
Leave a comment | tags: Manila, new world singapore, singapore, sta ana cabaret | posted in Singapura
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4731
|
__label__wiki
| 0.543791
| 0.543791
|
Links & Publications
De Zwerver Foundation
Edam Period
Italian period
Travelling and wandering
Graphic artist
Architect & boat builder
Drawing Artist
› The Artist
› Travelling and wandering
"While wandering, I acquire"
Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp spent his life travelling and wandering. He drew his inspiration from foreign peoples and tropical nature, but explored the Netherlands thoroughly too. Wandering was in his blood and he followed his own motto: Vagando Acquiro (While wandering, I acquire). Frequently he would be away for months, only to return to his family brim full of impressions of his travels, and loaded with drawings (it is no surprise that he hardly spent any time raising his children).
His journeys to the islands of Java and Bali, parts of the former colonial Netherlands East Indies, in particular, moved him to the depths of his soul, and also moulded his personality.
List of Nieuwenkamp's journeys
1894. At the age of twenty Wijnand was far too skinny so, acting on his doctor’s advice he joined a boat heading for the Mediterranean. This first long journey started in August 1894, aboard the steamboat the SS Ceres. The journey took him through Lisbon, Tangier, Gibraltar, Livorno, Catania and then back to the Netherlands. It was on this journey that Nieuwenkamp got his passion for travelling, a passion he never lost….
In 1898 he went on his first journey to the Netherlands East Indies (the island of Java).
In 1899 he travelled to Belgium with the graphic artist, gold and silversmith Elias Voet, then journeyed to France and Spain.
In 1900 he went on honeymoon and crossed Belgium and France to Spain with his wife Anna Wilbrink.
During the years 1901 and 1902, they sailed around the Dutch canals and lakes on board the De Zwerver, regularly passing through Edam.
In 1903, the journeys aboard the De Zwerver took them to Germany, including visits to Düsseldorf and Neurenberg and other places.
From 1903 to 1904 he embarked on a second long journey to the east.
In the winter of 1906/1907 a third long journey took him to the islands of Java and Bali.
In the winter of 1908 Nieuwenkamp visited Constantine in Northern Africa. His two drawings are the only remaining records of this journey.
In 1913/1914 he undertook a long journey to British India, including visits to Ceylon and the British Indies (Tanjore, Benares, Agra, Gwalior, Bombay and Madoera). He created many drawings during this journey and, in 1924, he published his travel report on the British Indies as a book, entitled Holy Cities (Heilige Steden). In addition, a series of articles about his journey were published in the NION, Netherlands East Indies, Now and Before, [Nederlandsch-India, Oud en Nieuw]. By no means all his work has been published in the NION, many pencil sketches and photos (snapshots) that fellow traveller Barlett had given him, have survived. After the publication of Holy Cities he made more etchings and oil paintings and a few gouaches about India, Hinduism and Buddhism. Few of these works have been published.
Between 1917 and 1919 he embarked on his fourth journey to the Netherlands East Indies.
In 1920 he travelled from Edam to Sicily to spent the winter and, in 1921, he ended up in Rome, settling near Fiesole, close to Florence, in 1925.
In 1925 he undertook another long journey to the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali.
In 1933-1934 Nieuwenkamp set off on a journey that took him through Egypt, where he made many drawings of the pyramids, Cairo, Luxor and the river Nile. A manuscript exists that has not been published: In the land of the Pharaohs [In het land der Faraos]. He had already visited Egypt in 1904 during a previous journey to the Netherlands East Indies where he had completed a number of drawings.
His long journey in 1937, funded by several institutions, once again brought him back to Bali.
In May 1940 he was about to embark on his next long journey, but the outbreak of World war II prevented him from setting off. He never travelled outside Europe again.
Travelling was not always so pleasant, as illustrated by the following episode taken from Journey to Soemba [Een reis naar Soemba], in 1918; Nieuwenkamp was sailing to the island of Timor.
‘In Surabaya our steamboat holds were disinfected. ‘In Surabaya the holds of our steamboat were disinfected. In deadly peril, the rats stayed hidden in the sloops on deck, and countless numbers of cockroaches took sanctuary in the dining hall and first-class cabins. Every night, when I turned back the covers of my bed a dozen or so three inch long loathsome cockroaches would dart away to all sides, and with a slipper as a weapon, I would engage in a lively chase. Every evening we continued the chase, joined by some fellow travellers, and helped by some lads in the dining-hall. We would not go to bed until at least a hundred victims had been squashed on the floor.
Excerpted from: Voyages to Dutch Timor [Zwerftochten naar Timor en Onderhoorigheden]. 1925.
Houseboat De Zwerver
During their honeymoon in 1900, Wijnand discussed his plans about living in a travelling home with Anna. He did not want settle permanently. They decided they would live on the water and so he built them a houseboat, the De Zwerver, a beautiful home, with a studio. For ten years the young family sailed around the waters of Northern Europe, mooring in many places, particularly across the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. During this time their four children were born: Marianne, Willem, Maria and Fernande (Ferry).
A home of his own design
Nieuwenkamp drew the design for the De Zwerver himself and worked up the design in cooperation with boatyard boss Sjollema. He also helped to build the boat. The boat’s interior resembled, and still does, a classic seventeenth century Amsterdam canal house. From 1902 onward, the boat sailed on canals and lakes. Usually tugs would tow the De Zwerver, but sometimes they used horses to draw the boat, or they would simply pole. Nieuwenkamp set up a studio, including an etching-press, on board, and he and his family started to live on the boat.
Since 2011 the De Zwerver has been back in the possession of the Nieuwenkamp Museum Foundation. Currently the board is examining the options for its future use.
Exhibitions on board
Anyone who ever visited the De Zwerver was amazed by its beautiful interior design. Word of mouth advertising proved to be very effective. The painter Theophile the Bock visited the boat and suggested that Nieuwenkamp hold an exhibition of his art work aboard the boat and charge entrance fees. Initial hesitation ultimately gave way to enthusiasm, and in August 1902 Nieuwenkamp organised his first exhibition on board. To say it simply worked, would be an understatement! There was a run on his works of art! . And so the De Zwerver was converted into a sailing house-cum-art gallery, mooring in lots of different places, so that people could see and buy Nieuwenkamp’s works.
Journeys to the Netherlands East Indies
Nieuwenkamp’s journeys into the Netherlands East Indies, lasting several years, were remarkable, especially those that took him to the island of Bali. Between 1898 and 1938 he embarked on six long journeys to the former Netherlands East Indies, and visited Bali, in particular, where he made several discoveries and wrote a number of books and countless articles. Nieuwenkamp was one of the first people to come to Bali, not for a military or administrative reason but out of pure interest in Balinese art and nature.
1st journey to the Indies, visiting the island of Java
Justus Van Maurik encouraged Nieuwenkamp to embark on a journey to the Netherlands East Indies, and lent him the money to pay for the trip. In late December 1897 Nieuwenkamp set off, staying first in Batavia with several families, and then travelling across the island making several illustrations on the way. He was very successful and was able to sell his prints. In August 1898 he got back to Haarlem and had earned so much money by that time that he was able to repay Van Maurik and with the remainder construct his own wooden studio.
2nd journey to the Indies (Java, Bali, Lombok)
The drawings that Nieuwenkamp sent to the Netherlands which were made during his first journey in 1898 were published in the journals he was working for. G.P. Rouffaer, who had been an ethnographer of the highest order, noticed his drawings. Rouffaer, Managing Director of the Ethnographic Museum in Haarlem (later to become the Dutch Tropical Institute), asked Nieuwenkamp to purchase some objects for him, including beautiful objects and native art made by local artists and craftsmen. This permitted Nieuwenkamp to finance part of his second journey. Rouffaer, who had also travelled to the Indies, recommended that Nieuwenkamp visit Bali in particular.
In mid-December 1903 Nieuwenkamp departed, first going to Egypt for a short stay and then travelling on to Singapore, Batavia, Bali and Lombok. In early June 1904, he returned to the Netherlands.
Nieuwenkamp was hugely impressed by Bali
Bali made a strong impression on Nieuwenkamp. He had wandered mainly around the northern part of the island joining the governor on his journey back to Lombok. This is probably where he caught malaria and the reason for him cutting short his journey. He took a lot of drawings and artefacts back to the Netherlands and, deciding that they needed some sort of commentary, he wrote a book about them. Nieuwenkamp had also purchased a lot of objects for himself; objects that would soon form the beginning of his Indian collection, a collection that was to become the largest privately owned Dutch collection of ethnographic works.
3rd journey to the Netherlands East Indies (Java and Bali)
In as early as May 1906 Nieuwenkamp travelled back again to the East, largely supported by the government funds, the royal family, the National Ethnographic Museum in Leiden, and many other institutes and private individuals. He wanted to go back to Bali and finish his book Bali and Lombok.
After an initial ban on travelling to Bali (a military expedition to Bali was under way, aiming to bring Bali almost entirely under Dutch rule), Governor General Van Heutsz gave Nieuwenkamp permission to travel to Bali with the army and there he witnessed the conquest of southern Bali. He remained in Bali until the spring and then returned to the Netherlands bringing back with him a large number of sketches and drawings. Nieuwenkamp also shipped chests, loaded with the artefacts he had purchased, to the Netherlands separately. These objects now form the heart of a number of Indian collections owned by several large Dutch Ethnology museums.
Nieuwenkamp made lots of drawings. After returning home, he would format/rework his etchings and drawings, most of which were published together with the ones he made in 1904 in Bali and Lombok, (1910) and Wanderings around Bali (Elsevier, 1910).
Nieuwenkamp had the largest private collection of Asian art in the Netherlands. But finally he gave up on collecting and began to downsize his collection by selling and donating his works.
‘… Then all of a sudden I had enough of expanding the collections, for in this humid town of Edam everything was always getting mouldy and spoiling. And so every year when I was in Holland I would spend days at a time, ventilating, checking, and cleaning all my possessions. Even in Egypt, where I spent the winter of 1933/1934, I was able to resist the temptation to buy something, even though there were so many beautiful things, to be bought for so little money… ‘.
From: My home on the water, my home on the land, continuation, 1931-1935, page 171.
4th journey to the Indies (Java, Bali, Soemba, Timor, Alor)
The First World War forced Nieuwenkamp to stay in the Netherlands for a long time. When, in September 1917, a boat finally did set off to the Indies, he made sure he was on board. This time the trip around the world lasted one and a half years. Because of the war in Europe the route took him through the Panama Canal, via San Francisco, Japan, Hong Kong, Canton and finally to Batavia. Many institutes funded Nieuwenkamp with generous financial resources. And, in part thanks to his book, he was held in great esteem in scientific circles, as a well-respected researcher. He was also commissioned to carry out certain studies and to purchase a number of objects.
On board he became seriously ill, suffering from malaria, various infections and Spanish influenza. In Batavia, he stayed in the Hotel der Nederlanden and managed to book a passage to the Netherlands on board the SS Noordam. On the final page of his travel notes from 1917 to 1919, he wrote:
And there was this famous explorer, very thin and very pale, sitting in the large dining room of the Hotel der Nederlanden, tucked away in a corner out of the draughts, hiding behind a table, unenthusiastically eating his rice pudding.’
Once on board he slowly recovered. He returned home in late January 1919.
He described part of this journey in Wanderings around Dutch Timor, published in 1925. Everything he wrote about this journey is contained in two files, and in the notes from his notebook and diary. Although they were never published, many of these documents are of great cultural and ethnographic interest. After his return, he reworked his writings about his visit to Bali, publishing them in a revised edition of Wanderings around Bali (1922).
5th journey to the Indies (Sumatra, Java and Bali)
In March 1925, Nieuwenkamp, now living in Italy, travelled to Sumatra and Java, to fulfil a major art commission given to him by the Handels Vereeniging Amsterdam (HVA). To do this he visited the society’s companies, availing himself of an opportunity to travel to Bali, where he remained until July. Again criss-crossing the island, he completed lots of drawings and made some major discoveries.
In August he returned to the Netherlands and held a big clearance sale in his studio in Edam, and on 12 September 1925 a major exhibition of his works opened at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Based on this fifth trip, the Museum Nieuwenkamp Foundation has created a manuscript, ready for publication, containing all the drawings that have not been published as a book to date.
6th journey to the Indies (Java and Bali)
By the end of 1936, Nieuwenkamp, aged over 60 now, travelled to Java and Bali for the last time. The Adult Education Centre in Rotterdam had asked him to purchase some artefacts and create a Balinese calendar. He was given free passage to Batavia aboard the SS Kota Nopan owned by the Rotterdam Company Lloyd.
On arrival, he made a study of the Borobudur and the surrounding area and explored Bali once again. This time the journey was mostly done by car. On Bali he met many friends and celebrities, like Tjokorda Sukawati, Walter Spies, Beryl the Zoete and his friend and painter Rudolf Bonnet whom he travelled around with. He returned home in May 1937.
Balinese Christmas exhibition
After his return he worked predominantly on his books and paintings. In the winter of 1937 the Adult Education Centre in Rotterdam held a huge Balinese Christmas exhibition where the artefacts that Nieuwenkamp had purchased on Bali and a number of his lithographs and etchings were sold.
Two handwritten manuscripts, describing this journey, have survived, the last one dating from around 1945. They contain a lot of sections of text because many of the drawings had not been published before.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4732
|
__label__wiki
| 0.638621
| 0.638621
|
Ten years ago, Singh had a bucket of acid thrown in her face by several assailants
Fashion student Monica Singh, who survived a brutal acid attack, opens up about the power of resilience
“I’m not a normal girl,” says Monica Singh.
It’s a balmy August day in New York City, and the 28-year-old is sitting on her bed, legs crossed, wearing a sheer black cardigan over a blouse that’s buttoned snugly to the top. Ten years ago, a group of men splashed a bucket of acid on Singh as she sat behind the wheel of her car in Lucknow, India. The attack was orchestrated by a man who had proposed to Singh, but didn’t get the answer he wanted. Sixty-five percent of Singh’s body was burned instantly.
She awoke in a trauma center as medical professionals doused her body with cold water, trying to save what was left of her skin. Her family stayed at her bedside and with their constant support, she was motivated to keep going. Through more than 40 reconstructive surgeries, Singh never let go of her dream to work in fashion, and after attending India’s top fashion school, Singh moved from New Delhi to New York to pursue a degree in fashion marketing at Parsons School of Design.
“I’m surprised that I came this far,” she told Women in the World. “Surviving is not just to stay alive and sit at home.” Singh is a strong believer in leaving the past behind and keeping a positive outlook toward the future. Armed with her degrees and a vision to launch her own fashion company, Singh is thrilled about what’s to come. “Life is too short to cry over one thing.” Singh advises, adding that the perpetrators may have stolen her face, but her inner strength is stronger than ever. “I make my plans positively, and things happen slowly,” she said. “One time I planned and dreamed about coming and living in New York City. And I came here.”
Her foundation, The Mahendra Singh Foundation, provides guidance and support to other acid attack survivors. “After their faces get ruined, they hesitate to get back into society and nobody hires them,” said Singh, who hopes her company will one day hire survivors of such attacks. Acid attack survivors are reminded of their attacks every time they look in a mirror. “We haven’t been a victim for one day or a certain time,” Singh says. “We are victims since then.” Her foundation’s aim is to guide those women toward lives of independence and self sufficiency. Singh’s determination, spirit, and resilience make her far from ordinary; she’s extraordinary.
Her advice for other survivors?
“Keep on living. Keep fighting. And be something that you always wanted to be. Forget that you lost your face, your soul is still intact, your mind is still intact. Keep on doing.”
Watch the video above for the complete interview.
To contact Monica Singh and share your stories of survival, please visit her Facebook page.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4733
|
__label__cc
| 0.604059
| 0.395941
|
Archive for July 31st, 2008
NASA extends Mars rover mission, search for water now.
Posted in space, tagged composition, mission, organic, permafrost, rover on July 31, 2008| Leave a Comment »
NASA’s planning to spend another month and $2 million on its Mars robotic rover mission to obtain more icy soil samples, study the weather, and size up the planet’s suitability for human life.
NASA scientists said that the Mars Phoenix Lander mission has been going so well that it plans to extend the rover’s stay through the end of September, instead of August. On May 25, the rover landed more than 200 miles away on the edge of a volcano in the northern hemisphere of Mars, and has since confirmed the existence of frozen ice on the red planet.
Part of the goal of the extended mission is to continue studying icy soil samples in the area of the Lander. Just Wednesday, scientists said that the rover’s robotic arm picked up a sample of Mars soil and put it into the rover’s onboard oven–an act that prompted celebration among the project leads. Early analysis of the sample proved the existence of a small amount of H20 because the ice melted, but the scientists ultimately want to collect a sample with a larger composition of permafrost.
NASA is particularly looking for organic materials, but it has yet to find them. On e hypothesis is that the soil might contain a strong oxidant, according to one of the NASA scientists. Instead, it has found potassium–among other minerals–a clay-like component, and properties it has yet to identify.
One goal of the extended mission will be to dig two more trenches around the site of the rover and study their soil. NASA plans to name the trenches with fantasy names like its other ditches–Snow White and Goldilocks. The new ones will be named Cupboard and Neverland .
Phoenix is also giving the scientists their first details about weather in the Mars arctic. The extended mission will help NASA better understand seasonal changes from springtime in Mars, when the rover landed, to high summer, to the end of the mission in its fall timeframe. For example, the team is using sophisticated sensors to measure the atmosphere’s pressure, humidity and winds. So far, the sensors have shown maximum wind speeds of 15 miles per hour on Mars.
One of the mission’s requirements was to capture a color panoramic view of the with its on-board 1-megapixel digital camera. The Phoenix team completed that task stitching together more than 400 images taken from the rover over a month’s time. According to the team, it took about 15 relay passes to download the data– 100 megabytes worth–from the craft. The image confirmed water ice underneath the site of the rover.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4735
|
__label__wiki
| 0.728287
| 0.728287
|
Refugee Resettlement & Integration
Immigration Legal Services
Volunteer & Church Mobilization
College program allows students to serve refugee community in Naperville
Glenn Oviatt, Intern
Students at North Central College in Naperville are meeting the challenge to serve refugee youth as part of the school’s service learning program.
In 2008, the school developed a partnership with World Relief Aurora, allowing students to tutor refugee children at Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) and Jefferson Middle School in Naperville.
Coordinated by North Central’s Department of Ministry and Service, the service learning program connects real-world experience with class work. Students from a spectrum of majors devote several hours each week toward service and reflect on their experiences through required essays.
“It’s very experiential learning,” said Casey Graham, a 2010 graduate who tutored at Jefferson Middle School and now serves as the Youth Services Club Coordinator at World Relief Aurora. “Specifically for people who major in education, this is an invaluable experience because they are really able to work with different levels of English-speaking and academic-performing students.”
Dr. Louis Corsino, professor of sociology and Chairperson of the Division of Human Thought and Behavior at North Central, teaches a sociology capstone course that integrates service learning with the curriculum.
“Once students have the opportunity to go to these settings consistently, they come back to the classroom and we talk about their experiences,” Corsino said.
In addition to classroom discussions, Corsino asks students to write two reflective essays that blend their experience as a volunteer with knowledge gained from the coursework. Corsino said the world of refugees becomes much clearer for students when they are faced with the reality of teaching children who are still learning English while adjusting to American culture.
“They come away with a much deeper appreciation for the struggles that some of these children have and the issues and problems that refugees face,” Corsino said.
Graham said a consistent tutor can foster an important mentor-like relationship with a child as they adjust to the language, culture and schooling in the United States. Refugee children typically do not receive enough one-on-one attention in the classroom, but with the guidance of a tutor, the children can improve their reading, writing and speaking.
Lauren Gilchrest, a junior studying English and Secondary Education, tutored refugee children who came to IMSA last fall. There, she worked with students who had trouble completing their homework because they did not know how to read English. Gilchrest remembered a particular time when she read a book with a refugee teen from Thailand.
“He didn’t understand the words, so I took a pencil and piece of paper and started drawing pictures and using gestures to explain,” Gilchrest said. The teen soon caught on and together they worked through the story word-by-word.
By engaging the lives of children, Graham became aware of how difficult the refugee experience is and developed a “swelling affection” for people of other cultures. During her senior year, Graham acted as interim Service Learning Coordinator, a position that allowed her to connect more North Central classrooms with refugee students.
After graduation, her affection for the refugee students ultimately led Graham to work with World Relief.
Now as the Youth Services Club Coordinator, Graham hopes to partner with other local colleges to assist the intellectual growth of their students while serving the needs of refugee youth.
Service learning can be tailored to any major. “There’s ways in which even a business major can benefit from working with refugee students,” Graham said. Financial literacy is a large need and education on banking, saving, taxes, investment and starting a small business can help to fulfil the gap.
Graham said service learning is a great opportunity for students to expand their education beyond the four walls of a classroom. Due to the experiential aspect, Graham remembered her service learning coursework more than other classes she took during college.
“It was difficult–there’s definitely a stretching component to service learning,” Graham said. “But [working with refugee children] was more impacting than looking at a book or reading an article.”
“For me, it was something that encouraged me to pursue a greater relationship with World Relief.”
The Impact One Person Can Make: A Highlight on World Relief’s Home Furnishings Ministry
For her seventh birthday in January, Nyah Joyce of the Naperville Church of Christ decided to ask 50 of her friends to bring donations for World Relief instead of presents for herself. Days later, Nyah showed up at World Relief with her mom, Aleta Joyce. They had trunk full of household goods that would soon be given to newly-arrived refugees throughout DuPage County.
Little did Nyah know the number of refugees she would impact with her selfless gift.
World Relief’s Home Furnishings Ministry
Every year, World Relief DuPage/Aurora resettles approximately 500 new refugees who have fled to America with what little possessions they can carry. As a resettlement agency, World Relief provides each of these refugees with a safe and simple new home, but it would be impossible to provide such a tangible welcome without the partnership of churches and volunteers.
World Relief relies on the generous donations of gently-used furniture and Good Neighbor Kits (household goods) to give refugee families a resting place they can finally call their own. Offering both furniture pick-up services and an easy drop-off location, World Relief seeks to make the entire process as smooth as possible. Donations are stored in World Relief’s warehouse until staff receive word of an incoming family. The Donations Manger and New Arrivals Coordinator, along with volunteers and other members of the community, then set up each new home, stocking the cabinets with food, dishes and pots and pans. When a refugee family, fresh from O’Hare International Airport steps into their new home, the relief is visible.
physical needs met > employment > self-sufficiency > contributing members of society
Become a part of this chain of empowerment by giving! Though providing furniture and household goods may seem like a small effort, these essentials are truly the foundation upon which success can be built.
As with all of World Relief’s programs, the goal of the home furnishings ministry is to help new arrivals to become self-sufficient, contributing members of society. The most rewarding outcome is when a once-vulnerable person begins to pay generosity forward.
I was helped. Now I’m helping others.
Dil Darjee, a Bhutanese refugee who came to the United States in 2009 after 17 years in a refugee camp in Nepal, is one woman who has given back. When Darjee first arrived, she moved into a furnished apartment and was quickly able to get on her feet.
Through her friendship with Glen Ellyn Covenant Church member, Darren Miller, Darjee participated in a bandage-rolling event for hospitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There Darjee saw pictures of the Congolese people living in conditions reminiscent of the refugee camp in Nepal. Deeply moved by the pictures, Darjee collaborated with her friends Rabika and Nanda Maya to collect clothes for the people in the Congo.
“We have been blessed here, and are glad that we got to share that blessing with other people in need,” Darjee said. “We continue to pray for the people in the Congo, and hope to help them some more in the future.”
Miller picked up their donations for transport to the Congo and was profoundly inspired by their generosity.
“My Bhutanese friends may not have significant financial resources, but they do have big hearts and an abiding faith in Jesus,” Miller said.
Take Nyah and Dil Darjee’s lead and help vulnerable people in your own neighborhoods!
Donations leave World Relief’s warehouse as fast as they come in. Last month alone, 67 refugees made DuPage and Kane Counties their home. World Relief’s warehouse is depleted, yet 30 brave new refugees are on their way here. Would you help organize your neighbors, gather your small group or mobilize friends to collect coats, furniture and Good Neighbor Kits (GNKs)?
Follow the links below to learn more!
Coats & winter accessories: winter and spring coats of all sizes, boots, hats, gloves and scarves. Take advantage of winter coat sales!
Furniture: beds, mattresses, dressers, kitchen tables & chairs, lamps, couches, love seats
Good Neighbor Kit (GNKs): kitchen utensil, bedroom items, bathroom necessities, cleaning supplies, food stables
Iraqi Refugees and American volunteers share faith, scripture
In a first floor classroom at Wheaton Bible Church in West Chicago, thirty Iraqis and Americans sit in three small groups, discussing the story of Abraham and Issac.
A young father who fled Iraq because of threats against his family lounges in a chair, scanning a bilingual Bible as the passages are read in Arabic. In another small group, a woman wearing a black hijab–the traditional Muslim head scarf–explains the differences between the Qur’anic and Biblical accounts of Abraham to her teenage children.
Chris McElwee, Pastor of Local Impact at Wheaton Bible Church, leads one of the small groups, describing how Abraham’s sacrifice of Issac relates to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
One Sunday each month, this Bible study brings Americans and Iraqi refugees together to discuss and share their differing faiths. The idea for the Bible study began last fall when several members of Wheaton Bible Church befriended Iraqi refugees through World Relief DuPage. Although Muslim, some of the refugees were open to attending church services with their Christian friends.
McElwee said the study is a valuable opportunity for the Iraqis and volunteers to connect with each other over food and fellowship.
“There’s a real relational depth here,” McElwee says. “They do like the idea of coming to church, learning, and discussing the Bible.”
Last year, Karen Jealouse and her husband became close friends with an Iraqi family as friendship partners with World Relief. Jealouse, who is the Director of Education Services at World Relief DuPage and Aurora collaborated with McElwee, Wheaton Bible Church staff, and other volunteers to begin the Bible study.
“We decided that once per month we would do something that would provide some fellowship, provide a chance to meet people who speak English and then look at the Bible to see what it says about creation,” Jealouse said.
In addition to the small group readings is a short clip from the Arabic version of “God’s Story” that parallels the verses studied and emphasizes redemptive threads in the Bible leading from Genesis to Jesus. Even if the members of the Bible study never put their faith in Christ, McElwee hopes the study will deepen the relationships between the Americans and Iraqis.
By deciding to volunteer through World Relief, McElwee says that church members can live out God’s mission right here in their own community.
“The church has an incredible opportunity to reach the world that is living on our doorstep,” McElwee says. “This is exactly the mission that God has called us to do.”
When the class ends, some people linger to eat and talk more about Abraham’s sacrifice while others finish previous conversations about work and politics. Soon, the mothers and children leave–many with their friends from the church. Both Iraqis and Americans shake hands and say goodbye.
“As-Salamu Alaykum,” they say to each other. “Peace be upon you.”
Bhutanese Nepali refugees form churches, reach out to their neighbors
On a gray drizzly Sunday afternoon in November, drums and guitars mix with spirited, jangling tambourines radiating from a room in the back of Glenfield Baptist Church in Glen Ellyn. A jumble of shoes has gradually flooded into the accompanying hallway and more than 70 Bhutanese men, women, and children stand in bare feet and socks, worshipping in Nepali. Small boys and girls twirl and dance beneath their elders as a refrain of “Hallelujah” builds and swells. The air becomes warm, filled by the vibrancy of their worship.
When the music ends, everyone sits upon cushions and pillows scattered across the floor and American pastor Cody Lorance stands and prays in Nepali. The walls are yellow and strung with garlands of leaves and flowers. Behind Lorance at the front of the room is an altar with crosses, candles and incense sticks.
This is TriEak Parmeshwar Mandali, the first Nepali-speaking church in Chicagoland. Most in this community are recently resettled refugees from the Kingdom of Bhutan, a small landlocked country in South Asia bordered by China, India and the Himalayan Mountains. Together, the families of the church navigate the challenges of their new life in America as they grow in their hope in Christ.
As Lorance preaches, Ganesh Powdyel stands to the side, translating English to Nepali after each sentence. Two years ago, Powdyel arrived in Chicago with his parents, wife and daughter after spending 18 years in a refugee camp in Nepal, where he was a teacher making 892 Nepalese rupees–or about $12.58 in current US dollars–per month.
During his first year in the United States, Powdyel worked as an operator for Global Card Services. He now works as a casework assistant at World Relief DuPage and relays important information to the Bhutanese Nepali community.
In the early 1990’s, most of Bhutan’s ethnic Nepali minority, the Lhotshampa, fled the country after the government deemed them a threat to the political order. During that time, Bhutan’s King Wangchuck enforced the majority culture and Buddhist religion while seeking to rid the country of ethnic Nepalese and their Hindu rituals. Many were forcibly evicted by the government, while others fled from the persecution or were coerced into signing “voluntary” emigration forms.
Unable to return to Bhutan or settle permanently in Nepal, more than 100,000 refugees remained in the camps for almost two decades, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Since 2007, the United States has resettled 34,129 Bhutanese refugees as part of a resettlement program that includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands.
When Powdyel arrived at O’Hare Airport with his family in early 2009, he was greeted by Cody Lorance and Krishna Magar, who were informed of his arrival by World Relief. Magar, who came to live in Wheaton with his three children in late 2008, was Powdyel’s teacher and school principal in the Nepali refugee camp. He became friends with Lorance after his children attended the Karen Burmese congregation that also meets in Glenfield Baptist Church. Months later, six refugees—including Magar’s children—were baptized by Lorance and began meeting to study their newfound Christian faith. Both Magar and Powdyel assisted Lorance in translating his messages to the young church and became Christians later in 2009.
When Powdyel began to learn the stories of the Bible, he was impressed by Christianity’s desire and proclamation for equality, which was in opposition to Hinduism’s strict caste system in Nepal. By local law, Powdyel said members of the lower castes could not enter the house of a higher caste member. Now their relationships have changed.
“We worship together, we work with each other, help each other and eat meals together,” Powdyel said. “We’re living together now.”
Lorance said many of the caste barriers have been broken by the church’s desire to create ways for new Nepali Christians to seek Christ while continuing to be a part of their traditional culture.
“We are really striving to make following Christ not an issue of changing your culture but an issue of changing your heart, mind and behaviors,” Lorance said. “We are using cultural forms and traditions that are already there and trying to pour Christ into those.”
On Christmas 2009, Powdyel and Magar were ordained by Lorance as deacons of the growing church.
“They were trying to identify needs [in the community] and find ways to fill those needs,” Lorance said. More than just the church members came to see Powdyel and Magar’s ordination, but the wider Bhutanese Nepali community came for the ceremony. “I was really presenting them, not as church deacons, but as servant-leaders for the community.”
Another Bhutanese Nepali congregation, Anugraha Church, began meeting last Easter and quickly grew to more than 40 people, eventually moving to Glen Ellyn Evangelical Covenant Church last Christmas. This April, the church invited the local and national Bhutanese Nepali community to their building for their “Grand Musical Festival and Gospel Program” which included more than 20 performers from Chicagoland, Maryland, Tennessee and Ohio. With a full sanctuary and musical performances lasting several hours, the afternoon was a testament to the unity of the local and national Bhutanese Nepali community.
Although the Bhutanese Nepalis no longer deal with the toils of the refugee camps, challenges and struggles remain as they adjust to life in the United States. “There’s illiteracy, poor jobs, and there’s still a lot of spiritual battles that we’re facing,” Lorance said. “It’s not all ‘awesome.’ There are some awesome things that God is doing, but it’s all a tremendous struggle as well.”
Through their many challenges, TriEak Parmeshwar Mandali continues to provide strength for the community. Last year, a family’s apartment caught on fire and the church raised $500 to help with repairs and raised another large sum of money to help a family who couldn’t pay their rent one month.
For many in the community, learning English is essential to obtaining a job, communicating with coworkers, successfully creating a bank account or making doctor’s appointments. Every Thursday night, Trinity International Baptist Mission, the mother church of TriEak, holds ESL (English as a Second Language) classes run by volunteers from the church.
Powdyel said TriEak is also working to obtain more cars and arrange driving lessons so the community can have more independence to shop, use the People’s Resource Center or visit World Relief. During the long Chicago winters, cars are necessary for survival.
As pastor, Lorance has witnessed the growth of the church from the very beginning and says he is “excited to see their excitement” for reaching out to their local community and the Nepali community abroad.
“They say, ‘We’re not refugees. We’re in the US. We’re Americans now. We’re strong. If we can work together, God is with us and we can do it,’” Lorance said.
“The Spirit is working in very significant ways with this group of people.”
World Relief’s mission is to empower the local church to serve the most vulnerable. In community with the local church, World Relief envisions the most vulnerable people transformed economically, socially, and spiritually. Over the past ten years, resettled refugee families have formed 12 churches. TriEak Parmeshwar Mandali is a great example of the impact that immigrant churches can have when they take up Christ’s call for all Christians to love their neighbors and welcome the stranger in their midst.
World Relief Immigrant Legal Services aids victim of domestic violence
Woman feared permanent separation from children
Written by Andrea Simnick Xu and Glenn Oviatt
The United States offers many services and safeguards for victims of domestic violence. Undocumented immigrants who suffer at the hands of an abuser are the group least aware of their right to ask for protection and most afraid to speak up. While the majority of clients served by World Relief Immigrant Legal Services are legal residents of the United States, this story highlights a small but vulnerable category of clients who receive legal advocacy.
The names of some individuals have been changed to protect their identity.
Julia Garcia is a mother of two young daughters and the wife of an abusive husband. She is also an undocumented immigrant who married an American citizen and possessed little power to protect her children.
When Garcia came to World Relief DuPage in January 2010, she feared her legal status would deny her the right to ask for the safety of her children and herself. However, under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), an undocumented immigrant who suffers abuse from an American spouse can apply for a Green Card.
Matt Soerens, U.S. Church Training Specialist for World Relief, said the law provides protection for people who are in vulnerable situations similar to Garcia but many are unaware of these provisions.
One of “our jobs [at World Relief Immigrant Legal Services] is simply to help the law work as it’s supposed to: to protect people who are victims of abuse and crime,” Soerens said.
With a staff accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals, World Relief DuPage’s Immigrant Legal Services provides low-cost assistance to immigrants and refugees from around the world, seeking to keep clients well-informed of their rights, responsibilities and opportunities under the current laws.
Before Garcia approached World Relief, she pursued a visa through her husband. Instructed to return to Mexico to apply for a visa, Garcia followed bad advice from a Notario—a person who unlawfully gives immigrant legal instruction. Although some Notarios are well-meaning, many make a living off of the ignorance and fear of undocumented immigrants.
Based upon the Notario’s advice, Garcia believed she would only have to wait in Mexico for three years before returning to the U.S. if her visa request was rejected. After waiting almost a year to find out that she had been denied, Garcia learned that she would be separated from her children for at least another 10 years before she could legally reenter the United States, and that was only if her second application for a visa was accepted.
Garcia’s fear for the well-being of her children grew after an emotional phone call from her eldest daughter who said she was hungry and afraid of angering her drunken father by asking for food. Garcia decided she could no longer be separated from her daughters and attempted to cross the US-Mexico border. After being caught and sent back, she made a second – and more desperate – attempt, successfully returning to Wheaton to care for her children.
Upon hearing her story, World Relief Immigrant Legal Services told Garcia she had a strong VAWA petition and set to work obtaining the necessary paperwork. When Garcia was sent to the Glen Ellyn police department for proof that she’d never been arrested, the police detained her and transferred her to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Unbeknownst to her, Garcia had an outstanding warrant for her arrest issued in 2002. While pregnant with her first child, Garcia was attacked by some of her husband’s family members. After the police arrived, Garcia explained the situation and was let go. Because her husband moved her to a new location, Garcia never received the summons to appear in court and was charged with battery.
Garcia’s World Relief Immigration Counselor Elise Bryson hurriedly began building a case to delay her possible deportation. Unsure if Garcia would be on the next day’s deportation plane, Bryson stayed at the World Relief DuPage office past midnight, calling partner attorneys at DePaul University for advice and preparing Garcia’s case.
Garcia was soon transferred to the Broadview Immigrant Detention Center and appeared to be on the fast track toward deportation. No one was informed of her whereabouts.
Garcia’s eldest daughter believed she would never see her mother again, and grew to fear the police.
“It was a very panicked situation,” Bryson said. “Not only do you have someone being deported, but she also has two U.S. citizen daughters of very young ages who would have been in the custody of the abuser. Although he had never directly hurt the kids, his alcoholism had resulted indirectly in their endangerment before.”
The following morning, Sarah Diaz, a partner attorney from DePaul University College of Law, came to World Relief DuPage to help Bryson discover where Garcia was and how to petition for her release. Coincidentally, Diaz knew the supervising attorney at the Broadview Immigrant Detention Center from their days at the National Immigration Justice Center in Chicago. Through the personal connection Diaz was able to quickly get ahold of the attorney and informed him that Garcia was a VAWA client with two young children. An hour later, World Relief DuPage received a call from Garcia announcing her release.
When Garcia’s American neighbor and friend Cathy Anderson heard about the news, she responded with tears of joy. Throughout the night, Garcia’s family and neighbors prayed for her release.
“That was a miracle,” Anderson said. “It was really praying for hope against hope; it was like asking for the impossible.”
Later that day, Garcia came home to a joyful community of friends and neighbors.
“It was really emotional,” Anderson recalled. “When I saw Julia, we were hugging and crying. And she was so grateful for everything everyone had done. I think it was overwhelming for her to have people fighting for her, to have people getting involved and doing anything and everything to fight for her to be with her family… for her dignity to be valued and cared for.”
Since her return, Garcia completed the VAWA petition through World Relief and was approved within the year. Now Garcia has work authorization, a Social Security card and a driver’s license. However, Garcia is still waiting for the government to grant her a green card.
Garcia’s eldest daughter, who was traumatized by the separation from her mother and continual threat of losing her permanently, is now regaining her trust in the police and the ability to engage in everyday activities, like attending school.
While Garcia and her husband work through the process of reconciliation, she now has freedom she didn’t have before – she can support her children independent from an abusive relationship and can seek the best life for her daughters without the fear of being separated again.
To learn more about the work of World Relief’s Immigrant Legal Services and how you can be involved, please click here.
Burmese family reunited at O’Hare after six years of separation
Dam Thang hasn’t seen his wife and two daughters since 2005 when he fled to Malaysia amidst threats from the military-controlled government in Myanmar. Now a refugee in the United States, he waits patiently for the long-expected reunion in a large crowd inside the international terminal at O’Hare International Airport. Standing with his hands in his pockets, Dam Thang is quiet, occasionally pulling out his cell phone to answer a call from anxious friends waiting back in Wheaton.
His wife and two daughters, now 7 and 10, fled to eastern India in 2007 as Myanmar (formerly Burma) continued to repress individuals from minority cultures, ethnicities and religions. For the last 20 years, many Burmese have been subjected by the government to forced relocation, arbitrary arrest, detention, forced labor, and military conscription. As a result, more than 3.5 million have been displaced and hundreds of thousands have fled to nearby Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Amanda Hofbauer, the New Arrivals Volunteer Coordinator at World Relief DuPage, waits with Dam Thang and his friend Lang Mang, who acts as his translator. Earlier in the afternoon, Hofbauer met them at the World Relief DuPage office and took them to the airport in a 12-passenger van.
Each year, World Relief DuPage/Aurora resettles around 550 refugees from throughout the world and often the only breaks in arrivals come in the beginning of October when the President of the United States signs a letter determining the nation’s refugee arrival ceiling for the upcoming year, and over Christmas.
World Relief is continually looking for more volunteers to aid with welcoming refugees to the United States through airport pickups and with helping them to adjust to their new home.
Hofbauer said many refugees and their families face difficulties learning English, finding employment, navigating the country’s laws and culture, budgeting, education for children, and dealing with changing family dynamics. Through tutoring, conducting airport pickups and becoming friendship partners, volunteers play a vital role in the lives of refugees in DuPage and Kane Counties.
“The need for volunteers is huge because there are many gaps we don’t have the capacity to fill as an organization,” Hofbauer said. “There are things that come up that volunteers can help immensely with– like driver’s ed, setting up cell phones and teaching how to pay bills.”
However, the impact of volunteers goes far beyond the completion of tasks. Many form lasting relationships that provide love, community, encouragement and healing.
For Dam Thang and his family, there will be many adjustments ahead.
When he finally sees his wife and daughters at the international terminal, the reunion is a quiet one. The travelers are weary, but the family is finally together and there is peace.
As Hofbauer and Lang Mang carry the family’s two bags—their only belongings—through a bridge to the parking lot, Dam Thang lovingly puts his hand on the back of his youngest daughter whom he hasn’t seen since she was an infant.
Later that afternoon, the family is ushered into a College Avenue apartment in Wheaton by warm food, energetic music and the jubilant voices of long-separated family, friends and neighbors welcoming them to America.
It is on this seemingly ordinary afternoon in Wheaton that Dam Thang and his family begin to make a new life together.
You Never Forget the People You First Meet
Megan Chrans, Intern
The rich smell of spice greets me at the door as Radmila Mijatovic welcomes me into her home. She is cooking dinner in the kitchen, comfortable in her space as she talks about her day at work and the family pictures on the walls. She recounts the time her family first arrived to the United States and was greeted by American volunteers who would eventually become dear friends.
Exhausted after a grueling 14-hour flight from former Yugoslavia, Radmila and her husband, daughter and son got off the plane at O’Hare International Airport and stepped into a new country, culture and life. Leaving a war-torn and divided country where the economic situation was devastated and jobs non-existent, Radmila and her family decided to begin a new life in the United States. Not knowing anyone, unfamiliar with the language, and carrying their life in a suitcase, the family felt the uncertainty and excitement of a new beginning.
American volunteer John Jackson and his family waited outside the international gate for the Mijatovics to arrive. Even then, John knew that the next few days would mark the beginning of a prolonged relationship with this family. “When you host a family like that,” he explained, “you get connected and then you’re with them for a long time.” However, he could not quite anticipate how closely the Lord would interweave their lives in the future.
The Jacksons volunteered as a host family with World Relief DuPage and agreed to welcome Radmila and her family into their home for three days while an apartment was set up. However, due to delays with the apartment, the Mijatovics stayed with the Jacksons for ten days instead. Using simple phrases and gestures where language was lacking, the Jacksons helped orient the Mijatovics to the United States. The impromptu educational sessions ranged from explaining how the gas on the stove worked to teaching the difference between a nickel and dime.
Radmila remembers how the Jacksons helped with everything. “I never felt like I was so far from home because John’s family was so nice to us.”
When the Mijatovics eventually moved into their apartment, they still continued the close relationship with the Jackson family. The kids – three on the Jackson side and two on the Mijatovics’- especially connected. Because the Jacksons lived just down the street they were consistently available to help with any questions or needs. The Mijatovics often invited the Jacksons over for cultural and religious holidays and the families continued to learn about the other’s lives. However, in the midst of this, the Mijatovics faced a big challenge: they needed jobs.
John found himself in a unique position at his company, MagnetStreet which designs and produces personalized wedding, life moment, business, and school printed products. MagnetStreet also happened to be a key partner of World Relief Employment Services. When a job position opened in production, John thought Radmila would be a great fit. Working together with World Relief and John, Radmila was soon hired.
MagnetStreet: A Unique Ministry
John’s desire to place World Relief’s refugees at MagnetStreet resulted from years of involvement with international work. He longed to find a way to focus his passion for internationals locally in the Wheaton area.
John’s global perspective was formed early on through his family’s experience hosting internationals in their home and traveling abroad. Later, John participated in mission trips, and then moved to China for an extended period of time after receiving a graduate degree in cross-cultural communication. Coming back, he taught at a Christian school before deciding to work as a recruiter for a mission agency in the United States. During this time he also began to take his global background and apply it nationally.
After eight years of recruitment work, John began to feel that his time in formal ministry was coming to a close. Though in many ways this change did not make sense, the Lord moved in his heart and he chose to take a step of faith, saying, “Lord, you have something else for me.”
He began talking to people about his desired shift in vocation, and at church struck up a conversation with Brian Baird, CEO of MagnetStreet. Brian mentioned an opening in Human Resources, and 11 years ago, John began his career at MagnetStreet. The company was experiencing expansion due to increased production work and John spent much of his time hiring to meet the new demands. Through a personal relationship with Matt Gibson, former Employment Services Manager at World Relief, John learned about opportunities to hire refugees.
John refers to MagnetStreet as a “Kingdom Company,” and there could not be a more fitting description. Providing jobs to refugees who are still adjusting to a new way of life has lasting impacts. Furthermore, doing so in a company run by a Christian executive team with compassionate hearts for people from other countries is truly unique.
A personal relationship morphed into a valued partnership. MagnetStreet needed employees to keep up with demands, and World Relief had an endless supply of eager workers supported by job counselors who walked hiring companies and new refugee employees through the entire process. Though taking on a greater risk by hiring people who were not familiar with English or American cultural practices, MagnetStreet understood the lasting benefit of employing people who had left behind war, persecution and a denial of basic human rights and looked to the future with hope.
Adam Beyer, Employment Services Manager at World Relief DuPage/Aurora, says that the majority of companies they partner with are not faith-based, and interactions are centered purely on a business relationship. Companies are naturally most concerned with work ethic and their employees’ understanding of the American workforce. Fortunately, World Relief Employment Services’ goal is to help adult refugees secure full-time work, provide training and develop resources so that refugees can achieve stability and move toward meaningful vocations.
Adam remarks that the partnership with MagnetStreet is especially unique because it’s based on both a business and missional understanding.
Today, Radmila is still employed at MagnetStreet and reflects on the blessing it has been. She says, “[The people at] my job, we are like family.” She recounts the different job positions she’s completed within the company as she gains better language skill and can take on more responsibility.
Her family has a house now and her kids are in college. Through the help of volunteers like the Jacksons and companies like MagnetStreet, they have been able to establish a new life full of opportunity and hope.
Though MagnetStreet does not hire many refugees anymore because their expansion phase is complete, they continue to partner with World Relief through the generous donation of products and services.
Many of the refugees MagnetStreet hired years ago still work at the company and have progressed into higher-level positions. John stops in now and then to catch up with Radmila at work and their families continue to share special meals and holidays together. As John reflects on the volunteer experience that led to this lasting relationship, he says, “It opened our eyes to what refugees face when they come…just to think, what would that be like for me – to go to a country, pack a suitcase, not speak the language or have any resources – that’s it and you show up. How would I survive? What would I do? And to think how valuable that would be to have somebody meet you at an airport and be like, ‘Don’t worry about things, we’ll take care of you.” Johns remarks that you never forget the first people you meet.
Radmila says again and again, “I am so thankful. I cannot forget…never.”
Refugees Come Alongside Each Other Through Life-Changing Car Donations
Meaghan Gerhart, Communications Intern
While some can simply hop in a car and easily drive from one destination to another, this luxury is not afforded to all. Refugees especially face a special set of challenges without a car, as there are numerous meetings, appointments, and classes they must attend post-initial settlement in the United States. In response, World Relief DuPage Aurora (WRDA) started the car donation program. Life in the suburban DuPage and Kane counties requires reliable transportation over greater distances, which can present challenges to those without a car. With the ability to give refugee clients a car, this enables refugees to get to work, run family errands and effectually relieves the strain on WRDA’s shuttle program.
The car donation process begins with a donor, who generously brings their car to World Relief and signs over the title to WRDA. In order to incentivize car donations, car donors are entitled to a tax write-off based on the current re-sale value of the car. Then, World Relief has the car evaluated by a mechanic to determine what repairs are needed or recommended. When the repairs have been made, the car is ready to be given to a qualified refugee.
A refugee is eligible for consideration to receive a donated car if they are working full-time (or have an imminent job offer); have a valid driver’s license; can afford to pay for the expenses associated with owning the car (insurance, title transfer, plates); and agree to help others whom World Relief is serving that are in need of transportation. Often, and ideally, a donated car will result in a car pool that will provide transportation and work to a few or even several different refugees. Donated cars are often given to someone who is in the best position to help other people get to work.
In all cases, the WRDA staff must use their discernment in deciding what will bring the most value to the clients—whether that be donation to a refugee, impounding the car, or using the car for a shuttle. For example, at times individuals will donate a car that can’t be repaired at a reasonable price. In those cases, WRDA impounds the vehicle in order gain a profit of a couple hundred dollars. Other times, a donor will give WRDA a car that is so valuable that it makes better sense to sell the car and use the proceeds to pay for repairs on other cars. Occasionally, WRDA will get a car that can best be used as a shuttle vehicle and is kept by World Relief.
One of the beneficiaries of the car donation program is Tek Tiwari, a recent refugee to the United States. Tiwari, his wife, 3 children, two adult sisters and elderly mother all live together in a household. Tiwari has been currently working at his company for almost 2 years and has always had to rely on co-workers to get to work. Like many other refugees designated as the primary breadwinner, Tiwari had been forced to live under the pressure of living pay-check to pay-check supporting his family of five. Saving a portion of his paycheck to pay for a car was impractical and unreasonable.
Luckily, a previous client of WRDA Cyros Amiri, was in the financial position to donate a car to WRDA. Amiri had worked with Employment Services to secure a job when he had initially resettled to the United States, and with this income, he was able to save for a car. In an effort to pay it forward, Amiri decided to donate his vehicle to WRDA after purchasing his new car. Tiwari was the perfect recipient of Amiri’s donation. Tiwari’s sisters and niece recently resettled in the United States, and through the robust Employment Services department, his family members were able to secure employment at the same company that employs Tiwari. In effect, he will be changing shifts to be able to drive his family to work. Not only will this bring more income to Tiwari’s family, but this will also cut down on costs for WRDA, as this will help WR to end a shuttle that had been running.
Tiwari is now afforded the freedom and independence to support his family more easily, a freedom that is often taken for granted among many in suburban America. Tiwari will no longer have to rely on others to help him do day-to-day things like going to the grocery store or take his children to the doctor. Through the generous donation of another refugee, who had once been in Tiwari’s very position, Tiwari can live a more normal life. The experience of receiving such a life-changing gift truly moved Tiwari, and he hopes to later give back to his fellow community of refugees, just as Amiri had done for him.
If you would like to make a life-changing donation to a refugee and donate a car to WRDA, please click here. Or, contact WRDA’s Car Donations Coordinator Brian Reilly at breilly@wr.org.
Thank you for making this year’s benefit a success!
Benefit highlights
Video of Benefit highlights
see highlight video
Benefit Contact / Jennifer Stocks, Communications Manager, (630) 462-7566 ext. 1025 or jstocks@wr.org
Welcoming the Stranger Together
This year, World Relief DuPage/Aurora has served over 1,600 refugees and over 4,200 immigrants; however, we cannot welcome the stranger on our own. While “thank you” is not enough for all that our partners have contributed, we are truly thankful for all of our volunteers and donors who support this ministry. Your generosity has resulted in new citizens, new jobs, a new ability to speak English, and new dreams being born as old wounds are healed—-meet Hoda, Awet, Michael, and Tilia.
The Journey from Outcast to Citizenship
*For the protection of the client, we have changed her name to Hoda for the purpose of retelling her story.
As followers of the Mandean faith, a Gnostic religion originating in Jordan, Hoda* and her family were treated like outcasts in Iran. Her children were ostracized at school, the family was harassed by their neighbors, and their home was vandalized. In 2007, Hoda and her three young children arrived in the U.S. as refugees, but her eldest son and husband stayed behind. In Iran, men cannot get a passport unless they serve in the army. As a result, Hoda’s son enlisted and his father stayed with him in Iran— despite the struggle to find work as a non-Muslim. Through WRDA programs and services, Hoda received the tools she needed to start over. She got a job, learned to drive, and purchased a car; however, her biggest challenge was reuniting her family.
When her son’s military service was complete, Immigrant Legal Services [ILS] at WRDA applied for family reunification. Her son was accepted as a refugee and arrived in 2009; however, Hoda’s husband was denied refugee status. Over the span of three years,the ILS staff petitioned the government on his behalf and he was eventually granted permission to enter the country through immigration.
One Donated Car Enables an Entire Network of Refugees to Gain Independence
Awet arrived as a refugee from Eritrea just one day before his roommate Michael. With the help of WRDA job placement classes, both men were able to secure a job. Having to rely on others for transportation, Awet and Michael studied English together and worked towards getting a driver’s license permit. Awet, who worked as a mechanic in Eritrea, was the first to pass his driving test and, through the WRDA car donation program, received a car. Today, Awet is able to help others in the refugee community. In addition to driving the carpool to work, which includes his roommate, he is able to take other refugee clients to appointments and shopping. In the future, he hopes to start a career as a truck driver.
English, the Key to Success
Chronically unemployed due to Mexico’s fragile economy, Tilia Acevedo decided to leave behind her home country and join her siblings in the U.S. Knowing very little English, Tilia struggled to adjust, but with the support of her family, she was able to get a job and begin a new life. Tilia’s new life also included a husband, which prompted her to move to the Chicago area.
Desiring a better job, Tilia knew that increasing her English skills would be the key—that’s when she discovered ESL classes at World Relief DuPage /Aurora. Although learning a new language has been difficult for her, from the first day of class Tilia found her teachers to be both patient and kind. Furthermore, her two sons have the opportunity to learn English too. While she is in class, they are being cared for through WRDA’s Early Childhood Program
Click here to learn how you can partner with WRDA in 2014!
World Relief Dupage
191 S. Gary Ave. Suite 130
Carol Stream, IL 60188.
Immigration: (630) 462-7660
Mon, Tue, Thurs, Friday: 8:30 am to 5 pm
Wed: 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m
Closed for lunch 12-1 p.m.
World Relief Aurora
73 S. LaSalle Street Aurora, Illinois 60505
World Relief Global
Copyright © 2017 World Relief Dupage
World Relief is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4736
|
__label__wiki
| 0.61524
| 0.61524
|
Diez puentes-grúa ABUS en una fábrica de sistemas eólicos en Francia
Wind energy – leading from wind to light
Wind is motion. Wind moves sailing boats and wind moves the sails of windmills—keeping the grinder moving to grind the grain to flour. Today man uses wind to produce electricity with the help of wind turbines. At first the kinetic energy of the wind is transformed into mechanical energy which in turn in transformed into electricity.
Germany, Denmark, and the UK have been the first countries to promote wind energy. However, France is also building more wind farms and Brittany, in the northwest of the country almost surrounded by the stormy Atlantic, is at the cutting edge of it.
ENERCON – a giant in the wind energy sector
ENERCON (www.enercon.de), a company with headquarters in the north of Germany, is one of the global leaders in the sector of wind energy plants and is represented in over 40 countries. The rated power of ENERCON wind turbines ranges between 800 and 3,050 kW and their most powerful system even reaches 7,580 kW. The company produces amongst others the towers required for wind turbines made of either steel tubes or concrete. The towers can be up to 76 metres high. These towers are subject to high stresses depending on their location which they have to be able to cope with in all sorts of conditions. The ENERCON tubular steel towers are produced in several tubular sections and flanged together. The concrete towers consist of individual precast concrete elements with diameters of up to 14.5 metres. The production of these towers does not only comply with national and international applicable rules and regulations, but ENERCON set up its own product standards of excellence as to quality and safety. The design of the towers, too, is the result of consequent research and a core point in the production. Tower sections with large diameters may be delivered in shells to ensure the transport to the site of installation. ENERCON opened a new production unit for the production of concrete towers in Compiègne, in the northwest of France, in the summer of 2012 in order to extend its European production capacities. This is not only the first production plant of ENERCON in France, it is France’s first plant for the production of wind energy systems at all.
Running before the wind – with ABUS
Ten EOT cranes with spans of 23 metres and load capacities between 10 and 80 tonnes were installed in the four halls at Compiègne for the transportation of the concrete elements. Technical assistance, sales, installation, and commissioning were carried out by ABUS Levage France (www.abus-levage.fr) at Nancy, a daughter company of ABUS Kransysteme GmbH. Halls 1 and 2 are used for storage. Here you will find two single girder EOT cranes of the ELK type with load capacities of 10 tons and one double girder EOT crane of the ZLK type with 32 tons SWL. This double girder EOT crane features a double rail trolley type ZA with a stooled-down twin hoist which ensures optimised use of the headroom available. Halls 3 and 4 are production units where individual concrete elements are put together to form segments of the towers to-be. In these areas only double girder EOT cranes are operating and they all come with stooled-down trolleys again for optimum use of the height available. In a further storage area another double girder EOT crane is operating with a load capacity of 80 tons. As this crane is also used outside it has been painted with a special paint to resist all sorts of weathers and its hoist, its motors, and its panels are all covered with protective covers. All cranes are operated by ABUS radio remote controls.
During several installation phases between July and September 2012 the local ABUS service and installation teams worked to install and to commission the cranes so that the production could be officially opened on October 19, 2012 without any incidents.
CARRO BIRRAÍL CON DOBLE MECANISMO DE ELEVACIÓN MODELO Z
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4741
|
__label__cc
| 0.652895
| 0.347105
|
Special Job Announcement for President of Coastal Alabama Community College. Click here for more info.
Academic & Student Affairs
Alabama Technology Network
Correctional and Post-Correctional Education
Private School Licensure
State Approving Agency
Workforce Development & Career Technical Education
Find A College Near You
Why Community College
ACCS Athletics
2-to-4 Transfer
Get Your GED
High School Diploma Option
Family Enrichment
Adult Education Providers
Find Your Career
ACCS Receives $12 Million U.S. Department of Labor Grant to Expand Apprenticeships
Home/Press Room/ACCS Receives $12 Million U.S. Department of Labor Grant to Expand Apprenticeships
Rachel Adams2019-06-26T15:58:19+00:00June 25th, 2019|
Montgomery – On Monday, the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) was one of 23 academic institutions and consortia nationwide awarded a grant to expand private-public apprenticeship partnerships across the country. The Scaling Apprenticeship Through Sector-Based Strategies grants were awarded in three areas: information technology, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare. The $12 million grant received by ACCS and the Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturing focuses on advanced manufacturing.
In Alabama, a total of 5,000 students will benefit from the expanded training in advanced manufacturing. Nationally, the DOL expects the grants to support the training of more than 85,000 apprentices in new or expanded programs.
“Employers in Alabama are looking for individuals who are job-ready on day one and an apprenticeship is a great way for students to gain both the classroom training and real-world experience these employers are seeking,” said ACCS Chancellor Jimmy H. Baker. “The Alabama Community College System is honored to be just one of 23 entities across the nation who have received a Scaling Apprenticeship Through Sector-Based Strategies grant from the US Department of Labor to expand our apprenticeship programs to ensure opportunities for all Alabamians. We look forward to working with our partners at the Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturers along with business and industry right here in Alabama to provide important and vital training for the thousands of advanced manufacturing jobs available in the state.”
Alabama’s community colleges will specifically use the grant for the following efforts:
To expand the nationally-awarded earn-and-learn, Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education or F.A.M.E. program at Calhoun Community College and to extend that program to three additional colleges (Northwest-Shoals Community College, Wallace State Community College – Hanceville and Bishop State Community College).
To implement quick-start pre-apprenticeship programs that lead to nationally recognized Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) certifications that prepare residents for in-depth apprenticeships or entry-level jobs in manufacturing;
To implement short-term apprenticeship programs that place residents in one of several high-wage, in-demand occupations in advanced manufacturing.
The $183.8 million in grants is aimed specifically at increasing apprenticeship opportunities for all Americans, including veterans, military spouses, and service members transitioning into the civilian workforce; and groups that are underrepresented in apprenticeships such as women, people of color, and Americans transitioning from the justice system to the workforce. Recipients of the grants include colleges, universities, and state systems of higher education, in partnership with national industry associations, employers representing an industry sector, and other partners.
According to the DOL, the funding is a result of Executive Order 13801 signed by President Trump on June 15, 2017, charging the Secretary of Labor to “consider establishing guidelines or requirements that qualified entities should or must follow to ensure that apprenticeship programs they recognize meet quality standards.” The Executive Order therefore created a Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion that approved recommendations to the President on May 10, 2018.
About ACCS
With 24 community colleges in more than 130 locations, the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) is Alabama’s gateway to first-class, affordable education and technical training to compete in a constantly evolving workforce. More than 168,000 Alabamians benefit from the various certification, credential, dual enrollment and degree programs ACCS offers alongside leading industry partners. The System includes the Alabama Technology Network, which provides extensive training and service offerings directly to business and industry. ACCS is governed by the Alabama Community College System Board of Trustees.
Jimmy H. Baker
135 South Union Street
www.accs.edu
Chancellor’s Message
Staff Resource Library
Student Complaints
SITE MAP | ACCESSIBILITY | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US
© 2019 Alabama Community College System | P.O. Box 302130 Montgomery, AL 36130-2130 | All Rights Reserved.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4742
|
__label__wiki
| 0.808586
| 0.808586
|
News▹
ACEVO on Charity CEO pay in The Guardian
Published: Thursday 19 December 2013 - 12:30
The Guardian reports on the highly debated subject of charity CEO pay.
Bearing in mind what we know about boardroom pay, what would you expect to be the annual salary for the chief executive officer of an organisation with a famous brand name, about 4,000 paid employees and an annual turnover of about half a billion pounds?
Let's assume, for good measure, that this chief executive has a first-class degree in chemical engineering from Cambridge and an MBA from Harvard. What is she or he worth? Are you thinking half a million? A million? More?
In fact the details above describe Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, who earns less than £220,000 per year. I will be the first to agree that this is a far from a miserly sum. It is what is commonly known as shitloads of dosh. On the other hand, it is less than the take-home pay of at least 40 local authority chief executives, and about a 20th of the pay of the equivalent boss in the private sector.
This week, Sir Stephen Bubb, head of Acevo, which represents chief executives from the charity and non-profit sector, was subjected to a ritual grilling by the parliamentary select committee on public administrationover the issue of charity executive pay. He was in bullish mood, telling journalists: "There are all sorts of inequities in pay, but while nobody gets worked up about footballers, the chief executive of the Red Cross is pilloried."
He has a point. The truth is that for all but a handful of huge charities, this is a non-issue. There are 163,000 registered charities in the UK, give or take. More than 95% of them have a total annual income of less than £500,000. Only around 1% of charities employ 1,000 people or more, and of those the median salary of their chief executive is £60,000. British charities handle about £60bn per year and employ about 750,000 people, and a few hundred of those earn six-figure salaries. Now I have absolutely no idea what the chief executive of the Royal Opera House does to justify a salary of £741k; I find it obscene. I am also aware that it is freakishly unusual.
Most people have little understanding of charity law, or indeed the day-to-day practice of charity management. Few realise that a charity's job is to make as much money as it can, and then spend that money on its aims and objectives. The law cares little as to how the money is made.
Yes, some charities will rattle cans and pull at heartstrings. Others will invest, often with a shocking lack of concern as to the ethics of their investments. Others operate as service delivery companies in their area of expertise. For about 30 years, politicians of all stripes have been actively pressing charities in this direction, making the so-called third sector a significant player in the dismantling of centralised state provision, and the tendering out of health and social care services.
In the past decade, national and local government grants to charities and the voluntary sector fell by a third to £3bn. Over the same period, the amount received in the form of service delivery contracts went up from £4.5bn to £11.2bn. A small number of the largest charities are, wittingly or not, actively complicit in the ideological dismantling of the NHS and statutory social care services, for their own gain, while simultaneously sacrificing their independence and ability to advocate on behalf of the vulnerable.
I find it faintly depressing that Bubb is hauled over the coals on the issue of chief executive pay. The plain truth is that almost everyone who works for a charity, at any level, from a minimum wage shop worker to a glittering blue-chip CEO, could be making more money, often for less work, in the private or public sectors. The vast majority of charities serve vital functions, and the vast majority of those who work for them, just like those who support them, do it because they care deeply for the cause and would prefer to work for something other than their own bank balances.
But the sector also has its problems, and many of them can be traced back to that urge to behave ever more like private companies in the cut and thrust of the free market. That is a process that Bubb has done more than anyone to champion and accelerate. Charity executives should have some difficult questions to answer. As the issues go, their pay barely registers.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4743
|
__label__wiki
| 0.849575
| 0.849575
|
Home / Things to do / Itineraries / Chalon sur Saône : Orbandale Way - Loop - Chalon-sur-Saône
Chalon sur Saône : Orbandale Way
Loop , Cultural , Historic , Walks and hikes , Walking/pedestrian at Chalon-sur-Saône
Difference in height
Walking/pedestrian
Chalon-sur-Saône is one of the most beautiful places in France. Stroll, discover the pleasure of exploration, taste the treasures that history and men have inscribed in the stone, architecture, parks and gardens of a warm and welcoming city.
Follow the Orbandale Way at your own time and pace
This trail is called “Orbandale” after the poetic name given to the town of Chalon-sur-Saône during the Middle Ages. In 1662, the historian Léonard Bertaut published a book entitled “The Illustrated Orbandale, or the Ancient and Modern History of the city and town of Chalon sur Saône”, and cites many sources which mention this name. According to him, the name takes its origins from the three golden rings (orbes in old French) which constitute the town’s Coat of Arms, and which symbolize the three rows of gilded bricks that appeared on the old boundary walls that encircled the town.
PLAQUETTORLANBADE_FR.pdf
GPX Trace
KML File
GPX / KML files allow you to export the trail of your hike to your GPS (or other navigation tool)
1 PORT VILLIERS
2 STATUE OF NICÉPHORE NIÉPCE
3 THE TOURIST OFFICE
4 NICÉPHORE NIÉPCE MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPHY
5 THE COLMONT FUSSELET MANSION
6 TOWER KNOWN AS “COCO LOUVRIER”
7 SAINT-LAURENT BRIDGE
8 HOSPITAL
9 DOYENNÉ TOWER
10 THE BARRACKS, FORMERLY THE CORDELIERS MONASTERY
11 THE CHAPEL OF THE FORMER HOSPITAL
12 GENISE BRIDGE
13 QUAI DE LA MONNAIE (THE MINT QUAY) AND THE PUMPS IN THE PLACE THEVENIN
14 THE MOTHE HOUSE
15 THE HOUSE WITH THREE ATTICS
16 THE LOMBARDS’ HOUSE
17 SAINT VINCENT’S CATHEDRAL AND PLACE
18 THE PICCOLO THEATRE
19 THE OLD CHAMBION HOUSE
20 THE SASSENAY MANSION
21 THE DE VIREY MANSION
22 VILLA DENON
23 SAUDON TOWER
24 BIRTHPLACE OF NICÉPHORE NIÉPCE
25 THE TOWN HALL BELFRY
26 THE NOIROT MANSION
27 THE CHIQUET MANSION
28 THE FOUR SEASONS HOUSE
29 THE PERRY HOUSE
30 TOWN HALL
31 DENON MUSEUM
32 CHURCH AND FORMER CONVENT OF ST PIERRE
33 THE HOSPITALLERS’ CHAPEL
34 THE LANCHARRE CONVENT
35 CARMELITE CHAPEL
The port consists of steps hich were constructed around 1840 to make it easier for the many travellers to board the
steam boats that navigated the river Saône.
Sculpted in 1885 by Eugène Guillaume who, in honour of the inventor of photography, made no charge for his work on
this statue.
Built between 1675 and 1710, this was a staging post for coaches and wagons, where horses were changed and merchandise stored.
Formerly an office of the « Messageries Royales » (the first postal service), the museum now explains the evolution of photography from its invention to the digital age.
Built in 1773 facing the river Saône, it now houses the Heritage Centre which relates the 2000 years of Chalon’s history.
A watch tower which in the middle ages formed part of the fortifications on the banks of the Saône. It gets its name from a money lender who lived in the tower around 1800, and whose portrait can be seen in the Denon Museum.
Originally built by the Romans around 30 BC, it has since been rebuilt twice. In the 14th century it became crowded with houses and mills, which were all removed and replaced with obelisks in the 18th century. The bridge was destroyed by the Germans in 1944 and then completely rebuilt shortly afterwards in concrete faced with stone.
The creation of a hospital on the Ile St-Laurent goes back to the beginning of the 16th century. The original nuns’ quarters, recognisable from the angled gable, date from that period. The main hospital buildings were built during
the 19th century and replaced the original main hospital ward which was demolished in 1854. The dome, built in the 1770’s, was completely remodelled during the hospital modernisation programme (1854 to 1870).
Originally, it housed the staircase to the lodgings of the eldest of the canons of the Cathedral (in the current courtyard) Rue Edgar Quinet. In 1907 it was sold, taken down and sent for auction in Paris. A rich American patron of the arts, Frank Jay-Gould, bought it and gave it back to the commune which, in 1927 installed it on the Ile St-Laurent.
In 1450 the Cordeliers (Franciscan friars) from Dole formed a monastery on the island at the request of Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy. Their establishment was entirely rebuilt between 1663 and 1693. In 1844 military engineers demolished the church to enlarge the barracks. Before 1914, these could house 4 companies each of 115
men; today the barracks are home to the 43rd Company of the CRS.
with its eclectic style, was built in 1873 on the site of a former hospital ward. Although taking inspiration from a variety of different periods, it was constructed using modern materials, including metal used for the roof supports.
Dating from 1459, the bridge over La Genise, a natural arm of the Saône, was repaired in 1682 before collapsing in 1696. Rebuilt in 1699 with solid piers, domed deck and basket handle arches, it was enlarged in 1857 and strengthened in 1942.
The Quai de la Monnaie gets its name from during the Middle Ages when the Dukes of Burgundy minted money
here during the Middle Ages. The pumps enabled clean water to be pumped up from the water table under the bed of the Saône, and were installed circa 1871, thanks to the generosity of the Thévenin family.
9-11 rue Saint-Vincent Dating from late 15th to early 16th centuries, the main body of the house was constructed of two parts, one in stone and the other half-timbered, linked by a tower enclosing a spiral staircase to the upper
floors (visible from the street).
7 rue Saint-Vincent Built circa 1500 this house owes its name to its half timbered facade rising to high roofs which
are pierced with three levels of skylights. It belonged to the Riboudeau family, wealthy Chalon merchants.
This stone tower house built in the 13th century would have belonged to one of the notable Lombardy Jewish families, known for their role as money lenders during the great fairs of the Middle Ages. The church forbade this activity for Christians.
Built in the Roman and Gothic styles from 1080 to the 16th century. The facade which was destroyed during the Revolution was rebuilt from 1827 in the Neo-gothic style.
Cathédrale Saint-Vincent
Historic site and monument
All that remains of the original 1776 theatre is the facade, where the taste for the antique style is visible in its sobriety and in the choice of ionic columns and capitals. The rest of the Italian-style theatre was completely rebuilt in 1886.
40 rue Saint Georges This mid-19th century folly, mixing eastern fantasy and the Middle Ages, was built on a part of the former 13th century monastery of the charitable order of Saint Antoine.
38 rue Saint Georges Situated between a courtyard and a garden, the mansion belonged to the Du Ble d’Uxelles family, whose members had been governors of the Royal Citadel of Chalon during the 17th and 18th centuries.
This former mansion of Enoch de Virey, mayor of Chalon, built in 1612 using brick and stone is attributed to the Lorraine architect Gentillâtre. It was doubled in size, imitating the existing building, during the installation of the
Sous Prefecture during the 19th century.
At the end on the left of the Impasse Villa Denon. House of the parents of Dominique Vivant Denon, artist, diplomat and French administrator, who was the 1st director of the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
The tower, remains of the gallo-roman wall, formed part of the fortified house of Sieur Saudon, liegeman of the Count of Chalon, around 1000. In the 17th century it was integrated into the chapel of the Oratoriens convent.
15 rue de l’Oratoire Nicéphore Niépce was the inventor of the photographic process.
In 1407 the city aldermen acquired a house for use as a town hall. The staircase tower raised in 1429 housed the bells that proclaim the power of the municipal institution. The belfry is all that remains today.
8 rue des Tonneliers This mansion was built around 1710 for a former mayor of Chalon in a quarter that was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries amongst the court nobles.
5 rue des Tonneliers This huge rectangular mansion, in the antique style arranged around a courtyard, was built in
1770 for Madame Chiquet. In 1805 Napoleon 1st and then Pope Pius 7th stayed there.
37 rue du Châtelet Built in 1657 for Barthelemy Magnien, a parliamentary advocate. The Roman style bas reliefs in
plaster show four faces in profile and carrying flowers, a sheaf of corn, fruit and a bundle of firewood representing the
four seasons.
3 rue au Change In 1614 the lawyer Louis Perry, alderman and later mayor of Chalon, commissioned the architect
Gentillâtre to build this classical and richly decorated house.
Opened in 1844, it is built on the remains of the 15th century Carmelite convent which became the tribunal (1822). The neoclassical facade is the work of the architect Eugene Piot.
Originally built over part of the Ursulines convent, the building was updated in the neo-classical style in 1820-1822 in order to house a free art school. The museum, inaugurated in 1866, contains collections of fine art and of archaeology.
The St Pierre church and convent were erected at the end of the 17th beginning f the 18th centuries by Benedictine
monks. Made the parish church in 1802, the acade was restored in 1900.
This 13th century chapel is the only remaining part of the site occupied by the Knights Templar which in the 14th century passed to the Knights of Malta, and now houses the Combatant Memorial Museum
Musée du Souvenir du Combattant
10 quai Gambetta A convent for the Benedictines who came from Lancharre. From 1626 onwards it covered a very
large area.
4 rue de Lyon The choir in the flat apse of the 15th century Carmelite chapel, is the only substantial element
remaining of this edifice, which was split into sections and sold during the Revolution. It now houses part of the town
library.
46 meters of difference in height
Start altitude : 178 m
End altitude : 179 m
Total positive elevation : 46 m
Total negative elevation : -45 m
Max positive elevation : 7 m
Min positive elevation : -8 m
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4744
|
__label__wiki
| 0.868155
| 0.868155
|
From ‘Aladdin’ to Galaxy’s Edge, How Hollywood Interprets Arab Culture
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
BY: LORRAINE ALI
The city walls are scarred with bullet holes and burn marks. Tattered camouflage netting hangs like moss over defunct fighter posts and the Moorish archways of the marketplace. The cries of hungry children fill the bazaar, where merchants in flowing robes and headscarves hawk scarce, overpriced goods to desperate parents.
It’s a war zone I recognize, or at least one I think I recognize as an Iraqi American and someone who has taken more family trips in combat-wrecked regions than poolside resorts.
But despite the multiple checkpoints, nomadic desert garb and food staples of hummus and pita, this is one Arabesque war zone where you won’t hear Saudis flying American fighter jets overhead or see the black flags of Islamic State crumpled on the ground.
You may, however, spot a fairy princess or three smothered in layers of pink taffeta, adults wielding $200 toy lightsabers and “locals” addressing “travelers” with jargon that as many have pointed out sounds as if it were pulled straight out of a “Handmaid’s Tale” episode. “Bright suns!”
“Under his eye” is not the correct response, I learn, but it won’t get you kicked out of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disneyland’s new theme park inside a theme park.
The 14-acre immersive experience is designed to transport guests from the old-timey shops of Main Street to the Black Spire Outpost on the planet of Batuu, “a remote trading port for smugglers, traders, and adventurers traveling the Outer Rim and Wild Space.”
Where does a politician fit into the recent uptick in images of flying carpets, magic lamps and domed souks
Translation: It’s a wonderland for fans of the film franchise, many of whom cried when they stepped foot in the “port” on opening day two weeks ago. But for those of us who know little about fictional resistance beyond that being waged in Gilead, it’s a costly journey to an artfully distressed realm where the entry fee is equal to a transcontinental plane ticket and price-gouging has driven the cost of a small bottle of Coke to nearly $5 (just like Baghdad!).
Galaxy’s Edge, like “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, was inspired by Islamic architecture, nomadic desert life and cultural markers throughout the Middle East. It borrows from the rugged terrain of Tunisia and Jordan, the chaos of war-torn areas stretching from Sanaa to Gaza and the romance of an exotic Arabia concocted in the backlots of old Hollywood.
The marketplace at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
In Magic Kingdom schematics, it’s the mouse-ears version of the Persian Gulf, just as the American South is New Orleans Square, Europe is all over Fantasyland (a castle, the Matterhorn, lederhosen, turkey drumsticks fit for a king), the West is Frontierland and yesterday’s idea of future is here today in Tomorrowland.
The world of sheiks, sand dunes and never-ending conflicts, however, is trickier to navigate than, say, rockets and submarine rides without running into the unpleasantries of the real world.
Take Disney’s other recent venture, “Aladdin.” The film, released last month, is a live-action remake of the animated classic featuring Robin Williams. The new Genie, Will Smith, stars alongside an ethnically representative cast of Arabs, Coptic Egyptians, South Asians and more. In addition, several aspects of the story were updated to avoid the barbarous, hook-nosed stereotypes of the original.
And this time around the movie’s villainous, turbaned Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) is just as hunky as its Westernized hero, Aladdin (Mena Massoud). Take that, Indiana Jones, whose foes always seemed to be swarthier than his allies. Side note: The “Indiana Jones Adventure” ride is just a few checkpoints and churro stands from Galaxy’s Edge.
Some corners of the Arab and Muslim community felt the revamped “Aladdin” was still too Orientalist and inauthentic, despite the fact that the story is derived from a fictional tale written by a Frenchman about a place that never existed outside his own imagination. Despite the criticisms and lukewarm film reviews, the risky undertaking has rekindled a love affair with genie pants, DJ Khaled and turquoise blue.
Disney isn’t the only entertainment or media enterprise now playing with imagery and concepts from countries across the Mideast and North Africa.
Egyptian American Ramy Youssef, the stand-up comedian who made Muslim-centric humor the new avocado toast for millennials, drops his anticipated stand-up special on HBO later this month.
“Ramy Youssef: Feelings” follows the success of his breakthrough Hulu sitcom, “Ramy,” where he dramatized his experience growing up in New Jersey into comedic, half-hour episodes that tackled dating while Muslim, terrorism, immigration and racial profiling.
Ramy Youssef, left, in the “Do the Ramadan” episode of his Hulu series “Ramy,” with, left to right from center, Mohammed Amer as Mo and Dave Merheje as Ahmed. (Barbara Nitke / Hulu)
Some of those very same themes that make audiences laugh in his forthcoming special, however, are being used by others to discredit U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan.
Where does a politician fit into the recent uptick in images of flying carpets, magic lamps and domed souks? After the release of the Mueller report, he was the only Republican member of Congress to publicly call out President Trump for engaging in “impeachable conduct.” His Palestinian ethnicity was called into question by critics in his own party — clearly his judgment was clouded by his otherness, just like Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, also a Palestinian. There’s a connection!
In Galaxy’s Edge terms, Amash was being characterized as siding with the wrong side, i.e. Kylo Ren and his Nazi-like sycophants, members of the First Order. Though, it must be noted, Amash’s ancestors undoubtedly dressed more like the scarf-wrapped Rey than the stiff-collared villains.
Stormtroopers regularly march through Galaxy’s Edge like an occupying force, past shops selling tunics and signage in the common dialect of Aurebesh.
Pronounced Aa-rab-esh, it resembles Arabic, if Arabic was dropped in a blender with Hebrew, my son’s physics homework and a bag of pretzel sticks.
It’s a convincingly complicated-looking language that might easily pass as the dangerous “chatter” terrorism experts were so fixated on across cable news in the 2000s until they finally figured out it was an actual language spoken across continents.
Lucas, however, named Luke Skywalker’s home planet, Tatooine, after the Tunisian town of Tataouine, a spot in North Africa he reportedly fell in love with. It’s no wonder we’d later see Tusken Raiders dressed like Bedouins, or Jabba the Hutt puffing on something that looked a lot like a hookah.
Disney representatives reportedly said that Black Spire’s marketplace was fashioned after a souk in Istanbul, and it’s easy to see the resemblance while walking under the brass, filigreed lamps, through the merchant stalls and down the outposts’s winding alleyways. There’s even a seedy underbelly: Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities. The shop, which sells state-of-the-art lightsabers, could pass as a black-market arms dealership or a clearing house for looted goods. It feels wonderfully illicit, and that’s OK.
The Middle East, with all its charms and flaws, is a complicated, fascinating mess of a place, and we’re finally starting to see its myriad angles reflected across an impossibly wide array of entertainment. It’s a shift that’s not lost on the folks who live in the very places that have dazzled the most jaded of Hollywood directors.
A few years ago while I was in United Arab Emirates, I took a drive three or more hours into the vast desert outside Abu Dhabi, a place called the Empty Quarter where “The Force Awakens” had just wrapped up filming. Sand dunes as high as skyscrapers towered above us, and we had to keep scarves wrapped around our faces like Tusken Raiders to keep the sand out. My Emirati guide beamed with pride that the Rub’ al Khali desert where he’d grown up was to star in what would surely be one of the biggest films of the year. Arabs had finally become an accepted part of the pop culture they consumed.
Galaxy’s Edge isn’t a love song to the Middle East, but it is a playful take on a region that’s too often written off as simply troubled and dangerous. If only the people who represent the region weren’t labeled troubled and dangerous when it serves the larger narrative. Meanwhile, I’ll take Arab culture as a theme park driver rather than a scare tactic any day, even if it means embracing faux war scars and mediocre hummus as part of the package.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4746
|
__label__wiki
| 0.788166
| 0.788166
|
Haus für Kunst
House for Art | Foundation Beyeler’s extension
A new park for Riehen
The Fondation Beyeler and the Iselin-Weber Park
The Fondation Beyler is situated in the idyllic English-style garden adjoining the Berower Villa. The park contains the modern museum building designed by Renzo Piano (with the contemporary extension of the gardens) and an ensemble of historic buildings dating from the 18th century. The Fondation Beyeler now has an opportunity to extend into the adjoining Iselin-Weber property, which also has an English-style garden designed by the same landscape architect.
Both pieces of land – the Berower property on which the present-day museum stands and the Iselin- Weber property, the site of the future extension – have their origins around the year 1600 as winegrowing estates with family mansions. Both properties have since been developed in several construction phases.
The park formerly belonging to the Berower property still today corresponds in its main features to the English gardens which were designed by Jean-François Caillat in 1823. The Berower Villa, built in the neo-Classical style by architects Melchior Berri and J. Stehlin, also dates from this time.
Shortly afterwards, Jean-François Caillat also designed the English landscape garden for the Iselin- Weber property. In view of its considerable stock of mature trees, it is considered one of the most magnificent landscape gardens of its type in the region. The buildings forming part of the original estate (Baselstrasse 61 and 65) consist of the service building (which was not converted into a residential property until 1948) and the mansion house. The splendid late Baroque exteriors of its two wings date from 1769. The architect is unknown. The former estate buildings are today under different ownership from the park and are not part of the extension project.
The two gardens today present strikingly different faces. The garden of the Berower property, on which the Fondation Beyeler museum stands, is clearly laid out and carefully maintained. In contrast, the landscape garden of the Iselin-Weber property appears less well-tamed and is more hidden away. In summary, it can be said that the Romantic, Dionysian character of the Iselin-Weber Park contrasts with the classical, Apollonian character of the Berower property.
When the extension is completed, the previously private Iselin-Weber Park will be made freely accessible to the public during the Fondation Beyeler’s opening hours. The historically significant park with its mature trees will be preserved in its present form and the new buildings will fit in with the historic plantings and paths. The three large plane trees in the north-west corner of the Iselin-Weber Park are protected and will be preserved, as must the large gingko tree and the redwood tree directly beside the construction area.
The linking of the two parks through the planned extension
The linking and interaction of the Berower and Iselin-Weber Parks and their historic and modern buildings are very important. The new buildings should be seen as a complement to the present museum and a link between the two parks. It should fit in with the historic urban development of Riehen while creating new emphases in terms of both architecture and landscape.
Linking the Berower Park and the neighboring Iselin-Weber Park will create an extended garden area ideally suited for sculptures, cultural events and recreation in nature.
The extension will be constructed on the previously private land of the Iselin-Weber Park, which adjoins the Fondation Beyeler. A new public park will thus be created in the heart of Riehen. The Fondation Beyeler will thereby create a group of museum buildings that satisfies the needs of a visitor-friendly museum. The size of the parks will be doubled.
In the 21st century, a museum is a place for human beings and no longer just for objects. It is a social space in which visitors can have experiences on their own or together with others. People come to a museum for education, entertainment, recreation, encounters and interaction. Together with general exhibition activities, the organization of cultural events and art education are some of the core functions of a visitor-friendly museum today. Renzo Piano’s museum building does not, however, contain any suitable rooms for such events, so they have had to be held in the museum’s galleries. That has involved a considerable organizational and technical effort, as well as considerable restrictions and extra costs. This is a key reason for the planned extension. A second reason is the lack of galleries where, in addition to the active exhibition program, the constantly growing collection of modern and contemporary art can be permanently presented. There is insufficient space to exhibit donations and works permanently loaned by artists, from artists’ estates and from private collections. The planned extension is therefore essential for the Fondation Beyeler’s successful development.
A unique opportunity for extension has now arisen with the acquisition of the neighboring Iselin-Weber Park. That park adjoins the Fondation Beyeler’s park to the south, beside the museum restaurant, being separated only by the Bachtelenweg. The extension will be constructed along the Bachtelenweg, thereby permitting the connection of the two parks. The previously private Iselin-Weber Park with its mature trees and a water lily pond will thus be made accessible to the public. Through the extension, a new recreational area will be created for the general public in the heart of Riehen. The link between the Fondation Beyeler and the centre of the village will be strengthened. As in the past, the Bachtelenweg will remain accessible for neighboring residents, farmers, bikers and walkers going to the Langen Erlen.
At the end of a design study involving eleven renowned architectural firms from all over the world, a body of international experts unanimously selected the Atelier Peter Zumthor to realize the extension project for the Fondation Beyeler.
Peter Zumthor’s design distributes the various functions between three relatively small buildings and is consequently a project that is adapted to Riehen’s village-like character and that blends harmoniously into the natural environment. Zumthor plans a simple service building for administration and deliveries, a transparent pavilion for events and a House for Art. Together, they create a subtle link between the two parks, which were designed by the same landscape architect, Jean-François Caillat, in the early 19th century.
With the extension project of the Atelier Peter Zumthor, Renzo Piano’s existing modern museum building and the historic buildings from the 18th century, the Fondation Beyeler is creating a unique architectural ensemble. The size of the park, which is already greatly appreciated by visitors, will be doubled. The unique experience of art, architecture and nature, a distinguishing characteristic of the Fondation Beyeler, will be further reinforced.
The extension project (acquisition of the land and existing buildings, funding of the new building, and operating and maintenance costs for the first ten years) is being privately financed. An amount of CHF 50 million has already been firmly committed. Generous donations from the Wyss Foundation and the Daros Collection of the Stephan Schmidheiny family provide the cornerstone for the project’s realization. Overall, the extension building and its launch are expected to cost CHF 100 million.
“The extension project is an important step in the development of the Fondation Beyeler and will increase the facilities available to visitors. Above all, it is a major gift for Riehen”, is the enthusiastic comment of Hansjörg Wyss, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Beyeler-Stiftung and the President of the Assessment Board, as well as the project’s initiator.
“Peter Zumthor brings great experience to the construction of cultural buildings and has the necessary sensitivity to build a museum of outstanding quality in this very special spot in the heart of Riehen. The interaction between human beings, nature, art and architecture that has always characterized the Fondation Beyeler will be as successfully achieved as it was twenty years ago by Renzo Piano”, states Sam Keller, the Director of the Fondation Beyeler.
“I want to create buildings that are loved” says Peter Zumthor, adding “Having the chance to do so in Basel, the city of my youth, is a particular honor for me.”
“Peter Zumthor’s project was unanimously selected by the Assessment Board because it is the ideal solution for the Fondation Beyeler’s extension”, notes Roger Diener, architect and member of the Assessment Board.
“The Municipal Council is delighted about the planned extension to the Fondation Beyeler and particularly about the fact that the Iselin-Weber Park will be made accessible to the public” says Daniel Albietz, Riehen Municipal Council.
On the design of the new Museum
The long-stretching grounds of the Beyeler Museum in Riehen that owes much of its character to the outline of the Baroque Berowergut, is to be extended to the south into the existing Iselin-Weber Park. This historic park with its stock of mature trees, which has remained private until now, is a discovery. As part of the new grounds of the Museum it will be opened and become accessible to the public.
Sitting between these two historic Parks is the Bachtelenweg, an old existing route that leads from the village of Riehen down to Langen Erlen. It is there that three new buildings are situated as part of our design for the extension of the Fondation Beyeler. Just as the impressive museum by Renzo Piano responds to the length of the site to the north with its linearity, so the three additions in the south; the new ”House for Art”, the Service Building and the Pavilion, are arranged more freely, intertwining with the historical buildings at the outer rim of the village.
At the entrance of Iselin-Weber Park, the biggest of the three buildings, is exclusively dedicated to art. Its rooms are all naturally lit and provide views into the surrounding park and the landscape beyond.
By the Bachtelenweg, the smaller Service Building houses technical and administrative functions for the running of the museum – the delivery of art, storage and offices. It forms a new gateway into the museum complex, covering a party wall of an existing building to the east. It has an underground connection to the new “House for Art”.
With only one story, the third building, designed for events, assumes the character of a garden pavilion. It lies in the middle of the extended site creating a relationship between the new “House for Art”, the existing historical buildings and the Renzo piano building. It is a place for artist talks, film screenings, concerts, lectures and vernissages etc., but also a place to relax, talk and read. A light timber roof grows from the back of the existing Berower Park garden wall, sheltering the interior. The façade facing the park is glazed and can be slid open. It is protected from the sun and rain with a generous overhang – an invitation to relax in the open air.
The new “House for Art” appears monolithic and has a sculptural form, as if hewn from a massive block – one can readily appreciate it as a response to the impressive mature trees surrounding it. It is made of rammed concrete that comes to life with the irregular stratification of layer upon layer of naturally settling concrete, notable in the entire façade. Its structure is open porous. The gravel and sand used in this type of rammed concrete are quarried from Jura chalk and give the overall building a warm and light color.
The interior of the new “House for Art” offers approximately 1,500 square meters of exhibition space over three floors that vary in height. The floor plan shows three intertwined wings and a central core with elevator and ancillary rooms around which the enclosure finds a fulcrum. Moving from room to room and climbing the stairs, the sequence of the bright chalk-colored spaces evolve from the entrance at the Bachtelenweg to a large double height hall with an impressively large window allowing direct views of the trees in front of the northwest façade. Through the leaves and branches it is possible to see Tüllinger Hill in the distance. The building has the character of a spacious villa for the viewing and contemplation of art, tailor-made for this specific place.
concrete, wood
Switzerland [Schweiz/Suisse]
Basel-City [Basel-Stadt]
Iselin-Weber Park
www.fondationbeyeler.ch
Museums and buildings for exhibitions
Other architectural structures
Pavilions, kiosks, facilities
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS
Buildings for cultural activities
Buildings for other cultural activities
Buildings for offices and professional practises
2017 project winner of limited competiton
Erweiterungsprojekt der Fondation Beyeler / Fondation Beyeler’s extension project, Riehen (Switzerland), Town Hall, 10 / 23 may 2017
ADDITIONS AND DIGRESSIONS
The Fondation Beyeler
The Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel is an international success story, having established itself as the most-visited art museum in Switzerland. Over 6.5 million people from all continents have visited it since its inauguration in 1997. Designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and the recipient of a number of awards, the museum in the idyllic Berower Park is considered one of the most beautiful spaces dedicated to art that is to be found anywhere in the world.
The famous collection of modern and contemporary art has doubled in size since the museum was created by Ernst and Hildy Beyeler, having expanded through valuable donations and permanent loans from private art collections and renowned artists. As a result of a partnership with the Daros Collection, works from that prestigious collection are also regularly displayed at the Fondation Beyeler. At first, the Fondation Beyeler presented two exhibitions a year but it now organizes three to four major exhibitions annually as well as other projects and joint initiatives. In addition, it offers a comprehensive art education and events programme, for which there have in the past been no purpose-built rooms in the museum. Combining the Berower Park with the adjacent Iselin-Weber Park will result in a more extensive public garden that will be ideally suited for sculptures, cultural events and recreation in a natural setting.
CHF 80,000,000
Haus für Kunst 3 levels
exhibition space sq.m. 1,500
Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partners
The Assessment Body
[Evaluation and Consultation Boards]
The members of the Evaluation Board were:
Hansjörg Wyss, Boston (Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Beyeler-Stiftung)
Wiel Arets, Amsterdam (Architect)
Roger Diener, Basel (Architect)
Rolf Fehlbaum, Basel (Chairman Emeritus, Vitra)
Sam Keller, Basel (Director, Fondation Beyeler)
Jean Nouvel, Paris (Architect)
Annabelle Selldorf, New York (Architect)
The Consultation Board consisted of:
Ulrike Erbslöh, Basel (Managing Director, Fondation Beyeler)
Hans Ulrich Obrist, London (Co-Director Serpentine Galleries)
Daniel Schneller, Basel (Monument Conservator, Canton of Basel-Stadt)
Sir Nicholas Serota, London (Director Tate)
Thomas Stauffer, Riehen (Landscape Architect, Historical Garden Conservator)
Christoph Stutz, Basel (Board of Trustees, Beyeler-Stiftung)
Theodora Vischer, Basel (Senior Curator Fondation Beyeler)
Hansjörg Wilde, Riehen (Mayor of Riehen)
Dossiers on Fondation Beyeler
Photos © Mark Niedermann, Adriano Biondo, Martin Mischkulnig
Drawings © Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partner
Text edited by Fondation Beyeler
Courtesy of Fondation Beyeler
If you haven't already clicked on the photo strip at the top of the page, for the gallery of photos [7 images] and drawings [3 images], enter here
FASCINATION TEXTILE
Nel 2003 la rivista tedesca Architektur und Wohnen ha eletto Ulf Moritz des...
CONTEMPORARY PREFAB HOUSES
La progettazione di case prefabbricate moderne è in crescita e diventa ogn...
AV MONOGRAPHS 132
HOUSES OF MASTERS
Luis Fernández-Galiano Il costruttore allo specchio José María de La...
JOSE CRUZ OVALLE
SPIRIT OF NATURE WOOD ARCHITECTURE AWARD 08
L'International Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award è stato istituito...
GA HOUSES 98
All'interno, ancora allo stadio preliminare, nuovissimi progetti reside...
DETAIL 4/2007
EDIFICI A BASSO COSTO
Scuola METI a Rudrapur, Bangladesh: costruire usando le risorse in loco. In...
A10 #25
CZECH BOXES
NEWS E OSSERVAZIONI Museo aan de Stroom, Anversa (BE) di Neutelings Ried...
RIVERBEDS
CONTENUTI Parc torrent d'en farré. esplugues de llobregat. spagna ber...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line4747
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.